The dream is to go viral. Look anywhere online. Every business, tourism board and Insta-cult is vying for their next post to be a viral hit. It's painful to watch, considering we're a city that can barely stay out of the headlines because of our innate virality.
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Think about it. Canberra provides a fertile ground for virality (not talking about disease here, unless you consider internet fame a disease). We're relatively remote, constantly being pooped on by other larger cities and our number plates read 'The Bush Capital', a title which never fails to endear us to foreigners. We're memorable little underdogs.
So when we churn out something aside from a naughty politician, an arena-sized roundabout or a recently relocated APS grad lamenting winter, the internet listens.
A Belconnen icon
Our fair city's 7-year ode to phallus has long been a source of controversy, giggles and internet notoriety.
Since being erected in 2011 for a princely sum of $400,000, the statue has fuelled lively debate in the news and in countless Reddit threads. It also has its own Facebook community of 5,800 followers. Long may he perch winsomely and roost faithfully over our city.
Springtime swoopers
Australia is known the world over for animals who simply want to end your life. Snakes, crocodiles, drop-bears: you name it, we've bloody got it. Yet it's our springtime icon, the ever-spirited magpie, that helped put us on the map.
Specifically the video of magpies descending upon cyclists which hit almost a quarter of a million views after being posted in 2009.
A roo with a thing for cyclists
Speaking of animals and their insatiable thirst for homocide, in 2015, footage of a rogue kangaroo colliding with a cyclist on Adelaide Avenue circulated.
The video was particularly popular with US media outlets, triggering several headlines with an obnoxious use of the word "Crikey!" If these native animals have their way we'll be tourist free.
The OG Socceroo
When they're not ruining cyclists' commutes, our roos have proven to be quite amenable to a less-destructive kind of internet fame.
Take for instance this bouncy boy who interrupted a Canberra soccer match and then amassed over a million views worldwide.
Our sweetie of the skies
10 pendulous breasts flying, one basket swaying. It sounds like the set-up to a crass joke or a poorly-translated Christmas hymn, but to us she was pure art.
The cringiest government ad ever made
Hungry for a paleo pear and banana bread? No? Ok, so this super hip food order may not have taken off, but the shonkily made ad did.
The Department of Finance's ad for their graduate program attracted countless memes, parodies, scene-by-scene analyses, international media attention and potentially no new applicants. Most of all, it's been seared in our minds as an example of the content you can create with a handsome $40,000.
Alpacas on duty
In a more convincing on-camera performance, ACT Policing rounded up a boisterous group of alpacas for a legendary April Fool's Day prank in 2017. The video titled 'Alpaca Drug Detection Pilot Program' reached over 300,000 views.
Pine Island's DIY waterslide
There's nothing like a bit of backyard Aussie ingenuity. Victoria has their motorised eskies, Queensland has a homebrew version of a Tesla Powerwall, and we've got the revolving Hills Hoist waterslide.
In January 2017, a group of mates banded together to create a spinning water slide ride for their Australia Day celebrations.
By connecting a hose and rope to a Pine Island clothesline they were able to harness a whole lot of fun, plus millions of video views across social media and attention from international media outlets.
Let's get freaky
Call me a freak, but how did anyone approach eating these absolute steeples? Manuka cafe Pâtissez shook social media to its core in 2015 when their Freakshakes went viral.
They gained 20,000+ likes on their business page in a matter of weeks, and received coverage from publications around the world.
Our lively UFO scene
Back in January 2016, we had our very own Roswell moment when YouTube user Johnson Thompson posted a video titled 'Strange Lights above Canberra 03/01/16'.
The footage showed a ball of light exploding over Canberra during a storm, and it rapidly circulated around the web under headlines such as "Is This A UFO Vanishing Into A Wormhole Portal?"
A few days later, the dream was over when it emerged that the video was a hoax.
What's been your most loved Canberra internet moment? Tweet @CanberraTimes.
