The enduring power of memes

“Let’s make a Happy video!” “Let’s do the Harlem Shake.” “Planking? Yes, of course. Check out my photos.” “Oh look it’s another Grumpy Cat!” You’d have to be living under a rock not to be familiar with memes, which are according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.” An Internet meme is spread via social media and email, and can be a video, visual, link, hashtag or website. But seriously, not knowing what a meme is would warrant someone posting ‘Ermahgerd’, ‘Doh’ or ‘Durp’ on your Facebook wall. After all ‘one does not simply’ ignore the tide — especially when it represents a marketing opportunity. Memes are nothing new. The word stems from mimeme (the Greek for ‘to imitate’) and was coined by Richard Dawkins, a British evolutionary biologist, in 1976. He used it to explain how certain elements