You’re Thinking About Online Trends All Wrong
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Media researcher Ruby Thelot discusses how the internet's fragmentation into 'digital islands' makes traditional metrics like virality unreliable for predicting cultural trends. He argues that true cultural staying power comes from inherent value rather than engineered engagement.
While trends like “6-7” and “looksmaxxing” have recently broken containment, not every new term or subcultural phenomenon has real mainstream staying power. Remember, in years past, when tech bros tried to make NFTs a thing? Or that period when audio chat apps like Clubhouse were pitched as the future of social media but quickly flamed out? (A prediction WIRED was not immune to.)
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