This article studies the process of imitation and the characteristics of successful imitation from the perspective of memetics. Firstly, imitation is a linguistic phenomenon that imitates and modifies existing language forms based on the speaker's purpose to generate novel expressions. Dawkins and Blackmore define memetics as evolutionary replicons, which replicate information from one person to another through imitation. Imitation is a linguistic phenomenon that arises and spreads through imitation; At the same time, it satisfies three necessary conditions for becoming a replicon: mutation, selection, and inheritance. Therefore, imitation can be seen as a meme, establishing an interactive relationship between two concepts, paving the way for further research. Secondly, based on Heylighen's meme lifecycle, we believe that under the influence of language memes, the generation process of network language imitation has gone through four stages: assimilation of imitation sources, preservation of imitation sources, expression and production of imitation. Transfer imitation to other hosts through the internet. In the expression stage of imitation, information intention and communicative intention are the motivations for imitation expression; The similarity between imitation and source is the mechanism of imitation expression. Then the author analyzed some characteristics of successful imitation based on meme selection criteria, namely novelty, coherence, practicality, and humor. Due to these characteristics, imitation is widely spread online. This paper provides a new perspective for imitation research; This helps to better understand and appreciate imitation in online language, and also contributes to further research on imitation and online language.