Why Your Favorite Internet Memes Should Never Be Forgotten

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Most of us can’t spend more than a few minutes on the Internet without sharing a dank meme or three. Memes are so much a part of our online lives that we forget how much they’ve changed over the brief course of Internet history. But they can go in and out of style so fast that it’s hard to keep up. That’s where Tumblr content & community associate Amanda Brennan comes in. She’s made a career out of documenting and archiving these viral and ephemeral bits of pop culture. Amanda can tell you exactly how a particular meme got started, when it reached its peak, and when it died and/or came back. “It’s so important right now to be archiving this stuff because meme culture is really rapidly growing and it represents what’s going on, on the outskirts of pop culture,” Amanda says. The word “meme” was coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, who used the term to describe a cultural idea that travels from person to person and changes each time. Some pre-Internet examples include the Star Wars opening crawl, which has been spoofed since the late 70s, and “Kilroy Was Here” – a drawing made by World War II soldiers. These days Internet memes can take many forms – hashtags, songs, emoticons, Vines or GIF sets. A meme can teach us about communities and change the way we communicate. According to Amanda, “It’s a way to sometimes work through hard stuff. It adds more nuance to speech and interaction.”

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