Social Media Signals and Drop Culture

Author

Izzy White
September 01, 2024

Hi!!! Welcome!! This is a newsletter that has taken the IRL weekly trends briefing, and transformed into the written word. All this information is a weekly digest of current news, trendy soundbites and sharp insights so that you can quit reading and still sound smart. Gathered from articles, newsletters, reports, and TikTok: It's like Blinkist for culture.

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Long Form

An equally as good as it is long google slides with a casual overview of 6 social signals. Many of the signals we discuss each week in trends, including - 

  1. Make it longer - people want as much content as someone is willing to give them. 60 minute vlogs are only scratching the surface of this.

  2. Serialise & scale - create series of content, and don’t be afraid to repeat it often. 

  3. 3 different degrees of content - use a variety of different content 

  4. Team as brand - team members have become the new influencer for brands, and it’s not going away anytime soon

  5. Location, location, location - consider the different locations that you can and will speak to your audience

  6. Experimentation - be confident and try lots of different types and styles of content. 

Anyone that reads this newsletter would find value in these slides. It should take you more than 10-15 mins to read!! Ignore the slide number and enjoy the vibes.

There is a multigenerational day party happening in NYC, where parents who miss the days of clubbing can bring their babies and kids to listen to serious music on serious speakers. There are no baby shark remixes, which allows these parents who yearn for that clubbing experience again, to scratch that itch and let their kids exert energy. The article talks about party spaces being vital cultural institutions, that people of all ages should be exposed to as it’s an important part of living culture.

Extra content for you!

  • The race to save our online lives from a digital dark age - quite a long read, but an interesting take on our digital, internet experience and how it’ll live on. Understanding what will continue to exist, compared to what will be wiped like the MTV archives.

  • Dynamic Effectiveness Series - everyone reading this newsletter should read this if they want some stats and information on what ads work, such as ones that break taboos and stereotypes.

  • What Happened to FOMO - a newsletter that in talking about how for Gen Z, there is no FOMO anymore and it’s actually about wanting to miss out. It’s has good points, about addressing risk and putting oneself out there more and I’m intrigued to understand if this is a chronically online take, or a genuine take on what is happening in the lives of Gen Z and Alpha.

  • Two reports/guides that I always encourage people to take with a grain of salt - Virtue Worldwide Launches 2024 Guide To Culture: Unveiling Gen Z's New Cultural Code and R/GA - The Gen One Report

  • The Girlification of Sneakers Is Real - someone in the past year said to me that drop culture is kind of dead, and while some aspects of it have dwindled, it’s also never been so huge in the more “girly” shoes. I can list so many shoe partnerships that have sold out in seconds, because they’re centring people that often have been neglected.

  • Alive and Well, As a Matter of Fax - apparently people are faxing much more than we think

  • Can Digital Clothes Save Creatives? - really enjoyed the simple format of this newsletter, as it speaks to what being a fashion designer is like in Georgia (the country) and how digital clothes are much more accessible ways to share their talents.

  • Perception drift: how people get addicted to filler and Botox - if you don’t understand the addiction associated with something like filler or Botox, give this a read. A great intro is from the article - “it’s actually quite common for people to become obsessed with “fixing” their appearance to the point of losing sight of what they look like. This is known as ‘perception drift’, and is a phenomenon that can happen as people undergo new cosmetic procedures and their self-perception shifts.” All of this reminds me as well of this article, on why Gen Z spend so much on beauty and even the concept of “my high maintenance routine so I can be low maintenance”

  • Perfume offers a new ‘lipstick effect’ in the luxury slowdown - perfumes were a big “in” on my 2022/2023 list and it’s very fun to see it come true! Signature scents are in.

  • The biggest trends young NYC investors are bullish about — and why - this article is relevant if you are interested in what (some) investors are bullish on, and what they aren’t. To save you some time, here are some trends they aren’t that keen on - circular commerce, free apps, thinks companies are prematurely focusing on optimizing infrastructure for AI agents, rather than building an AI agent that people want, many AI investments today are just “extremely capital intensive,” requiring so much infrastructure, talent and data, without clarity about their return on investment.

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