As journalism continues to evolve through various phases of new media, one recent trend is making waves and quickly becoming an effective way to increase readership: the meme.
A group of meme experts gathered at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday to discuss the ways to use the media form in the distribution of news and information.
“We live an Internet world,” said Benny Johnson of BuzzFeed, a website that utilizes memes on a daily basis, sometimes for news coverage, but other times just for fun.
Johnson was joined on “The Memefication of Media” panel by Ericka Anderson, senior digital communications associate at The Heritage Foundation and Lyndsey Fifield, social media & outreach manager at CRAFT. The panel was moderated by Charlie Spiering of The Washington Examiner.
According to Johnson, memes are the next evolution of the political cartoon, but he mentioned that they can often be shared in a non-partisan manner — unlike most political cartoons. He referenced a piece about politicians who look like Muppets, something that quickly became Internet gold.
The panelists admitted that memes can take many forms, from the infamous numbered lists that have become a staple at BuzzFeed to the more informational single-photo posts that Heritage popularizes through their Facebook page. Andersen and Johnson agreed that more serious subjects can be addressed through fun, photo illustrations.
“The beauty of this is that you can illustrate — you can meet people where they’re at with memes and talk to people about a topical issue,” Johnson said.
But for Fifield’s “Hey Girl, It’s Paul Ryan” Tumblr, it was all just pure fun.
“It was just a really organic thing,” she said, before adding, “We started it as just a joke between me and friends.” Fifield said then she suddenly started getting calls from reporters and realizing that other people were connecting with the meme as well. Spiering added that the “Hey Girl, It’s Paul Ryan” memes actually played a noticeable role in the election.
For BuzzFeed, photos of cats have become — well, Internet catnip.
“The Internet was made for cats,” Johnson joked. “The Internet is powered by cats. Why? Because we all have a personal relationship with a cat, or someone who has a cat.”
Andersen also stressed the “always on” nature of meme creation, saying that failing to get on the ball quickly can mean missing the moment. The trio mentioned the Oreo cookie advertisement that swept through Twitter during the Super Bowl blackout.
Controlling memes — and photos — on the Internet can be tricky, as one questioner brought up. Using other people’s photos to make memes can have copyright implications, but Johnson said on the Internet, giving credit to the original source is usually the best course of action. And once a meme takes off, other people will participate and perpetuate it in different forms, he added.
Andersen said it’s hard to know what will take off and sometimes things that seem like they would be a hit end up flopping. When it comes right down to it, memes are a craft, not a science. Trial and error is the best teacher.
