Internet memes about controversial issues like gun control take up a significant portion of online discourses in digital public spheres. However, existing literature on memes has yet to discern how useful these memes are as discursive objects. This project investigates social media users’ perspectives on meme use and reveals a user ambivalence regarding memes’ utility as effective tools for civic engagement. Focus groups and online questionnaires with college students reveal social media users’ mixed feelings on gun control memes’ utility as civic engagement aids. While memes about gun control can support civic engagement practices by encouraging deeper thought and sparking conversation, participants also indicated that memes can contribute to political echo chambers or violate online etiquette. This study adds important perspective to the study of memes as democratic objects and fills gaps in the existing literature on how social media users perceive memes as they relate to the public sphere.
About the presenterEllen Santa Maria
I am interested in the intersections of power and marginalized communities as they manifest in digital culture. My current work seeks to understand how people use Internet memes to co-create identities, establish communities, and advance agendas.