Prestige, Performance and Social Pressure in Viral Challenge Memes: Neknomination, the Ice-Bucket Challenge and SmearForSmear as Imitative Encounters

Digitizing Sociology: Continuity and Change in the Internet Era

“…Other social media hosted mobilizations have involved mass participation in ‘viral memes’, digital cultural events sometimes comprising tens of millions of actors. Burgess et al (2018) (included in this e-special) analyse three such events, focusing on 2013’s ‘Ice-Bucket Challenge’, ‘Neknomination’ and ‘SmearForSmear’ ‘viral challenge memes’. Also finding promise in Tarde’s canon for digital sociological analyses – to accompany those advanced by Latour (e.g.…”

“…Also finding promise in Tarde’s canon for digital sociological analyses – to accompany those advanced by Latour (e.g. 2002) and others – Burgess et al (2018) analyse how, for participants, these events require considered mediations of digital cultural and complex presentations of the self. Countering much-rehearsed mainstream media representations of such events, these seemingly mimetic events do not constitute simple or uncritical emulation but, rather, involve a complex merger of consumption and (re)production of media content, mediations between obligation and choice, performativity and struggles for recognition.…”

A copycat crime meme: Ghost riding the whip

“…The study of non-criminal viral memes has also described a four-phase life cycle similar to that reported for pre-social media crime waves (Burgess et al, 2018; Wiggins and Bowers, 2015). In the first viral phase, a population of potential viral memes exist, residing in what is their analogous “latent” period.…”

“…Memes involve ideas or behaviors that spread from person to person and have been described as analogous to genes that self-replicate, mutate, and undergo survival pressure (Graham, 2002; see also Blackmore, 1999; Dawkins, 1989). Two types of online visual versions are found within social media—viral videos and viral memes (Burgess et al, 2018; Shifman, 2012; Wiggins and Bowers, 2015). 3 The key characteristics of viral videos are that the content is shared without change such as when an unaltered video of someone dancing “goes viral” and is viewed by millions.…”

“…“Viral memes,” in contrast, involve manipulated content created by distributors who share the altered, often parodied, copies. The social importance of viral memes lies in their behavioral impact—people not only watch but copy (Burgess et al, 2018; Shifman, 2012; Wiggins and Bowers, 2015). In addition to malleability, Shifman (2012) reported that whether non-crime memes successfully survive is determined by six features: portrayals of ordinary people rather than a focus on celebrities; flawed masculinity in mocking scenes of far-from-perfect males failing at some basic task; humorous depictions which are often linked to flawed masculinity; simplicity via the inclusion of easily copied content; repetitiveness in terms of repeated content and instructions on how to copy; and whimsical content through pop culture references and portrayals of irrational or playful behavior.…”