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Assessing global diffusion with Web memetics: The spread and evolution of a popular joke
Abstract
Memes are small units of culture, analogous to genes, which flow from person to person by copying or imitation. More than any previous medium, the Internet has the technical capabilities for global meme diffusion. Yet, to spread globally, memes need to negotiate their way through cultural and linguistic borders. This article introduces a new broad method,Web memetics, comprising extensive Web searches and combined quantitative and qualitative analyses, to identify and assess: (a) the different versions of a meme, (b) its evolution online, and (c) its Web presence and translation into common Internet languages. This method is demonstrated through one extensively circulated joke about men, women, and computers. The results show that the joke has mutated into several different versions and is widely translated, and that translations incorporate small, local adaptations while retaining the English versions' fundamental components. In conclusion, Web memetics has demonstrated its ability to identify and track the evolution and spread of memes online, with interesting results, albeit for only one case study.
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Memes' reinterpretation across cultural and temporal contexts influences public discourse, positioning them as both participatory media objects and rhetorical instruments within digital culture.
“Their reinterpretation across cultural and temporal contexts influences public discourse, positioning them as both participatory media objects and rhetorical instruments within digital culture (Shifman and Thelwall, 2009).”
From Social media challenges as an intersection between Internet memes and traditional challenges: a conceptual analysis (2026) · cites this paper as Shifman and Thelwall, 2009
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Krispil, O., & Lev-on, A. (2026) · Frontiers in Communication · doi:10.3389/fcomm.2026.1779335 · Cited by 1
Metadata
- Authors
- Shifman, L., & Thelwall, M.
- Affiliations
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
- University of Wolverhampton (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Shifman, Limor
- Thelwall, Mike
- Venue
- Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2009-07-27
- Volume
- 60
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2567-2576
- ISSN
- 1532-2882 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-2890
- OpenAlex
- W4233054657
- Cited by
- 77
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 2.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- John Fell Fund, University of Oxford
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Humor Studies and Applications
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Keywords
- internet memes, language adaptation, online humor, jokes
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