"What's in a meme?" A thematic analysis of memes related to COVID-19 in Jordan

Abstract

In modern time, man has changed the ways to communicate, connect, and express thoughts. Using memes is one of the modern human means to sending messages and interacting. This study aims to investigate the thematic content of internet memes in Jordan during the first two months of COVID-19 pandemic. To accomplish this, a total of 337 memes were collected, analysed, and discussed. This study is both quantitative and qualitative in nature. It uses qualitative content analysis methods to analyse its data. The study reveals that memes in Jordan in this period of time have different thematic content. The following themes have emerged from the data: lockdown, society and culture, politics, online education, family relations, health, religion, and China. The study shows that the most common themes in the data have been lockdown and society and culture, whereas the least common themes have been China and religion. Investigating memes offers a better understanding of the relationship between language and culture. Further research has been suggested in this study.