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Modest Web Site Is Behind a Bevy of Memes

July 11, 2008
by Jamin Brophy-Warren
Cultural Correspondent, The Wall Street Journal

Jamin Brophy-Warren

Creating viral videos and concepts has become a keystone for many businesses marketing online.

Such Web phenomena are known by technophiles as “memes.” Coined by biologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book “The Selfish Gene,” a meme is a unit of cultural information–an idea, a practice, a phrase, or an online video–that’s passed on virally. Although sometimes frivolous, every word-of-mouth marketer dreams of creating memorable memes that will catapult their product or client to fame.

Over the last few years, 4chan.org has become one of the most talked-about sites when it comes to launching new memes. After appearing on the site, “LOLcats,” humorous images of cats with loud text beneath them in a fake language called “LOLspeak,” stormed the Web last year.

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