Forty-eight hours ago, Bobak Ferdowsi had fewer than 200 Twitter followers. This morning, he has almost 40,000. Ferdowsi, also known as "Nasa Mohawk Guy", became an internet sensation after his unusual hairdo caught the eye of those watching the Mars Curiosity landing on Nasa TV. Within hours, he was a trending topic on Tumblr and became a trending hashtag on Twitter. He's been immortalised in image macros, comic fan art, and even T-shirts on Cafepress. While his meteoric rise to fame may not be as remarkable as the Mars landing itself, it prompts the question: what is it about Bobak Ferdowsi that turned him into a meme?

There is no magic formula when it comes to creating memes or making "viral" content. There are certainly ways to stack the deck: content that is humorous, incongruous, and/or part of the zeitgeist is likely to be spread through social networks more often than, say, a boring interview or advert. In looking at the top memes of the past several years, there are few discernible patterns that can be pulled out: some, like LOLCats, have become part of the meme canon; others, like Pepper Spray Cop, became instant phenomena and faded away just as quickly.

Ultimately, memes spread because on some level, they resonate with their audience: people share content that is meaningful to them in one way or another. When it comes to the most popular memes, that underlying meaning often differs across a variety of audiences. In his explanation of Susan Boyle's overnight success and transformation into a meme, Professor Henry Jenkins of USC Annenberg said: "There's no need to identify a single cause for why people spread this content. Different people spread this content for different reasons."

When it comes to Ferdowsi, the reasons why he has struck a chord seem to fall under one of three headings. One is that he is a "hot nerd". A majority of the tweets and coverage featuring Ferdowsi comment on his appearance, or women's reactions to his status as a "sexy scientist", including a plethora of marriage proposals.

Second, there has been a large response from the Persian community. Ferdowsi is of Persian descent, and many Persians and Persian-Americans have tweeted about him, saying how proud they are that he represents their community, providing a positive image of Iranian-Americans.

Most responses, however, celebrate the fact that Fedowsi is a nonconformist in a traditional environment: he breaks the stereotype of a Nasa scientist (arguably, the responses to his looks and his racial heritage apply to this as well). Courtney von Nieda, who runs a Tumblr that has been collating all of the fan reactions to Ferdowsi, explains that "Bobak is compelling because you don't think young or individuality when you think Nasa. The mohawk is young and relatable. People enjoy being able to see someone like them doing great things like landing a robot on another planet using a crane and rockets."

The third element of the Nasa Mohawk Guy meme that contributes to its popularity is that it provides a framework for cultural commentary and content creation. Ferdowsi's look has provided people with a distinctive and widely recognised image, and the various elements that have resonated with different groups – his attractiveness, his uniqueness – have come to represent certain values. By remixing existing images or creating new ones, Nasa Mohawk Guy provides an alternative medium for discussing societal issues, such as the importance of scientific research in American culture, or that an attractive scientist has gotten more media hype than the mission he was working on.

Overall, an attractive, Mohawked Nasa scientist is a fun thing to talk about. However, the reason why people are talking about Ferdowsi – and the reason why people participate in memes in general – is because they allow people to comment, directly or indirectly, on their culture and their personal values. Participating in the Nasa Mohawk Guy meme can communicate many things: I celebrate nonconformity; I am a member of the Persian community; I encourage the expression of individuality in the workplace; I feel that science is important and cool.

Media-based memes rarely last for long: they are part of a media landscape that shifts and changes at lightning speed. Bobak's star will fade, and another meme will take his place. What won't change is that whatever that meme is, it will telegraph what values we hold and who we are – both as individuals, and as a society.