Platform news

Here’s to another month of WNOS – our monthly report where we update you on the latest news, trends and tips in Social & Digital – helping to keep you constantly in the know. We’ve made a few changes to our tried-and-true recipe, and we hope you love our update as much as we do.

March Highlights

The New Event App

Snapchat have launched a new campaign that makes its stance on social media known. Using Gen Z imagery, they’re trying to appeal to the doomscroll generation by reminding them of all the good points of social media – connection, friendship, and creativity – with none of the nasty bits. Will it work?

Youtube’s The Top

At the end of last year, Business Insider released a survey in collaboration with YouGov to determine which social platform Gen Z finds the most trustworthy. The surprising champion? YouTube. 59% of young people surveyed agree that YouTube is the most trustworthy place to find information and consume content.

It’s Snap, not social

Are we getting tired of endless social media, performance, and just generally always trying to look your best? With such a screen heavy and visual lifestyle, it’s obvious why Gen Z and Millennials (and the brands they love) are rebelling against this. Here’s how Snap is having a social media detox.

Snap’s latest campaign positioned them as the antithesis of social media, as well as the antidote. They have announced that social media has transformed significantly since it started – it’s gone from a way to share your real life with your friends to a way to market your fake life to your audience. While this evolution has led to the rise of waves of influencers, trends, and interesting niches – whoever thought that Gen Z would love the band Ghost, a fully fledged hair-glam-goth outfit? – it’s also evident that the endless need to appear perfect for an audience is affecting the mental health of everyone on social media. Gen Z are recording higher percentages of depression than other generations, Millennials are suffering from burnout, and Boomers are notoriously being trolled by fake news. None of us are safe from being impacted by our constant exposure to social media. Snap is taking a stand, and reminding everyone why they joined social media in the first place.

Snapchat is perfectly poised to take advantage of this distaste for the content-consumption style of social media. Its platform is built around community and living in the moment, rather than watching influencers and making you doom-scroll. Its messages and photos disappear, meaning that they prioritise in-the-moment sending. It features a live map of all of your friends, so you can rally the troops for an ad-hoc social meetup once you see everyone is in the right place. It doesn’t even have a photo-based feed or dashboard, meaning that you never feel like you’re comparing yourself to anyone else. And now, their new campaign is really pushing that angle, to remind Snap users that they’re not actually on social media, and to convert Snap sceptics onto the platform.

And that’s what you missed…

Universal Music Group pulling its catalogue from TikTok has spelled a huge issue for consumers, who are now no longer able to use their songs owned by the group without them being pulled or copyright struck. Artists and writers under the UMG label include Harry Styles and Adele, effectively silencing the fandoms behind these artists. Thanks to our carefully trained eye on TikTok, we’ve noticed two key points of interest that have developed since the striking of UMG from TikTok’s sound library.

TikTokers are resuscitating one ancient music library from the grave as an alternative to using songs from UMG: Glee. The old American jukebox musical TV show Glee has been seeing a slow renaissance recently, as more and more of its stars are being rediscovered through other avenues like The Masked Singer and Broadway, as well as it being prime video analysis fodder for a new generation of YouTubers who want to make videos about their childhood. TikTokers are choosing the songs they would like to have set their video to, but due to the UMG blocking, are using the Glee covers instead. This has led to Glee re-entering the top charts, trending across the platform, and more importantly, demonstrates just how savvy Gen Z are when it comes to loopholes on their favourite platforms.
We’re seeing more and more indie artists pop up thanks to UMG blocking chart juggernauts like Adele and Harry Styles. On TikTok, some of the leading tracks are by Djo, an indie outfit fronted by Stranger Things star Joe Keery, an indie country song about boots by Dasha, and TikTok’s very own Madison Beer’s first ever single. These songs didn’t really have a hope on the conventional music charts, especially with titans like Adele and Harry to compete against. TikTok is really propelling the creator economy to the fore, pushing ahead their homegrown, niche stars and giving them a home on a platform free from the industry.

Brand inspiration

Make a stand

Teen icon Olivia Rodrigo has caused a stir by really sticking to her guns. On her US tour, Rodrigo’s team handed out emergency contraceptive pills and condoms to the crowd. On her Canada tour, she announced that she would be making donations to local women’s shelters as part of her charity, Fund 4 Good. Apart from incredibly right-wing backlash, the feedback to Rodrigo’s campaign was overwhelmingly positive.

On a different side of the same coin, Taylor Swift was lambasted for making a rare political statement ahead of the US’ Super Tuesday, stating, “I wanted to remind you guys to vote for the people who most represent YOU into power.” Her fans expressed disappointment in the fact that she seemed to be making the vaguest, least-committed message possible. So why is Olivia seeing success while Taylor is in the doghouse?

All consumers, not just Gen Z, are fed up with empty platitudes from celebrities, and other people with the potential to use their platform to make meaningful good in the world. While Taylor might tell people to feel empowered through her lyrics, it’s Olivia that’s actually empowering people in a physical, tangible way. In a world where social media shows more than it does, consumers are hungry for people, and brands, to really put their money where their mouth is and take a real stand.

Keeping Up

with the trends in March

Hazbin Hotel

Music

New Amazon Prime show Hazbin Hotel has been making waves with audiences. As A24’s first animated tv show (the distribution studio behind Midsommar, Past Lives, and Everything Everywhere All At Once), it’s been hugely successful. After the Boy and the Heron became the first hand-animated film in twenty-one years to win an Oscar, is it possible that 2D animation is making a comeback?

That’s Not My Neighbour

Tech

Doppelgangers? Intrigue? A… kind of hot milkman? The latest game to take the internet by storm is horror game That’s Not My Neighbour. It’s been all anyone can talk about on TikTok and Twitch, and even fans that aren’t videogame inclined are getting in on the action – by making anime-style drawings of the milkman character. Even though he’s covered in blood.

Cowboy Carter

Music

The queen has done it again! Beyonce’s latest album, Cowboy Carter, has brought a resurgence of ten gallon hats, shiny spurs, and gunslinging not seen since the goldrush. The album even features a cover of Dolly Parton’s Jolene, updated for our 2024 cowpokes, and fans are dancing to it all over TikTok – a-hootin, a-hollerin, and ready for a hoedown..

Cowboy Carter

Fashion

And it’s seeping over into the world of fashion. Denim on denim is back on the backs of fashionistas everywhere, cowboy boots are still going strong, and we’re starting to see the rise of 2013 boho-chic suede fringes and hats. Based on this, we can pretty confidently predict that we’re gearing up for a rootin tootin summertime.