How Long Before a Meme is considered old/dead?

[Olly 1,011]

I've noticed in recent years the lifespan of memes (at least by popular consensus) gets shorter and shorter. After reaching peak popularity the previous month, many already declare the meme "stale" and over. What's your take? 

[Here No Longer 5,281]

It depends on the quality of the meme.

There are some memes that are over 10 years old now that I think are still fairly good, because the memes themselves were just that good, like CDI memes and the like.

On the other hand, there are memes that were funny for like a day before they got stale like Evil Patrick and Ugandan Knuckles. They got overused in a not funny way so much you realize the memes were bad to start with.

And of course there's Harambe that was stupid to the point of bordering on offensive to begin with, but...

The point is that new memes are starting to get less and less funny because people keep using them in unfunny ways. It also doesn't help that even if a meme is STILL funny, some people will abandon it anyways, because "the normies ruined it." Which us funny because they're brand f***ing new, and they're the only ones trying to be dank and failing. Like normies... XD

Edited March 12, 2019 by ~Dusky~

[CheeryFox 23,823]

One day to a week usually. Sometimes longer. And some memes are just immortal. 

[Here No Longer 5,281]

7 minutes ago, Stormfurry said:

One day to a week usually. Sometimes longer. And some memes are just immortal. 

Big Chungus probably still has a good amount of time before it will die  

 

[Olly 1,011]

10 minutes ago, ~Dusky~ said:

It depends on the quality of the meme.

There are some memes that are over 10 years old now that I think are still fairly good, because the memes themselves were just that good, like CDI memes and the like.

On the other hand, there are memes that were funny for like a day before they got stale like Evil Patrick and Ugandan Knuckles. They got overused in a not funny way so much you realize the memes were bad to start with.

And of course there's Harambe that was stupid to the point of bordering on offensive to begin with, but...

The point is that new memes are starting to get less and less funny because people keep using them in unfunny ways. It also doesn't help that even if a meme is STILL funny, some people will abandon it anyways, because "the normies ruined it." Which us funny because they're brand f***ing new, and they're the only ones trying to be dank and failing. Like normies... XD

I agree with all this more or less. My concern is that perfectly dank memes will get tossed too early because as a culture we decide that memes in general have a shelf life of one week (hypothetically) once it's considered 'uncool' to use anything that didn't just come into existence yesterday. 

I could be wrong but I feel the time most memes have before they're considered "old" or "Dead" gets shorter by the year  

[Megas 27,919]

When they stop being funny, which is usually immediately 

[Here No Longer 5,281]

2 minutes ago, Olly said:

I could be wrong but I feel the time most memes have before they're considered "old" or "Dead" gets shorter by the year  

Yes, though there are exceptions to this rule. Memes like Steamed Hams and You Reposted In The Wrong Neighborhood lasted for a long while. I still think both of them are good, personally.

But, yeah, unfortunately the people calling "normie" every time someone uses a meme (aka the REAL normies) are shortening the lifespan of some memes... The Woah meme really got screwed over like that...

[Olly 1,011]

11 minutes ago, This Whomps said:

When they stop being funny, which is usually immediately 

 

5 minutes ago, ~Dusky~ said:

Yes, though there are exceptions to this rule. Memes like Steamed Hams and You Reposted In The Wrong Neighborhood lasted for a long while. I still think both of them are good, personally..

They're good and deserve to last because of the creative potential they have. Most memes have creative potential actually, which takes a very long time before it's totally spent. Humor is the main factor of course, but there's more to it than that. 

 

[Dark Horse 12,966]

Really, I think whether a meme will survive or not depends how quickly it spreads early on, and how easily it can be applied to any given situation. People can and will say that a meme has passed its 'use-by' date, but so long as someone, somewhere is still posting it, then it hasn't really died at all.

[Anneal 2,197]

3 hours ago, ~Dusky~ said:

Yes, though there are exceptions to this rule. Memes like Steamed Hams and You Reposted In The Wrong Neighborhood lasted for a long while. I still think both of them are good, personally.

But, yeah, unfortunately the people calling "normie" every time someone uses a meme (aka the REAL normies) are shortening the lifespan of some memes... The Woah meme really got screwed over like that...

Unexpected Thanos (or any meme involving Avengers: Infinity War) and Unexpected Sans are close to a year old and I think they're both good enough last a bit longer. 

