With the growing use of social media in our generation, it's pretty common to dream about going viral online at least once or twice — be it through TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, etc. Even I dream about being internet famous and inspiring strangers with my content, whatever it may be.

Seriously though, I can't tell you how many times I've watched my cousins and friends make TikTok and Youtube videos (and before it shut down — Vine), in their latest attempts to get a breakthrough and become internet famous. Be it through dancing videos, lip-syncing, popular memes... anything goes when it comes to the internet. It's been going on ever since I was a kid, and it'll continue growing. It's not uncommon to hear excitement over a post reaching 100+ likes or views, eagerly hoping that this post will definitely break their goal of 1k, 5k, or even 1 million. In fact, I overheard my friend bursting with excitement for making it on Instagram's explore page as a model for a street brand. It happens pretty often.

But honestly, it isn't a huge deal.

Unless you happen to be lucky enough to explode in popularity due to the creativity or absurdness of your creation — enough to warrant attention from influential celebrities such as Ellen, or unless you already have a steady base following that can reach the ends of the internet in every way, you'll most likely remain a one-hit-wonder within a small niche of people that have seen you a few times and kept the memory of you and your creation stored at the back of their mind unless by the off chance, you are mentioned once again. I've recognized some people on campus or on the streets that have gotten viral at one point or another, maybe in high school or just recently. Yet, nothing has changed about them.

It isn't really all it's cracked up to be.

I don't really speak from much experience, truthfully, only having gone viral within the popular Asian Facebook group, Subtle Asian Traits, with a couple of thousand likes and comments, and having been on TV as a background person for B-roll. However, my friends that have gone viral on TikTok and Twitter have all told me that nothing really changes. People occasionally recognize you here and there, but usually, they end up connected to you in a particular way (mutual acquaintances, from the same area or school, etc.), you don't really get a number of messages from people "shooting their shot," and the excitement you had originally usually fades within a few days.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to go viral.

Wanting to expand your reach and make an impact on people is a very ambitious goal, whether it be to make our audience laugh, to inspire them, or to inform them. Not all of us are so lucky that we can get ourselves out there and make our name known and remembered, but that doesn't mean we can stop trying. The internet and social media are platforms meant to share who we are to the world, and if we can use it to permanently etch our mark on society, then we'll take every opportunity. It's our life, after all.