Meme

Richard Dawkins coined the word in 1976 for a unit of culture that spreads by imitation, and the internet took him literally. What makes something a meme is the template: a shape other people can fill with their own material while the reference stays legible. That is why memes travel so fast and die so fast, since a format is exhausted once everyone has used it. For creators the useful part is timing. Using a format at its peak reads as being in the conversation, and using it three weeks late reads as being outside it, which is a signal an audience picks up instantly.