Consider the concept of a meme is in and of itself a meme
"You can support www.salon.com by allowing them to use your processor for calculations. The calculations are securely executed in your Browser's sandbox. You don't need to install anything." First time I see that! I wonder how much revenue it actually brings them and how many people choose that option over having ads. Not too sure how I feel about that yet, but it's an interesting concept and alternative to traditional website monetizing.
I would argue that we'll never be able to make a comparison because distribution is effortless now while previous generations had to find a printing press. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_the_Giant_Has_a_Posse That's just 30 years ago.
I'd also suggest that this may be one effect of an increase in suicide awareness and attempts at prevention, at least from my experience. I don't know what it was like 30 years ago but it certainly seems to be more of an issue that's okay to talk about now among young people, which makes it a more available target for memetic humor.
In 6th grade Tim's brother blew his head off with a shotgun. We sorta passed word around to be nice to Tim when we saw him but it was never discussed in class in any way. It was in the paper, of course. Then Kelly's three sisters got killed by a drunk driver. We had a goddamn substitute teacher because our teacher (as well as eight or nine girls) were at the funeral... but nobody said fuckall. In 7th grade Beth's entire family was wiped out by a drunk driver... and she was mormon, so we're talking eight people. They dedicated a bench to them out front but there was nothing during school hours. By 11th grade our graduating class had experienced three suicides. There wasn't so much as an announcement. The yearbook had a half-page memorial for one of them, maybe because she was pregnant. kids'r'soft these days.