How did memes become so popular?

CHICAGO -- No matter what current event, news story or unexpected situation happens, people have probably seen a meme associated with it.

But how did these viral images and videos become so popular and is there big money involved? Professor of Media Studies at DePaul University, Paul Booth, stopped by to tell us more!

Booth is an associate professor of media studies at DePaul University. He is the author of four books: "Game Play," "Playing Fans," "Time on TV" and "Digital Fandom." He has also written numerous articles about popular culture and fandom. He teaches classes about technology, fandom and media studies.

The class Booth teaches about memes is called "Communication and Technology." It looks at the whole span of the history of communication technology - from the invention of printing to emojis - and looks at memes as part of that history.