Semiotics of spreadability: A systematic approach to Internet memes and virality

The paper proposes a semiotic approach to Internet memes, a discursive domain that, although it represents a key and growing form of literacy, has so far been largely ignored by semiotics. Since the early 2000s, ‘Internet meme’ has referred to a wide range of culturally shared pieces of media circulating over the Internet, such as catchphrases, funny captioned pictures, and so-called ‘viral’ videos. Internet memes are ‘spreadable’—they are effective, dismountable, customizable, and replicable. From a semiotic perspective, they are different kinds of texts that circulate thanks to a hypertextual dissemination; namely, through a process of transformation (samples, remixes) and imitation (remakes). Their syntax displays structures that mirror their creators’ different operations of manipulation (bricolage) and that serve as a hook to users’ agency, inviting them in turn to spread, modify or recreate the text. At the semantic level, despite the variety of themes and figures they carry, they all feature a striking element (punctum), usually a playful one (an incongruity, a ‘mistake’), which serves as a hook to users’ engagement.