The structure also contains a social component that is often overlooked. A rickroll is not purely a private joke: it is shared. The person who has been rickrolled is implicitly invited to rickroll someone else, to become part of the chain of pranks that spreads the meme further. This social propagation mechanism is part of why the prank survived so much longer than most internet jokes, which typically burn through their available audience in a few weeks and then disappear.
The meme’s longevity is also connected to its low barrier to entry: anyone with access to a URL and someone to send it to could participate. No technical skills were required, no special equipment, no investment of time or resources. The mechanism was as simple as the copy-paste of a link. This universality of access was part of what allowed the meme to spread from 4chan’s specific community into the general internet, and from the general internet into mainstream media and real-world settings like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
## The Second Dimension of the Meme: Recognition Without Royalties
There is a particular irony at the heart of the rickrolling phenomenon that requires examination, and it is an irony that cuts against the most naive reading of the story as a triumph or a comeback.
The extraordinary reach of the rickrolling meme — billions of video plays, universal cultural recognition of the song, Rick Astley’s name known to people who had not thought about 1980s pop music in two decades — did not, in the early years of the phenomenon, translate to proportional financial reward for the people who made the song.