the wild west of the internet

It’s the idea that stuff on the internet and on social media can feel so inevitable and inescapable to you and not even register as a blip to a different audience. As small as the internet seems to be and as seemingly connected as we are, it’s hard to know these days how big a thing really is.

Imagine a world where purchasing decisions are made as a result of virtual influencers having grown large, loyal follower bases on various social media platforms. Now, imagine the opportunities that would arise from this for both brands and creators. The good news is that this is the world we’re currently living in. In the upcoming years, with the ... See more

Anchovies, smoked trout, and the like may be the “ultimate,” according to Goldfarb, but they aren’t the only “hot girl food.” Per references on TikTok, the category includes pickles and McNuggets, but simultaneously acai smoothie bowls and avocado toast; it’s pictures of spaghetti bolognese, or of penne in vodka sauce, or of sushi, set to audio of ... See more

The snark page is dedicated to a woman, or multiple women. It’s always about women, even when it’s about men. Go ahead and look at the top posts on r/TimotheeChalametSnark — they’re all about Kylie. Sometimes the pages are dedicated to individual women, or helpfully categorized to catch multiple women of the same ilk in one community (if you want t... See more

MrBeast — whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson — is the most popular YouTuber on the planet, with a grip on younger people (and the internet in general) that can be hard for some adults to comprehend. He produces videos known for both their scale (“I recreated every set from ‘Squid Game’in real life, and whichever one of these 456 people survives the... See more

Then we have @fit_aitana. Aitana López was created by the Spanish AI modeling agency The Clueless. She is Spain’s first-ever AI influencer. Rubeñ Cruz, the founder of The Clueless, has expressed that the creation of Aitiana was to overcome friction involved with real-life influencers, such as cancellations and disagreements on campaigns. According ... See more

But the essay as a literary form has long preceded the internet. So has the debate over the aesthetic metrics of a good essay. Merve Emre cites Virginia Woolf’s 1905 screed “The Decay of Essay Writing,” where Woolf bemoans the “amazing and unclothed egoism” of a new class of writers. “If one can set aside [Woolf’s] disdain, there is a larger point,... See more

PowerPoints have long dredged up flashbacks of dull meetings and interminable briefings, with some even calling for the presentation software to be banned. But it’s gotten a makeover in recent years, with millennials and Gen Zers repurposing the software for social entertainment: A workplace and educational tool by day has become a zany social game... See more