Slashdot Mirror
First Study of the Evolution of Memes On Facebook
KentuckyFC writes "The way memes evolve on Facebook is startlingly similar to the way genes evolve on Earth. That's conclusion of a team of researchers who have analyzed the evolution of thousands of memes that have appeared more than 460 million times on Facebook. The memes are ideas like: 'No one should die because they cannot afford health care and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree please post this as your status for the rest of the day,' which has been copied 470,000 times. However, the meme quickly mutated. A version that included the phrase '[Your Name] thinks that' appeared 60,000 times. And humorous versions appeared too: 'No one should be without beer because they cannot afford one.'
The team analyzed how often variants appeared and how different they were to the original to get a measure of each meme's evolution. It turns out that this evolution follows the same mathematical evolution, called the Yule Process, that genes follow. And there are other similarities too. There is a small but clear preference for variants that are shorter than the original memes. That's analogous to bacteria favoring small genomes because they allow fast replication. And the same advantageous sequences can appear in many different memes, probably transferred by a single individual from one meme to another. This process is analogous to lateral gene transfer in bacteria. There are some differences too. Evolution is a blind process in biology but not in social media there can be a conscious effort to create mutations that will spread more effectively. This leads to some memes evolving with very high replication rates that are not described by the Yule process. The team says the results should provide greater insight into the nature of information transfer in social networks. It also raises the interesting question of how far evolution might go when given a little time to play with memes."
The team analyzed how often variants appeared and how different they were to the original to get a measure of each meme's evolution. It turns out that this evolution follows the same mathematical evolution, called the Yule Process, that genes follow. And there are other similarities too. There is a small but clear preference for variants that are shorter than the original memes. That's analogous to bacteria favoring small genomes because they allow fast replication. And the same advantageous sequences can appear in many different memes, probably transferred by a single individual from one meme to another. This process is analogous to lateral gene transfer in bacteria. There are some differences too. Evolution is a blind process in biology but not in social media there can be a conscious effort to create mutations that will spread more effectively. This leads to some memes evolving with very high replication rates that are not described by the Yule process. The team says the results should provide greater insight into the nature of information transfer in social networks. It also raises the interesting question of how far evolution might go when given a little time to play with memes."
Evolution? That's just what God wants you to believe
Another disproving of intelligent design. Cos intelligence is not something that could ever be said of any Facebook post that starts "Like/Share if you agree..."
It has to be random and blind at a minimum. But ignorant, unfunny and stupid equally appears to help. Maybe that's where the comparison with evolving genes breaks down?
All memes were created 6,000 hours ago. I read about it in this one livejournal.
Am I doing it right?
I thought the reason the word "meme" was chosen was specifically because of the similarity between organic genetic evolution and evolution of terms on the internet. No?
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
${backwoodsTown} Mom discovers simple trick that makes ${enviedProfessional} hate her!
One simple trick to ${doSomethingDesireable}!
I remember the first time I saw each of those and now they're everywhere.
Which third-world countries are they talking about?
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
Came here to say this. Sort of. Richard Dawkins coined the word meme in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which the article quotes. A meme is basically an idea, or concept, that replicates from host to host. An internet meme is just one kind of meme, but in common parlance has become just meme. But yeah, the word was created to show how ideas mutate and evolve like genes, so it shouldn't surprise us that they actually do. It's nice to see confirming evidence though, I guess.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
Humans are getting stupider the longer they spend on Facebook, so apparently this is genetic, and we are all doomed
Such research.
Much grants.
So controversy.
Plz no frost pist.
Vry concern.
Have gnu, will travel.
Is that they serve themselves, much like the 'selfishness' of genes. Some memes replicate because they're good for their group, e.g. leatherworking, tool use. Others replicate just because they're good replicators. I think it's obvious enough how the 'blow yourself up to kill infidels' meme doesn't do its 'host' any favours.
Humanity rebelled against genes, will be interesting to see if we can do the same to memes. Given that our consciousness itself may be inextricably linked to them it might be logically impossible to do so ;)
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Stop following me on the internet, MOM!
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
The memes are ideas like: 'No one should die because they cannot afford health care and no one should go broke because they get sick.
And yet the very thing it was promoting is now making health care less affordable.
Maybe Facebook could automate a sort of education thing ...
"It appears you are posting a complaint about losing your insurance or doctor. Would you like to see your earlier 'no one should' meme post?"
I remember we did this study in the 5th grade. It was called "Telephone". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...
Researchers get caught spending too much work time on Facebook. Quickly make up the excuse that they were doing research.
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
On Facebook, sharing is spamming. That's how Facebook gets traffic driven to junk pages.
(Hint: if anyone sharespams commercial stuff at you, demote them from "close friend" to "friend".)
Prove to me that the entire universe wasn't created 10 seconds ago with all the (fake) memories of the rest of our lives already in our heads, all the fossils already in the ground, even the genes in our bodies written to look like they had evolved, etc....
Now show me a shred of evidence that it actually was created 10 seconds ago!
Yeah.. it's like that...
So shortened Memes trump their long versions and they get reused in new places and new ways?
In other words, FB users are lazy and attention whores. You really needed a study to find that out? I'd have a few studies I could do, where's my grant money!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
It saddens me how Slashdot used to have a great more discussion on articles of this type, detailing studies, theories, hypothesizing experiments, and thought-provoking anecdotes.
Now it seems it's just a mire of bitcoin spam and pro/anti government flames.
I just want to remind everyone who has aspirations of being a memer, to remember to use only the three approved safe poses: Peace Sign, Bunny Ears, or Fake Weiner.
This space unintentionally left blank.