[RESOURCE] COCONET’s Use of Memes in Activism

Memes have become a fundamental aspect of Internet culture and the native language of social media. With their ability to easily convey a message and to be easily shared, they have been adopted by many movements.

Memes are a cultural product based on social relations, memories, historic, geographic and economic references as well as specific conjectural aspects. Memes that Internet users post, share, and like best are what they find interesting and humorous, reflect their impression of a topic and affect or sensitize them to a topic. Memes can allow non-elite Internet users to yield influence and make their voices heard. Through this, memes can become a tool for grassroots action in human rights movements as memes can be utilized to spread messages quickly.