Once upon a time, someone said “information wants to be free”. It’s probably a reflection of the reality that memes want to be free. Information could be a classification of meme, but the meme is the thing that wants to be free.
Things like Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and WordPress have given memes new venues with which to spread. As the transactional cost for the hosts (you and me) have drawn down close to zero (time is still not “free”), memes have more ways to spread than at anytime in history.
I stood on a bridge in Yosemite Valley a year or so ago, and pondered the meme that is Half-Dome. Standing on that bridge for an hour, hundreds of tourists came by to capture their “own” image or memory of the giant granite edifice. I wondered how many millions of times this exercise had been repeated. I looked up at the face and smiled.
Half-dome is a celebrity and celebrities attract exposure. Now there’s plenty of fantastic pictures of Half-dome available at post card prices, but people insist on taking “their own”. The pictures are printed or posted, usually put away and forgotten, but the meme that is Half-dome has spread. People see the images and feel the urge to make the pilgrimage, to make their own.
But the images are not theirs.
Half-dome is the meme. The people are just the medium for the meme.
Bayer recently wrapped a building with LEDs that display a bright, but beautiful display of art and brand. Someone felt compelled to videotape it and post it on the internet. I had about a three minute engagement with the brand Bayer, watching that video. I’m not sure what my acquisition cost is for Bayer, but my guess is that building was a much better investment than a TV commercial.
Next time your tweeting ask yourself the question, whose using who?
Tags: host, Life, life form, meme, memes