I worked for an tiny agency that deep dived on this stuff (i.e. did most of the research).
The rules are pretty basic but they aren't really rules. I don't want to sound like we all exist just to turn out "content" for social media to monopolise and monetise but, that's pretty much it... If you have an idea just do it and who knows it might lead to something, it might not. How else do people build a platform (if that's what you want. Of course, you might NOT want that which is the other end of the whole thing). Everyone posting online in their multiplicity together have a platform whether they get 10 views or 10 million. There are lots of people who consistently turn out shite and hope something at some point sticks, but the truth is "winning the algorithm" is as good as random and it's one chaotic sequence of events after another. Nobody can predict or orchestrate that, sorry it's just not possible.
You can end up with an audience you don't even want, so I guess doing it deliberately has a purpose, but I bet there are plenty of "influencers" who springboard off of other things.
While "viral content" get's a lot of crap online it is largely people just trying to have fun, enjoy life and do something deliberate with their time here. People can be as cynical as they like but add someone's personality and a purpose and what they are doing is often more genuine than it looks. The point is they choose to do it rather than complaining about it or laughing at it, you have to be pretty brave too so kudos for that. Most of it is people reacting emotionally looking for their dopamine hit on what is an addictive system, then arguing about stupid gooseberry fool in the comments, which just drives more engagement, which surfaces content bubbling up the feed etc. etc. Social media wins because they get paid for ads whereas you get a number (and maybe a lot of stress, maybe some opportunities). It's a flash in the pan type thing. Doing that repeatedly is both difficult and maybe not always the right way to go about it. Neither is it healthy, unless, again, it's your job. But I won't slight anyone for making "doing social media" their job, as long as they enjoy it and understand its limitations and have the right head for it. Can also strawberry float you up.
I got randomly stopped by the seaside the other day for someone to try a joke on me for tiktok, I misheard a word and so didn't get it... I felt awful, as if I had let them down, because a few minutes later I got the joke
. We can all think or feel whatever we think or feel about the social media monster, that's the point, it basically is just billions of people messing about on the Internet and some people get better at it. Have fun and don't stress about it too much.