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

Massahi, Saeed; Taghipour, Faezeh; Mohammadi, Asghar

doi:10.22059/jcss.2026.420088.1274

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

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original article

Authors

Saeed Massahi ¹

Faezeh Taghipour ²

Asghar Mohammadi ¹

¹ Department of Sociology, Deh.C, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.

² Department of Communication Sciences, Institute of Humanities, Isf.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.

10.22059/jcss.2026.420088.1274

Abstract

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 19 units of analysis (10 memes and 9 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.

Keywords

cultural messages

digital culture

internet memes

qualitative content analysis

TikTok challenges

Subjects

media

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