A play on the well known "All your base are belong to us" internet meme.

The term Internet meme ( /ˈmiːm/ MEEM)^[1] is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet.^[2] The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information. The earliest known usage of the word meme is in the book The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins published in 1976.

Description[link]

An Internet meme is an idea that is propagated through the World Wide Web. The idea may take the form of a hyperlink, video, picture, website, hashtag, or just a word or phrase, such as intentionally misspelling the word "more" as "moar" or "the" as "teh". The meme may spread from person to person via social networks, blogs, direct email, news sources, or other web-based services. An Internet meme may stay the same or may evolve over time, by chance or through commentary, imitations, parody, or by incorporating news accounts about itself. Internet memes can evolve and spread extremely rapidly, sometimes reaching world-wide popularity within a few days. Internet memes usually are formed from some social interaction (Rage comic or reaction faces), pop culture reference (Xzibit in "Yo Dawg" or Bear Grylls in "Better drink my own piss"), or situation people often find themselves in (Socially Awkward Penguin or Futurama Fry / Not Sure If X). Many memes also come from video games (such as the "arrow in the knee" from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim). For researchers it's hard to track down the birthplace of memes due to their viral nature, as well as the high chance of the meme spreading to major websites nearly instantly.

Their rapid growth and impact has caught the attention of both researchers and industry.^[3] Academically, researchers model how they evolve and predict which memes will survive and spread throughout the Web. Commercially, they are used in viral marketing where they are an inexpensive form of mass advertising.

Types and uses[link]

Public relations, advertising, and marketing professionals have embraced Internet memes as a form of viral marketing and guerrilla marketing to create marketing "buzz" for their product or service. The practice of using memes to market products or services is known as memetic marketing.^[4] Internet memes are seen as cost-effective, and because they are a (sometimes self-conscious) fad, they are therefore used as a way to create an image of cleverness or trendiness.

Marketers, for example, use Internet memes to create interest in films that would otherwise not generate positive publicity among critics. The 2006 film Snakes on a Plane generated much publicity via this method.^[5] Used in the context of public relations, the term would be more of an advertising buzzword than a proper Internet meme, although there is still an implication that the interest in the content is for purposes of trivia, ephemera, or frivolity rather than straightforward advertising and news.^[6]

Pronunciation[link]

The term "meme" has been widely mispronounced (/ˈmiːmi/, sounding like "me me" or sometimes "meh meh" or even mayh-mm) throughout various markets, including online gaming communities, podcasts, radio, and television and internet video.^[7] The French word même ("same"), a dynamic word having different meanings depending on usage as an adverb, pronoun, adjective, or within common expressions has also been adopted in the common mispronunciation of Dawkins' meme.^[8]

Notable examples[link]

See also[link]

Internet portal

• 4chan
• Something Awful
• Reddit
• Remix culture
• Cliché
• Fark
• Know Your Meme, a site explaining the origins and use of different memes
• Encyclopedia Dramatica, another catalog of memes

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Internet memes

• Gary Marshall, The Internet and Memetics - academic article about Internet and memes.
• Interactive timeline of Internet memes
• Site to generate images based on typical internet memes

Alison Brie
Brie in June 2009
Born	Alison Brie Schermerhorn (1982-12-29) December 29, 1982 (age 29) Hollywood, California, USA
Residence	South Pasadena, California, USA
Years active	2004–present

Alison Brie (born December 29, 1982)^[1] is an American actress best known for portraying Annie Edison on Community, Trudy Campbell on Mad Men, and Rebecca Walters in Scream 4.

Early life[link]

Brie was born Alison Brie Schermerhorn in Hollywood, California. Her mother, Joanne (Brenner), works at the non-profit child care agency Para Los Niños, and her father, Charles Terry Schermerhorn, is a musician and freelance entertainment reporter.^[2][3] Brie began her career acting onstage at the Jewish Community Center in Southern California (her mother is Jewish).^[4][5] She graduated from the California Institute of the Arts with a bachelor's in theater in 2005.^[6] Prior to becoming a television actress, Brie had worked as a clown at birthday parties, and performed in theater in California.^[7]

For a time, Brie studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.^[8]

Career[link]

One of Brie's first television roles was the minor character Nina, a novice hairdresser, on Hannah Montana. She then went on to star in the web series My Alibi, and was chosen for the role of Trudy Campbell in Mad Men. She is also a main cast member on Community as Annie Edison.

On April 15, 2010, Brie co-hosted G4's Attack of the Show!.^{[citation needed]} Brie has also appeared for a short segment on the G4 show, Web Soup.^{[citation needed]} She had a role in the 2010 film Montana Amazon.^[9] She made Maxim's 2010 Hot 100 list at number 99^[10] and Maxim's 2011 Hot 100 list at number 49.^[11] She had a role in the horror film Scream 4, as Sidney Prescott's assistant, Rebecca Walters. The film was released on April 15, 2011.^[12] She appeared alongside Jason Segel and Emily Blunt in The Five-Year Engagement, which was released April 27, 2012.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Alison Brie at the Internet Movie Database
• Alison Brie on Twitter