Taylor Swift’s Encore
Taylor Swift Released New Music and Social Media Turned Two Songs Into Very Different Cultural Objects. “Patient Zero” generated more conversation. “Cleveland!” activated a different kind of audience altogether. The more useful story is what happened after both songs left Taylor Swift’s hands. Taylor Swift released more than two new songs as part of The […]
The Biggest Social Stories of Summer 2026
Three months of maternity leave, several loose gemstones, one extremely famous raccoon, and proof that apparently my brain does not know how to take PTO. A look at the cultural moments I couldn’t stop tracking while I was technically supposed to be offline. I took three months off this summer for maternity leave, and for […]
Quick Dip: Tung Tung Tung Sahur
Tung Tung Tung Sahur: TikTok’s strangest meme characters are not random. They are what happens when culture, AI, sound, and algorithmic repetition collapse into one extremely cursed wooden man. Tung Tung Tung Sahur looks like something a sleep-deprived internet invented because it had no other choice. A wooden humanoid figure. A stick. A chant-like name. […]
AI Slop: When the Internet Drowns in Synthetic Junk
AI Didn’t Create Slop. It Industrialized It. AI slop is what happens when production outpaces imagination. AI slop was easy to laugh at when it looked like Shrimp Jesus, cat soap operas, fake “great photography” posts, and dead-eyed content farms dressed up as creativity. It had a clear visual language: too glossy, too weird, too […]
Emotional Risk Economies: Escape
This article is Part 4 of 4 in our Emotional Risk Economies series, a framework that explores how different categories operate under distinct emotional contracts on social media. Each installment examines the structural pressures, audience psychology, and platform incentives shaping brand risk in real time. Emotional Risk Economies Universe: Part 1: Trust Economy || Part […]
Emotional Risk Economies: Prestige
This article is Part 3 of 4 in our Emotional Risk Economies series, a framework that explores how different categories operate under distinct emotional contracts on social media. Each installment examines the structural pressures, audience psychology, and platform incentives shaping brand risk in real time. Emotional Risk Economies Universe: Part 1: Trust Economy || Part […]