I love the #deadgiveway tune - along with 11 million other people but does this "meme" count as culture? And could my advertising the meme damage race relations?

So are meme's really that powerful that I should stop my charles ramsey appreciation facebook page?

I don't know but reading into it a little more perhaps my harmless fun and exercise in youtube marketing (made for a workshop) might be seen as more than just #greatmarketing but an actual real life statement.

This is what Clair Byrd says about it all and she is the Director of Content and Community for Scoop.it. For her musings on social tech, writing, and cute owl pictures, follow her on Twitter (@theclairbyrd).

"The ubiquitous internet meme comes in many forms — from iterations on top of iterations of a viral video to a random picture of a cute animals with an ironic white Impact caption. They also seem to proliferate like one of those animals with an ironic white Impact caption, if you know what I mean.

The internet meme often gets a bad rap. It gets called a waste of time, a waste of energy, and a waste of brain bandwidth.. really just more noise in an already cacophonous environment. But is this really true? Is meme only a waste of time or is there significantly more to the humble internet meme?

A case for meme

“Culture” is defined as “the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties, especially by education.” Culture varies significantly across the world, just as significantly as the moral and intellectual faculties between people vary, and grows strong in places that foster education between people of like-mind and similar values.

By this definition, the internet is becoming its own global culture. There are (of course) differences, but in essence, the internet is allowing people to come together and develop their intellectual (consider communities like Quora, topic-based communities, etc) and moral (consider the group Anonymous or the internationally-adopted web blackout in protest of the US SOPA bill) faculties.

It is difficult to associate any major internet movement with a particular people or existing unique culture. The internet and the spread of cultural artifacts through its many channels are as diverse as all the people in the world — and through this diversity there is unity forming around similar values (freedom, democracy and expression).

Meme, by definition, is “an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.” Meme is not necessarily specific to the internet — it simply became a household name through the Cheezburger Network. We could define many important cultural evolutions as “meme,” such as 3D imaging in modern film or technology in the classroom. These — now commonplace — ideas have spread from person to person inside of a unique culture.


I propose that internet meme is the currency of a blooming global culture. Internet meme can, and does, educate morality (consider the macings at UC Davis and the massive adoption that meme saw) as well as intellectual pursuits (consider the Advice Mallard), and while there is a ton of crap in the world of internet meme, the same can be said for most more traditionally accepted cultural mediums (has anyone seen this Nic Cage film?!).

The internet is irrevocably changing the way we interact with traditional media that define what “culture” is for us. What is art in this new environment? Do you have to be a classically-trained musician to create culturally-significant music? How is cinema, food, and literature changing due to advances in internet technology? What ultimately count as legitimate “cultural” artifacts and what doesn’t?

While the internet is creating its own culture in cyber space, there is invariably spill over to the real world. People reference internet memes in casual conversation around dinner i.e. they sign #deadgiveaway or do the thumbs up sign (if you don't know what this means - it's all about Charles Ramsey) People share meme experiences with friends and loved ones, and use meme as illustrations of concepts among their peers.

They use meme to make points in arguments, to create conversations, to shame, to uplift, and to showcase triumphs and defeats. This, to me, bears greater cultural significance than simple entertainment on the interwebs™. Internet meme is most assuredly spreading ideas, behaviors, and styles between people — locally and virtually.

So a meme counts as culture in the greater global evolution of human culture?

And if so should I really be pushing a meme out there just because I love the #deadgiveaway tune (along with 11,751,434 other people.)

But the underlying theme some believe to be racist as one of the catchphrases - is:

"I knew somethin was wrong when a
little pretty white girl
ran into a black man's arms"

Which is very funny - but I think that because I am black and I have a white wife - who is pretty.

Maybe I feel bad as I not only set up a fanclub for the video and charles ramsey but I know that I will use the "learnings" from all this into one of our great marketing youtube training days.

I don't know either way - it no longer sits well with me so I will delete the facebook account - tomorrow (promise....)

Best go and copy and paste all the learning data shots then :)