A brief overview of what is currently trending on on X in news, culture, and/or trending hashtags and formats.
Valentine's Day: It's that time of year of again where love is in the air. X users can't help but talk about their favorite couples both real & fictional.
Ash Wednesday: In the Christian faith, today marks the first day of lent in the days leading up to Easter. Many are noting the crossover of this holiday with Valentine's prompting the creation of unique memes.
Parkland: Today marks 6 years since the Parkland high school shooting. Those on X are taking to the platform to honor those whose lives were lost & are speaking out against gun violence.
A deeper dive into a subject that is impacting culture on a macro level, beyond just the social space.
📚 BookTok? Make room for #QuestPit
What it is: A unique trend is emerging on X stemming from a writing challenge many haven't heard of or seen. #QuestPit is an internent hype event young adults writers designed to showcase their work. It's blown up into a giant sharing opportunity where ideas, plots, & drafts are posted online. Examples show TV/Book crossovers like Jade City x Succession, Dracula x If We Were Villains, and Jennifer's Body x Hellbent. All of these posts function as a creative pitch with accompanying moodboards to demonstrate a unique idea and/or blend of culture. What's fascinating is the spin many of these proposed storylines take making superheroines bisexual or suggessting spins on pop culture phenomenas like reality tv cooking competitions. This trend speaks to the burgeoning talent of young adults seeking to add their narrative to the world.
What brands can learn: If the rise of BookTok (28.9M TikTok posts) has taught us anything, it's that there's a growing interest for literature outside of popular media forums like film, TV, and streaming. Beyond recommending, reviewing, and theorizing about books, authors, and genres, users are using #QuestPit to control the narrative and channel their creativity. With social media a leading force in the book world, it's no surprise that writers now want to join the conversation by offering up their storylines to the larger writing community. If anything, QuestPit feels like a modern take on niche fan faction forums made popular for One Direction sagas. Brands, the takeaway is that people crave creativity & the remixing of culture. There, too, is something about storytelling that's transportive that we can all take inspiration from to make our content a bit more interesting.
Examples: 1, 2, 3
Must-click links that crossed our feeds today
🏈 This year’s Super Bowl beat more than a few records. Not only was it the most watched game ever (123.4 million viewers, +7% from last year) but it, too, became a celebrity destination with sightings of Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Spongebob & more.
🧠 ChatGPT is evolving into a brain... yup, nbd.
🎤 With TikTok & Universal beefing, music marketers are leaning into Instagram Reels & YouTube Shorts to promote UMG artists.
👀 BookTok & QuestPit may point to a love of literature, but other signs point to a literary crisis among college students..
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