Ah, 2024: the year we debated how to pronounce “tuh hawk,” pondered the health benefits of eating rocks, and reserved space for a Broadway show. It was a year when speech could feel incredibly clean and joyous – at least for a few minutes, before we all came crashing back down to reality.
Online culture was more inescapable than ever this year, but where and how we engaged with that culture became increasingly fragmented. So here are the eight viral, multi-memorable moments that summed up the year for me — but feel free to tell me what I missed!
A Willy Wonka experience turned sour
An organization calling itself the House of Illuminati promised a magical, Willy Wonka-themed experience, with AI-generated flyers advertising everything from “Encherining Entertainment” to an “Imagnation Lab” (sic). The reality turned out to be a little less glamorous – basically, just a sparsely decorated warehouse in Glasgow. But while the experience may have been a disappointment to anyone who actually paid for a ticket, it provided a seemingly endless source of darkly funny images for online posters.
Google decides it’s healthy to eat rocks
AI-generated content literally moved to the top of our search results, with Google pushing an AI Summaries feature that proved less than entirely reliable. Some of the results that went viral in the first few days after release included instructions to add glue to pizza, stare into the sun for up to half an hour and eat a small stone a day. And while Google quickly dropped the higher-profile results worth moaning about, the disappointment illustrated just how dumb an AI-centric future could actually be.
The Internet celebrates “Brat” summer.
More than just an album, Charli XCX’s Brat was a vibe, defined by lime green and a celebration of being (in the artist’s words) “that girl who’s a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some stupid things.” If that sounds a little vague, don’t worry about it. It’s stupid. You’re stupid.” For a brief, brilliant moment, even Kamala Harris was lighthearted.
The Olympics are fun again
The 2020 Summer Olympics took place in the shadow of a pandemic (the games didn’t even take place until 2021), but this year’s event marked a return to great form. For American viewers, it helped the Peacock streaming service figure out how to showcase the event’s glorious variety. There were some really hot moments, like Celine Dion’s performance of an Edith Piaf classic, but the real heroes of the internet were more outlandish, from the ineptitude of Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikec to the wild moves of Australian dancer Raygun.
Moo Deng bites her way into our hearts
With a name that means “living pork,” this pygmy hippo quickly became, according to a Today Show host, the “Hottest New Girl” on the planet. Footage of Moo Deng living her life at Thailand’s Khao Kheow Open Zoo has taken the internet by storm, thanks to her small size, strong but harmless bites and cute screams. Of course, even something as seemingly pure and cute as a cute hippo had its dark side, as the zoo had to deal with tourists throwing things at poor Moo Deng.
The stars of “Wicked” hold space and fingers
“Wicked” was everywhere this fall, as a massive marketing push turned the movie into the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation ever. But the biggest moment from the campaign was decidedly unscripted, with stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande seemingly overwhelmed when a reporter told them that “people are taking the Defying Gravity lyrics and really holding space with her” — creating Grande’s memorable image. reaching over and grabbing one of Erivo’s fingers.
“Hawk Tuah Girl” cashes in on her 15 minutes of fame
2024’s most famous character for 2024 was Hailey Welch, a young woman who became famous for her colorful answer to the question: “What’s one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?” ” Welch decided to capitalize on her fame by selling merchandise, starting a podcast, and even launching the memecoin “HAWK.” This last part ended badly, with most tokens sold in what appears to be a classic crypto rug pulling. (Welch has denied any wrongdoing.)
Bluesky goes from an open source underdog to a serious social media contender
Bluesky went public in February, and a few months after establishing an initial identity as a lean, left-wing alternative to X, it climbed to the top of the app charts—first in Brazil (where X was briefly banned), then in the States. United States (after Donald Trump won the presidential election with the support of the owner of X, Elon Musk). This, perhaps inevitably, led to musings about liberal echo chambers, as well as questions about how Bluesky’s newfound popularity might dilute his good vibes and glorious weirdness.
