The members of the Facebook group Useless, Unsuccessful, And/Or Unpopular Memes are not as resentful as their name implies. In fact anonymity, the founding members tell The Kernel’s Jay Hathaway, is preferred.
Facebook is not the first place someone would look to find the most popular and relevant memes of today. That title belongs to the likes of Reddit, 4Chan, or Tumblr to start, and that is exactly what UUUM wants. The group houses over 135,000 users who count on the fact that their creations stay within the confines of the group. Gaining popularity is rarely notable, or even wanted. The ideal number of likes for a post is 37. Hathaway writes, “UUUM isn’t so much a parody of meme culture as a roast, a critical response.”
Prior to joining, potential members are asked to go over “the tenets of UUUM” located on the sidebar of the group’s landing page. It is heavily encouraged that a user lurk the page for a few days after joining before making their first post. Other tenets include posting up to only three memes per 24 hour period, and a light “warning” that mods can and will delete memes out of jealousy.
Hathaway parses through these rules, noting that they “run counter to what we think we know about memes.” That’s the point, though. The group seeks to be a haven for those who are tired of seeing the same images and text (i.e., “tfw” or “relatable”) over and over. The members of UUUM want to see something they’ve never seen before, and then will never again.
[via The Kernel]