Learner Perspectives on the Use of Instagram and Memes for Promoting Language Learning and Sociocultural Competence. Diplomarbeit

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Learner Perspectives on the Use of Instagram and Memes for Promoting Language Learning and Sociocultural Competence

Diplomarbeit

zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades einer Magistra der Philosophie

an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz

vorgelegt von Maddalena TREVISAN

am Institut für Anglistik

Begutachterin: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sarah Jane Mercer, B.A. M.A.

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Eidesstattliche Erklärung

Ich erkläre hiermit ehrenwörtlich, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbstständig und ohne fremde Hilfe verfasst, andere als die angegebenen Quellen nicht benutzt und die den Quellen wörtlich oder inhaltlich entnommenen Stellen als solche kenntlich gemacht habe. Die Arbeit wurde bisher in gleicher oder ähnlicher Form keiner anderen inländischen oder ausländischen Prüfungsbehörde vorgelegt und auch noch nicht veröffentlicht. Die vorliegende Fassung entspricht der eingereichten elektronischen Version.

Villach, 31.07.2021

______________________________ _______________________________

(Ort, Datum) (Unterschrift der Studierenden)

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Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I want to thank my supervisor Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sarah Jane Mercer, who sparked my interest in research and who guided me throughout this process. I cannot thank you enough for your meaningful and quick feedback, which was very thought-provoking, your patience and your constant support. The positivity that you transmitted throughout this process encouraged me, made me believe in my work and helped me stay focused.

I also want to thank all the students, who participated in my study, without whom this thesis could not have been possible. I am very grateful for everyone who took their time and who therefore rendered my investigations possible.

Furthermore, I want to thank my family and friends, who always believed in me and who always motivated me to do better and keep going. A great thanks goes to my parents, without whom my whole studies would not have been possible. Thanks for supporting me financially, as well as mentally and for always being patient and understanding with me. A big thanks also goes to my sister, who keeps inspiring me and being a role model to me with her ambition and determination in everything she does and wants to achieve. I also want to thank all of my friends who always pushed me to keep going when I had a moment of despair. I want to thank my friend Cornelia in particular, who was my thesis-writing-buddy, as she was also working on her thesis in these past few months and with whom I went through all the ups and downs of this process together.

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Abstract

The Internet is imbedded in modern society’s daily life. Be it at the working place, at school or privately at home, the internet has somehow become a faithful companion of everyone who lives in a (western) industrialized country. Amongst all tools that the World Wide Web offers, I’d claim that Social Media platforms are the most powerful and most commonly used ones.

Social media platforms are particularly popular among adolescents and young adults.

Generation Z, the first generation of kids who will never have experienced a life without the world being digitally connected on a global level because they are born in the golden age of digitalization, are the major target group of social media. Nevertheless, also older generations are increasingly starting to enjoy the benefits of social media. Therefore, these platforms are accessible and used by everyone, regardless of their age or race. A highly appreciated content on Social Media are memes. Memes on the Internet entertain, inform and connect people all over the world. Part of my thesis focuses on how memes have the ability of picking up on certain issues and how they can affect and influence society and social behavior. The aim of this thesis is to point out the general purposes and roles of memes and figure out/find out, whether memes, together with social media, can promote language learning or sociocultural competence. This is accomplished by carrying out a research with Austrian students from different schools that are all located in Carinthia. The research tool is an online questionnaire compiled on LimeSurvey. Comparing my personal research’s results with statistics and findings on memes in general from other scientists, sociologists etc., I concluded on what memes can be used for generally and if and how they could be implemented in the classroom. Results show, that the students that participated in the study do theoretically believe in a promotion of language learning and expansion of sociocultural knowledge through memes. They also already experienced language acquisition or the acquisition of knowledge about certain topics, such as culture or society through memes. However, findings show that not all memes are equally useful for learning and every memes may serve the same purpose. The findings and conclusions of my thesis should serve the purpose of aiding teachers in fining new teaching methods, linking their lessons to the digital world many students live in nowadays.

Keywords: social media, memes, Instagram, digitalization, society, culture, language

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Zusammenfassung

Das Internet ist mittlerweile in den Alltag der modernen Gesellschaft eingebettet. Sei es am Arbeitsplatz, in der Schule oder in den privaten vier Wänden, das Internet ist ein treuer Begleiter eines jeden von uns, der in einem Industriestaat lebt, geworden. Unter all den Programmen, die das World Wide Web bietet, stelle ich die Behauptung auf, dass sozialer Netzwerke die einflussreichsten und am häufigsten verwendeten sind. Social Media Plattformen sind besonders bekannt unter Jugendichen und jungen Erwachsenen. Generation Z, die erste Generation von Kindern, die niemals ein Leben ohne ein weltweit digitales Netzwerk gekannt haben werden, weil sie in der Blütezeit der Digitalisierung zur Welt gekommen sind und darin aufgewachsen sind, sind die größte Zielgruppe von sozialen Netzwerken. Nichtsdestotrotz, nutzen auch immer mehr ältere Generationen die Vorteile von diesen sozialen Medien. Man kann also sagen, dass diese Plattformen für jeden zugänglich sind und jedem genutzt werden, unabhängig von Alter oder Rasse. Ein sehr hoch geschätzter Inhalt auf sozialen Medien sind Memes. Memes im Internet unterhalten, informieren und verbinden Menschen auf der ganzen Welt. Ein Teil meiner Diplomarbeit fokussiert sich auf die Fähigkeit von Memes, gewisse Themen anzusprechen oder aufzuzeigen und wie dadurch unsere Gesellschaft und unser gesellschaftliches Verhalten beeinflusst werden kann. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, die generelle Rolle von Memes zu schildern und herauszufinden, ob Memes gemeinsam mit sozialen Medien auch den Spracherwerb und die soziokulturelle Kompetenz fördern können. Dafür wird eineUmfrage mit österreichischen Schülern von verschiedenen Schulen in Kärnten durchgeführt. Das Umfragematerial ist ein online Fragebogen auf Lime Survey. Meine persönlichen Resultate mit jenen von anderen Wissenschaftlern und Sozilogen, die sich mit Memes generell befassen, vergleichend, habe ich festgestellt wofür Memes generell verwendet werden und ob und wie sie in den Unterricht eingebaut werden können. Die Resultate zeigen, dass die Schüler, die an der Studie teilgenommen haben, theoretisch an eine Förderung des Sprachenlernens bzw. Sprachenerwerbs und die Erweiterung des soziokulturellen Wissens durch Meme glauben. Sie haben laut persönlichen Angaben auch bereits ihre Sprachenkenntnisse durch Meme verbessert oder Wissen über bestimmte Themen wie Kultur oder Gesellschaft durch Meme erworben. Die Ergebnisse zeigen jedoch, dass nicht alle Meme gleichermaßen nützlich für den Erwerb von Wissen sind, und dass nicht jedes Mem dem gleichen Zweck dient. Die Konklusionen meiner Diplomarbeit sollen Lehrern dabei helfen, neue Lehrmethoden zu finden und ihre Schulstunden mit der digitalen Welt vieler Schüler zu verknüpfen.

