This is NASDANQ, the stock market where all memes are listed

As if it were a real stock market, it allows you to buy shares of a meme and check its evolution, experiencing its ups and downs

The PP proposes to reform a law so that 'memes' are a crime

How is the value of a meme calculated? Until now it was impossible to know, however, a new platform is in charge of economically valuing these Internet phenomena that already circulate uncontrollably through all social networks.

NASDANQ is a new service whose name comes from a play on words between the NASDAQ (the second largest stock market in the US) and the term dank (a trunk word to describe anything originating in the slang used by consumers of dope). As if it were a real stock market, it allows you to buy shares of a meme and check its evolution, experiencing its ups and downs.

While stock markets offer to know the value of a company based on expectations of its future performance, NASDANQ does something similar. This digital stock market hints at which memes have the potential to break out and become viral phenomena. Although in this case you can't invest real money, the tool is quite useful to test your nose and divination skills for 2.0 phenomena.

NASDANQ was started as a joke six months ago. The website can be consulted, but its floor is currently only available through a closed beta for a few lucky ones.

But how does it work?

How does NASDANQ value the price of each meme? At the moment two variables are taken into account: its popularity and the emotions it arouses. Thus, if a meme has spread a lot and people make positive comments on social networks, its value rises. At the moment, the analysis is carried out by data experts, who check services such as Facebook, Twitter or Reddit. The idea is that this entire process is automated with algorithms and everything is more quantifiable and objective.

Who still thinks that memes are nonsense, may be right. But in addition to their undeniable utility as entertainment and a channel for social criticism, they have also become powerful allies for spreading propaganda messages, carrying out marketing campaigns or ridiculing political opponents. A good use of them can help a company or organization to gain points and improve its image. They are even worth helping artists who have almost been forgotten, like Rick Astley, recover their careers.

Although the idea of ​​NASDANQ seems very original, it is not the first time that a copycat stock market has been created. One of the best known is the Hollywood Stock Exchange, where users can predict which actors will become members of the star system and which movies will be blockbusters.