The Production Logic and Communication Effects of Youth Cyberculture on Social Media: Evidence from Meme Texts

Abstract

Driven by booming social media, online meme culture constitutes a vital branch of youth subculture and deeply affects young people’s content creation and sharing. Previous scholarship mostly concentrates on its communication traits and emotional expressions, while few systematically explore its internal generation logic and complete dissemination mechanisms. Adopting content and textual analysis, this study selects 50 widely circulated core memes and nearly 3,000 UGC samples from Weibo, Douyin and Bilibili covering 2023 to 2025 for research. Findings prove platform operations greatly decide spreading modes: short-video platforms support imitation, derivative creation and casual entertaining interactions, whereas image-text platforms promote in-depth community dialogues and strong emotional resonance. Young netizens evolve from passive content receivers to participatory producers, and algorithmic recommendation and traffic rules are key drivers for meme spread. Far beyond trivial online entertainment, meme culture lets youngsters express feelings, shape self-identities and realize social communication, mirroring how digital platforms restructure cultural production systems and evolve into essential spaces bearing modern youth culture.