memecentric

Memecentric is an adjective describing a concentration on memes as central units of meaning, communication, or analysis. In discourse, a memecentric approach treats memes not merely as jokes but as carriers of cultural information that influence attention, perception, and behavior. It is used to describe content strategies, research frameworks, or community practices that foreground memes.

The term draws on memetics, the interdisciplinary study of how memes propagate, originally proposed by Richard Dawkins in 1976. Memecentric usage emerged with the rise of internet meme culture in the 2000s and became common in media studies, marketing, and online communities as memes gained prominence as a language and currency of social interaction.

In practice, memecentric contexts include meme-driven marketing campaigns, where memes drive engagement and brand voice; curated feeds and algorithmic systems that amplify meme formats; and ethnographic analyses of online communities that organize around meme creation, remixing, and dissemination. Memecentric critique examines how memes shape political discourse, identity performance, and collective memory.

Critics argue that memecentric approaches can oversimplify complex issues, promote sensationalism, and contribute to information distortion or polarization. Proponents contend that memes reveal tacit cultural heuristics, democratize content creation, and provide scalable means of communication in rapid online environments.

Related terms include memetics, meme culture, meme economy, and platform-centric analysis of digital culture.