A meme is defined by Merriam-Webster as “an amusing or interesting item (such as a captioned picture or video) or genre of items that is spread widely online, especially through social media.” Before internet memes became popular in the 21st century, British scientist Richard Dawkins first used the term “meme” in his book The Selfish Gene. He defined it as “a unit of cultural transmission.” The term has since developed to describe the internet memes we know today.