Also, anyone who's part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fanbase has plenty of memes that have lasted for several years and are still relevant. 

[Sondash Studios 4,862]

I think it depends how often the people use it share it and if it's classified as a classic meme or other.

[TBD 17,262]

I never catch up with the meme tread so I wouldn’t know.  If I found it relatable it’s funny, dead or not.

[Here No Longer 5,281]

12 minutes ago, Anneal said:

Unexpected Thanos (or any meme involving Avengers: Infinity War) and Unexpected Sans are close to a year old and I think they're both good enough last a bit longer. 

Also, anyone who's part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fanbase has plenty of memes that have lasted for several years and are still relevant. 

I also really like the Mine Song meme. I still listen to them occasionally There's also Shrek memes too.

 

I have never seen JoJo, but I'm in love with the memes! Especially Chirumiru memes  

[Rikifive 24,274]

A well made meme is a good meme, regardless of how old it is. 

Though in general, I think it's not really about time, but how often and what quality people put when posting these. Overused memes tend to die faster.

[Odyssey 5,718]

You fool, memes never die. They live for eons. They are immortal. T H E Y   N E V E R   D I E

that being said most new memes are really crappy and deserve to die out

[Twiggy 2,966]

Memes die after Pewdiepie reviews them, of course.

The actual answer is that they generally die once everyone jumps on making them and the internet becomes saturated with it. You start finding more painfully unfunny versions and eventually everyone stops caring.

There are a few ways to prolong the life of a meme through this. Make offensive versions of the meme that make the media write articles about how terrible it is. Expanded life span of at least a month guaranteed as everyone doubles down trying to troll each other. 

It should also be noted that there may be a way to kill memes off for good for all time. Just make pic related. I hypothesize that there is a decent chance such a movie could kill the very concept of a meme itself, at which point we will finally be free.

Edited March 13, 2019 by Twiggy

[MangoFoalix 25,043]

4 minutes ago, Twiggy said:

Yeah, because the Emoji Movie was a good idea. Jesus christ.

 

A meme dies when it's reposted to hell to the point where it doesn't become funny anymore. Pretty self-explainitory.

[Olly 1,011]

6 minutes ago, Twiggy said:

Memes die after Pewdiepie reviews them, of course.

The actual answer is that they generally die once everyone jumps on making them and the internet becomes saturated with it. You start finding more painfully unfunny versions and eventually everyone stops caring.

The actual answer is probably this

Anyone remember? that happened 

[MangoFoalix 25,043]

3 minutes ago, Olly said:

The actual answer is probably this

Anyone remember? that happened 

Yeah, another problem I have with old ass memes. Out of touch companies like to use it and it's just trainwreck that hurts.

[Twiggy 2,966]

Just now, Olly said:

The actual answer is probably this

Anyone remember? that happened  

No joke. That ad made me cancel my Direct TV. I rarely watched TV anymore, so I was thinking about canceling it anyway. While watching an episode of South Park, this came on and that's when I actually made the decision to save $60 per month.

[RDDash 19,233]

I guess it kinda depends, for me it's everything older than a year.

[MangoFoalix 25,043]

26 minutes ago, Twiggy said:

No joke. That ad made me cancel my Direct TV. I rarely watched TV anymore, so I was thinking about canceling it anyway. While watching an episode of South Park, this came on and that's when I actually made the decision to save $60 per month.

I seriously feel like the only people who use 2008 memes are either doing it ironically or are just completely clueless in basic internet culture.

1 minute ago, R.D.Dash said:

I guess it kinda depends, for me it's everything older than a year.

Yeah, or some cases like Ugandun Knuckles, it will die hard after a month or two.

[Misty Shadow 8,013]

"Memes, Jack. The DNA of the soul." 

It aaaaalllll depends, my friend. Memes are, in the loosest, simplest definition, just jokes. It's all about the timing and context of the situation. Some memes are just cringey in-jokes that should've never left a chatroom, and those are the ones that usually lose steam in only a week or a month. Other memes can still make for good jokes no matter how old they get since they're the kind of thing that most can relate to. 

[StarCircuit 8]

i think if its used to much when its wayy old to the point ware it becouse to annoying or just used a lot then maybe.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,965]

It depends on how long it takes for the public to bandwagon to a new meme en masse. These days the meme 'lifecycle' is very short, because the internet wants to have something new to conform to every other day. It gets old.