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- Your ATTN Please || Tuesday, 23 September
Your ATTN Please || Tuesday, 23 September
Instagram and Snapchat have figured out what all of us already know:
Sharing on social media has gone underground. And by underground, I mean it’s gone from posting on your Stories approximately 37x/day to sharing other people’s content in the DMs. Yesterday, we talked about posting ennui—the reluctance so many of us feel about sharing our everyday lives online. And if that sound familiar, it’s not just you. It’s happening so much that it’s forcing social platforms to adapt accordingly.
- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡
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WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?
Disney loses billions from boycott, 400+ artists shun Spotify & Labubu’s downfall gut-punches Pop Mart
Well, yeah. The “free speech” crusaders are literally censoring what they so loudly advocate for. Look, this issue, the whole incident, everything surrounding it, has a lot of layers. So, I’m not going to speak on it. Simply because I don’t feel equipped to nor do I want to, as a writer that’s my prerogative. But knowing that one of the world’s longest leading entertainment companies can be financially affected by a boycott (not to mention reputationally damaged) to this extent, makes me believe that maybe there is hope for us after all.
According to Culture Base the company’s market value dropped by US$3.87 billion, literally overnight, after the decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel Live! following remarks Kimmel made in reference to conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s assassination. The decision fuelled some hefty online debate, with the hashtag #BoycottDisney trending on X, and public support from Jimmy Fallon to Obama. Bets on how far we can push the boat out?
Massive Attack remove music from Spotify to protest against CEO Daniel Ek’s investment in AI military + Over 400 artists to remove their music from streaming services in Israel.
Apparently it’s boycott szn. I’m not complaining – a boycott is just like a politically-fuelled tantrum, and I, a princess and a brat, love a good tantrum. Particularly when it’s against the funding of lethal technologies – a la Massive Attack’s latest efforts.
The band pulled their catalogue from Spotify after founder Daniel Ek invested €600m (US$704m) in the military AI company Helsing. Helsing’s software uses AI technology to analyse sensor and weapons system data from battlefields to inform real-time military decisions. It also makes its own military drone, the HX-2. Ek is also chairman of Helsing. Massive Attack announced at the same time that they signed up to No Music For Genocide, in which a group of more than 400 artists and labels are blocking their music from streaming services in Israel.
Fading Labubu frenzy wipes $13 billion from Pop Mart shares.
We knew this day would come. Tbh, I thought it would have been sooner. The landfill-rot that infected everyone’s brains is beginning to cease, and with it, the popularity of y’all's beloved Labubus.
The Chinese toymaker’s stock slumped nearly 9% in Hong Kong, the most since April, after JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded the firm due to weak catalysts and an unattractive valuation. Welp. See ya I guess.
-Sophie Randell, Writer
DEEP DIVE
Everyone's reluctant to post (and the platforms have noticed)
Okay SO, as it turns out, yesterday when I deleted a mirror selfie ten minutes after posting it, I wasn’t just being neurotic (shock, I know).
In fact, I was part of a global trend so big it’s making billion-dollar platforms scramble to reinvent themselves (thank you very much.)
Snapchat’s CEO Evan Spiegel recently admitted the obvious in his annual letter to employees: speaking on the platform's challenges, namely the fact that people aren’t posting “Friend Stories” the way they used to.
Now listen, I’m 29 years old. I don’t use Snapchat. And if I did, you’d have the right to be concerned. But I do know that the casual snaps were what made the app go ‘round. Stories that sparked convos, led to inside jokes, and made you feel like your friends were living vicariously through you.
Well they’re now dead. In their place, users are now DM-ing each other influencer videos from Spotlight, Snapchat’s TikTok clone.
Instead of “look at what I’m doing,” it’s “look at what they’re doing.”
Instagram is seeing the same thing.
Adam Mosseri, Instagram’s head, openly admitted that public sharing is in decline, while private sharing is booming. That’s why you may have noticed Insta is “doubling down” on messaging: adding more DM features, rolling out a long-awaited repost button, expanding the “friends” tab, even stealing Snap’s idea of a social map.
Basically, if you don’t feel like posting yourself, Meta will make it easier than ever to co-sign someone else’s content and send it straight to your group chat.
Here’s the part that I found kind of crazy in all of this though: our little “nah, not posting this” impulses, like mine yesterday (but multiplied by millions) are literally bending platforms to our will.
My deleted selfie. Your skipped story. Our collective “posting ennui.” All of it adds up to a cultural force strong enough to rewire entire apps.
And what are those apps telling us about the culture right now? That feeds are dead. DMs are alive. Posting feels risky; sharing feels safe. Putting your own face out there invites cringe, judgment, or worse. Forwarding a funny TikTok to your best friend? That’s frictionless, communal, and still feels like participation.
We’ve traded originality for co-signs, breakfast pics for repost buttons, silly little updates for influencer snippets that double as “conversation starters.”
Platforms are retooling themselves to fit the mood, because if they don’t, we’ll leave them behind.
So yes, maybe posting a mirror selfie or sharing part of our lives now come with a vulnerability hangover.
But zoom out, and you’ll see: that hangover has the power to topple entire strategies at Snapchat and Instagram. Even when we feel powerless online, our behaviour shapes the internet right back.
Which is both comforting and a little tragic.
-Sophie Randell, Writer
TREND PLUG
“Unfortunately I do love…”
This one’s for the guilty pleasures and unspoken truths of life.
The habits we know we shouldn’t have, but keep leaning into anyway, kinda like that one on-and-off partner you stuck with for years even though literally everyone told you they were bad news (definitely not projecting, Definitely not trauma dumping).
This TikTok sound is Rocky Mountain Way by Joe Walsh: a classic laid-back, “I don’t give a f*ck” rock track. Creators are pairing it with the caption “Unfortunately I do love…” followed by their weird or controversial faves and messy little habits. Sunglasses and mogging the camera in your best outfit is recommended.
It’s flexible, funny, and can be made to be painfully relatable depending on what you share. Everyone’s got those “semi-socially controversial” habits or hot takes they’d never admit out loud, and this trend is the perfect excuse to let them be known.
How you can jump on the trend:
Film something casual! Walking, sitting at your desk, driving, or just giving the camera the dead-on stare. Just make sure you’re serving c*nt. Then, overlay text with your polarising (but very relatable) confessions. The closer to home, the funnier it hits.
A few ideas to get you started:
Unfortunately I do love… throwing in a ✨spicy✨ “per my last email”
Unfortunately I do love… having 5 coffees at work before 12PM
Unfortunately I do love… bothering my boss with how well the last batch social posts are doing
Unfortunately I do love… spending 2 hours writing a TikTok caption that "looks effortless”
Unfortunately I do love… using industry buzzwords I barely understand (let's integrate those verticals!)
- Nico Mendoza, Intern
FOR THE GROUP CHAT
😂Yap’s funniest home videos: Cat McRae
❤How wholesome: Time really heals
😊Soooo satisfying: Glaze a vase
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Bang bang chicken
ASK THE EDITOR
How should I choose which trends I should do for my brand? - Liara
Hey Liara!
This totally depends on your brand and how you want to show up on social media. I don't suggest doing trends just for the sake of it. If it doesn't fit with your brand, it will come across as inauthentic.
The best way to use these trends is to customise them to fit your brand and audience. So if one of the ideas we've given works really well, that's great! But the examples are more to get you thinking about how you could apply it to your business. The important thing is to only use trends when they make sense for your content strategy.
- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡
Not going viral yet?
We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.
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