The core of a good meme, beyond humor or creativity, is that kernel of relatability. Richard Dawkins, who coined the phrase meme, envisioned it as a viral idea that spread from person to person much like a virus. However, what he didn’t expect was the fact that much of this information would center around humor and that the internet is an incredibly potent vector for “infection.” 

Part of the appeal is that the ideas carried by the meme either focus on a shared experience or emotion or work with familiar information and context. This comes from the high degree of intertextuality that memes possess. After all, we can generally understand the situations depicted in memes through our own life experiences, other memes, or just general knowledge of the world. 

At a certain point, memes have become self-referential. If you have ever had to explain a meme to an older relative or someone “less online,” you will know that internet lore is deep. Some memes require a person to understand multiple other references, just to understand the context needed to enjoy certain memes.