What the Heck is a Meme?

What is a Meme and can you make money with Memes?

Have you come across the term "meme" while surfing the web recently? If you have you might be wondering what it is and where it came from. In an ironic twist meme's have become a meme of their own.

An explanation...

In 1976 biologist Richard Dawkins wrote a book entitled "The Selfish Gene" and in it he coined the term "meme". He created the word by taking a greek term "mimeme" (something imitated) and shortened it to rhyme with gene. The purpose was to describe a cultural phenomenon that was similar to the biological world of genes. Without going all PhD on you genes are able to replicate themselves and propagate from one organism to another in the form of genetic information which makes up the broader spectrum of evolutionary biology. Dawkins noted that the cultural world behaved in much the same way - cultural information propagates from one mind to another and mutates and spreads among the populace and becomes a building block for the cultural preferences as a whole.

Think of tunes, catch phrases, fashion trends, fads, beliefs, architecture or what we consider esthetically pleasing as examples of memes. Why does society like what it likes as a whole since so much of it is subjective? - we like square houses not round, why is tall and thin seen a beautiful and not short and thick?

Our acceptance of cultural traits and our willingness to pass these bits of info along to others is a meme.

It's ironic that Dawkins term never caught on at the time he coined it - 30 years later it is suddenly in vogue thanks to bloggers and memes have become a meme of their own - bloggers have been starting memes as a way to connect to each other and transmit messages to a much wider audience. Like a chain letter a meme can grow and mutate rapidly over the web.

To this end I want to post a meme that I was invited to join by Heather from Home with Heather. This will give you a good idea of how memes work on the blogosphere.

From Heather,

I want to start a brand new meme today.

I’ve been blabbing about me for an entire year now. But it’s time for me to learn more about YOU, and so I’m starting this new meme. I sure hope it spreads.

5 Questions about the ONLINE YOU…

1. How long have you been blogging?
2. What inspired you to start a blog and who are your mentors?
3. Are You trying to make money online, or just doing it for fun?
4. Tell me 3 things you LOVE about being online.
5. Tell me 3 things you STRUGGLE with in the online world.

Heather then Tagged several bloggers - including me and asked that we join in and spread this meme on our own sites. When finished we simply post a comment on Heather's site and she can then read our responses to her questions. The idea is for me to tag several other bloggers and invite them to join in. If a meme catches on you can see how this could end up all over the blogosphere. It also has the advantage of sending link love to the people I tag - each will get a link from me just as I have recieved a link from Heather.

Simple to play - I want to learn about my blogging buddies, so simply tell me more about you and your blog. In the post that you create, reference this post and then tag 5 of your blogging friends. If you don’t know who to tag, why not tag a blog that interests you as a way of getting some link love and finding more about that blog.

If you would like to join in and I haven't tagged you just leave me a comment with your blog URL and I will add a tag to you as well. If you need some quality backlinks this is a great opportunity to get a PR5 link from me.

Ok... here goes.

1. How long have you been blogging?

I have been operating niche sites for many years but only began using blogs in the past two years.

2. What inspired you to start a blog and who are your mentors?

I was inspired to start blogging when I discovered that blogs rank better in search engines and could be used to gain PR for my sites. Eventually I realized that I could make money with blogs directly and didn't need my websites. Niche blogs are so much easier to create and maintain and they don't have to cost a thing. Mentors... hmmm, I'm not much of an idol worshiper and I'm self taught so the closest thing to a mentor would be Jerry Seinfeld - he made a lot of money doing a show about nothing. Brilliant!

3. Are You trying to make money online, or just doing it for fun?

Fun? You mean this can be fun? Ha. There is little social interaction in niche marketing so it is done for the money. Since starting this blog I have become involved in the social aspects of the web and have to admit that I am enjoying myself immensely - I've met lots of new people and have found personal satisfaction in lending a helping hand when I can.

4. Tell me 3 things you LOVE about being online.

I love the money I've made.

I love meeting all the people I have met and having them help me make money online.

I love spending hours upon hours online while neglecting my health, family and former passions all in the pursuit of um... money! No wait! That's not what I/we do is it?

5. Tell me 3 things you STRUGGLE with in the online world.

Trying not to spend money.

Making money.

um... making even more money.

oh and it's a struggle keeping my darn personal life from interfering with how much time I can waste sitting in front of this screen - damn kids!! We sure have shown all those worry warts that complained that television would rot our minds - what the heck is TV anyway?

and now I am going to Tag some people I know "of" but don't know and others that I do know and see if I can entice them to play along. Heather suggested 5 taggees as a target so here goes...


Trent Brownrigg at Free Home Business Tips A respected and knowledgeable marketer I have read for some time now but have yet to meet.

Lisa Mills at Work at Home Mom Revolution A terrific writer who has a great blog full of resources for work at home moms.

Dena Gottlieb at Beginners Make Money on the Internet A wonderful woman who helps beginners learn the ropes regarding Internet Marketing. Hmmm... sounds like another blog I know of.

Karen Zara at Karen Zara Dwells Here An eclectic assortment of topics covered by a very fine writer.

A. E. at Chessnoid Words can't describe this site - a bit of everything that pops into his mind.

And by Popular Request;

Lissie at Continuing Adventures Glad to have you with us Lissie - have at it!

Ok. That's it. If they fail to play along - in the words of Stephen Colbert - I will be forced to put them on NOTICE!

Let me know when you have completed your post so I can read your answers.

As I said if anyone else wants to join in and get a link from me just leave me a comment with your URL.

BTW this is my first meme so if I have screwed anything up... um put me on NOTICE!