A brief overview of what is currently trending in news, culture, and/or trending hashtags and formats.
White House: Social users are reacting to the ongoing demolition of the historic East Wing to make way for President Trump’s $300 million ballroom.
Chauncey Billups: The Portland Trail Blazers head coach and other NBA figures were arrested Thursday morning as part of an illegal gambling investigation.
Wemby: Victor Wembanyama dropped 40 points, 15 rebounds, and 3 blocks in the first 30 mins. of last night’s Spurs vs. Mavericks season opener.
A deeper dive into a subject that is impacting culture on a macro level, beyond just the social space.
Scream Clubs
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What It Is: Move over, running club — “Scream clubs” are the latest third space to take over social media. Based on primal scream therapy, these clubs encourage people to come together and tackle unresolved emotional pain or trauma by screaming into the abyss. While the first scream club may have started in Chicago in July, these spaces are growing in popularity across various cities in the USA and even major UK cities like London, Manchester, and Birmingham. As conventional therapy methods remain universally inaccessible due to barriers like cost, provider shortages, and availability, it’s no surprise that adults are seeking alternatives for emotional release and community, especially in 2025’s globally unstable climates.
The Brand Takeaway: The rising popularity of scream clubs is indicative of collective burnout, especially as people all over the world are plagued by economic and political stress, social isolation, or digital fatigue. Scream clubs fulfill a desire for connection and wellness in the same ways that third spaces like run clubs and cafe raves do, but they also indicate a growing shift toward unfiltered emotional expression and desire for community-based healing. Life can be hard, and Gen Zers and Millennials are no longer afraid to be honest with themselves and others about it. Brands can learn from this by embracing emotional transparency and community. Consider leaning into vulnerability and raw human moments in storytelling, or creating and moderating digital third spaces like Discord servers or Reddit forums where audiences can form connections and have dedicated spaces for candid honesty to build emotional resonance and create shared experiences with this audience.
Four must-click links that crossed our feeds today.
Tinder will soon widely roll out “Face Check,” a feature that requires US users to complete video scans of their faces before swiping.
Tech executives like Mark Zuckerberg, Evan Spiegel, and Adam Mosseri have been ordered to testify in a trial over the impact of social media on young people.
Travis Kelce is teaming up with an activist investor group to revive Six Flags.
TikTok users are telling their pets and partners jokes, then laughing as absurdly as possible in another lighthearted trend.
Nobody Wants This Season 2 - Netflix, 10/23
The Kardashians Season 7 - Hulu, 10/23
Bugonia - Theaters, 10/24
Regretting You - Theaters, 10/24
Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc - Theaters, 10/24
It’s Not That Deep - Demi Lovato
West End Girl - Lily Allen
My Second Last Album - Bahamas
Returning To Myself - Brandi Carlile
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