Today’s edition was guest edited by friend of the newsletter, Maxine Marcus. Maxine is the founder of SocialGlass, a cultural intelligence platform that analyzes posts your target-audience is resonating with in real-time, straight from their social media feeds.
Every other Friday, I’ll be handing this space over to her to unpack online happenings that have piqued our interest.
Using data from SocialGlass, we’ll look beyond the headline trend to understand what different corners of the internet are actually paying attention to, buying into, and moving on from. Reach out to maxine at maxine@socialglass.ai. Over to Maxine!
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT SCROLL
For this column, we analyzed the social feeds of a gen-pop Gen Z cohort, ages 15-27, across 46/50 states, and interests spanning beauty, gaming, sports, and everywhere in between. ENJOY!
Have you heard of Ellie Ellis, the TikTok creator who has grown to ~600K followers in 4 days?
Ellie’s first GRWM already has 1.6M likes, and it was posted 4 days ago. And she’s now sitting at almost 600K followers and 4.2M likes.
Her first ever post feels raw/vulnerable, she says “to be fair I’m not expecting anyone to see this because I have 6 followers, I’ve only just made this account and they’re all people that I know”
UGC, discourse, and reactions to Ellie’s meteoric rise are already running rampant, with other creators calling out “how quickly life can change,” “the reason you won’t have Ellie Ellis’s success,” and “when is it going to be my turn.,” along with support:
Some people are skeptical, and maybe so am I. But, the underlying theme here is that having a personality organically always wins. I essentially cover this theme through today’s edition.
I’m especially curious to see if her content & engagement sustains…we’ll see!
Is Amazon Prime the new CW? The new Prime Video show Sterling Point is THE Gen Z show. Its success stems from the dialogue, and brands should learn from creator Megan Park’s approach.
Oh, and, Prime Video is WIPING the floor with every other streamer (more on this another time.) Check out this article that really explains this: “How Amazon Is Turning the BookTok Boom Into Hit TV”
We’re getting an influx of posts about sterling point, with the show hitting comparable levels of hype as Off Campus. But, the difference here is fans are loving how organic & natural the dialogue is. In my opinion, this detail is actually pretty deep. Bear with me…
The brand and marketing world loves talking about authenticity. But I think authenticity is best understood through real-world, tangible examples of what it actually looks like in practice, and how it truly manifests in content. Sterling Point is Exhibit A:
The show’s creator Megan Park learned what not to do on teen TV. Now, she’s making it differently for Gen Z. A core approach she leaned into: letting the Gen Z actors improv around the script, and adjust dialogue as they wanted to make it natural. She viewed the actors as true collaborators.
And the result? Conversations that feel real, and TRULY relatable. Sentence like “I literally shared the deepest pits of my brain with him” that genuinely remind Gen Z’ers of the way they speak to their friends.
(as shown in this post sent in by our cohort:)
And, we’ve been generally seeing improv-related content on feeds. Here’s a sent-in post that shows the script vs. final scene from The Wolf of Wall Street, where the comments praise the improvisation of the actors saying things like “So glad they improvised. The writing in this scene for the script is so one dimensional and flat.”
Now, some people are even saying they’re having trouble watching popular shows like Netflix’s “My Life with the Walter Boys” after watching Sterling Point
So why is this deeper than just the power of strong improv in shows/film?
Because brands & creative teams should learn from this approach. How? By focusing on truly platformizing/empowering their creative partners too. Learn to lean-into the voices who actually live & breathe the experiences/cultures you seek to speak to or reach.
a quote from one of my personal favorite cultural voices, Matt Klein:
Yes, this is indeed why I build SocialGlass, to give brands the tools to see how their audiences are actually consuming content around fandoms, culture, interests, behavior, etc.
And, creators are begging for brands to take this approach too.
This sent-in post from popular TikTok creator @bran_flakezz showcases his take on creator partnerships, and how he believes creators should be given more creative freedom vs. overly prescriptive brief requirements
He also made this viral post spoofing the way brands ask for the content to feel “super organic” yet provide insanely specific briefs
Consumers are the one sending in these posts, not creators. So your target audiences agree. Stop overly focusing on pushing product, and become one with the fact that creative freedom breeds authenticity in practice, not just “saying” that you want to be authentic. Thank you Megan Park!!
