When My Pet Rock Became a Viral Sensation

When My Pet Rock Became a Viral Sensation

I've always been a bit of a sentimental soul, prone to attaching meaning to inanimate objects. So, when I found a particularly smooth, grey stone on a beach during a solo trip, I named him Rocky and brought him home. Rocky sat on my desk, a silent, grounding presence in my often chaotic life.
One particularly dull afternoon, feeling a surge of whimsical creativity, I decided to give Rocky a little personality. I glued on googly eyes and drew a tiny, slightly lopsided smile with a permanent marker. I took a photo and, on a whim, posted it on a small, obscure online forum dedicated to appreciating overlooked objects. The caption read: "Meet Rocky. He's a good listener."
I expected maybe a couple of polite "awws." What I got was… a phenomenon.
People started commenting on Rocky's "expressive" eyes and his "knowing" smile. Someone Photoshopped a tiny hat onto his head. Another user wrote a short poem about Rocky's silent wisdom. The post garnered dozens, then hundreds of upvotes.
The next day, Rocky had his own dedicated thread. People were sharing stories of their own inanimate companions – a particularly comforting mug, a lucky paperclip, a pebble that reminded them of home. It was a bizarrely heartwarming online community built around the appreciation of the mundane.
Then, a popular social media influencer stumbled upon Rocky. Intrigued by his simple charm, she shared his photo with her millions of followers. That's when things went truly viral.
Suddenly, Rocky was everywhere. His googly-eyed face was plastered across memes. People were creating fan art. #RockyTheRock became a trending topic. I even started getting interview requests from quirky online magazines.
My humble pet rock had become an internet sensation.
The attention was surreal and, frankly, a little overwhelming. I started receiving packages in the mail – tiny sweaters knitted for Rocky, miniature sunglasses, even a tiny armchair crafted from matchsticks. People were invested in Rocky's well-being and his (entirely imagined) inner life.
The peak of Rocky's fame came when a news crew showed up at my apartment, wanting to do a segment on the "man behind the rock." There I was, a perfectly ordinary person, being interviewed about the philosophical implications of googly eyes on a grey stone.
I played along, of course. I invented a rich backstory for Rocky, talking about his quiet strength and his ability to listen without judgment. The internet ate it up.
The Rocky craze eventually subsided, as all internet fads do. But Rocky remains on my desk, his googly eyes still gazing out with that same silent knowingness. He's a reminder of the unexpected ways in which connection and joy can be found, even in the simplest of things. And sometimes, all it takes is a rock, some googly eyes, and the strange magic of the internet to turn the ordinary into something wonderfully, inexplicably viral. I still get the occasional message asking about Rocky, a gentle nudge reminding me of the time my silent companion briefly captured the world's attention.