Memes are a good feature to have on your blog for many different reasons, but the main perk of these weekly posts is that you can get across book recommendations to people who maybe don't like reading reviews so much. I, personally, never subscribe to a blog that only posts reviews or blog tours, etc. I like diversity when I'm scrolling through my emails, and I very rarely read reviews unless I'm thinking about buying the book with my next paycheck. For me, memes are essential when it comes to the decision of following a blog - they're where I get my book recommendations at the end of the day. A couple of sentences that pique my interest will get a book onto my wishlist, but it's not until after it's on my list that I start looking at reviews and such.
A lot of people worry that memes are affecting originality. At the end of the day, I can see where they're coming from - on specific days of the week, nearly every single one of my emails is the same meme post, so in that regard, yes, originality could be compromised. On the other hand, this threat of originality loss is actually spurring bloggers on to create more interesting posts. There are a lot of bloggers out there who don't give an explanation as to why a book made it into their posts. These bloggers are the ones who are letting memes affect their creativity. Simply adding a couple of sentences to explain your reasoning is enough to make your post original - adding that personal touch is going to get people reading the books you're recommending. After all, if someone doesn't know why you liked the book, they're going to have to trawl through other information in order to figure out whether it's the right pick for them, and to be frank, most of us don't have the time of day.
However I will admit that the amount of memes out there is getting a little ridiculous. There are so many memes that are very similar to one another and while I think that taking someone else's idea as inspiration and creating a meme more suited for your blog is fine so long as you give credit where credit is due, it actually makes it more difficult for other bloggers to find a diverse set of memes suited for their blog.
While I think that memes themselves don't affect originality, I do think that bloggers need to start thinking about their posts a little more and getting more creative with them, but if you can find the perfect set of memes to feature every week, your blog could be one of the most diverse out there. At the end of the day I, personally, love memes and they are essential to me becoming a devoted follower, but if you're not creative with them, what's the point?
What do you think about memes? Are there too many? Do you think they affect originality? Let me know in the comments!
