instagram's in her flop era? she's just like me
a list of things in their flop era: the tumblrfication of twitter and the celebrity nft complex.
Welcome to Flop Era, a digital platform to muse on pop culture, cultural trends and all things Gen Z. Today, I’m sharing my thoughts on who’s/what’s in their flop era
The so-called “flop era” has definitely transcended its original meaning. Flop era is now a term to describe a period of existence where you’re at the bottomest bottom of the barrel. To me, it’s even more of a state of mind and how you are momentarily feeling — a vibe, if you will. This is to say my flop era comes and goes. My flop era is sort of an unpredictable cycle, kind of following the “Jeremy Bearimy” timeline logic (ifykyk).
Lately, I’ve noticed several companies, people, and even ideas that are in the gutter of their flop era. Here are some of those entities questions and my takes on them:
The Tumblrfication of Twitter and the Facebookification of Instagram.
What comes around goes around. Don’t get me wrong, Twitter is still fun. Ever since I joined Twitter when I was 10 (for legality, this is a lie), it has grown into a space that has defined and shifted mainstream pop culture. Twitter has many pockets of communities — from stan Twitter, Black Twitter, gay Twitter, troll Twitter, etc., etc. — that reshaped today’s cultural landscape. It launched (and quickly quashed: remember “@EmoBlackThot” and Jovan?) personalities into online stardom, such as Keyon and Quenlin Blackwell (well, I guess she got famous on Vine, but does anyone remember when she went viral on Twitter for advertising a bad skincare line? That was so funny 😭).
It led to iconic memes and online discussion and commentary on society. Commentary, which includes digital blackfishing, Twitter slang vs. AAVE discourse (spoiler alert: there’s no such thing as Twitter or “Stan slang,” it's all AAVE), and monetization for Twitter content creators and personalities, just to name a few.
Lately though, at least in my silly little Twitter realm, there seems to be antics that are reminiscent of Tumblr. Much like Tumblr, Twitter has become an outlets for various groups of people partaking in different niches and interests. Within those hubs, comes gifs, edits, fancams, discourse, and discussion. “Tumblrification” isn’t solely a good or bad thing. I gained new knowledge and perspectives from Tumblr. But like Tumblr, Twitter has been removing and adding functions that may catalyst its downfall, including the refusal to strictly monitor and ban alt-right accounts. But unlike Tumblr, I don’t see Twitter becoming obsolete as quickly anytime soon.
I feel like Instagram doesn't need an explanation. The “casual Instagram” phenomenon has killed Instagram. Though you can argue that Instagram killed itself with the rollout of the shopping button, emphasizing more on consumerism (cause who doesn’t use Instagram to shop) than what it was originally intended for. But the implementation of personal stories ended the need for finstas (you’re welcome Senator Richard Blumenthal). And photo dumps have been popular, reminding some of Facebook albums — which were part of the last stage of Facebook’s downfall. But even though the act of casual posting may have originated to relieve the stress of having to be picture perfect on the app, photo dumps and “candids” are still mostly calculated. And with celebrities and influencers taking hold of the “casual Instagram” trend, it feels unauthentic and lost its original meaning.
Netflix.
This one is kind of a joke (well, all of these are to be taken lightly), but Netflix is really in its flop era. Not only did Netflix raise the cost of its monthly subscription, its content is kind of mediocre — compared to a rising streaming service competitor. Yes, HBO Max is on her A game. In addition to its *chef’s kiss* worthy of content, HBO Max marketing and content rollout strategy is somewhat innovative. While Netflix typically releases a series’ entire season in one go, HBO Max is instead mostly following traditional broadcast television’s weekly rollout (first brought to my mind by a friend, so shoutout fellow friend).
In an age where social media spreads and even dictates trends, this method is beneficial for shows to gain momentum and an audience on a week-to-week basis. Broadcast networks aren’t quite dead yet, their shows have too benefited from social media’s word of mouth advertising. Shows like Empire and most recently Abbott Elementary have gone viral on the internet, with online praise translating to consistent and increased ratings.
Celebrities.
You would think celebrities, with their vast amount of wealth, wouldn’t participate in groundless promotion, but yet we have the Celebrity NFT Complex. More and more notable people have recently come out exclaiming they have invested in NFTs and we should too! Some of these celebrities — Paris Hilton, Jimmy Fallon, Gwyneth Paltrow (she’s lowkey bonkers) — aren’t really surprising. But with recent artists, like Tinashe, Jordin Sparks and Reese Witherspoon proclaiming their investment in NFTs, it’s kind of random.
Celebrities’ sponsorships and product endorsements isn’t a new phenomenon. Big names in Hollywood, sports, and more recently on the internet, have longed to advertise and promote plenty of products and services – some of which the average person has to sell an arm and leg to afford. But it is even more disgustingly shocking and insidious to advertise a product that is pyramid scheme-y and environmentally harmful. Bonking anyone trying to promote cryptocurrency to me. Stop making NFTs a thing!
Nostalgia.
Yes, nostalgia is in its flop era (not Future Nostalgia though! Everyone stream Future Nostalgia!). Hear me out. There should be no reason why we’re reminiscing about 2016, a time that was only five years ago. We are in the height of ‘90s and early 2000s nostalgia, with 2010s nostalgia slowly trickling in. Can we experience the 2014 Tumblr comeback first!? Maybe this is making me sound like a hater. But in all honesty, people can and should reminisce about whatever they want, like I’m nostalgic about those breakfast tacos I made a few days ago.
This is more of a critique on how, to an extent, capitalism and consumerism have plagued the concept nostalgia. There should be no reason why we’re rebooting so many TV shows. Social media definitely has a huge role in why nostalgia is flopping. I’m looking right at you, TikTok. The constant, short- lived fashion trend cycles that lives on TikTok has stunned the level of creativity and innovation that we just end up relying and going back to previous trends faster than society has previously typically latched back onto. Though some have argued that the TikTok universe itself has manifested its own niche overall aesthetics, I think TikTok plays a huge role in how nostalgia just seems worn out now.
The music industry.
In November 2019, Doja Cat released her sophomore album Hot Pink. Its fifth track Say So, (which went No.1 on my top 100 chart when I first heard it) suddenly blew up on TikTok a few months after the album was released. Arguably, a dance created by TikToker Haley Sharpe to accompany the groovy synth of the track, helped propel the disco-infused song into mainstream popularity. And in January 2020, Doja Cat released a Say So music video, with her dancing along to the dance craze with a cameo by Sharpe herself. In this particular moment, I realized that the music industry has pivoted in its role.
Now I’m not crediting (or blaming) Doja Cat (though, she has done questionable things, but that’s a discussion for another time) or Say So, or even Sharpe for changing the trajectory of the music industry: marketing to TikTok and its audience. But it’s one of the prominent examples that I’ve noticed where emerging artists are catering to TikTok with shorter songs and choreography dumbed down.
Before TikTok Era (BTE), songs under three minutes were a bittersweet gem for me. Nowadays, three-minute tracks are like coal to me — dull, boring, lacking all personality. Being a dime a dozen, I feel like they have to be sonically interesting and complex to warrant such a short duration.
What was once rarities, these short tracks were agonizing because while they were instant bops (examples I can quickly think of are Mona Lisa by Sabrina Carpenter and Consideration by Rihanna ft. SZA), I despised the fact they ended so quickly. And that led me to abuse the replay button. The music industry quickly caught on, especially in the age of streaming. Shorter songs = more replays = higher streaming numbers.
Per usual, good soup!!! (at least to me):
Celebrities and NFTs Are a Match Made in Hell: more about celebrities’ wealth accumulation and how they’re endorsing NFTs to inflate it even more.
Fashion is just TikTok now: very interesting piece on how TikTok’s micro fashion trends are just one giant trend.
To listen to: Sorry SNL, Gen Z Didn’t Invent That Slang, ICYMI podcast episode delving into the history of “internet language” and the appropriation of AAVE.
Currently watching: season 2 of Euphoria and Girlfriends, season 4.
Currently reading: Survive The Night by Riley Sager (friend me on goodreads!).
Thank you for taking the time to read! Follow me on Twitter for more antics. Please feel free to leave feedback and comments. If you enjoy this content, please share among your friends and peers!