How can you tell if a meme has been used?

[Sabrina Williams]

I have a few ideas for a meme for my blog that I have come up with but how do you know if it's been used before so you don't make a person angry or make someone think you have stolen their idea? 

 

Thanks!!

Sabrina

http://bythecoverbookclub.blogspot.com

[Sabrina Williams]

OR, how do you find a meme you like to participate in?  I'm new to the meme stuff.  Sorry! 

[Alison M.]

Here's a good meme directory.

There's no certain way to see if an idea has been used without looking through all the book blogs out there.

[Nancy S. Kyme]

Wikipedia is not necessarily a reliable source, but based on its definition of a meme, see below, I'd say repetition is implied in its definition.  How can a meme spread if only one person writes about the meme?  Substitue 'idea' for 'meme' in that last sentence and it makes even more sense.   As long as you are offering your uinque view uninfluenced by any specific source, you should feel free to write about that which inspires you.  As a precaution, reduce your meme to a tagline and google it.  If you find a well known source, reference it.  Let the words roll, Sabrina.

A meme ( /ˈmiːm/; MEEM)^[1]) is "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."^[2] A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate and respond to selective pressures.^[3]

[Leigh Ann Harbin]

I agree with Nancy.  When I first started blogging I got entirely caught up in the whole days of the week meme thing and sat and brainstormed something "unique".  After coming up with what I thought was a great idea Wish List Wednesday began on my blog.  It didn't take long for me to realize there were a ton of blogs out there doing Wish List Wednesdays!! LOL!  I guess I'm not as unique as I though :)  But I still do it.  And I'll keep doing it.  Maybe one day I think of something really spectacular :)

[Grace Elliot]

Really naive question here - but what is a 'meme'? - I've seen that word so often and never really understood what it meant.

Thanks, G x