The growth, spread, and mutation of internet phenomena: A study of memes

TLDR

Internet memes are humorous units of information that spread rapidly online, often briefly, and modeling their diffusion is of interest for understanding large-scale information spread. The study evaluates and seeks to improve previously implemented models of memetic diffusion. An SIR-based system of stochastic differential equations is implemented to model memetic diffusion.

Abstract

An internet memes is defined as "an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations" (Oxford Living Dictionary, 2018). Such units of information are spread rapidly by internet users, often for a relatively short period of time. The modeling of this spread is of interest for a variety of reasons, especially since large amounts of information are spread via this method. In this study, we attempt to evaluate some previously-implemented models of memetic diffusion and improve upon them when possible. In particular, we implement an SIR-based system of stochastic differential equations.