science

List of Internet phenomena

List of Internet phenomena is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of Internet phenomena rather than just read about it. In short: Internet phenomena are social and cultural phenomena specific to the Internet, such as Internet memes, which include popular catchphrases, images, viral videos, and jokes. When such fads and sensations occur online, they tend to grow rapidly and become more widespread because the instant communication facilitates word of mouth transmission.

Key takeaways

List of Internet phenomena belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of Internet phenomena to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of Internet phenomena from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Internet phenomena are social and cultural phenomena specific to the Internet, such as Internet memes, which include popular catchphrases, images, viral videos, and jokes. When such fads and sensations occur online, they tend to grow rapidly and become more widespread because the instant communication facilitates word of mouth transmission. This list focuses on the Internet phenomena which are accessible regardless of local internet regulations.

Advertising and products

15.ai – A free web application launched in 2020 that uses artificial intelligence to generate text-to-speech voices of fictional characters from popular media. The website is credited with popularizing AI voice cloning in memes and content creation. Amazon Coat – An unnamed coat sold on the online store Amazon.com by the Chinese clothing brand Orolay, previously known for its home furnishings. It became a viral phenomenon from the period between December 2018 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Beanie Babies – Cited as being the world's first Internet sensation in 1995. Cerveza Cristal – A Chilean beer company that produced a series of advertisements during a Star Wars original trilogy broadcast in 2003. The commercials, titled The Force is with Cristal Beer, would air seamlessly with the scenes in the trilogy, such as a pair of hands like Obi-Wan Kenobi's opening a chest, revealing the beer. The advertisements were critically acclaimed in the country and became internationally viral on Twitter in March 2024. Cooks Source infringement controversy – This publication drew backlash after it committed copyright infringement by using an online article without permission for commercial purposes. This backlash further increased due to Cooks Source's response which showed a misunderstanding of copyright and an increasing agitation to the original writer of the article. Dumb Ways to Die – A 2012 Metro Trains Melbourne safety campaign that became popular on the Internet in November 2012. Elf Yourself (2006) and Scrooge Yourself (2007) – Interactive websites created by Jason Zada and Evolution Bureau for OfficeMax's holiday season advertising campaign. Elf Yourself allows visitors to upload images of themselves or their friends, see them as dancing elves, and includes options to save or share the video. According to ClickZ, visiting the Elf Yourself site "has become an annual tradition that people look forward to". While not selling any one specific product, the two were created to raise consumer awareness of the sponsoring firm. Flex Tape – An infomercial of the product Flex Tape. It became a meme after YouTuber JonTron made a video reviewing the infomercial. FreeCreditReport.com – A series of TV commercials that were posted on the Internet; many spoofs of the commercials were made and posted on YouTube. HeadOn – A June 2006 advertisement for a homeopathic product claimed to relieve headaches. Ads featured the tagline, "HeadOn. Apply directly to the forehead", stated three times in succession, accompanied by a video of a model using the product without ever directly stating the product's purpose. The ads were successively parodied on sites such as YouTube and even rapper Lil Jon made fun of it. Horse ebooks / Pronunciation Book – A five-year-long viral marketing alternate reality game for a larger art project developed by Synydyne. "Horse_ebooks" was a Twitter account that seemed to promote e-books, while "Pronunciation Book" was a YouTube channel that provided ways to pronounce English words. Both accounts engaged in non-sequiturs, making some believe that the accounts were run by automated services. Pronunciation Book shifted to pronouncing numerals in a countdown fashion in mid-2013, concluding in late September 2013 revealing the connection to Horse_ebook and identity of Synydyne behind the accounts, and the introduction of their next art project. Kerfuś – A robot with cat face used as a mascot for Carrefour. The robot became viral in Poland in 2022, where Kerfuś became the main character of many memes and erotic pictures. Little Darth Vader – An advertisement by Volkswagen featuring young Max Page dressed in a Darth Vader costume running around his house trying to use "the Force". It was released on the Internet a few days prior to Super Bowl XLV in 2011, and quickly became popular. As of 2013 it was the most shared ad of all time. LowerMyBills.com – Banner ads from this mortgage company feature endless loops of cowboys, women, aliens, and office workers dancing. The Man Your Man Could Smell Like – A television commercial starring Isaiah Mustafa reciting a quick, deadpan monologue while shirtless about how "anything is possible" if men use Old Spice. It eventually led to a popular viral marketing campaign which had Mustafa responding to various Internet comments in short YouTube videos on Old Spice's YouTube channel. "Mac Tonight/Moon Man" – A McDonald's commercial made to promote dinner sales. Starting in 2007, the character in the commercial, "Mac Tonight" was used in videos where he is depicted promoting violence against minorities and promoting the KKK with racist parodies of rap songs. The best-known parody, "Notorious KKK" (a parody of "Hypnotize" by The Notorious B.I.G.), has accumulated over 119,000 views on YTMND.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of Internet phenomena

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of Internet phenomena claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of Internet phenomena before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of Internet phenomena ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of Internet phenomena

In research: List of Internet phenomena appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of Internet phenomena in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of Internet phenomena is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics History of the Internet, Internet-related lists, Lists of phenomena, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of Internet phenomena outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of Internet phenomena in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of Internet phenomena means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of Internet phenomena out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of Internet phenomena in simple terms?

Why does List of Internet phenomena matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of Internet phenomena?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of Internet phenomena.