The word “meme” is older than the internet: Richard Dawkins introduced it in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene to describe cultural material passed on by imitation. Internet memes came later, as people began sharing and reshaping cultural material online. There is no well-established single “first internet meme”; the more accurate answer is that memes emerge through a process of circulation and remix.
What did “meme” originally mean?
In The Selfish Gene (1976), evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins used “meme” for a unit or item of culture that spreads through imitation. The word was meant to describe how ideas and other cultural material can be passed from person to person, not a particular kind of joke or online picture. The Library of Congress’s interview with internet librarian Amanda Brennan explains the connection between Dawkins’s original concept and the later online usage: Library of Congress interview on memes. For broader cultural-transmission context, see the Smithsonian.
Dawkins did not invent today’s image macros, reaction GIFs, or other internet formats. The online meaning is related to his idea of transmission, but internet users often deliberately alter what they share. That active creativity is a key difference from treating a meme simply as something copied from one person to another.
How do internet memes spread and change?
An internet meme is not limited to a captioned still image, and it need not be funny. People circulate recognizable cultural material online and adapt it to new situations. A familiar image can acquire different captions; a reaction GIF can express a response; a phrase or video can be repeated, remixed, and given new context. These are examples of forms, not a complete taxonomy.
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The Library of Congress describes image macros, reaction GIFs, and other internet phenomena as collaborative cultural creation. In that sense, a meme’s “origin” may involve more than the person who first made an image or phrase: later users help shape what it means and how widely it travels. A particular meme may have a traceable creator or source, but that does not establish one origin for meme culture as a whole.
Who made the first internet meme?
No single first internet meme is established by the available historical account. The specialist explainer Know Your Meme notes that identifying the first is difficult. Early examples can be discussed as candidates or milestones when there is evidence for them, but calling any one example definitively “the first” overstates what is known.
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It helps to separate two questions: “Where did this particular meme come from?” may have an answer grounded in evidence about a specific image, video, or phrase. “Where did internet memes come from?” describes a broader cultural process: people share and transform material through online networks. One documented artifact cannot stand in as the proven starting point for that process.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why are memes part of the historical record?
Online culture is also a record of how people communicate and create together. The Library of Congress says it began archiving relevant web material in 2014 and describes its collection as responsive to the changing character of the web. Its archive description calls the web “where a significant portion of the historical record is now being written.” That is a reason to preserve examples of online culture, not evidence that any archive captures the whole internet or every meme.
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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →The Library’s work underscores that memes are more than disposable jokes: they can document shared references, reactions, and creative practices. But because online forms change quickly and are continually reworked, tracing the history of an individual meme still requires evidence about that particular artifact.
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