The Role of Memes in Shaping Online Culture: Analyzing Their Influence on Political Discourse, Social Movements, and Internet Culture

This research explores the role of memes in shaping online culture, especially their influence in molding the political discourse and social movements. The study highlights the journey and development of memes from the original image macro format to the dynamic formats followed currently.. The literature review provides a thorough context on the influence of memes on social movements, political movements and the overall internet culture. The study applies a content analysis approach to analyze memes regarding two political and two social movements- Feminism/Me Too movement, Black Lives Matter movement, the Israel-Palestine conflict and the US Presidential Elections 2024. The results showcased that memes on social movements had limited and minimal effects on the movement, whereas political memes provided a moderate impact on the political commentary and discourse.