Abstract

The internet’s influence on consumers is significant, making it increasingly critical to understand internet memes, a key element of modern digital culture. Recently, both domestically and internationally, the use of internet memes in marketing has become commonplace, prompting research into the effectiveness of meme marketing. Previous studies have recognized the necessity of understanding the phenomenon of internet memes and have attempted to identify their characteristics from various perspectives, including content, form, and function. Efforts have also been made to identify the success factors and diffusion processes of internet memes. However, comprehensive studies that integrate the various characteristics of internet memes are still lacking, and a detailed understanding of how internet memes diffuse among a large number of users remains insufficient. This study builds on the suggestions and empirical findings of previous researchers by describing the concept of internet memes and examining trends in meme search volumes using search data. The results are as follows. First, internet memes receive a surge of interest during the initial stages of diffusion but gradually enter a decline phase. Interest in memes increased more rapidly among younger age groups in their 20s and 30s, and over time, interest spread to other age groups, eventually diffusing across all age groups. Second, during the early stages of meme diffusion, interest was higher among a specific gender, but over time, interest from the other gender increased. Third, the proportion of search volume for internet memes was higher in large cities compared to small towns, and this proportion was higher than the actual population ratio of these areas. Based on these findings, this study provides theoretical and practical implications for understanding internet memes and proposes a diffusion model encompassing the stages of outbreak, acceleration, slowdown, and erosion of memes.