Anaïs Nin is famously quoted as saying, “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” That is, the truth is not as objective as we would like to believe. The truth is culturally mediated and socially negotiated and constructed based on our communal view of reality—our beliefs.

I usually search by topic or hashtag, so if you wanted to learn about the vegan culture, I’d recommend searching for #vegan or “going vegan.”

Before De Beers, people didn’t propose with a diamond. It wasn’t a thing. But De Beers changed all that. The campaign instructed young men, in the aftermath of the Great Depression, “If you want to show her you love her, say it with a diamond.”

Anaïs Nin is famously quoted as saying, “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” That is, the truth is not as objective as we would like to believe. The truth is culturally mediated and socially negotiated and constructed based on our communal view of reality—our beliefs.

you found yourself watching ten episodes of Tiger King on Netflix. Why? Because someone told you to, just as someone told them, and so on, and so on, and so on. This is the network effect at its finest, propagating shared beliefs and cultural characteristics to keep the network bonds of the congregation tight.

I had been working in social media marketing for a few years by that time, so I relied on an old trick of the trade: when in doubt, crowdsource it!

the obvious typically isn’t obvious until someone points it out, especially when it comes to understanding culture.

we all fall for something and behave accordingly, not because it’s “true” per se but because it aligns with the story we tell ourselves about the world (ideology) and how we fit into the world (identity); therefore, we act in accordance with it (culture). All we need is for someone to preach the gospel so that we know what to do and how to act.

look for subreddits that are associated with the community you’re studying. If it’s vegans, then you’ll find many different subreddits that fit the bill, like “Vegan,” “PlantBasedDiet,” “VeganFitness,” and “VeganFoodPorn.” Click into each of these subreddits and immerse yourself in the back-and-forth that takes place among the community members.