Website and video series documenting Internet memes and online phenomena
Know Your Meme
|
Type of site
| Encyclopedia
|
---|
Available in
| English
|
---|
Owner
| Literally Media Ltd.
|
---|
Created by
| Rocketboom
|
---|
Editor
| Don Caldwell
|
---|
URL
| knowyourmeme
.com
|
---|
Registration
| Optional
|
---|
Launched
| November 25, 2007
; 16 years ago
(
2007-11-25
)
|
---|
Current status
| Online
|
---|
Know Your Meme
(
KYM
) is a website and video series which uses
wiki
software to document various
Internet memes
and other
online phenomena
, such as
viral videos
,
image macros
,
catchphrases
,
Internet celebrities
and more. It also investigates new and changing
memes
through research, as it
commercializes
on the culture. Originally produced by
Rocketboom
, the website was acquired in March 2011 by
Cheezburger Network
, in turn acquired in 2016 by Literally Media.
[1]
[2]
Know Your Meme includes sections for confirmed, submitted, deadpooled (rejected or incompletely documented), researching, and popular memes.
History
[
edit
]
2007?2010: Web series origins
[
edit
]
Know Your Meme was created in December 2007 as a series of videos which were part of the
vlog
Rocketboom
. It was founded by employees Kenyatta Cheese, Elspeth Rountree and
Jamie Wilkinson
, and Rocketboom CEO
Andrew Baron
in their spare time, when host
Joanne Colan
could not finish the current season of
Rocketboom
.
[3]
They dubbed themselves the Rocketboom Entity for Internet Studies.
[4]
Noticing that
internet memes
were used by advertisers who failed to acknowledge their online origins, they found that they could trace their source by using public search tools. They also found that media coverage of
memes
seemed uninterested in how they began and spread.
[4]
[5]
Each episode of Know Your Meme covered one meme in detail, exploring its history and context in
internet culture
. They were hosted variously by Colan, Cheese, Rountree and Wilkinson, who donned
lab coats
and dubbed themselves "meme experts".
[5]
Baron noticed that each episode attracted more views than typical Rocketboom shows.
[6]
According to Cheese, memes were only starting to become popular on sites such as
4chan
when the series began, and Rocketboom allocated more resources as their popularity grew.
[4]
Wilkinson had also been developing a personal database of internet memes.
[3]
It was repurposed as a companion to the videos and launched on the current website in 2008.
[5]
Due to the size of the task, Rocketboom decided to
crowdsource
and hire interns, including
Amanda Brennan
and future editor Brad Kim, to develop content. This was then collated by volunteer moderators and a small editorial team. By 2010, Know Your Meme had attracted a large following and was more popular than the original web series. However, it also attracted hostility from some online communities: the website suffered constant
DDoS attacks
and the controversial
Encyclopedia Dramatica
said it was "mostly
safe for work
, which is fucking lame".
[3]
[5]
2011?present: Sale to Cheezburger
[
edit
]
In January 2011, Cheese, Rountree and other employees left Know Your Meme, claiming that Baron had created an "atmosphere of paranoia and competing egos" within the company; Baron disputed this and claimed that Cheese organized a "mass exodus [out of] personal vengeance".
[5]
In March 2011, Baron sold the Know Your Meme website and web series to
Cheezburger Network
for an undisclosed seven-figure amount.
[7]
In April 2016, Cheezburger was acquired by Literally Media.
[5]
In June 2021, the
Doge meme
was minted as an
NFT
by Atsuko Sato, the meme's original creator, and sold on June 12, 2021, for 1696.9
ETH
(approximately 4 million
USD
). The NFT sale was certified by Know Your Meme.
[8]
Website
[
edit
]
At the end of 2008, after more than a year of growth, Rocketboom released an expanded database with
Jamie Wilkinson
as the lead developer.
[9]
The database includes entries for memes, trends and events, along with people and other aspects of subculture (such as films, video games, animated series and anime). Each entry has its own photo and
GIF
gallery; a video gallery was added in November 2010. As of January 2017, the database contained more than 2,700 entries of "confirmed" memes.
[10]
The administrators have a say on what gets confirmed and what gets "deadpooled", or rejected.
[11]
Some of the meme entries are graphic and
Not Safe For Work
(NSFW).
[12]
NSFW entries have warnings placed along the top of the entry and ads are usually disabled. These warnings may differ from consequences, such as bans. Know Your Meme also has a
forum
section,
blog
, and shop. Dr. Sean Rintel, who wrote
The Automated Identity
blog, described Know Your Meme as "lucrative, self-supporting research that blends the humorous and the serious."
[13]
As of March 2019, the site is maintained by seven editorial staff members (Don Caldwell, Adam Downer, Matt Schimkowitz, Briana Milman, Sophie Dickinson and Philipp Kachalin) and one developer (Mike Schwab) in conjunction with a group of dedicated moderators. Former staff researchers include Chris Menning, Amanda Brennan, Molly Horan and Ari Spool.
