Instagram, and Etc. This Study Focuses On The Culture of Internet, Mainly Internet Memes. Its
Instagram, and Etc. This Study Focuses On The Culture of Internet, Mainly Internet Memes. Its
Instagram, and Etc. This Study Focuses On The Culture of Internet, Mainly Internet Memes. Its
culture and they keep appearing on websites, especially on social media like Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, and etc. This study focuses on the culture of Internet, mainly Internet memes. Its
positive and negative effects on millennials and how they cope with it. A meme, according to
Merriam-Webster, is an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within
An Internet meme is a concept or an idea which spreads from person to person via the
Internet. It could be an image or a video on which people find them hilarious, offensive, or
unhappy. These Internet memes usually formed from popular culture references, or situations
people often find themselves in. This concept began in the 2000s, it all started from Internet
message boards, or Internet forums, then it began that the concept continued to spread using
image and video files via e-mail and Internet forums. Internet memes are inevitable, due to its
unstoppable force, these Internet memes won’t stop sending negative and positive psychological
effects on people, largely millennials. These Internet memes could change the perspective of
millennials to the world, because of its influential power. At the same time, it also tests the
creativity of people who make memes. Some people created simple Internet memes,
unbeknownst to them, it became viral and changed the perspective of some millennials. The
word meme comes from the famous biologist Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene,
where it explains how a cultural information spreads from one person to another. According to
The Selfish Gene, we need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit
A meme is a term used on spreading cultural information from one person to another
person and changes and develops as many people use it. An example is technology because it
needs to spread from person to person in order for us to improve and develop new things from
technology. Another example is jokes, jokes spread and change the more they are told.
Internet memes are an example of a concept called meme specific to the culture of the
Internet. Kempe, Kleinberg, and Tardos (2003) explained that the rapid growth and impact of
Internet memes has caught the attention of researchers and industry. These Internet memes
evolve and spread through social media; They live longer, depending on their popularity. People
control the life expectancy of a particular Internet meme, when this Internet meme loses its
popularity, it will lose its value and it will be called a dead meme, but someday, people will use
this dead meme again depending on the situation; otherwise, it will spread rapidly across the
World Wide Web, then to the people who haven’t seen this popular Internet meme. It continues
to spread until it reaches its world-wide popularity stage. These Internet memes survive because
of its creativity, meaning, and the amount of people who’ve spread it.
In the world of marketing, professionals use Internet memes to create hilarity but at the
same time it grab the attention of their customers. According to the article Web Business
Engineering: Memetic Marketing, There are two main obstacles preventing the spread of the
joke. The first obstacle to spreading a joke is that you forget important details of the joke or that
you don't do a good job of delivering the punch line. It doesn't matter how good the joke is—if
it's delivered inaccurately, its spread can be slowed down or even stopped altogether (Flor,
2000). Internet memes are great help to the world of marketing, since most people are using the
Internet and aware of Internet memes, professionals attract people using Internet memes. In other
words, they use Internet memes with their product in advertisements and these people are
convinced to buy this product. The psychology behind this is, it’s either they’re interested
because the internet meme was hilarious or the internet meme that was used was accurate,
meaning the Internet meme was perfectly accurate to the advertisement, thus convincing their
Internet memes nowadays are causing a huge impact to its viewers, especially
millennials. Internet memes also alter the views of all the people, who are using the Internet.
These views like, politics, beliefs, and etc. Internet memes can be anything, it can be used as
giving publicity to the political candidate to get votes, it can also be used as a political
propaganda to throw out a political member. Many Internet memes influence millennials
negatively and positively. Internet memes sometimes convince people, especially millennials to
use drugs which leads them to addiction if they are going to do it, which is a negative effect for
them. It could convince millennials to do the right thing for the sake of their lives or society.
Internet memes control numerous things from one person to the whole society, meaning, we are
getting closer for being dependent to Internet memes. Another psychological example is, when a
millennial doesn’t know who to vote in the elections, he or she depend on Internet memes. He or
she finds which political candidate has the least critics by looking at Internet memes relevant to
that political candidate. After looking, he or she will vote the political candidate with the least
critics. It states that memes don't directly translate to which candidate has the most support
doesn’t make them any less relevant. Sometimes, the sheer meme-fore directed at a candidate
forces them to respond (Paul, 2016). Internet Memes mainly focuses on the culture specific to
the Internet.
