Why Are Clean Memes So Popular?

Bored Panda wanted to learn more about funny clean memes, so we reached out to comedy writer and published author Ariane Sherine. She was kind enough to share her thoughts on making memes appealing, shed some light on why we love sharing memes so much, and explained what to do if digital creators feel like they're too focused on engagement rather than the actual content.

"Jokes that are universal and aren’t specific to one age group, gender, sexuality or race are likely to work best," Sherine shared her insights on how to appeal to the widest possible audience.

"Then again, you might want to attract a particular demographic and think it’s plenty large enough for your purposes. But for maximum viral potential, ensure the largest possible cross-section of the population will understand your meme—and that usually means making it family-friendly too," she explained.

Meanwhile, we were curious to get the comedy writer's take as to why so many of us get the urge to share these funny clean memes with our friends and social circle. 

"Memes usually make us laugh and give us a ‘wow’ moment of universal human truth. This makes us feel good—so naturally, we want to share the memes with our friends so they can experience the same feelings," Sherine told Bored Panda.

Some digital creators might become far too focused on the (lack of) engagement their content gets rather than the content of these very clean, funny pics themselves. We were interested to get the comedy writer's thoughts on this.

"I think when you’re getting downhearted from a lack of views, comments, likes, shares and general virality, it’s time to refocus on the joy of creating content and remember why you decided to make it in the first place," the writer said.

"Sure, it’s great if other people like it too—but that should be a happy byproduct and not the end goal," Sherine stressed the fact that passion is a key factor here.

Meet the Very Clean Funny Pics Facebook Page

The ‘Very Clean Funny Pics’ page has a following of 277k Facebook users on the social media platform. The page itself has been up and running for over a decade, having been founded all the way back in 2012. The team behind the project has consistently shared relatable, clean memes that are actually funny. And that’s the secret behind the page’s continued success throughout the years.

The entire purpose of the page is to post very clean funny pics. All that the moderators ask from the followers is to keep the comments as clean as the memes themselves.

The team behind the page takes their moderating jobs very seriously. There’s a zero-tolerance approach to offensive or hurtful comments, as well as spam, swear words and links to other pages. “We want this page and its comments to be suitable for all audiences,” they explain that they want to create a family-friendly, all-inclusive atmosphere. 

However, some clean memes may still gently poke fun at certain topics, but it’s all done in the name of lighthearted humor.

Can There Ever Be Too Much Memes?

Memes can be very powerful. They can temporarily distract us from our problems when the going gets tough. They provide an outlet for laughter, as well as an excuse to spam your friends with very clean funny pics—they help us connect to others. However, as Sudipti Kumar notes in her article on LinkedIn, it’s important to keep an eye on how much time we spend looking at memes. “Excessive meme-viewing,” as she puts it, could be a sign of phone addiction.

Alternatively, spending far too much time enjoying funny clean memes can be a sign that someone’s procrastinating. So memes can be a way of avoiding work, studying, or solving all of those pesky real-life problems that just won’t go away. In moderation, memes are great. But, like with anything, too much of a good thing can backfire. If all you ever do is sit on social media (even if you’re enjoying the lovely memes in this list), it’s not a healthy way to go through life.

Creating clean memes that stand the test of time is no easy feat. The more you think about it, the more you realize how many hoops a single pic has to jump through to go viral. For instance, ‘Simplified’ notes that the most successful memes will make the audience feel a sense of social validation and like they’re part of a collective.

Some other things that make these very clean funny pics stand out from the crowd on social media require a bit of patience on the creator’s part. Sure, you can fire off a bunch of memes and see what sticks, but if you want to have a decent following, you want to post higher-quality memes than your competition. And the first step toward that is figuring out what kind of niche you’re aiming for.

You could, for instance, go for the broadest audience imaginable. If you’re posting family-friendly, clean memes that are actually funny, the odds are that you’ll appeal to a very wide social media user base. On the flip side, if you’re narrowing down your focus and lasering in on particular topics or spicier humor, you’re giving up some segments of your potential audience for the sake of others.

The important thing here is that you personally enjoy the clean memes you’re sharing and crafting. Otherwise, if you’re just doing it for the likes, views, and clicks, you’ll end up being burned out. This is because if you want any chance of gaining long-term popularity, you have to be consistent in how you post. Whether that’s a few times a day, once every couple of days, or once a week. Your passion for the memes you share has to shine through.

The most successful funny clean memes will always be relatable to the viewer. That’s what helps them go viral. If they’re too obscure or confusing, your audience might not vibe with the image as much as you hoped. Similarly, if they’re too generic and bland, they might not get much time in the spotlight either. Essentially, you want something that’s entertaining and relatable, but surprising.

You might also want to consider making your very funny clean pics as universal as possible. Sure, you can make the pics comment on current events, but then you’re running the risk that once the event is forgotten, the joke will have lost its context. On the other hand, commenting on common human experiences, adding in a big dollop of humor, and picking the best possible images is going to be a powerful concoction.