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Schlüsselwörter: soziale Medien, memes, Instagram, Digitalisierung, Gesellschaft, Kultur, Sprache

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Abbreviations

AHS ... Allgemein Bildende Höhere Schule BHS ... Berufsbildende Höhere Schule IG ... Instagram

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List of Figures

Figure 2.1: The Internet is a magical place ... 12

Figure 2.2: Bernie Sanders in Star Trek ... 13

Figure 2.3: Bernie Sanders in Forest Gump ... 13

Figure 2.4: Bernie Sanders and Jennifer Lopez... 13

Figure 2.5: Advantages and Functions of memes ... 41

Figure 3.1: Participants’ Age ... 49

Figure 3.2: Class distribution ... 50

Figure 3.3: Likert scale “function of memes”, part 2, section 1 ... 57

Figure 3.4: Likert scale of personal experiences, part 2, section 2 ... 57

Figure 3.5: Language improvement, part 2, section 3 ... 57

Figure 3.6: Likert scale of “understanding” ... 58

Figure 3.7: Likert scale of “comprehension struggles” ... 58

Figure 3.8: Likert scale of “learning success” ... 58

Figure 3.9: Likert scale of “classroom implementation” ... 59

Figure 3.10: Leonardo Di Caprio Meme ... 60

Figure 3.11: Pineapple Pizza Meme ... 62

Figure 3.12: Mask Meme ... 63

Figure 3.13: Lava Meme ... 65

Figure 3.14: Bananas Meme ... 66

Figure 3.15: Cat Cake Meme ... 67

Figure 3.16: Heaven and Hell Meme ... 69

Figure 3.17: Italian Cat Meme ... 69

Figure 3.18: Simpson Coronavirus Meme ... 71

Figure 3.19: Aqua Meme ... 72

Figure 3.20: Swedish Kid Meme ... 74

Figure 3.21: Trump Meme ... 75

Figure 4.1: Language Interest of Students ... 86

Figure 4.2: Language Knowledge/Learning of Students ... 87

Figure 4.3: Language(s) at school: English ... 88

Figure 4.4: Language(s) at school: German ... 89

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Figure 4.5: Language(s) at school: Italian ... 90

Figure 4.6: Language(s) at school: French, Slovene, Latin ... 91

Figure 4.7: Students’ Use of Instagram ... 92

Figure 4.8: Frequency of Language Encounter on Instagram ... 93

Figure 4.9: Memes’ functions and educational purposes ... 96

Figure 4.10: Personal knowledge gains through memes ... 100

Figure 4.11: Language improvement through Instagram and memes ... 101

Figure 4.12: Understanding of memes ... 103

Figure.13: Struggles: Lack of vocabulary ... 104

Figure 4.14: Struggles: Lack of background knowledge ... 105

Figure 4.15: Vocabulary Gains ... 107

Figure 4.16: Phrases Gains ... 108

Figure 4.17: Grammar Gains ... 109

Figure 4.18: Text comprehension improvement ... 110

Figure 4.19: Learn about stereotypes ... 111

Figure 4.20: Learn about society ... 112

Figure 4.21: Learn about specific topic ... 113

Figure 4.22: Wouldn’t use it ... 115

Figure 4.23: Introduce a topic/start a discussion ... 116

Figure 4.24: Teach about sarcasm ... 117

Figure 4.25: Give insight into everyday life ... 118

Figure 4.26: Teach vocabulary and phrases ... 119

Figure 4.27: Teach about society and culture ... 120

Figure 4.28: Teach about grammar ... 121

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List o f Tables

Table 3.1: Field summary for Age ... 83

Table 3.2: Field Summary for the depiction of current events in memes ... 83

Table 3.3: Memes’ functions ... 84

Table 3.4: What can be learned through specific memes? ... 85

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1 Introduction

1.1 General Introduction

Social media and memes have become part of our everyday lives. Every day, thousands of digital memes are created and shared, spreading laughter and humor, as well as information all over the modern world. Social media function as a new tool for communication, a source for information and a space for discussion and entertainment. Both, social media and digital memes offer a wide range of possibilities to act out one’s creativity and acquire knowledge. The Cambridge Dictionary in fact defines social media as

“websites and computer programs that allow people to communicate and share

information on the internet using a computer or mobile phone” (Cambridge Dictionary b, n.d.)

There are numerous social media platforms. Some of the most popular ones are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. IG has gained huge power and success over the past 10 years, having become one of the most famous social media platforms. According to the website Statista (2021), IG is amongst the top 5 of the most popular social networks worldwide.

The statistic’s ranking relies on the number of active users as of January 2021. IG results on the 5^th place with 1,22 billion users According to the Cambridge Dictionary, Instagram is

“the name of a social media service for taking, changing,

and sharing photographs and video” (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.)

What becomes clear is that the focus on IG is on pictures and videos. For this reason, this social media platform appears to be the perfect storage and distribution channel for digital memes, which are comprised of digitally shared photos and videos. Merriam-Webster Dictionary distinguishes between two definitions of meme:

1) “an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture”

(Merriam-Webster, n.d.)

2) “an amusing or interesting item (such as a captioned picture or video) or genre of items that is spread widely online especially through social media” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.) The first definition refers to the original meaning of the term meme, introduced by Richard Dawkins. Merriam-Webster cites Richard Dawkins, who said

“Memes (discrete units of knowledge, gossip, jokes and so on) are to culture what genes are to life. Just as biological evolution is driven by the survival of the fittest genes in the gene pool, cultural evolution may be driven by the most successful memes.” (Merriam- Webster, n.d.)

