Is News a Meme or Is a Meme News?
Memes are great. Memes (definition) are fun. Memes are fodder for innuendo and hoaxes. Other times, whad'ya know, they end up being news. That's what makes memes so darn addictive.
Exhibit A: this seemingly realistic invitation to an Apple special event “on February 22.” These are usually big hoo-ha happenings where new iPods are unveiled. Naturally, it's being discussed actively on digg. And now, so too are the bloggers ogling it. Somehow to my untrained eye it looks very Photoshoppy to me and I am wondering if this is real.
So, can this or any meme be news even if it isn't real? On the flip side, isn't news then just one big meme? Discuss.
Hi Steve, the first time I heard of MEMEs was in Neal Stephensons "Snow Crash" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash)
In his novel he goes down to the idea, that any piece of information could be a meme, some - some are just not worth to be stored :-)
Posted by: Ralf | Sunday, February 05, 2006 at 06:46 PM
Flickr hoax or Apple stealth launch? LIke you, I'm guessing the former. I'd be thrilled to get this much buzz for the actual, non-hoax Feb. 28 launch of Ookles...
Posted by: Betsy Devine | Sunday, February 05, 2006 at 07:57 PM
I agree with you.
Posted by: Tom | Sunday, February 05, 2006 at 09:43 PM
Discuss? Why? What's your real view, or is this just an attempt to be part of the meme and get on Digg and Memeorandum?
You are in PR, and you're a former reviewer for CMP. Often you post asking people for their opinion. What's yours? As we all know, blogging isn't for the weak or thin-skinned but for people with opinions that are not afraid to have them and be questioned/challenged. At least, that's the counsel I give - what's your advice? What's your suggestion? What are your thoughts?
Discuss. Wait, don't discuss. That's pretty much the whole platform for blogs (conversations) and the patriarchal tone of that is patronizing.
Posted by: Jeremy Pepper | Sunday, February 05, 2006 at 11:28 PM
By definition a meme is a piece of information that "wants" to be passed along (otherwise it goes extinct: see Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene). Thus, news is a meme. People discuss current events and they aren't news (they aren't happenings or events that are reported) if no one talks about and remembers them. Does an event have meaning if no one notices? Why is PR an important profession? It makes a happening into an event - a newsworthy object. A meme. This, more than anything else, is what has made me enjoy entering the PR profession after studying media studies and sociology. Wow. Thanks for providing a place and time for me to clarify that thought!
Posted by: Shawna Seth | Monday, February 06, 2006 at 05:26 PM