Comprehensive List of the Most Boring Questions About Memes

So lately, I’ve had the pleasure of going back and forth with some folks on the nearly instant community that has popped up around the Internet Dynamics list, the open-invitation general discuss e-mail list that the Web Ecology Project set up to collect all the people interested in talking more substantively about web culture, and how it could be more scientifically measured, studied, analyzed, etc.

One particular thread, which I’m excited to preserve for posterity, is an ongoing discussion to compile the Most Boring Questions Having To Do With Memes. These mostly emerge from the observation that there exist some key set of impulsively asked, knee-jerk questions that repeatedly come up during any discussion about web culture, memes, and the like. It’s a social phenomenon worth documenting in its own right, and the compiled list from contributions on Internet Dynamics, eliminating repeats, is below.

Are we missing any? Feel free to comment — thinking it’ll end up being a useful resource at some point to write some basic answers to all these, so there’s a perma-link to point to anytime people get inevitably hit with these questions during presentations, etc.

* Can you create a meme?
* What is a meme?
* What is an ”internet meme”?
* How can my business uses memes?
* How do I say meme?
* Who starts memes?
* Where do memes come from?
* Should my company try to start a meme?
* Who coined the term meme?
* Where can I find memes?
* What’s the difference between a meme and something that’s viral?
* Why are you interested in silly Memes? What is the big deal about kids’ bad jokes?
* How can I make money using memes?
* What are some examples of classic memes through out the ages?

[Update: "Are memes always supposed to be funny?" and "Where do I find these 'memes'?" -- via Meredith]