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The second definition explains the term from the digital point of view, referring in fact to memes on IG and other social media. Again, Merriam-Webster includes a quote by Anastasia Thrift, saying

“The grumpy cat meme frowned its way onto the Internet in September 2012 and never turned its dissatisfied head back. Since then, the image of the cranky cat has grown more and more popular in direct proportion to appearing less and less impressed by fame.”

(Merriam-Webster, n.d.)

and thereby giving an example of a highly popular Internet meme, the grumpy cat, which shows how consistent and durable a meme and its fame can be.

As already mentioned, social media and memes are something that almost everyone who has access to digital devices- from Generation Z and young adults to increasingly more people from older generations also- sees and is confronted with on a daily basis. This raises the question, whether they can be integrated into lessons at school as well and whether they can promote language learning or the acquisition of sociocultural competence and knowledge.

1.2 Personal reasons for choosing this topic

Ever since I started experiencing digital meme culture around ten years ago, I always enjoyed their constant presence on social media. My first personal experience with memes was on Facebook and pictured Rage Comics, for example, the “Fuuuuuuuuu” comic and other stickman comics. Over the years, my personal use of Facebook drastically decreased and I started focusing on IG, as many other teenagers and young adults. I found interest in IG not only because it has become one of the most frequently used and most popular social media platform worldwide (Statista, 2021b), always offering new creative features, but also because it gave meme culture a chance to expand on a completely new global level. Besides my passion for social media and memes, numerous other motives lead to my choice of my thesis’ topic: Firstly, I am very passionate about teaching. My internships helped me realize that I had chosen the right direction and the right job for myself. Secondly, humor and laughter play and important role in my life. I live true to the motto “A day without a smile or a laughter is a wasted day”. In my opinion, humor has the power to improve life quality and connect people and spread feelings of joy and happiness. Moreover, I think that humor does not only make our quotidian private lives lighter and more positive, but it can also facilitate and enhance the learning process. As we all know, laughter results in a high release of endorphins and causes relaxation and an all- around positive feeling. Therefore, I believe that the power of humor, laughter and positivity can and should not only be used for private purposes, but also in education and hence enable a

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more enjoyable learning atmosphere. Lastly, I am interested in photography and video making and that is basically what both, IG and memes are fundamentally about. IG gives me the opportunity to look at memes, memes make me every single day and certainly also millions of other young people appreciate and support this new digital meme culture. Therefore, the only question that remained for me personally was the following: why not combine all three of my above-mentioned personal passions and make a thesis topic out of it? So that’s what I did. I am very grateful to be able to write about a topic I am very passionate about because it is both, informative as well as humorous. So what better way is there to teach and learn about certain topics than through humor? The importance lies in understanding and realizing where the fun ends and where the seriousness behind the humorous pictures and videos starts and where the potential for learning exists. In my opinion, as a teacher, it is our job to remind our students to reflect critically on the content they see online, as well as in real life. Content may be ironic, sarcastic, satirizing or funny and it is absolutely fine to laugh about all these contents as long as the humor is not derogatory or demeaning of others. One must also bear in mind the message behind these content as well and reflect on the potential for learning.

1.3 Thesis purpose and outline

This thesis aims at exploring the purpose and the role of memes and social media in society and finding out, whether they can contribute to the acquisition of linguistic features - such as vocabulary, phrases or grammar – in the language classroom, and also whether they can support the acquisition of sociocultural knowledge. The thesis is structured as follows:

Chapter 2, which is literature review, which focuses firstly on the definition and explanation of essential the key terms Instagram and memes. Next, the distinction between the original term meme and the new, modern version of this term are highlighted. In addition, the difference between a meme and a viral meme will briefly be discussed. Furthermore, the chapter focuses on meme culture and how memes aid the representation of cultures, society and events. Finally, the chapter discusses the function and use of memes in education and in the classroom.

Chapter 3 describes the methodological design of my research. After discussing the research question and the research’s purpose, I will further explain the approach of this empirical study, provide information about the ethical aspects, give reasons for choosing this study and declare why I decided to proceed in that particular way. Furthermore, the chapter includes a personal categorization of each meme that has been used in the study, as well as a brief description of every meme. Chapter 3 is concluded with personal ideas and intentions in regards to the memes’

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functions in learning and teaching, in other words how this meme could be used for language learning or the expansion of sociocultural competence

In Chapter 4 the findings of the research are presented. In other words, it focuses on the analysis of the data and lists the study’s results.

Chapter 5 compares my research’s results to existing literature and hypothesizes on possible reasons for the results. This chapter mainly focuses on the illustration of the accordance and divergence between existing literature and my study’s results and discussion about the findings’

possible meaning.

Finally, Chapter 6 presents a summary of the study’s findings, practical implications for educators, as well as limitations of the present study and implications for future research.

Concluding, it highlights the shortcomings of my empirical study and suggests possible ideas for future research and investigations on this increasingly discussed and interesting topic.

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2 Literature Review

This chapter focuses on existing literature that addresses topics, which are relevant for this thesis. It provides an overview of important definitions and the history and development of memes. Furthermore, it outlines existing research studies and teaching methods on the use of memes in educational contexts that help to understand the importance of and need for the present study.

2.1 The definition of meme

According to Shifman (2014), in 1904 German biologist Richard Semon was the first one to use the term “mneme”, which derives from the Greek word mneme and means memory or remembrance. Unfortunately, his use of this term did not successfully spread in the world of science. Years later in 1976, the British biologist Richard Dawkins first introduced the term

“Mem” in his book The Selfish Gene, which had huge success all over the world (Dawkins, 1989). Dawkins (1989) describes a mem as an analogy to a gene, whereby a gene is a unit of heredity (TheFreeDictionary, 2021) that is replicated with almost total fidelity (Dawkins, 2014) and passed on from one person to another. In an interview from 2014, Richard Dawkins defines genes as immortal and emphasizes the importance of the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful gene, as their success influences the genetical development for millions of years. A good gene has a major impact on the evolution of the human body, as it forms bodies that are able to preserve good genes and pass them on. Therefore, Dawkins (2014) defines individuals as surviving machines. Analogous to the gene, the mem is described as a unit of cultural heredity, used to describe the cultural evolution.

Similarly to genes, memes are passed on through replication and imitation and their success depends mainly on the Mem fitting into its sociocultural surroundings (Shifman, 2014).