[14]
Reception
[
edit
]
Know Your Meme has been praised by numerous publications. Its entries are frequently cited in both journalism and scholarly works covering internet memes.
[15]
[16]
The Daily Dot
and
The Wall Street Journal
described the site as "the
Encyclopedia Britannica
" of memes and internet culture.
[3]
[17]
Time
included Know Your Meme on its list of the "50 Best Websites 2009" for the web series.
[18]
Know Your Meme won a
Streamy Award
in 2010 for Best Guest Star in a Web Series. It won the People's Voice
Webby Award
in the Blog-Cultural category in 2012.
[19]
In June 2014, Know Your Meme was inducted into the Web Archiving Program of
American Folklife Center
at the Library of Congress.
[20]
In May 2016, the website was cited as a source for explaining the concept of "dank memes" in regards to the political campaigning in
the Australian federal election
during a discussion on the
ABC
television programme
Insiders
.
[21]
[22]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Literally Media Buys Cheezburger To Reach Millennials"
.
www.mediapost.com
. Retrieved
June 13,
2019
.
- ^
"Cheezburger's new owner is Israeli digital-media company"
.
The Seattle Times
. April 21, 2016
. Retrieved
June 13,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Morris, Kevin (November 30, 2012).
"A day in the office with Know Your Meme?the Web's "Britannica"
"
.
The Daily Dot
. Retrieved
March 13,
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
Conti, Allie (May 26, 2016).
"A Co-Creator of Know Your Meme Explains What the Hell a Meme Actually Is"
.
Vice
. Retrieved
March 13,
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Tiffany, Kaitlyn (March 6, 2018).
"The story of the internet, as told by Know Your Meme"
.
The Verge
. Retrieved
March 13,
2023
.
- ^
Gannes, Liz (April 6, 2009).
"Intel Sponsors Rocketboom"
.
Gigaom
. Retrieved
March 13,
2023
.
- ^
Hustvedt, Marc (March 28, 2011).
"
'Know Your Meme' Acquired By Cheezburger in Seven-Figure Deal"
.
Tubefilter
. Archived from
the original
on August 14, 2012
. Retrieved
March 28,
2011
.
- ^
Rosenblatt, Kalhan (June 11, 2021).
"Iconic 'Doge' meme NFT breaks record, selling for $4 million"
.
NBCNews.com
. Retrieved
May 12,
2023
.
- ^
"The History of Know Your Meme"
. Dembot. December 6, 2012. Archived from
the original
on October 20, 2013
. Retrieved
October 19,
2013
.
- ^
"Confirmed Entries"
. Know Your Meme. Archived from
the original
on September 15, 2012
. Retrieved
October 19,
2013
.
- ^
"Deadpooled Entries"
. Know Your Meme
. Retrieved
October 19,
2013
.
- ^
"NSFW"
. Know Your Meme. June 17, 2012
. Retrieved
October 19,
2013
.
- ^
Rintel, Sean (September 24, 2011).
"Know Your Meme "Sean Rintel"
. Seanrintel.com. Archived from
the original
on October 22, 2013
. Retrieved
October 19,
2013
.
- ^
"About"
. Know Your Meme
. Retrieved
August 11,
2015
.
- ^
Pettis, Ben T. (2022).
"
Know Your Meme
and the Homogenization of Web History"
.
Internet Histories
.
6
(3): 263?279.
doi
:
10.1080/24701475.2021.1968657
.
S2CID
238660211
.
- ^
Sonnad, Nikhil.
"Finally, a scientific list of the most popular memes on the internet"
.
Quartz
. Retrieved
June 5,
2018
.
- ^
Winkie, Luke (January 5, 2023).
"Behind the Scenes at the Encyclopedia Britannica of Memes"
.
The Wall Street Journal
. Retrieved
March 15,
2023
.
- ^
Fisher, Adam (August 24, 2009).
"Know Your Meme"
.
Time
.
Archived
from the original on August 27, 2009
. Retrieved
October 19,
2013
.
- ^
Paul, Sonia (May 1, 2012).
"16th Annual Webby Award Winners: The Complete List"
.
Mashable
.
- ^
"Getting serious about collecting and preserving digital culture | Folklife Today"
.
blogs.loc.gov
. June 5, 2014
. Retrieved
October 20,
2016
.
- ^
"WATCH: 'Insiders' Had To Explain 'Dank Memes' To Boomers, RIP The Internet"
.
Pedestrian.tv
. May 22, 2016
. Retrieved
February 13,
2018
.
- ^
Atkins, Denis
(May 22, 2016).
"Cool kids bring dank memes into the election campaign but only for a nanosecond"
.
The Courier Mail
. Retrieved
February 13,
2018
.