It evolves and spreads through from one person to another. It is impossible that people
will stop using these Internet memes because it’s already part of our culture where we need to
develop and improve them and this is a part of the study called Memetics, coined by the famous
Numerous people have enjoyed viewing Internet memes on Social Media but at the same
time, it alters their perception to the world. These humors might also offend people on the
Internet, good examples are Internet memes that spread hate like racism and anti-homosexuality
that could create an argument between people who are offended and those are not (Negative
Effects of Internet Memes, 2013). Internet memes can also be used as a material in cyberbullying.
For example, a random Internet meme appeared in the internet message boards; this Internet
meme is an image of a random teenager with a harsh but humorous caption placed on the image.
People who viewed this Internet meme find it hilarious, and it will continue to spread until it
exceeds its popularity peak. Unbeknownst to the random teenager, the teenager becomes an
Internet meme and he will keep seeing himself on the Internet. Internet memes are like a virus, it
spreads from one person to another. These Internet memes affect these
people’s minds psychologically, and it might change their perception to the world.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Uses and gratifications theory explains why people use certain media forms, examples of
media forms are: magazines, advertisements, online, etc. It also explains how media forms affect
and influence the minds of its audience. According to the theory, people have a free will to
decide how they use these media forms and how it will affect them.
These media forms provide pleasure to its audience and a good example of this is Internet
memes. This theory perfectly relates to the use of Internet memes on the social media and how it
influences people, especially millennials. Internet memes give joy and laughter to its audience
but at the same time, it gives them psychological effects depending on the Internet meme.
Internet memes that exhibit philosophical meanings could affect the person’s point of view on
the world, Internet memes that exhibit laughter could make their day happy, or Internet memes
that exhibit inappropriate jokes like racist jokes could also change the person’s point of view
The media, specifically Internet memes, are anything, and they are made to fulfill the
needs of the user, because that’s the point of the theory. According to Blumler and Katz, the
theorists of Users and gratifications theory, the theory assume that the user has alternate choices
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The diagram, as shown below, presents our aim which is to discover the effect of internet
memes and the flow of our study, which is study the effects and how the second Financial
Management students of San Beda cope with it. Every effects affected by an internet meme to
the person, he or she will cope with these effects, and these effects might change his or her views
to the world.
Our aim is to discover the effect
of internet memes to second year
Financial Management students of San
Beda College
GOOD
BAD EFFECTS
EFFECTS
Nowadays Internet Memes are starting to be a trend worldwide. It spreads from one
person to another in just one snap. This study was conducted to know the effects
of the Internet Memes to the millennial specifically San Beda second year Financial
5. To what extent do these Internet Memes influential to the respondents in terms of:
5.3 Self-views
6. What popular Internet memes on the social media perceived by the respondents?
The researchers aim to know the possible effects of the Internet Memes to the second
year Financial Management students of San Beda. Internet Memes are very popular especially to
the millennials and it can influence them in a positive or negative way. Moreover, this study
Millennial, specifically the second year Financial Management students of San Beda, so
that they will be aware in how Internet Memes can influence their point of view in different
things in life, that it is not just a simple image or video that people create for fun.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Image Macro. A broad term used to describe captioned images that typically consist of a picture
Meme. An element of a culture or system of behaviour that may be considered to be passed from
Internet Meme. A cultural phenomenon that spreads from one person to another online.
Culture. A way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they
accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and
Millennial. Is usually considered to apply to individuals who reached adulthood around the turn
Social Media. Is the future of communication, a countless array of internet based tools and
World Wide Web. Refers to the collection of public Web sites connected to the Internet
worldwide, together with the client devices such as computers and cell phones that access its
content.
Dead Meme. A meme that is overused to the extent where it is no longer considered comic
This study aims to investigate the diverse effect of internet memes; culture of the internet
specifically internet memes only. This study was held in San Beda College, Manila and 86
second year students of Financial Management were the acquired respondents. The operation of
the study started and ended after 2nd semester of SY: 2016-2017.
