Memes and Engagement: The Role That Memes Can Play in Providing Engaging Narratives Over Mainstream Media
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The paper aims to understand how memes can create engaging narratives over mainstream media. Memes are playing a major role in the social media strategies of political movements, businesses and sportspeople. While memes may not be considered a viable source of factual information, they can humorously present ideas to an increasingly distracted generation. Thematic (identifying patterns) and semiotic (memes being the sign) analysis are often used to derive meaning. In this paper, the main focus will be on thematic analysis. For the study, eleven memes on various political issues were identified and included in a survey with open-ended questions. The results found varying answers on the different issues, but memes related to taxation policy and national defence (Operation Sindoor) were the most easily identifiable.
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