You Didn’t Make the Harlem Shake Go Viral — Corporations Did

Google's trend charts of the phrase "Harlem Shake" are seismic. Almost no one looked for the words until Feb. 7, then searches surged faster than any term Google ever had, except for "Whitney Houston" after her death. A few weeks later, they fell close to zero.

Experts said the "Harlem Shake" phenomenon was emergent behavior from the hive mind of the internet — accidental, ad hoc, uncoordinated: a "meme" that "went viral." But this is untrue. The real story of the "Harlem Shake" shows how much popular culture has changed and how much it has stayed the same.

The word "meme" comes from evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. Bits of information — memes — propagate from brain to brain through imitation, are subject to selection and can be regarded as living structures, he says, "not just metaphorically but technically," because new information changes our brains. They are often made deliberately — think catchphrases, slogans, melodies — and makers may try to propagate them as fast and far as possible, or make them go viral. The myth of the "Harlem Shake" is that its viral spread was spontaneous, not directed by financial interests — a pop culture, popular uprising. Read more...