Memes have become ingrained in American society as a prominent instrument of communication and humor. Associate Professor, Bobbie Foster, from the University of Arkansas shared important insight into how memes influence individuals, as well as the importance of practicing thoughtful media literacy.

After writing her master’s thesis on presidential memes from Facebook in 2012 and with her experience teaching journalism classes, Foster holds a niche area of expertise in meme culture. 

Getting into this area was kind of an accident, said Bobbie Foster.

“It was the 2012 presidential election. I was sitting with some friends watching the first or second presidential debate between Obama and Mitt Romney, and I noticed that we were all watching it, talking to each other and messaging each other on Twitter. Everybody was memeing and watching and engaging across two screens and three modes of communications. I thought that’s really interesting,” Foster said. 

Although her field is more on the unconventional side, Foster said she finds fulfillment by seeing how memes can fundamentally impact lives and sharing her unique interest with others. Using memes as a means of exchanging ideas, opinions, or jokes can combat feelings of loneliness that plague our society.

“I think memes help us find community in an otherwise big, open digital space where you don’t necessarily see the person that you’re talking to. As somebody who was a weird kid and who is in the LGBTQ community, it was always kind of hard to find people in my very small high school that I could relate to,” Foster said. “The internet was a really nice safe space to find other young people who were seeing and experiencing some of the same things I was, and memes helped me kind of communicate and build those connections.”

Beyond offering humor and solidarity, memes have also changed how Americans get their news. Unfortunately, without a system of fact checking and accountability, memes can spread fake news if taken at face value. Many are based on current events, often containing hidden or blatant political bias. Furthermore, the subgroups of meme communities can become fiery or even hateful environments.

Memes can become vehicles for disinformation, or build communities that have bad intentions or further conspiracies, like QAnon, a far-right political conspiracy theory and movement. How individuals use memes can depend on the group and their intentions, Foster said.

Since memes offer a casual dissemination of news, this often causes viewers to take information blindly from unreliable sources.

“Many TikTok accounts mix in news with a variety of other topics, from celebrity gossip to jokes and memes. Some 43% of accounts that discussed news or politics during our 2024 study period also posted about entertainment and pop culture, and just over a third (36%) also posted humorous content,” according to Pew Research.

Because of this, Foster advised, “Don’t make quick judgments just based on the pieces of information, but really try to think about how you can get a bigger picture of what’s happening.”

Despite these drawbacks, memes are now at the heart of casual communication for individuals across the globe. Different cultures have different content that appeals to how they were raised and their values, but memes also facilitate learning about other groups. 

Foster took specific interest in how memes differentiated across cultures, fascinated with the contrasting gaps and connections they formed.

“I do the same exercise every summer in Salzburg at an international study abroad program, and that’s always fascinating because I have students from China, India, Lebanon, America, the UK, Mexico, Argentina and they don’t understand anybody’s memes. They’re all the same age. They’re all on the same platforms, but it’s culturally contextual,” Foster said.

As long as viewers practice media literacy and keep in mind that memes don’t necessarily provide direct facts, memes are a beneficial tool for entertaining social interaction. They can forge laughter, convey meaningful messages and express beliefs.

“The biggest thing about memes is they’re fun and interesting to engage in, but they also have bigger, deeper connections to things that are outside of digital space,” Foster said.