'Play on', or the memeing of Shakespeare: adaptation and internet culture

Entering the name ‘William Shakespeare’ into the world’s most popular internet search engine, Google, throws up what are – at first glance – unsurprising results. After a Wikipedia entry, websites for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust point to the continued appetite for ‘real life’ Shakespeare-based cultural activities and tourism. Other results might demonstrate his dominance over not only the British school curriculum but education internationally, with many websites aimed specifically at students. But sites such as these are likely to be visited as the result of a deliberate search to find out something about Shakespeare. There are infinite other internet Shakespeares who exist outside of such searches and yet who may well haunt our everyday (and less purposeful) browsing, depending on the complex algorithmic workings of the social media platforms we use, the friends we connect with or the interests we pursue.