Blackmore (1999) emphasizes that a meme and a gene are two very different forms of replication. Shifman (2014) refers to Dawkins, who stated that there are three highly important features, which influence a Mem’s success: longevity, fertility and fidelity. Fidelity meaning accuracy, longevity in the sense of retention and fertility meaning variety (Shifman, 2014).

Blackmore (1999) states that the memorability of a meme is far more important than the usefulness of a meme. A meme’s success does not rely on how important or useful it is, but rather on how long it can stay in a person’s mind. Actions that are easy to remember and easily replicable or imitable have a greater chance of becoming a meme than actions, which are complicated and difficult to imitate. Furthermore, the selection of memes depends on people’s preferences, attentions, emotions and desires.

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Blackmore (1999) states that pictures and videos that are saved and shared in digital form- on digital devices-, run a lower risk of information loss than orally transmitted memes. However, the quality of a meme and of its replication is not necessarily related to digital systems. A “real life” meme can be as successful as a digital one, as long as it lives up to the standards of a qualitatively replicated meme. In his book, Dawkins (1989) lists firm beliefs and cultural artefacts as basic examples for memes.

Shifman (2014) explains that, in spite of the popularity that the term has gained right after the publication of The Selfish Gene, the research on the evolution and diffusion of memes only became an active research program over a decade later. However, when the research program had started, numerous scientists from all over the world started devoting their time to the study of memes. She further explains that the engagement with memetics lead to controversies . Some scientists and authors presented and thought of memetics as an analogy to biology. In doing so, they compared memes to germs and defined memes as cultural viruses that are spread through communication. However, as already mentioned, memes can be compared to genes, but they cannot be equated with genes. Scientists who are in favor of this analogy of memetics to biology tried to find cultural equivalents for biological terms such as genotype, phenotype or code.

Shifman (2014) emphasizes though, that many other scientists have criticized this, as the complexity of culture outweighs the range of terminology used in biology. Thus, the term culture would be used in a rather constrained way.

The second controversy revolves around the question whether people are simply devices that serve the distribution of memes, or whether people have control over memes. Blackmore (1999) claims that, in regards to memes, humans’ only function and aim is replication. She defines humans as imitators and selectors, who decide on the success of a meme. People are, as her book’s title says, meme machines. Replication and selection machines of memes, who are responsible for new brilliant, as well as preposterous ideas and trends. She further illustrates that, as with genes, one can also speak of inheritance in memes. Ideas or behaviors are passed on through imitation and might change and develop over time, but part of the original meme will always survive and be recognized in the new versions of the meme(s). Clearly, variations and several different versions of a meme come into existence over time through a common language and people’s beliefs, which might not always stay the same. In any case, the basis serves as a model and will always be somehow evident, hence memes go through the process of heredity and not all variations become equally famous. Every single one undergoes the process of selection and at the end of the day, only very few memes reach a high level of national or global success (Blackmore, 1999).

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Lamarck’s theory equals Blackmore’s statement that memes are hereditary factors, relaying cultural and social behaviors, ideas, beliefs etc. Lamarckism (Ray, 2017) denotes the principle of inheritance of acquired traits. These traits can change throughout life, but they can, in any case, always be passed on to our descendants. Lamarckism excludes biological evolution, because it does not refer to genetics in biology, but rather to things that can be learned and therefore “inherited” or passed on. It refers to the imitation of the product. In other words, we imitate and reproduce what we see or hear, which is basically what Blackmore means when claiming that humans are meme machines (Blackmore, 1999).

In this context, Blackmore (1999) lays great store on clarifying that the spreading and success of a meme does not necessarily depend on its verisimilitude. Stories that become famous and are retold several times reaching different places all over the world, must not necessarily be true in order to be told and spread. If a meme seems interesting or entertaining it will make its way out into the world, regardless of its truthfulness.

Concerning the question of people’s purpose in regards to memes, Shifman (2014) vindicates the opinion of author Rosaria Contes, who introduces a new point of view regarding the relation between people and memes. She says that people should be seen as agents that stimulate the process of selection of memes, rather than as vectors of cultural transmission, whose function is solely the passing on and sharing of memes. Besides, she stresses importance of the people as agents, which are able to recognize the importance of certain features as social norms, beliefs or preferences and thus influence and decide on the replication of memes.

2.2 Internet memes vs. original memes

The Internet facilitates the formation of this kind of community as it functions as a global connector. Throughout the years, the increasing use of the Internet and particularly social media also lead to a rise in the utilization of digital memes. The way in which memes are created, selected, spread and imitated changed. Blackmore (2008) introduces the term temes in a TED Talk. According to her, temes are technical memes, in other words digital memes, also known as Internet memes.

There are several websites, which store thousands of memes and are therefore also called meme banks, and some of them even contain videos that explain the reasons for the success of certain memes. On sites like Tumblr, Reddit, 9Gag or KnowYourMeme, millions of people check on the latest memes and discuss and validate them. While memetics and the original definition of a meme set great value on longevity as being one of the main features that make a meme’s

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success, the Internet memes distance themselves from the original definition and features of a meme, as will be further explained in this chapter.

On the Web, it is all about rapidly receiving a meme and spreading it before the next cool meme pops up. According to Shifman (2014), memes that circulate on the Web could be interpreted as a short passing fad. Nevertheless, from a superficial point of view, memes on the Internet have quite some things in common with the non-digital versions of memes. Mina (2019) mentions Limor Shifman in her work, who said that the term Internet memes distances itself from Dawkins’ original explanation of the word mem and hence should be seen in a specific light. Mina (2019) goes on referencing Shifman, saying that Internet memes can therefore be defined on the basis of three key characteristics:

1) Internet memes share certain common characteristics. These characteristics can be everything from content to form or stance. You will always find some basic characteristics remixed memes share with their original meme.

2) The creation of Internet memes is always conducted with awareness of each other.

Variations of memes do not lack popularity because they are made visible among the digital communities.

3) Internet memes are not simply shared, they are imitated and transformed several times and in different ways by many different users. This third characteristic perfectly highlights the difference between a meme and a viral¹

As can be seen, the new and modern definition of a meme, a digital meme, deviates from its original meaning. While Dawkins’ definition refers to rituals or imitations like singing the Happy-Birthday-Song, clicking your tongue to show disapproval or simply wearing earrings, Internet memes open a whole new world. This does not imply that Internet memes and the original definition of memes do not share any characteristics because, as has already been explained, they do. However, many “normal memes”, banal imitations just as wearing a ponytail or wearing earrings are completely and subconsciously integrated and ingrained in today’s society, while Internet memes should still be considered something rather new and modern, something that has not yet been part of our lives for a very long time up to this moment.

