Meme Reference

Welcome to Meme Reference — a research-forward, occasionally chaotic, attempt at documenting the cultural DNA of the web.

This site is an experiment in AI assisted collection development to help locate, catalog, and curate a wide-ranging archive of internet memes. Our goal isn’t just to gather memes — it’s to treat them as legitimate artifacts of online life. Because if future historians are going to understand us, they'll probably have to scroll.

What Qualifies as a Meme on Meme Reference

At Meme Reference, we define a meme as a reproducible cultural expression — a piece of content, symbol, phrase, or behavior that spreads from person to person, often changing along the way. Memes are more than trends or jokes; they are shared units of meaning that reflect how people communicate, identify, protest, and play.

To be included in this archive, a meme must meet the following three key criteria:

1. Repetition & Replication

The meme must be shared widely and intentionally repeated — whether through graffiti, buttons, image macros, or videos. It doesn’t need to go viral, but it must show human-driven spread across people, platforms, or contexts.

2. Message or Meaning

The meme must carry an idea, emotion, or cultural reference — even if satirical or absurd. It might express protest (“Make Love, Not War”), identity (“Frodo Lives”), or humor (“Woman Yelling at a Cat”). Pure aesthetic trends (e.g., slap bracelets or mood rings) don’t qualify unless they communicate something.

3. Transformation or Remix Potential

Memes often change form — they are captioned, redrawn, quoted, parodied, or used in new ways. This remixability shows that the meme lives beyond its origin, gaining new meaning with each reuse.

What Doesn’t Qualify

We do not include:

Trends that are purely fashionable or commercial with no communicative function
Products or slogans that lack transformation, parody, or community reuse
One-off jokes or single-use viral moments with no lasting cultural impact

From Analog to Internet

Our archive spans both pre-internet cultural memes (like “Kilroy Was Here” or the peace symbol) and modern digital memes (like “Distracted Boyfriend” or “NPC Wojak”). What connects them is not format, but function: each one spread an idea, was remixed, and became culturally recognizable.

Meme Eras: A Historical Framework for the Archive

Memes don’t just mark moments — they define them. In this archive, we organize internet memes into distinct eras that reflect cultural shifts, technological innovation, and evolving modes of digital expression. These eras provide visitors and researchers with a meaningful way to navigate the history of online humor, virality, and remix culture.

Why Eras?

Cultural history rarely moves in straight lines. Memes emerge through layered trends, overlapping communities, and format shifts. Eras in this archive reflect broad historical patterns, not rigid timelines. They allow us to place a meme within its original environment — its platforms, its tools, its moment — while also highlighting the broader forces that shaped its popularity.

The Five Meme Eras

Pre-Internet / Proto-History (Before 1990):

Long before the internet, meme-like culture circulated through analog media: graffiti, bumper stickers, slogans, novelty t-shirts, zines, chain letters, and protest posters. These artifacts weren’t called “memes” at the time, but they embodied the same viral logic — ideas designed to replicate and spread. This era captures the cultural DNA that later gave rise to digital meme culture.

Early Internet Era (1990–2002):

As the web emerged, early meme culture took root on forums, Usenet, email forwards, and rudimentary websites. ASCII art, copypasta, and the first image-based jokes spread among tech-savvy communities. The memes of this era were often text-driven, niche, and decentralized — built by internet pioneers who laid the groundwork for participatory humor online.

Golden Age of Memes (2003–2012):

This was a prolific and foundational era in internet culture. Meme formats like image macros, Rage Comics, Flash animations, and viral YouTube videos flourished. Platforms such as Newgrounds, Albino Blacksheep, 4chan, and early YouTube served as distribution hubs.

Memes were often remixed, re-captioned, or animated, and communities embraced a participatory, DIY ethic. This was the first time memes became a mainstream part of digital identity and humor, crossing over from niche forums into public consciousness.

Mobile & Social Media Era (2013–2019):

With the rise of smartphones and social apps, meme culture adapted to new platforms and attention spans. Short-form video apps like Vine, image-based feeds like Instagram, and ephemerality from Snapchat transformed how memes were created and consumed.

Memes became more visual, vertical, and fast-moving — tailored for feeds, screenshots, and virality within hours. Remix culture gave way to reaction screenshots, subtweets, and caption formats, capturing cultural moments in real time. The meme experience became personal, shareable, and mobile-first.

Contemporary Meme Culture (2020–Present):

Today’s meme landscape is fast, fragmented, and deeply tied to platform algorithms. TikTok-native trends, AI-generated content, and hyper-niche humor dominate. Meme lifecycles have shortened dramatically, and communities now shape and discard formats within days. This era reflects both the creativity and volatility of the digital attention economy — where memes evolve in real time.

Archival Intent

This era structure is meant to serve both the casual explorer and the serious researcher. It highlights not only when a meme appeared, but how its platform, format, and cultural environment shaped its spread. Eras are applied based on the year the meme first entered public circulation, not the date of source media creation.

About Meme Types

Memes come in many forms — images, videos, text, animations, and more. To help you navigate the Meme Reference archive, each entry is also categorized by type, which describes the format or medium through which the meme was primarily known or spread.

These types are not rigid: memes often evolve across formats, or exist in multiple at once. A reaction image may become part of a video remix, or a quote may start as text before being turned into macros and gifs. The goal is to group memes by their original or most influential form.

Here’s a guide to the main meme types you’ll find throughout the archive:

Image Macro

A classic meme format: still images with overlaid text, usually in bold Impact font. These are widely used for jokes, social commentary, or ironic observations.
Examples: Success Kid, One Does Not Simply, Woman Yelling at a Cat

Video Meme

Memes that gained popularity through video platforms like YouTube, Vine, or TikTok. These can be candid clips, skits, or remixed footage that spread primarily through sharing and reuploads.
Examples: David After Dentist, Rickroll, Annoying Orange

Animated Meme

Looping or motion-based memes, often created in Flash, GIF, or animation software. These include absurd, surreal, or musical animations that gained viral traction.
Examples: Nyan Cat, Badger Badger Badger, Dancing Baby

Text Meme

Memes driven primarily by short phrases, iconic quotes, or text formats. Sometimes they appear as standalone captions, other times with simple supporting images.
Examples: It’s Over 9000!, Y U NO Guy, Godwin’s Law

Reaction Meme

Images or clips used to convey a strong emotional response — often without words. These are commonly used in comment threads, replies, and meme remixes.
Examples: Surprised Pikachu, Crying Jordan, Hide the Pain Harold

If a meme doesn’t fit neatly into one category, it may be listed under multiple types or tagged with additional descriptors in the archive.

Learn More or Double-Check Us

Don’t just take our word for it, we're using AI more than needed. Explore these trusted meme knowledge repositories: