This Week at ViralMoment
~i guess u wonder where i’ve been~
TBH I hope that you’re reading this because you and your inbox felt this newsletter’s disappearance and the massive void I left in its wake.
I wish I had a more valid excuse but running a startup is HARD ok??? Let me rephrase: building tech that actually works is a beast that is not easily wrangled.
Good news is, the wrangling is going well, and we have RECEIPTS.
New look, same chaotic taste.
Here’s a quick debrief of what we’ve programmed our tech beast to help you do now:
Know what’s actually popular without algorithm fog clouding your view. FYI: what’s ~trendy~ on your FYP isn’t always the same as your fandom’s.
Measure the popularity and momentum of top trends – and then strategize your content to find that sweet spot of when and what to post.
And if you’re a professional TikTok-er or running an account that requires big girl pants? We can get you customized, hyper-specific recs for top content + creators in your niche using the new Trendsurfer tool.
(Or u can always just respond to this email if u want it :) )
Trend Roundup
In full support of feral rat summer.
WE ARE OBJECTING TO ALL THE RED FLAGS. Call them all out in this trend.
…but I’m fully focused on something way more important. Such as staring at myself over Facetime during the convo.
Harry Styles has once again got us all in a collective chokehold. Literally do anything just make sure it somehow features a song from ‘Harry’s House’.
Trendsetter Spotlight
RIP Trends???
Media about social media has officially become unhinged. Since resurfacing from our newsletter hiatus we have evidently found ourselves in the middle of an all-out social media doomsday around the concept of the ‘trend’.
The cultural zeitgeist chaotically metamorphosizing throughout the pandemic-induced pause has finally reached what feels like a fully-formed stop in its newly-realized identity. And the reality is that not everybody likes it.
There’s been a lot of sky-is-falling energy and melodramatic un-aliving metaphors – and it’s mostly been coming from the OG trendsetters themselves: cultural commentators and media powerhouses.
In a recent thought piece, Vox lamented the death of the ‘trend’ as we once knew it, claiming:
“The ceaseless tornado of TikTok trends reflects a chaotic consumer landscape, one where people are looking to their peers, not institutional tastemakers, for guidance.”
And then we’ve got the NYT using the Amber Heard trial to reduce TikTok into a hate-machine fueling a:
“bandwagon platform that rewards users for jumping unthinkingly on ascendant trends.”
Indeed, the gatekeeping of trend-setting by high-brow ‘cultural commentators’ is out. And indeed, now, any Kelly from Kansas or Billy from Boise can contribute to defining what’s in. But why is that such a bad thing? Is ‘trendsetting’ really dead, or has it just been usurped by a new generation?
When something fades, it creates new space for a new kind of something to grow: and we don’t think it’s all that scary when approached with an open mind and a willingness to figure it out. And when we’ve got all these cultural commentators denouncing the power of and legitimacy of ‘trendsetting,’ as an institution, we can’t help but feel like they’re just having a hard time relinquishing control of a process that’s become democratized.
So while according to Vox we all “remain trapped in the throes of increasingly meaningless trends,” here at ViralMoment we’re actually feeling pretty freed – and riding on a whole lot of momentum.