Therefore, Internet memes are still rather unexplored and have only been gaining power for a few years now. The main difference, in my opinion, consists in memes being cultural units and habits that are passed on from one person to another, while Internet memes are pieces of content, just as pictures or videos-, which often contain and express personal beliefs that are passed on

1 see chapter 2.4.2

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and shared via the Internet. Shifman (2014) points out further positive attributes of digital memes. These include the easy dissemination of a meme thanks to the possibility of digitally sharing it with a whole society, the simple imitation of a meme thanks to technical tools, such as image or video editing apps, as well as the straightforward selection of the most successful memes, competing for popularity through likes by Internet users. The immensely rapid and easy spreading of a meme thanks to social media, which makes a meme a common social phenomenon, is highly appreciated by society nowadays for particularly one reason, according to Nicholas John: society’s necessity of sharing (Shifman, 2014). In the digital world, “sharing”

means the uploading of photos, videos, the status on Facebook or stories on IG. Sharing something online means, you distribute it and simultaneously communicate something. For example, by uploading an IG story, one shares an event or personal information of their life and make it circulate on that specific social media, while- at the same time- communicating their feelings or attitudes. In today’s digital society everything revolves around sharing, bloggers and influencers share their whole private life and some of them earn a little extra money or even make a living by doing so. Equally to IG Stories or a Facebook Status, also memes can depict and reflect attitudes and feelings. This will be further discussed in the following sections.

2.2.1 Replication and selection of Internet memes

Furthermore, digital memes burst all limits of imitation and replication. Non-digital memes are often communicated orally and can therefore not be reproduced or replicated in an exact and equal way. In contrast, digital memes are presented in the form of pictures or videos and therefore do not necessarily change. However, there are two ways, in which digital memes are frequently edited and replicated. One trend is the trend of imitation in the sense of mimicry and the other one is the trend of remix (Shifman 2014). Mimicry intends people, who mimic a meme in order to make new and unique version of it. For example, an existing meme that shows a person or a group of people in certain positions and with certain facial expressions is copied by other people who imitate the respective content and create a new version of the original meme by simply using themselves as protagonists of the meme. The second trend, remix, refers to the remake of an existing meme, by editing it with modern tools just as Photoshop. In this case, the head of a person is substituted with another person’s head, in order to change a small detail of the whole meme and thus, make it unique and different from the original one without losing the obvious connection to the template. Bini and Robutti (2019) note that memes consist of various templates that have one common feature, which could be a text, an image or an audio. When many features of the meme are changed, while keeping one constant, new memes are created.

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In regards to selection and competition, a meme’s success depends on its ability to adjust to its sociocultural surrounding. The digital world allows its users to see the ranking, valuation, selection, views and other information of every meme that exists on the Web. Clearly, memes with a better ranking and with more views are selected more often. That is how and where the feature of competition develops. Shifman calls this possibility of controlling a meme’s success and selection metainformation. All these qualities play a major role in the process of defining and creating a digital meme (Shifman, 2014).

2.2.2 Constitution of memes and Internet memes

Nevertheless, this still leaves the question, how a digital meme is constituted. The first theory on the constitution of Internet memes emphasizes the importance to differentiate between a meme and a meme vehicle. In this case, memes are considered complex ideas that are developed in our brains and the meme vehicle is the execution and actual form expressions of the meme, presented in the form of a photo, text or a ritual. This is covered by the term mentalistic memetics (Shifman, 2014). Mentalistic memetics can be compared to Saussure’s theory of the signifier and the significant. In Saussure’s case the theory revolves around language but it can be easily adapted and compared to the concept of mentalistic memetics, as they both take an initial idea or concept that has to be realized as a starting point.

In contrast, behavioristic memetics insist on their theory, that the meme itself and the meme vehicle are one and only exist together, as a coded information. In this case, the meme is seen as a single and concrete unit. This theory says that a meme cannot exist outside of its context and form of appearance (Shifman, 2014). By this, Shifman (2014) means a simple photo, video or ritual.

Besides the two theories, which illustrate a few differences between the original definition of memes and Internet memes, there are further important differences between the two types of memes. A big difference between the traditional meme and its new digital version is the personal branding. While traditional memes did not necessarily have much personal branding and individual exceptionalism, digital memes offer the possibility of expressing uniqueness by making the person who shares the meme not only the agent of divulgence, but also a real part of the meme. This would, for example, be the case, if a photo of a group of people or a single person is used for the creation of a meme and uploaded into the Web. In this case, the person also becomes the medium of the meme. This is much easier to implement in the digital world, rather than in the real world where memes are found as Graffiti on walls and several other public places.

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Due to the fact that traditional memes, such as the “Kilroy was here” meme, are often found on walls, there’s a more assessable number of such memes that can be found all over the world, but the accurate diffusion is quite difficult to detect. Nevertheless, these memes usually stay on those walls for a very long time and are not a transitory appearance in the real world.

As opposed to this, the existence and longevity of memes on the Internet has to be treated from two different points of view: the real world and the digital world. A meme that is successful and widespread on the Internet, usually is of fleeting existence in the real world. Shifman (2014) mentions the “Planking” trend as an example for this. The moment in the real world, in this example meaning the act of doing the plank, is quite short and sometimes only lasts a view seconds, as it only aims at taking a good picture of video that can subsequently be uploaded.

The actual longevity and enduring existence of those memes begins as soon as they are uploaded and start going viral. In the digital world, they start making their marks. This implies that students could create their own memes with little effort as the creation of the memes, meaning the act of taking a picture or filming a video, takes little time. Therefore, developing their own memes could be considered a quick but funny exercise that can either be

acted out at home or at school.

2.2.3 The creation of Internet memes in terms of different Memegenres

According to Shifman (2014), digital devices and tools theoretically offer a lot of space for creativity and freedom to the internet users and meme creators. In practice, however, it becomes clear that meme productions follow a variety of certain concepts. These concepts are called Memegenres. Genres are defined as groups or compositions of anything, which share stylistic traits, as well as structures, themes, motives and target groups. In regards to Internet meme genres, Shifman (2014) refers to Jean Burgess’ term “mundane creativity”, which denotes everyday, innovative, and artistic practices. The realization of such artistic practices is easier in the case of Internet memes thanks to all the modern tools that digital devices offer. Shifman (2014) claims that Memegenres contribute to the development of group identity.

