In 1976, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins coined the term "meme" to describe an idea, behavior, or style that spreads rapidly from person to person within a culture. He compared memes to biological genes: they replicate, they mutate, and they undergo a ruthless process of natural selection.
Today, when we say "meme," we usually mean an image of a distracted boyfriend or a screaming cat. But Dawkins' biological metaphor is more accurate now than ever.
Internet memes have a highly predictable, distinct lifecycle. From their obscure birth on anonymous message boards to their corporate death on LinkedIn, here is the chronological lifespan of a modern internet meme.
Step 1: Birth and Incubation (4Chan, Reddit, Deep Discord)
Memes are almost never born in the mainstream. The vast majority of meme templates originate in the dark, weird, hyper-specific corners of the internet.
Message boards like 4chan, niche subreddits (like r/dankmemes or r/MemeEconomy), and private Discord servers act as the chaotic primordial soup. Here, millions of raw images and absurd concepts are thrown against the wall every day.
- The Flavor: At this stage, the humor is usually deeply ironic, edge-pushing, abrasive, or entirely nonsensical (often referred to as "shitposting").
- The Audience: A small group of highly online individuals fluent in the specific subculture's language.
Most memes die within hours here. But occasionally, an image has the perfect blend of visual clarity and emotional relatability. It survives. It replicates.
Step 2: Mainstream Acceleration (Twitter, TikTok, Instagram)
If a meme survives the incubation phase, it bleeds onto mainstream social media. This is the golden era of the meme.
Twitter (X) and TikTok are the hyper-engines of meme culture. When a template hits these platforms, it undergoes rapid mutation. Millions of users strip away the niche, edgy context of its birth and apply the template to relatable, every-day scenarios.
- The Mutation: The "Distracted Boyfriend" image is no longer an ironic statement about infidelity; it becomes a metaphor for a student ignoring their homework to play video games.
- The Velocity: The meme is everywhere. It trend globally. Brands might tentatively begin to engage with it, but the primary creators are still individual users.
- The Peak: This phase usually lasts between three days and two weeks. This is the moment the meme is objectively at its funniest.
Step 3: Saturation and Irony Poisoning
The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long. Because of the algorithmic velocity of TikTok and Twitter, audiences are exposed to a meme hundreds of times a day.
Very quickly, semantic satiation sets in. The original format stops being funny.
At this point, the "Extremely Online" users attempt to squeeze the last bit of life out of the meme through meta-irony. They stop using the meme conventionally and start making memes about the meme, deconstructing the format until it is an unrecognizable, deep-fried anti-joke.
This signifies that the meme is dead to the generation that created it.
Step 4: The Facebook Migration (The Corporate Suburbs)
While the heavy internet users have abandoned the meme and moved on to the next trend, the meme finally arrives at its final, slowest destination: Facebook.
Here, the meme is adopted by older generations, local businesses, and corporate social media managers (e.g., Wendy's, the local police department, or your Aunt Linda).
- The Flavor: The humor is completely sanitized. The format is often used incorrectly or to deliver a completely earnest, non-comedic message. (e.g., A politician using a Doge meme to talk about tax policy).
- The Death Knell: The exact moment a major corporation or a politician tweets a meme, the meme is officially, irrevocably dead. It is no longer a cultural inside joke; it is a marketing tool.
The Afterlife (Nostalgia)
Years after a meme has died on Facebook, it may be resurrected. Old memes (like "Troll Face" or "Rickrolling") eventually wrap back around to being funny entirely through the lens of nostalgia. They become vintage relics of an earlier, simpler internet.
But the biological imperative of the meme remains. As an old meme is remembered fondly, thousands of new ones are currently dying in the primordial soup of Reddit, desperately trying to survive long enough to annoy your parents on Facebook.