What drives meme virality? A quantitative study of meme shareability over social media

The internet meme is a recent phenomenon in the mass media industry, but its etymological route can be traced back over 4 decades, when evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins decided to coin a “monosyllable that sounds a bit like ‘gene’”. Memes carry the prolific characteristics of a parasite, and can be as common as a catchphrase. This aspect of memes has revolutionized the way content is consumed on digital platforms, and therefore the advertising of content on such platforms This research examined how recognizability, humour and shareability each impact meme virality. This research found positive correlations between recognizability and virality, humour and virality; and shareability and virality.