Simultaneously, they play an important role in the creation of social boundaries. The reason for the variety of Memegenres is not only the high number of sub-communities and various groups that are formed by people on the Internet, but also the fact that not all memes are equally produced, meaning that some require a higher competence of meme making than others. Some memes can be created, as well as understood, by almost everyone. Others require background knowledge or a more detailed knowledge about a meme subculture. Shifman (2014) lists a few Memegenres that are used for the creation of memes, trying to display the differences between

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each Genre, also concerning their level of difficulty in regards to understanding and production.

The first Memegenre mentioned by Shifman (2014) is the Photoshopreaction. Photoshop allows its users to edit pictures on a highly professional level. That is to say if you know how to use Photoshop properly. Photoshopreactions are pictures that are created as a reaction to other memetic pictures, which contain at least one detail that kindles meme creators’ creativity and evokes several creative reactions (Shifman 2014). An excellent example for such a photoshop reaction is a picture of Bernie Sanders on Inauguration Day. Miao (2021) explains in her article, that a photojournalist called Brendan Smialowski took a photo of Bernie Sanders sitting socially distanced on a folding chair, observing the inauguration and everything happening around him. He sits there with crossed legs, crossed arms, a large brown coat, oversized mittens and a mask. Overnight, thousands of photoshop reactions were created, showing Bernie Sanders picture inserted into various scenarios. From artworks, movie scenes, including in simple everyday life situations, Bernie Sanders peacefully sitting on his chair in different settings has become a widely spread and incredibly popular meme in January 2021.

2

2 see chapter 7 for image sources

Figure 2.1: The Internet is a magical place

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3

3 see chapter 7 for image sources

Figure 2.2: Bernie Sanders in Star Trek Figure 2.3: Bernie Sanders in Forest Gump

Figure 2.4: Bernie Sanders and Jennifer Lopez

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Figure 1 (The Internet is a magical place, 2021) shows Bernie Sanders photoshopped into several environments, in a film, a real-life situation, on the moon as well as inserted in a painting. Figure 2 (Bernie Sanders in Forest Gump, 2021) and Figure 3 (Bernie Sanders in Star Trek, 2021)both picture edited movie scenes, one showing Sanders in the film Forest Gump and the other one placing Sanders on the Star Trek ship. Figure 4 (Bernie Sanders and Jennifer Lopez, 2021)is a photoshopped version of a stage performance of Jennifer Lopez, who is now leaning against Bernie Sanders while being on stage. These figures perfectly illustrate the creativity of people when it comes to the creation of memes.

Another Memegenre mentioned by Shifman (2014) are Phototrends. This includes posed pictures of people who imitate certain poses or actions in various settings. The purpose behind doing so is mostly the subsequent sharing of the respective picture or video online. An example for such a phototrend would be the planking trend, when people planked in numerous different and crazy places (Shifman, 2014).

The next Memegenre introduced by Shifman (2014) is the Lipsynch. Lipsynchs are short videos or clips, in which a single person or also a group of people move their lips synchronically to a song or a short excerpt of a comedian’s speech or any other slightly popular conversation. The App and social media TikTok has gained huge success over the last years, being on 7^th place amongst the most popular social platforms as of January 2021 (Statista, 2021). TikTok has originally started with the name Musically and has constantly been growing its user audience ever since Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang created and launched the application as an entertainment app (Kumar, 2020). Lipsychns are an important part and basis of this social platform and many young adults and kids use the genre of Lipsynch for their videos that they share online (Funny TikTok Art, 2020). Shifman (2014) listed 9 different Memegenres, out of which I have mentioned three and I am going to refer to one more Memegenre mentioned by the author: Rage Comics. Rage Comics are comics with rage faces that usually tend to concentrate on the topic of social struggles and society’s winners and losers. They separate into three different categories: Fail memes, What the fuck memes and Win memes. As Rage Comics address quite delicate topics, people have to have a certain “subcultural competence” as Shifman says (Shifman, 2014, p. 110) and a knowledge of socially acceptable ways of introducing such figures properly. Rage Comics may not be as popular as they were some years ago- around 2012- but they never get out of fashion.

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Shifman differentiates between three types of Memegenres:

1) Genres that are based on the documentation of “real-life” moments. Phototrends for example are part of this first Memegenre type. In my opinion, also Photoshopreactions can partly be considered a Type 1 Memegenre, at least if it contains real-life moments, as in the example of Bernie Sanders, whose photo was a “real-life” snapshot.

2) Genres that explicitly undergo a visual or audiovisual editing. Contents, which are edited and most evidently remixed, be it via Photoshop or in a Video using Lipsynch.

3) Genres that have created their own completely new world of digital contents, just as for example the series of Rage Comics. Rage Comics, or also LOLCats had become overly famous categories of memes, which required certain competences of its users and communities in order to be understood and imitated. Using the example of LOLCats, users would need to master their LOLspeak in order to participate in this community of LOLCats memes.

2.3 Meme vs. Viral

Besides the differentiation of various Memegenres, further distinctions have to be made. In this digital world, memes play an important role. According to An Xiao Mina (2019), nowadays, the internet is crucial for social movements, which imply the spreading of memes and the subsequent creation and diffusion of new memes. Aside from the popular meme, there is another term that is of high importance in the digital world though: the viral. Kevin Pauliks even extends this distinction and differentiates between viral, meme and series. In the following section, I will focus on the definition of virals and examine the difference between memes and virals.

