The new meme-as-malware example notices the resemblance between memes and you will disease agents. Bringing epidemiology as its model, it considers memes this new social alternatives of flu virus bacilli, sent from the communicational equivalents away from sneezes ( Alvarez, 2004). For the Web sites people, this metaphor is commonplace regarding the very apparent commentary to the “viral” blogs. But really Jenkins et al. ( 2009) truly demand that the metaphor has been used inside a difficult way, conceptualizing individuals because helpless and couch potato animals, susceptible to the newest control out-of worthless media “snacks” one infect their minds.

So it conceptualization of people given that effective agents is extremely appropriate for focusing on how memes travel into the electronic roadway, particularly if investigating times where in actuality the first meaning of an effective meme is dramatically altered in the course of its diffusion

The second common physiological metaphor for memes -deriving straight from Dawkins’ performs-takes evolutionary genes as the model. But not, specific really works has actually “pushed the fresh analogy on gene so you’re able to their logical extremes” by trying to social counterparts for all prominent evolutionary genetic concepts, including genotype, phenotype, transcription, and you may password ( Alvarez, 2004, p. 25).