you are what you scroll

Hello and welcome back to as seen on :)

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. Over to Maxine!

For ASO, 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!

Do we get to experience things for the first time anymore? What about having original thoughts?

• People are consuming content about how their feeds are ruining personal identity and originality. Content related to this theme has been surfacing consistently for ~1 year.

• One recently sent-in post covers a Substack article arguing your phone is the reason you have no identity, that people are made of “aesthetics,” walking around as a curated list of aesthetic words (like cottagecore, newyorkcitymaxxing) instead of actual personalities. Essentially, internet driven “fake personalities” (like a Lay’s chip bag of personality).

• This gets at a very “real reality” about being online today: you can be self-aware and still unsure if you ever can or will do anything about it. We do live in an algorithm-driven world. So people are reaching for art, IRL cultural experiences, and music to grasp at identity beyond “online speak.” But the topic is nuanced and important. Bottom line, consumers are aware, so it’s important brands are too.

• Format-wise, this content leans into Substack-article breakdowns and educational thought-leadership takes:

  • “Have we lost our awe of this world” by @buttered.official

  • “Ever wonder if the things you like are actually yours? Or just borrowed from someone else’s taste?” by @the.ashfiles

“Pre-AI” is becoming a content category through memes & jokes

• The top sub-trend: “no AI was used for the script btw,” paired with clips from old media like Glee, Riverdale, and Scream Queens.

• This type of content is an opportunity for Gen Z to laugh at the absurdity of media, and appreciate it at the same time (Truly, would have loved to be in some of these writers rooms.).

• This overall trend reminds me of a TikTok: “I said it’s my favorite movie I didn’t say it was good” which acutely gets at how so many Gen Z’ers consume today. Absurdity does indeed resonate, on feeds and beyond. Maybe that’s why Netflix still has an unlimited budget for their originals ;)

The minions are taking over feeds. Yes, Minions & Monsters crushed their marketing, shout out Universal

• From fan edits to work rage memes to “I wish I was a Minion,” the Minion persona has been woven into a ton of socially native trends and relatable lanes.

• Minions have been a broader social phenomenon for a while now, with steady fandom and referential posts coming in:

  • A group dressed as Gru and the Minions stormed a Scientology building, a likely completely unofficial post that reached 18M views.

  • Minionland fan edit

• IRL activations are hitting feeds too: at the premiere, a Minion-impersonation singing competition had contestants performing Queen, Bruno Mars, and Olivia Rodrigo for a Golden Banana prize. Here’s a full competition recap

• For the last ~6 months SocialGlass has been consistently catching

  • Animation-related content: Madagascar penguins represent finding something good to watch while eating; Shan Yu “aura edit”; animated movies are packaged as “Gen Z humor”

  • The music in love Island impersonation to Karl Anthony Towns impersonations and the phrase acting challenges trend

• All the above are more ways the “nostalgia” macro-trend shows up in practice. I see animation and impressions as ways Gen Z creates/ engages fun out of nothing. Creating accessible fun is another macro-theme we’ve been tracking.

The art to being culturally in-tune is about having the BEST references. *self explanatory:)*

• A “How I feel wearing Free People” edit referencing Victorious:

• An Ariana Grande cover, with the top comment referencing Alvin and the Chipmunks

  

• Zendaya’s hat theory as perfume, post by

French music is “blowing up” on USA feeds, riding World Cup hype.

• Have you heard the song “Pile” by Mauvais Djo? If not, I’m positive once you click one of these posts, you’ll continue hearing it on your feed. Some users on TikTok are even saying this should have been the world cup song.

  • NYC Influencer Eloise Dufka (also French speaking) hyping the song up

  • A really hot / mood-board level couple using the Pile audio: @houseof2wo

• Some fun trends you may, or may not know about:

  • Mbappe’s dictator memes and “for example nothing” is taking over the internet, comment sections, audios, and more

  • You never take me to Bangladesh, an original song by @Ianmcconnellmusic is becoming a major moment, with tons of covers and UGC about how catchy the song is

Parting thoughts, we hear you brands:

Think about how you can “Platformize”, vs. “Participate” in culture. This re-frame is important, because it forces brand thinking beyond the brand.

• Don’t pressure every post or campaign to connect back to a product or purchase. Engaging in culture well and always serving the sales goal are often at odds. Attention and awareness are the real currency today.

• Take it from a chronically online Gen Z cultural and social media researcher: embody some real duality, like this TikTok quote: “I low key love when unserious people have serious jobs. It’s the duality for me.”

• Remember: what you put out is always consumed in the context of everything else on someone’s feed.

• Trends come and go, but the brands that stick around are the ones who actually hit the algorithm, without always demanding something back.