# How do you start an internet meme? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989 "2008-04-26T19:58:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/1 "2008-04-26T19:58:18Z")
[Internet meme](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJPVR8uax_A) Wikipedia on[internet memes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme) . I understand how if you mix a popular candy with a popular drink and make a cool fountain can become an internet meme. Just get thousands of Generation Y geeks to film themselves doing geeky stuff.[Mentos and Diet cola](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mentos&search_type=) Why does Rick Astley become a meme? I love his songs and music 20 years ago. What is the [attraction](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickroll) ? Can I make my video an internet [meme](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJPVR8uax_A) ? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/2 "2008-04-26T22:55:41Z")
Jealous are we? Afriad that you haven’t quite got [Charlie Bit Me](http://youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM) in all that. You might do better trying to [cash in](http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xgpu-RwUfLk) on someone else’s meme. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/3 "2008-04-26T23:15:26Z")
Post a lot on 4chan, Something Awful or Fark. ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/4 "2008-04-26T23:39:28Z")
First, get a camera that works. Then re-create [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=465530). ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/5 "2008-04-27T00:59:53Z")
You just have to get lucky, I think. Mine went all meme-y when I wasn’t even looking. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/6 "2008-04-27T01:05:37Z")
[QUOTE=Danalan] First, get a camera that works. Then re-create [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=465530). [/QUOTE] Yeah, \*\*WhyNot \*\*sure missed the boat on that one! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/7 "2008-04-27T03:20:52Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] You just have to get lucky, I think. Mine went all meme-y when I wasn’t even looking. [/QUOTE] Hell, I wasn’t even there for mine… ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/8 "2008-04-27T03:41:05Z")
It took me over a year to even realized mine had gotten popular. It was something I made as a joke and then forgot about, then suddenly realized it was getting thousands of hits a day! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/9 "2008-04-27T04:21:41Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] It took me over a year to even realized mine had gotten popular. [/QUOTE] Do you mean the [Virtual Bubble Wrap](http://www.virtual-bubblewrap.com/popnow.shtml)? When I found out that you had made that (I first saw it about ten years ago) it was a weird thing to make the connection between it and “knowing” you from the SDMB. Another friend of mine was quite well known on the RASSM (Star Wars) newsgroup, and she went on to be quite successful as a Star Wars illustrator. It’s weird to be on the ground floor of a phenomenon, even a small localised one. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/10 "2008-04-27T04:24:22Z")
Yeah that’s what I was referring to. ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/11 "2008-04-27T09:06:44Z")
I ony just discovered this Mentos and cola thing. I first thought it was like the urban legend with cola and poprocks.In one Simpsons episode Homer mixes Pop Rocks into a can of soda which he throws into an angry mob like a grenade. I never understood this joke until I heard the Urban Legend recently ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/12 "2008-04-27T09:09:06Z")
The video I mentioned in this thread has got 47 views since I posted. Not really meme-worth is it? ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/13 "2008-04-28T19:39:14Z")
Is it? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/14 "2008-04-28T19:44:11Z")
What, just the minute-long clip of a baby acting like a baby? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/15 "2008-04-28T20:08:06Z")
There’s already a laughing baby video clip. Why did that laughing baby get a million hits and yours got only 47? It’s a simple network effect. The more people that link to the laughing baby video, the more people see the video, and they link to the video, which means more viewers and more links and more viewers, and eventually the mere fact that the laughing baby has a million hits becomes something interesting in itself, and so people watch the laughing baby just because it has a million hits and they want to see the famous video that has a million hits. You can do all the pump-priming you want, but there’s no way to shove an internet meme down the throats of the web-surfing public. And putting Brittney and Mentos and Rick Astley as key words is just sad and pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/16 "2008-04-28T20:14:21Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] There’s already a laughing baby video clip. Why did that laughing baby get a million hits and yours got only 47? It’s a simple network effect. The more people that link to the laughing baby video, the more people see the video, and they link to the video, which means more viewers and more links and more viewers, and eventually the mere fact that the laughing baby has a million hits becomes something interesting in itself, and so people watch the laughing baby just because it has a million hits and they want to see the famous video that has a million hits. You can do all the pump-priming you want, but there’s no way to shove an internet meme down the throats of the web-surfing public. And putting Brittney and Mentos and Rick Astley as key words is just sad and pathetic. [/QUOTE] That part was just a joke. ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-start-an-internet-meme/446989/17 "2008-04-28T20:16:01Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] What, just the minute-long clip of a baby acting like a baby? [/QUOTE] [47 million views](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk)