From internet memes to TikTok challenges: A multimodal content analysis of common patterns in sociocultural representation within digital culture

Background: Digital media have become symbolic battlegrounds for the production and reproduction of social norms. Within this environment, internet memes and TikTok challenges have emerged as pervasive phenomena that are typically examined separately and in isolation from one another.Aims: This study aimed to integrate and comparatively analyze these phenomena in order to identify their shared socio-cultural mechanisms and functions.Methodology: The research employed a qualitative approach based on comparative multimodal content analysis using an iterative, theory-informed comparative methodology. The sample consisted of ۱۹ units of analysis (۱۰ memes and ۹ challenges), which were purposively selected and coded across four analytical layers: visual/bodily, linguistic, auditory, and contextual.Findings: The findings showed that despite the fundamental difference in their production mechanisms (memes being based on textual re-contextualisation and challenges on physical reproduction), these two phenomena are organised into five common macro-dimensions: identity construction and group demarcation, emotion regulation and nostalgia, informal resistance and symbolic activism, digital normative laboratory, and attention economy with risk-taking. At the cognitive level, memes have become shortcuts for quick judgements, and challenges have become tools for self-presentation.Conclusion: The results emphasise that these phenomena are not simply reflections of culture, but rather microscopic machines of norm production that necessitate a transition from traditional media literacy to deep multimodal literacy.

کلیدواژه ها:

cultural messages ، digital culture ، internet memes ، Qualitative Content Analysis ، TikTok challenges