CandyJar is crushing the short-form vertical drama game, specifically with their show “fight dirty.”
Vertical dramas are short-form mini series that take a social-first vertical format. Check out “the rise of vertical dramas” to learn more.
“Fight Dirty” is one of Candy Jar’s
We’re seeing tons of fan edits, episodes (here’s episode two), and reaction UGC getting sent in:
And, Olivia Rose Williams, the lead actress, is on TikTok posting content like this where she says “the more that you like Kenzie, the more that there’s going to be characters just like Kenzie, and the more that I’m going to be able to pay my rent.” She’s funny, relatable, and adding to the culture around the shorts format/genre
So, why is this working so well?
Same reason Prime Video is wiping the floor with all other streamers, as I already said. Many reasons, and if ASO readers are interested, I’m happy to do a full essay on this topic. At a super high level, the power of the book reading, romance loving Gen Z community, desire for romance, escapism, + the power of “fake scenarios.” Cultures that feed into this:
All of Booktok: learn more about BookTok here
Romanticizing & “fake-scenario” culture: universal Gen Z language that describes the feeling of living in your imagination and fantasizing about super specific scenarios, moments, relationships, etc.. YOU’VE probably done this before, likely before going to sleep. I’d be shocked if not. Doing this is part of just being a human.. no?
The deep need for escapism: next to wanting to “create fun out of nothing” (a cultural theme I’ve been obsessed with about how Gen Z’ers are simply dying for easy, accessible, & lighthearted fun/silly-ness/whimsey), this is the other cultural “need” we’re seeing most of. The world can feel pretty dark these days, and our feeds give us emotional whiplash every time we scroll. Escapism is the coping mechanism for, based on what we’re seeing in SocialGlass, most of Gen Z. Myself included. Shows like “fight dirty” are the perfect amount of stupid/cringey to feel unserious, but still have hot actors and plot-lines full of satisfying tropes like the “bad boy.”
Don’t hate on dupes if you’re the “duped.” We’re looking at you Charlotte Tilbury.
Especially because ~7% of all beauty-related content sent in from our audience’s “liked posts” are about dupes.
A viral post by TikTok creator Shelby Ann reacts to Charlotte Tilbury ragging on dupes by doing a full face of makeup with ONLY charlotte tilbury dupes.
Here’s an example of another dupe related post we’ve been sent in, comparing Rhode’s pocket bronze vs. E.l.f.’s cream bronzer
The dupe theme is matched against viral trends around “things that are worth the money,” for example this sent-in post
The takeaway: consumers truly do want to know what’s worth the money. With so much access to reviews, try-ons, etc. via social, socially native buyers want to do the digging to make sure they’re buying the “best” product. At the same time, “the original” still provides the recognizable reference point: the aspiration and shared vocabulary. So, both “dupe culture” and “what’s worth the money” culture can be net positive for brands that know how to speak to consumers and meet them how they shop today.
Tubi, you’re crushing it. They know what the people want to see, and are posting the clips & audios on their TikTok to prove it.
This strategy works specifically for Tubi. And in general, its about know what works for your brand.
Tubi posting a scene from Twilight that has turned into a broader cultural meme
An Abby Lee Miller edit opening with“moms better have my money” viral meme/clip:
And, how I always love to close these out: here’s some posts that really encapsulate culture right now:
enjoy this scroll (all posts clickable)
“TikTok has been so boring lately because my FYP is only videos of people talking about other people. Where is the fun sh*t? Where is the funny sh*t? Where is the creative sh*t?”
“what does this even mean?” in reaction to a “turns out toast is kinda chic” hook (a play on the “kinda chic” trend that many brands are playing into)
“It has become so incredibly difficult to love the process because nowadays it feels unnecessary to our becoming, in that the internet has all these tips, tricks, courses, and all this access to information makes us feel like we should already be at the destination.”
The 4inthe5’s music video to 7/11 by beyonce
Martha Reeves national anthem impression by Joey Morof (he originally went viral for his hugh jackman impersonations)
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