Tom Hayes coins beme as a new word for a meme “propagated by blogs and bloggers”.

[thanks to tim finin blogger of .umbc !!]

“A beme is a turbo-charged meme made possible entirely by the existence of the network affect. A beme can be impactful because it is lurid–a photo of a panty-less Britney Spears, or humorous–a whimisical video of the band OKGO on treadmills, or gut-wrenching–the sad tirade by comedian Michael Richards. A beme can cement an idea with the public in a way that cannot be legislated or regulated. No legal effort by Cisco to enforce a trademark, for example, will make the public unlearn that Apple produces the iPhone.”

He says that bemerz, the people who do the propagation, can spread ideas “faster than any people in history”.

“That’s because a beme moves a billion times faster than a meme ever could. That’s the power of citizen-driven media networks. Do the math. There are nearly 60 million blogs, 600 million email users and many millions of social media citizens. Because we all can be bemerz, powerful enough to spread any idea to anyone, a beme today can be created, promulgated and soldered into social consciousness in a fraction of the time it took memes to spread 30 years ago when Professor Dawkins first made the observation.”

Tom Hayes coins beme as a new word for a meme “propagated by blogs and bloggers”.
[thanks to tim finin blogger of .umbc !!]

“A beme is a turbo-charged meme made possible entirely by the existence of the network affect. A beme can be impactful because it is lurid–a photo of a panty-less Britney Spears, or [...]