This part includes journals, articles, and other related literatures that are related and
In the article, Luskin stated the dramatic influence of rapidly growing social media,
Developments that are learning from brain research using the method of Magnetic Resonance
Imaging (MRI), is revealing outcomes that are affecting the brain and behavior. For that media
psychology is now a specialty in the field of psychology. As a member of the board of directors,
they examined the good and bad effects of video games, online learning and internet resources;
Google, yahoo and other media mostly used everyday. He mentioned that recent studies have
affirm the reality of Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) that can cause a disease such as tremors,
shivers, nausea and anxiety in some addict users. He then stated “Try removing a young “gamer”
from a video game in a hurry. You will discover how difficult it is to break the attachment
between the teen and the screen.” (Luskin, 2012). Professionals now consider it a substance
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abuse that is included as other pathological behaviours such as gambling and eating disorders.
Negative aspects of media and behaviour are widely explained simultaneously with the
beneficial contributions media can make as an important source of positive behavioural change.
Positive media messages are presently helping to improve public understanding of major
social and medical consequences of issues affecting an individual as to body weight, diet and
lack of exercise, high cholesterol, and hypertension to highlight only a few. Media psychology is
applied to a major social issue that can be force for the good. Various services from
Telemedicine, teletheraphy and tele health are gathering information and better understanding to
Education today starting from “children have more computer power at their fingertips to
do their homework than was onboard the space vehicles that fist carried us into space” (Apollo,
2012). The statement was indeed in thought of readers if it’s either a bad thing or a good thing.
We are in need of better understanding of the effects of media to help manage our future because
The article also describes the good effects and the bad effects of media which are the
following:
Good: IQs are improving, according to the Education Testing services; Some studies
attribute this to increased numbers of females engaging in interactive game play; Communication
is increasing across cultures and media has helped foster public understanding of many crucial
Bad: Attention spans are decreasing because of exposure to excessively stimulating and
fast-paced media; Violence may be contagious by observational learning and social agreement;
Media-assisted crimes like identity theft and child pornography are taking new forms; Average
number of sleep hours per night decreases in inverse proportion to the average number of hours
per day of Internet use; And Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) is increasing.
A research has been conducted that playing video games mainly “action” has a good
effect in improving the visual attention. Revealing that the bad and good effects benefits from the
relationship between media stimulation and attention. This article from Psychology Today is
clearing a big help and tip in usage of Internet usage in accordance to internet memes.
In the study conducted, explaining Internet usage has followed the conventional uses and
gratifications paradigm. A new theory “media attendance” had emerged in accordance to the
discovery of new gratifications and an introduction to powerful new explanatory variables. This
study has gain media attendance: the factors that explain and predict individual exposure to the
media (msu.edu, 2002). The paper is consistent with the view of media attendance derived from
Bandura’s Social cognitive theory, resulting the outcomes of a behaviour are important
determinants of its performance, found that expected outcomes produced superior predictions of
Internet attendance compared to conventional uses and gratification research. They argued that
expected outcomes (e.g. “when using the Internet it is likely that I will have fun”) improve upon
the explanatory power of both gratifications sought and gratifications obtained. In proving more
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of their statements; SCT is familiar to many media scholars in its earlier incarnation as Social
Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977), as a theory of media effects. Specifically, the vicarious
particular. However, SCT is a broad theory of human behavior that may be applied to media
attendance as well as to the effects on behavior that result from that exposure. (msu.edu, 2002).
With the information they have gathered, present results possibly proved and extend the
prevailing paradigm of media attendance and exposure in communication studies, adding both of
the idea to the understanding of the factors that predict internet usage and the understanding of
theories of media attendance. Media exposure that was predicted was again upheld and new
variables and operational definitions from social cognitive theory was improved and predictions
about media gratifications was then proven as expected outcome (LaRose, 2002).
SYNTHESIS
Previous studies were reviewed and it tells that the media, including Internet, television,
magazines, newspapers, etc. could change the behavior of a person. Internet memes is part of the
media called Internet. Internet memes affect the behavior of a human person. Based on the
theory called Social Cognitive Theory, it tells how a person thinks about and responds to one’s
social environment by its personality. Internet memes are made depending on the people, for
instance an Internet meme that exhibits offensive yet hilarious material to its audience, some
people find it offensive but the other people find it hilarious. When the audience love an Internet
meme, an individual will create another same Internet meme but with a different content. An
individual can understand what people love, when it comes to Internet memes and he or she will
CHAPTER 2
This study uses quantitative method to determine how Internet memes affect the
millennials, specifically, the second year Financial Management students of San Beda. It
determines to what do these Internet memes influence the views of the respondents, such as
religion, politics, and themselves, it determines also what classifications of Internet memes affect
the respondents, such as phrasal, image macro, promotional, and video memes, how Internet
memes considered as millennial trends to the society. What popular Internet memes perceived by
the respondents by giving them four samples of popular Internet memes. The method is
appropriate to the study because it highly supports the conclusion and recommendations of the
researchers.
