The internet: the world of memes, viral videos, and cat pictures. It has rarely escaped into the real world.

The real world: the mainstream world, where we live. It is a whole 'nother place, seperate from the internet. Computers have been a gateway, and the internet and mainstream media hasn't really mingled. But... will it?

Let's do some history. According to Wikipedia, a meme is"an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture." The first use of this idea (not word) was in 1844 in Max Stirner's book The Ego and it's Own, with comparisons to nationalism and religion. The term was first thought of appeared in 1904; meme comes from the Greek wordμνήμη (mneme) which meant "memory" in a book by German biologist Richard Semon titledDie Mnemischen Empfindungen in ihren Beziehungen zu den Originalempfindungenwhich was referred to as a unit of social evolution. The 1921 translation of the book by L. Simon first used the word mneme.

The actual word "meme" was used in Richard Dawkin's The Selfish Gene (1976). It was meant to be a shortening of the word "mimeme" (from Greek word "mimema": something imitated). The word however was meant as something that sounded like the word gene, not the meaning previously used.

Does this have to do with internet means? nope.avi*. An internet meme by definition is a concept that spreads via internet. Now... internet memes usually tend to stay inside the internet, rarely travelling into the real world, and when they do, it's rather subtle. Very few (which include Charlie Sheen and the Rick Roll) have gone mainstream, but for the most part, they are in a whole 'nother world.

But recently, the line that divides internet and mainstream could be breaking. Or maybe they're all coincidental. Let's look into this a little...

I fist noticed this September 17th, during the season premiere of MyLittlePony: Friendship is Magic. This the first season where it is a recognized meme at the start. So, after establishing an internet following, they might have some references to the internet, right? Probably not... wait what's this? CHOCOLATE RAIN?(best vid I could find)

Evidence #1: MyLittlePony. This is where the wall began to come down. Not only becoming an internet meme and gained a cult following, it gathered mainstream attention: teen and adult males watching shows for little girls was sort of a big thing. With ponies invading the internet, they were invading mainstream. There was a second larger internet-related reference, at the end of the second episode of the season (warning: spoilers). As well as a few smaller, more subtle references (such as Discord's trollish ways), the show has definitely been affected by the internet.

What's more important is that other shows have been trying to become memes (the term is "forced memes"), with different results. Adventure Time and Spongebob have recently been gaining attention on the internet, trying to get the same effect as MLP (most likely, I think), but is it working? Well, Spongebob has the Pushing Patrick meme, and Adventure Time has a mainstream following, but neither have much internet power to back them up and tear down the wall further.

Evidence #2: Seth MacFarlane. You know, that guy who made Family Guy, American Dad, the Cleveland Show, and is making a Flinstones reboot? Yea, him. Last sunday new seasons for those 3 shows (as well as Simpsons, but that's irrelevant), and something interesting happened in Cleveland Show and Family Guy (which appeared back-to-back, respectively). At the end of the Cleveland Show, we got this reference to a viral vid, Best Cry Ever. So, probably some random thing, Seth does this. And it's reletively small. BUT THEN Family Guy.

Ohoho... Family Guy. They brought Trololo guy to the spotlight. Now, they've done something like this before (like the Rick Roll sung by Brian), but the complete randomness and uselessness of the scene brings it out, plus Trololo is a huge thing. Family Guy has succeeded in bringing memes or other things to the mainstream before.

OK, so we have this, but what else? That can't change anything... well, stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow where we go over two other factors: Tosh.0 and MAD.

To be continued...