2.3.1 The definition of viral

In the article “Knowlegde and Knowlede Management in the Social Media Age”, Jeff Hemsley and Robert Mason (2013) talk about virality and viral information events, examining how and why certain posts, articles etc. go viral. They state that virality plays an important role in various fields just as political science, communications and many others. Hemsley and Mason define virality as a

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“cascade diffusion process wherein a message is actively forwarded from one person to others, within and between multiple weakly linked personal social networks, resulting in a rapid geometric increase in the number of people who are exposed to the message”

(Hemsley & Mason, 2013, p. 144)

In other words, a viral is any form of message, just as a video, photo, text etc., that is passed on from one person to another and thus spreads quickly on social media and goes viral. Therefore, a viral can be identified as a single unit that runs through this process of rapid and great diffusion. The two researchers mention three key characteristics in regard to virality and the viral information events, as they call the virals (Hemsley & Mason, 2013):

1) The continuous diffusion of information from one person to another 2) The high speed of information spreading through social media platforms 3) The broad reach that is achieved by bridging various networks

The original definition of the term viral can be found in the medical world and describes something epidemic. An infection or a virus is passed on from an infected person to a person who is not infected yet. As a result, the other person gets infected as well and passes the infection on to the next person. It becomes viral (Hemsley & Mason, 2013). A brilliant and easily understandable example for this would be Covid-19. Coronavirus has become viral within a few months and spread all over the planet, affecting not only certain parts of the world but humanity as a whole. Hemsely and Mason (2013) say that the same happens with messages, videos, photos or texts on the Internet. A person creates or receives a message and passes it on to another person who has not gotten that message yet and the message is passed on to numerous people until it goes viral. Taking the example of Coronavirus, certain articles, videos or photos concerning Covid-19 have become viral on the Internet as well. Therefore, one could say that this virus did not only spread from an epidemic and medical point of view, but also on a digital level. Though, the most important factor of a digital viral is the following: it is always a single unit that is somehow diffused.

2.3.2 The difference between meme and viral

Virals and memes are both forwarded from one person to another and they both widely and rapidly spread all over numerous social media platforms and networks. Therefore, the question is: where is the difference between a meme and a viral? The answer is simple. As already mentioned, a viral is a single cultural unit. This single unit can be anything, a video, a picture, even a joke. A meme, as opposed to this, is a collection of units. An original video itself is not a meme yet, it is only part of the meme. As I already stated, a meme is often an imitation or a

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remix of an already existing photo or video. As such, the use of remix and the act of imitation are the fundaments for a real meme. Thus, the difference between the two terms is simple: a viral is a simple message of any form that broadly and rapidly spreads all over the Internet.

From that point of view, a meme is analogous to a viral, with the slight difference of it being modified. A meme can vary, it can change and there can be many versions of a meme. A viral only exists in its original form and does not undergo any form of modification (Shifman, 2014).

According to Shifman (2014), a purely viral content does not exist anymore nowadays. She states that with the increasing level of awareness and fame of a video or picture on the Internet, the chances of it being modified, remixed and imitated augment as well. This again implies that a memetic video is the product of a once viral video (Shifman, 2014). Therefore, viral videos or pictures are often the basis for memetic photos and videos. She differentiates between a viral, a founder-based meme and an egalitarian meme. A viral is a single unit that has a single version of its message. It has numerous agents who spread it and millions of spectators who look at it.

A viral can cause imitations though. That is how a founder-based meme develops. The latter is based on a certain text, video or image that is going to be remixed and imitated. The several versions of the founder-based meme spread quite a lot, but mostly less than its original version.

Finally, Shifman (2014) mentions the egalitarian meme, which is a meme that does not have a clear origin. It contains many different versions that apparently developed simultaneously and are often based on a specific genre or a certain pattern.

Shifman (2014) highlights another difference between virals and memes, which is their form of communication. Besides the fact that they are associated with two different kinds of communication, which I will shortly discuss, the focus lies on passive and active communication through memes and virals. While virals seem to be a more passive way of communication, memes are more actively communicating with their audience through added texts and other sorts of modification. She argues though, that virals can contain an active way of communication too, for example, through the insertion of meta-comments just as “please do not try this at home”. Therefore, both memes and virals can communicate actively with their audience, but it becomes quite clear, that memes give their agents and spectators more design freedom and thus freedom of active communication.

Concerning the two different kinds of communication mentioned above, one must differentiate between communication as transmission and communication as ritual (Shifman, 2014).

Communication as transmission means communication as a method for passing on information only. It focuses on spreading its message as quick and much as possible, without any

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interferences and with information transmission as a main goal. In contrast, communication as ritual aims at communicating a message. Its goal is to transmit values, symbols and similarities between cultures and societies. It does not focus on the spreading of a single information, but it is rather seen as an enduring process of building new constructs of culture, news and identity and transmit feelings of community and belonging (Shifman, 2014). Virality, as a single, unmodified unit, is associated with communication as transmission, while memes represent communication as a ritual.

As opposed to this, Pauliks (2017) states that the example of the Socially Awkward Penguin shows, to which extend digital memes use communication as a ritual. In order to understand, why this meme perfectly represents the communication of rituals, a brief explanation of the meme’s origins and developments is necessary. The Socially Awkward Pengiun first appeared in 2009 on the online platform 4chan. The format and scheme of the meme is comparable to the Advice Animals, as their typography and background layout resembles, but the Socially Awkward Penguin represents and depicts, as the name already says, socially awkward situations. It is a meme based on unpleasant or embarrassing life situations, which, on top of that, resulted in clumsy responses (Pauliks, 2017). The origin of this meme are photographs of the Adeliepenguin taken by George F. Moble. Even though the Adeliepenguin is considered a very sociable bird, its clumsy appearance called certain cultural stereotypes into existence.

Thus, the meme of the Socially Awkward Penguin was created and, in comparison to many other digital memes, it got its own personal meaning. Everyone has similar or same associations to this meme and uses it equally, which is why its recurring use made it, what Pauliks (2017) calls it, a series. According him, a plausible explanation for the memes popularity is the fact that it addresses topics that, up to that point- meaning the year 2009-, have not been discussed publicly via the use of memes. The Socially Awkward Penguin takes up the issue of social fears.

This meme allows its creators and spectators not only to express personal and social fears and communicate social problems, but it also normalizes and generalizes them. The Socially Awkward Penguin is applicable to various situations, from everyday situations as for example embarrassing encounters or fails to forms of exclusion and general disappointments as being friendzoned (Pauliks, 2017). Therefore, the meme’s success lies in the depiction and addressing of those recurring situations and contexts. This recurrence is what is meant by ritual when one speaks of “communication as a ritual”. Thus, it becomes clear why the Socially Awkward Penguin and Internet memes in general tend to be associated with this form of communication.

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2.4 Memes is society and culture

An Xiao Mina (2019), who, in her book Memes to Movements, explains that, as the title already says, memes have become an important part of movements, thus emphasizes a meme’s purpose as transmitter of values and beliefs. In fact, she claims that the use and involvement of memes in protest movements and their countermovements perfectly exhibits how digital culture is becoming increasingly relevant and influential and that is has become part of modern society’s life, playing a major role in the twenty-first century (Mina, 2019). In her work, she focuses on the correlation between memes and social changes and aims on investigating whether these

“most creative aspects of social media culture” (Mina, 2019, p. 4) have a positive impact on society and social change or whether it is just a tool for promoting narcissism, polarization, propaganda etc.