The researchers used the procedure of the survey method, in gathering the data. The
survey consists of questionnaires that will help the researchers interpret the gathered data, and
for the conclusion and recommendations. These questionnaires were distributed to the sample
population of the second year Financial Management students of San Beda to determine the
effects of Internet memes to the respondents. The sample population was computed using
Slovin’s Formula, then the researchers used random sampling technique to properly distribute
Internet memes affect, how Internet memes affect the point of view, how Internet memes
considered as millennial trends to the society, what popular Internet memes, presented on the
questionnaire, was perceived by the chosen participants through gathering of data by distributing
questionnaires to each sections of second year Financial Management, with the sample
population of 86, where the sample population was computed using Slovin’s Formula. Random
sampling technique was used by the researchers to properly and accurately gather the data and
interpret it with all the gathered data through the procedure of the survey method, which also
Construction
Based from the problem statements listed on Chapter one, the researchers analyzed the
problems to correctly formulate the appropriate questions for the survey and was later validated
by the research adviser, Dr. Nerissa Revilla. The researchers wrote a letter of request for the total
population of all sections of second year Financial Management students to the CAS office in
order to get the sample population of the second year Financial Management students. After the
researchers got the total population, they compute the sample population using Slovin’s Formula,
After validation from the research adviser, the researchers promptly distributed exactly
students which lasted three days gathering of data from the respondents. The questionnaire
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consists of questions that would answer the problems of the given study, and support the
conclusion from the data that was gathered from the questionnaires. Before the respondents
answer the following questions listed on the survey, the cover letter addressed to the respondents
consisting of a brief introduction by the researchers and the goal of the study. Basic information,
such as name, where it was optionally asked, age, gender, and section were asked to the
The researchers expressed confidentiality and gratitude to the respondents for their
Validation
The survey questionnaire was checked a few times before it was validated by Dr. Nerissa
Revilla.
Administration
After the questionnaire was validated by the research adviser, sample questionnaires were
provided and distributed to the whole class for testing. Few suggestions were given from the
chosen classmates to improve the questionnaire in preparation of survey distribution. After a few
alterations the researchers were ready to distribute the questionnaires to their target respondents.
year Financial Management students. The survey distribution lasted three days.
Retrieval
After three days of survey distribution, the researchers retrieved 86 questionnaires that
were properly and accurately answered by the second year Financial Management students. The
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researchers then tallied and tabulated the responses of each respondent in order to interpret the
tabulated data.
SAMPLING PROCEDURE
Before distributing the questionnaires, the researchers needed to know what is the sample
population of their target respondents, which are the second year Financial Management
students.
The researchers wrote a request letter to the CAS office with the permission of the
research adviser, Dr. Revilla, by signing on the request letter to acquire the total population of
the respondents to get the sample population. The researchers managed to acquire the total
population of the second year Financial Management students. The researchers proceeded to the
Formula:
N = total population
e = Margin of Error
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Computation:
TREATMENT OF DATA
Researchers used statistical formulas to interpret and analyze the data that they gathered
from the responses of the respondents on the questionnaires. These statistical formulas help the
researchers understand the data that was given to each questionnaire. The raw data were
processed through statistical analysis and computation in order to answer the following problems
The researchers used frequency percentage in order to acquire the accurate data. The
Where P = Percentage
F = Frequency
N = Number of respondents
The researchers used the statistical formula, Weighted Arithmetic Mean, to find the
weight of the responses given by the respondents from the questionnaires that the researchers
provided, so they can interpret the data given by the weighted mean after the computation, using
The researchers used the Likert scale to compute the Weighted Arithmetic Mean. A five-
point Likert scale was used in the survey. The scale measures how Internet memes influence the
2 1.01-2 Agree
3 2.01-3 Neutral
4 3.01-4 Disagree
2 1.01-2 Agree
3 2.01-3 Neutral
4 3.01-4 Disagree
2 1.01-2 Agree
3 2.01-3 Neutral
4 3.01-4 Disagree
CHAPTER 3
This chapter presents, analyzes and interprets all the data gathered in this study. The
presentation is done by using tables in representing the data that were gathered by the
researchers.
