A brief overview of what is currently trending on X in news, culture, and/or trending hashtags and formats.
#WheresDonald: Users are comparing the sizes of Harris and Walz's campaign rally crowds to Trump and Vance's, and they are curious as to why Trump has such a light campaign schedule.
4x100: The Jamaican men’s 4x100m relay team will not compete in the final for the first time since 2004.
Stolen Valor: Tim Walz was accused of stolen valor by Vance in a recent campaign speech, calling into question his military record and ranking.
A deeper dive into a subject that is impacting culture on a macro level, beyond just the social space.
Who Will You Be Tonight…That’s the Question
What It Is: With the release of Despicable Me 4, a new song by Pharrell Williams “Double Life” has taken TikTok by storm. With this song, a trend has emerged where users show their alter egos/different personas in a carousel format depicting their “double life” and deciding who they want to be. However, this trend has expanded to Social Media Managers and their brand accounts. The first slide of the carousel is simply a picture of the manager with the text overlay “Who will I be tonight…” then moves to a screenshot of the possible accounts they can go into on TikTok or Instagram with the text overlay “That’s the question.” With this, the SMMs of large brands like Mr. Clean, Duolingo, and Kamala HQ have been revealed. However, not all users participating in this trend are being truthful. Some are pretending to manage certain accounts at the chance of virality. This has been exposed when multiple users post the same accounts as seen here and here.
Brand Takeaway: Brands create a persona for themselves that an SMM embodies, and while users are aware there is a person behind the screen there is still a mysterious element of who that person is. This trend is opening up the conversation of transparency among brands and showing that those running these accounts are regular people who love social media just like the average user. There is a flip side where some brands hire influencers/content creators with a following since they know the platforms and what performs well. Brands like Set Active are transparent about this and let their consumers in on the BTS of being an SMM for a brand leaning into the authenticity users crave on socials.
One interesting aspect of this trend is the users who made fake screenshots appear as the managers of major accounts to get clout. While their employment status is a lie, these brands are still being talked about and receiving awareness of their social. This opens up a conversation on the definition of good brand awareness and buzz. Sometimes it pays to peel back the curtain or to see your brand gaining clout as something people want to lie about working for.
Examples: 1, 2
Four must-click links that crossed our feeds today.
Instagram introduces views as the primary metric.
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McDonald’s brings back collector’s cups in their newest nostalgia play.
It Ends With Us - Theaters, 8.9
Borderlands - Theaters, 8.9
Cuckoo - Theaters, 8.9
Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Paramount+, 8.9
Better Me Than You - Big Sean
This Is How Tomorrow Moves - Beabadoobee
F-1 Trillion - Post Malone
Hood Poet - Polo G
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