memes twitter social network analysis speed joy rythmanalysis
This paper examines how speed shapes internet culture. To do so, it analyses ‘memetic moments’ on Twitter, short-lived and rapidly circulated memes that quickly reach saturation. The paper examines two ‘memetic moments’ on Twitter in 2018 and 2019 to assess how they develop over time. Each case study comprises a week’s worth of relevant tweets that were analysed for temporal patterns. We analyse these ‘memetic moments’ through Lefebvre’s (2004) work on rhythmanalysis, arguing that the temporal patterns of memes on Twitter can be understood through his concepts of repetition, presence and dialogue. While seemingly trivial, memetic moments underscore the didactic relationship between social media and news media while also providing a way to approach complex social issues.
Details
Title
Memetic Moments: The speed of Twitter memes
Authors
Naomi Smith (Author) - Federation University
Simon Copland (Author) - Australian National University
Publication details
Journal of Digital Social Research, Vol.4(1), pp.23-48
Publisher
Umeaa Universite, Center for Digital Social Research (DIGSUM)
Date published
2021
DOI
10.33621/jdsr.v4i1.95
ISSN
2003-1998
Copyright note
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.