After acquiring and gathering information from the respondents (2nd year Financial
Management students) the researchers came up with the following results and findings:
Table 1
Classification of Internet Memes that Affect the Respondents
Table 1 shows the data about which classification of internet memes affect the
The table shows that image macro memes got the highest percentage among the others
with a result of 39.5%. The next one is video memes that got 25.6% then followed by phrasal
memes with 20.9%. The one that got the lowest percentage is the promotional memes with
14.0%.
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Table 2
Internet Memes as a Millennial Trend
Table 2 shows the different reasons why internet memes were considered as a millennial
trend.
The table shows that majority of the respondents consider internet memes as an effective
way to convey a thought or feeling of a person as their main reason, it got the highest percentage
of 34.0%. Followed by the reason that it is used for trolling to draw attention on social media
with a percentage of 31.9%. The third one that got a high percentage is that the respondents
consider the internet memes as a powerful tool for viral marketing with a result of 23.4%. Lastly,
the lowest percentage is 10.6% which shows that only few of the respondents think that internet
Table 3
How Internet Memes Affect the Respondents
Table 3 shows the different ways in how the internet memes affect the respondents. The
table shows that 39.5% is the highest percentage wherein the respondents think that the internet
memes hugely influences the modern language. Followed by 30.2% wherein it shows that the
respondents think that internet memes shape popular culture. Some of the respondents think that
internet memes affect them in a way that it could be used for promoting or denouncing
politically, it got 17.4%. Lastly, with a result of 12.8% only few of the respondents think that
Table 4
How Internet Memes Affect the Point of View of the Respondents
‘
Choices Frequency Percentage
A. It helps me decide 7 8.1%
who to vote in the
elections
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Table 4 shows how internet memes affect the point of view of the respondents. The table
shows that most of the respondents think that with the use of internet memes it makes them
rethink of their opinion about a specific issue, it got the highest percentage with 55.8%. Followed
by 19.8% wherein the respondents think that it makes them become cynical or distrustful. Some
respondents answered that internet memes makes them think that offensive memes are
acceptable, it got 16.3%. The lowest percentage got 8.1%, only few of the respondents think that
internet memes help them decide who will they vote in the elections.
Table 5.1
Political Views
Table 5.1 shows if the internet memes affect the respondents in terms of their political
views.
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The table shows that majority of them is neutral with a percentage of 39.5%. There are 2
choices that got the same percentage of 20.9% and these are the strongly disagree and the agree.
Followed by 12.8% wherein in it shows that some of the respondents disagree. Lastly, with the
lowest percentage of 5.8% only few of the respondents strongly agree that internet memes
Table 5.2
Religious Views
Table 5.2 shows if the internet memes affect the respondents in terms of their religious
views.
The table shows that majority of the respondents strongly disagree with a percentage of
31.4%. Followed by 29.0% of the respondents that is neutral, 18.6% that disagrees and 16.3%
that agrees. The lowest percentage is 4.7%, only few respondents strongly agree that internet
Table 5.3
Self-Views
The table shows that majority of the respondents is neutral with a percentage of 34.9%. Followed
by 24.4% of the respondents that agrees, then 17.4% that strongly disagrees and 14.0% that
disagrees. The lowest percentage is 9.3%. Only few respondents strongly agree that internet
Table 5.4
Weighted Mean Interpretation
Table 5.4 shows the total results of the data gathered from table 5.1-5.3. As shown in the
table above, the results are based from the weighted mean of the first three tables earlier and the
interpretation of their data results to disagree. It means that majority of the respondents disagrees
that internet memes influence them in terms of political, religious and self-views.
2
6. What are the most popular Internet memes on social media as perceived by you?
Table 6
A.
24 27.9%
B.
31 36.0%
C.
26 30.2%
D.
Total 86 100.0%
Table 6 shows which internet meme is the most popular on social media as perceived by
the respondents.
The table shows that majority of the respondents consider the third meme as the most
popular meme for them, it has a percentage of 36.0%. Followed by the last meme that has a
percentage of 30.2%, then the second meme with a percentage of 27.9%. Lastly, the first meme
got the lowest percentage of 5.8% it means that it didn’t get that much of attention from the
respondents.