Hi everyone,
We’ve all been there.
This week on the internet…
De-influencing: real trend or just a buzzword?
The internet is all abuzz this week over “de-influencing,” a TikTok trend where influencers share what products they aren’t into.
The Today show blog breaks it down:
“The tables are turning — or at least they seem to be. Enter: the era of ‘de-influencing.’
The hashtag #deinfluencing has racked up more than 76 million views on TikTok, sparking a bigger conversation about overconsumption. In the videos, creators are telling the truth about everything TikTok made them buy —and more often than not, urging people to think long and hard before they fall victim to the hype.
‘I am here for de-influencing. This is my favorite trend of all time,’ one TikTok user says. ‘I can't believe we as a collective are finally admitting that overconsumption is getting out of control.’”
To me, this seems like just a fancy new name for something a lot of influencers have done before. While some influencers will definitely hawk anything for any brand that writes them a check, there are a lot of them who have shared what big social media products they didn’t like, or given “honest reviews” before.
The aspect of this I find most interesting is the suggestion it is a reaction to the overconsumption we have seen over the past few years in the form of “haul videos” from cheap clothing companies like Shein. It seems the combination of the instability in the economy and the environmental impact of fast fashion may be starting to impact the palatability of these displays of conspicuous consumption, especially since Shein has had some bad headlines as of late. I’ve also been seeing a lot of tweets asking for Shein alternatives which…
Thoughts?
You have to read Elle Magazine’s feature on Jordan Turpin’s social media stardom
Elle Magazine has interviewed Jordan Turpin, a survivor of a horrific child abuse case that made headlines a few years ago, about her surprising new life as a TikTok star.
Their piece reads:
“For someone who was unaware of the most rudimentary aspects of civilization just a few years ago, Jordan has played an uncanny game of reality catch-up.
Today she is not just navigating the difference between sidewalk and road, she’s learning how to become a public figure and a burgeoning social media star. She has a caseworker, but also a team of Hollywood insiders helping her to manage this unique type of fame. She attends charity events for children abused within the foster care system one week, and walks the red carpet at movie premieres the next. In private, Jordan processes the trauma of her upbringing by writing raw and exhaustive journal entries, but in public she pens sunny TikTok captions to her nearly one million followers (‘Hope everyone has an amazing day!’ she likes to say). She has aspirations to become a motivational speaker. And she’s been writing and singing songs since she was in captivity, so there might be a career in pop music out there for her, too.”
This is a great piece, highly recommend the read. I stumbled upon Jordan’s TikTok a few months ago and couldn’t believe how many followers she had.
Panopticontent!
My colleague Clarissa-Jan Lim wrote a great piece this week about what it’s like when someone else makes you go viral.
It reads:
“What happened to Goodman has become increasingly common in an age where camera phones are ubiquitous and the desire for internet clout is chronic. We film ourselves, we film our surroundings, we film the people we know and the people we don’t, and we post freely and carelessly. This is the age of panopticontent — everything is content for the creating, and everyone is a nonplayer character in my world.”
*Taylor Swift voice* Nice! 😬
One more thing…
Thaaaat’s me!
Have a great week,
Stephanie