Just as organisms exist within ecosystems, meme-types coexist within semiotic ecologies—overlapping fields of meaning where different types interact, compete, and co-evolve. If we’ve so far examined memes as individual trajectories of meaning, we now broaden the lens: what happens when multiple meme-types operate in the same discursive space?
Meaning Is Never Singular
No meme-type exists in a vacuum. Any given meme instance participates in:
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The meme-type it instantiates
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The register of discourse it draws from (e.g., political critique, fandom, news satire)
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The context of situation in which it is interpreted
This means that meme-types are always situated within a network of possible meanings, many of which overlap or diverge in value and function. The result is a semiotic ecosystem where:
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Some meme-types reinforce each other
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Some compete for uptake and visibility
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Some mutate in response to others
Niche Formation: Meme-Types and Contextual Fit
Each meme-type occupies a semiotic niche—a pattern of use, uptake, and function that makes it viable in context. This niche is defined by:
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Thematic relevance (what the meme is “about”)
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Emotional register (how it positions the audience)
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Modal form (image-macro, video clip, text post, etc.)
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Platform affordances (e.g., Twitter threads vs. TikTok remixes)
Meme-types flourish when they fit their context while offering enough novelty to invite uptake. If too similar to existing types, they compete directly; if too divergent, they risk being unintelligible.
Competition and Coevolution
Meme ecologies are not zero-sum. Multiple meme-types can:
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Coexist by occupying different niches (e.g., sincere vs. ironic)
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Interact by cross-referencing or parody (meta-memes)
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Merge into hybrid forms (e.g., a popular format used for a new theme)
However, they also compete for visibility, shareability, and symbolic value. Meme-types that fail to resonate or adapt may fade from circulation. Others may rise rapidly by responding to saturation elsewhere (e.g., a minimalist meme gaining popularity after a flood of highly complex ones).
This is memetic coevolution: meme-types shaping each other’s constraints and possibilities over time.
Meme Ecosystems and Social Identity
Meme ecologies also reflect social divisions. Some meme-types:
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Signal group membership (e.g., in-jokes within a fandom or subculture)
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Mark alignment or stance (e.g., political memes)
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Operate across registers (e.g., formal satire vs. absurdist humour)
These divisions create sub-ecologies of meaning—semiotic communities where meme-types evolve under different pressures. A meme that thrives in one community may be incomprehensible or offensive in another.
Emergence and Decline as Ecological Dynamics
From this perspective, meme emergence and meme saturation are not isolated events but ecological phenomena:
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A new meme-type may fill a gap or reframe another type
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Saturation may drive innovation elsewhere in the system
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Communities may conserve or repurpose old meme-types in novel ways
This leads to a dynamic equilibrium: the meme economy maintains stability not by freezing meaning, but by constantly cycling through variation and selection within a bounded ecology.
Conclusion: Memes as Ecosocial Meaning Systems
By thinking in terms of meme ecologies, we shift from a model of isolated replication to one of systemic interaction. Meme-types do not merely spread; they inhabit, adapt, and coexist within a constantly shifting landscape of meaning.
In the next post, we’ll explore how these ecologies are mapped and navigated by meme-users—not just as content creators, but as meaning-makers embedded in their semiotic environments.
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