Silence, Brand! 03.21.25
substack.com
Silence, Brand! 03.21.25
Exploring the deep, personal connections and community bonds that form the true, lasting core of modern fandom.
TRANSCRIPT
There's someone who was on YouTube during, it was 2019. And we don't have to get into it, but I was depressed. I was going through a depressive phase of my life.
And I would keep YouTube playing at night just for like sound and comfort. and I would fall asleep to this YouTube personalities videos, not because I was like a huge fan, it was
... See moreToday’s internet has created its share of big fandoms, who mostly work in exchange for likes, comments, and shares. About the best you can hope for is that your favorite artist replies to you, or shares one of your posts.
Casey Newton • Is the music industry's future on the blockchain?
In Florida and out of my routines, I found myself on a TikTok binge last night. I saw something weirder than the pimple, blackhead, cyst videos—now, apparently people are gluing beans on their skin, calling them ticks, showing their arm infested with 100-200 things, to then pick them off one-by-one. If you click into the comments, you instantly
... See moreTikTok is rebranding ice hockey rinks as ‘boy aquariums’ (Fast Company)
TikTok has rebranded ice hockey arenas as “boy aquariums,” with women filming players through the rink’s Plexiglas like fish in a tank. The joke has gone fully mainstream, with teams and players leaning in on the meme. The trend is also driving new, mostly female fans to... See more
TikTok has rebranded ice hockey arenas as “boy aquariums,” with women filming players through the rink’s Plexiglas like fish in a tank. The joke has gone fully mainstream, with teams and players leaning in on the meme. The trend is also driving new, mostly female fans to... See more
boy aquariums [redacted]
The rise of “microcelebrities” and the proliferation of online content means that connections become deeper. We feel new levels of affinity for digitally-native stars—we feel that we grew up with them and that we’re privy to the most intimate parts of their lives.