Memes

(The following text or part of it is quoted from the free Wikipedia article Internet meme:)

An Internet meme, commonly known as simply a meme, is an activity,bconcept, catchphrase, or piece of media that spreads, often as mimicry or for humorous purposes, from person to person via the Internet. An Internet meme usually takes the form of an image (traditionally an image macro), GIF or video. It may be just a word or phrase, sometimes including intentional misspellings, (such as in lolcats) or corrupted grammar, as in doge and "All your base are belong to us". These small movements tend to spread from person to person via social networks, blogs, direct email, or news sources. They may relate to various existing Internet cultures or subcultures, often created or spread on various websites. Fads and sensations tend to grow rapidly on the Internet because the instant communication facilitates word of mouth transmission.

Memes used in intactivism

Many intactivists have recognized that arguments pro genital integrity vs. genital mutilation repeat constantly. Some creative intactivists have created memes to be used as a handy way of spreading information in social media discussions.

The IntactiWiki stores memes collections in the IntactiWiki pool for documentation purposes. The first memes collections are as follows:

• D.J. Bernstein memes collection
• Your Whole Baby memes collection

Memes basically represent one side of a topic because they convey clear information about a subject and sometimes even polarize with attention-grabbing graphics or photo clipping. Because memes may well have abusive or explicit content, it happens again and again that people who share memes on social media are then banned there.

Copyright protection

(The following text or part of it is quoted from the free Wikipedia article Internet meme: Copyright protection:)

The eligibility of any memes to get copyright protection would depend on the copyright law of the country in which such protection is sought. Some of the most popular formats of memes are cinematographic stills, personal or stock photographs, rage comics, and illustrations meant to be a meme. In a cinematographic still, part of the entire end product is taken out of context and presented solely for its face value. The still is generally accompanied by a superimposed text of which conveys a distinctive idea or comment, such as the Boromir meme or Gru's Plan. Other memes are created based on online phenomena or individually-created content. Photographs of people or animals, especially stock photos, can be turned into memes by superimposing text, often to depict an emotion such as in the Distracted Boyfriend and Overly Attached Girlfriend memes. Rage comics are a subcategory of memes which depict a series of human emotions and conclude with a satirical punchline. The sources for these memes often come from webcomics. Other memes are purely viral sensations such as in Keyboard Cat and Bongo Cat.