🗣️ The Moment 🗣️
Issues that are at the forefront of online discourse— earnest advocacy
Do influencers owe it to their audiences to speak up on serious issues?
This is a question I’ve seen a lot on TikTok in the past few weeks but it is by no means a new discussion.
Brittnay Broski, in particular, got in hot water with followers for not posting about Gaza. What inflamed the situation was a leaked close-friends Instagram story of Brittany expressing frustration at the pressure to speak up. She said, “[In] what dystopian universe do I have to address the situation in the Middle East at the top of a podcast episode?”
Social media, and the rise of the for-you format, has given a countless number of people significant platforms. Just look at Brittany Broski, one minute you’re reacting to kombucha the next you’re interviewing Hozier. These platforms are both like, and unlike, traditional media. Particularly in regards to the direct connection with audiences and the parasocial relationship that forms. What results is an audience that deeply trusts creators and has expectations for how they use their platform.
But do influencers owe it to their audiences? That’s one of the major questions on TikTok right now. Those critical of influencers say that platforms come with a responsibility to do social good. Others reject this in favor of a larger cultural criticism— asking whether we are more focused on famous people opining than we are on practical organizing. At the same time, don’t influencers who have been historically opinionated, have a responsibility to use the platform they’ve been given?
From experience in social impact work, I believe creators’ earnest advocacy is appreciated. I am similarly wary of performative activism. That being said, creators don’t need to be political content creators or subject matter experts to post about serious issues. In fact, it can be all the better when a creator shares their values with an audience that doesn’t often hear about those topics. Not to mention, there’s always an option to repost and uplift important voices. TikTok is an exciting platform because creators do share their worldviews, lived experiences, and opinions. The diversity on the platform is a major draw.
I don’t have a perfect answer to what creators owe their audiences. I don’t think anyone does. But I know that sincere advocacy and earnest perspective sharing are part of why we go to creators. It just isn’t the end of the road for advocacy.
🔉 Our Sound Highlight 🔉
I Hate The Patriarchy
Mood: 💪
This is a sound for the misandrists (or anyone who has ever been called a misandrist).
👹 Effects Highlight 👹
Use this CapCut template for moments of pure devastation or when you’ve just had it.
Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Use this template for all the questions you’d rather not address.
☕ The Zeitgeist ☕
Hot topics from across the internet
Is there a “silent recession”? some social media users are concerned about recent layoffs at several organizations, including the shutdown of feminist publication Jezebel.
With the shuttering of Jezebel, could Gen Z creators be the future of feminist media?
TikTok was in uproar over an apartment makeover with many calling the apartment “sad beige.”
In other sad beige news: Werner Herzog was asked about the trend.
Republican Senator Mullin tried to fistfight the president of the Teamsters in a hearing. This may be the first instance of the phrase “stand your butt up” to be uttered in Congress but it’s certainly not the first aggressive statement (this past week).
Medieval TikTok is taking off with TikTok streams of squires and knights taking questions. Not everyone is happy though, TikTok user Oathbreaker Cary had some strong words for the knights.
🥡 The Takeaway 🥡
Stanley owes a lot to TikTok.
If you were watching a lifestyle video at any point in the last year, you were likely to peep a Stanley tumbler. Some influencers even showed off their color-coordinated Stanley collections (though not without backlash). The Stanley tumbler became the It Girl beverage holder thanks to influencers.
Now a car fire is set to make Stanley even more customers.
TikTok user @danimarielettering shared footage of her Kia after a car fire. In the video, which now has over 74 million views, she showed the extent of the destruction of the car fire. Seats were burnt and upholstery was destroyed. But somehow, miraculously, a Stanley tumbler sat in the drinks holder almost entirely unscathed. When @danimarielettering picked up the cup, ice could be heard clanging inside. What was undoubtedly a personal tragedy quickly turned into unintended marketing.
Stanley did something incredibly right in their response. If Stanley had merely dropped a comment or tried to use the video for promotion in a repost or stitch, it would have felt callous. “Sorry about your car! Look how great our product is!” Instead, Stanley committed. They didn’t just offer up a cup. They offered to replace her car (a notable missed opportunity for Kia competitors).
The Stanley marketing response to @danimarielettering’s video is a lesson for all marketers. Seeing an opportunity for unintentional marketing is great but even more important is having a relationship with creators that is more than just transactional and is beneficial for both sides.
🎵 Top Sounds 🎵
Our curated picks of the top sounds on TikTok
This sound romanticizes solitude and ordinary tasks. The sound “Little Life” (no connection to the Hanya Yanagihara novel) has a similar use, so consider this sound just one part of the larger slow-living trend.
Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale 🕺🏼
This trend, which also comes without bass, is from the game Genshin Impact but has exited the Genshin Impact fanbase into TikTok at large, replete with a little ✨ dance ✨.
This sound paired with the painting The Hesitant Fiancée gives female rage a delightfully 19th century edge. Use this trend to show the object of your scorn or your own frightening powers.
This sound really ought to have trended in summer but I appreciate the cozy vibes the song gives off. Use it as background music or on Fall and winter lifestyle content.
This is the perfect sound to use to air out your frustrations.
A riff on 2021’s ‘gorgeous gorgeous girls’ trend, this sound celebrates sloth.