As an example for meme culture, Mina (2019) mentions Cat Memes. According to Mina, cats have not always had a very good reputation. While dogs have always been put in a good light, cats were always associated with trouble and spite and their owners were normally designated

“neurotic losers” or “crazy cat ladies” (Mina, 2019, p. 17). Moreover, cats are domestic animals that are more private. The relationship between the owners and their cats remains very private.

That is also the reason why many funny or cute moments with cats can only be seen and experienced by the owners themselves. Nowadays, cat owners can share everything they experience at home with their fluffy friends online. Thus, everyone has the chance to experience this feline joy as everyone has access to the pictures and videos that have been put online. Those shared contents are then usually remixed and modified. This results in numerous Cat Memes, GIFs and other media being spread all over various social media, which, by now, entertain a big part of the world’s population. From remixed pictures or videos of random cats to famous cats who even have their own profile, as, for example, Grumpy Cat, the range of feline media and the freedom of creativity in regards these media on the Web seem to be infinite [thanks to the nowadays available tools] (Mina, 2019). According to Mina (2019), feline media has become so successful and popular for one simple reasons: They

“illuminate deeper issues about the role of creative media online […]. Cats […] are a perfect symbol for how memes operate: erratic, unpredictable, and yet somehow attractive, they embody the free-spirited nature of the internet, which sometimes brings cuddles and sometimes brings claws. […] they are a key to illustrating how and why internet media gives voice to so many” (Mina, 2019, p. 16)

Section 3.4.2.1 of Chapter 3 includes and presents three cat memes, which perfectly illustrate the diversity of cat memes on the Internet. Furthermore, they picture how cats are used for

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different types of memes, and how they can convey numerous messages and address various topics depending on the context, in which the cats are put and how the pictures or memes of the cats are remixed or edited. Moreover, those three cat memes are an excellent example of how cat memes can be used as a tool for giving voice to others, such as, for example, students or language learners by addressing various issues, mainly in a very ironic and funny way. One of the three cat memes that are featured in the present survey, for example, portrays the struggles of language learners and the difficulties that L2 learners have to face during the process of language acquisition. Students at school can probably relate to this struggle. Hence, in the classroom, the teacher could let the students come up with other struggles that language learners have to face and let them edit and remix the presented meme by replacing the text that is used in the memes with their own ideas and list of struggles. Concerning language, the use of cat memes has proven to be useful even in regards to the addressing of pronunciation. Taking the example of a meme that has been used for the questionnaire of this thesis’ survey, a cat’s facial expression hints at the pronunciation of a sound or a word. By showing such a meme to the students, the teacher can let the students guess the sound it could be producing and hence make them guess the pronunciation of the sought word or sound. Furthermore, cat memes can also ironically shed light on cultural clichés, such as typical gestures of a certain community or culture. Again, taking the example of the cat meme that shows a cat imitating a “typical Italian”

hand gesture, the teacher and the students can, for example, analyze whether the content and the message of the meme is reliable and truthful. In other words, the students can discuss the hand gesture’s association with Italian culture. Moreover, the students could come up with other gestures or features that they would associate with Italian culture. Hence, the teacher could make them create their own versions of cat memes that depict the student’s ideas and suggestions. In addition, the teacher can ask the students to inform themselves on other typical gestures from other countries and cultures and eventually let them create memes on their findings using. Ideally, the students can try to use pictures of cats or any other animal, in order to spread joy- which is being transmitted through feline or any other animals pictures according to Mina (2019)- and laughter while addressing cultural issues.

Therefore, cat memes perfectly illustrate how people connect via the internet and thus, how people developed this new form of culture, also known as digital culture. LOLCats and other popular cat meme trends may seem to have no sense expect pure entertainment and might be considered funny but silly. This, however is not entirely true, as there is a serious side of this media as well, which reveal the “intricate cultural practices and implications for how internet communities operate” (Mina, 2019, p. 21). The idea behind LOLCats etc. is to not only make

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people laugh and share and create contents, but also to make meaningful connections with others, be it with cat owner who might even form their own community online, be it with people who do not have cats but enjoy their nature.

In other words, the concept of pluralistic ignorance has been broken thanks to these formed communities and the connections that people have built (up). Pluralistic ignorance means the

“mistaken belief by a group that their beliefs are not shared by their peers” (Mina, 2019, p. 21).

This may have been the case in former times before the World Wide Web was invented, when the possibility of expressing one’s beliefs was rather limited. Nowadays though, it has become quite easy to counteract this pluralistic ignorance. Mina states that the breaking of this concept additionally leads to the formation of new norms of behavior and belief through repetition and affirmation. That is what scientists call the synchronization of opinion. While in former times men who loved cats were associated with a lack of masculinity, women who loved cats were associated with that principle of the crazy cat lady and cats generally were associated with a whole lot of negative adjectives, the internet has now changed these (negative) connotations.

Besides fighting prejudices, this trend of using and sharing feline pictures on the Internet can be leveraged by teachers in the classroom also. Assuming that it its true that cat memes spread joy amongst Internet users and that they can help connect people and find similarities and communalities, they can humorously assist the discussion of cultural aspects and draw attention to experiences or struggles of people, such as language learners.

The internet and social media have made room for all creatures on this planet, be it cats, dogs, people or other as well as for whole new perspectives (Mina, 2019). People finally get the chance to reveal their personal perspectives on numerous topics and to share what best reflects their own values. What makes digital culture so unique, is that it allows to express opinions and share values through what might be considered a silly, insignificant meme at first, as for example all the cat memes (Mina, 2019). When using and remixing these meme properly though, they can be used to share opinions concerning various topics, as for example political issues (Mina, 2019).

2.5 Political memes

Shifman (2014) too, in fact, addresses political memes in her book. She claims that nowadays, Internet memes play an important role in politics and vice versa. Politics is represented in memes in two ways: either in a very humorous way or in a pretty serious way. The aim of political memes is to express proper opinions and concerns and to participate at debates and

Learner Perspectives on the Use of Instagram and Memes for Promoting Language Learning and Sociocultural Competence. Diplomarbeit