Calle is a French conceptual artist who has spent the last four decades turning her life and the lives of strangers into raw material. Born in Paris in 1953, she started making art almost by accident: after seven years of traveling, she returned home feeling like a stranger in her own city and began following people on the street just to give her days a sense of direction. That impulse to observe became a full artistic practice. She's a writer, photographer, and installation artist, but what really defines her work is her method. She designs elaborate rules and constraints for investigating human behavior, then documents everything.

I went down a rabbit hole of Calle’s work after seeing her career retrospective, Overshare in late 2024 at The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

In The Sleepers (1979), one of her earliest projects, Calle invited 29 people, ranging from friends to complete strangers, to sleep in her bed in consecutive eight-hour shifts, keeping it occupied around the clock for eight days straight. She photographed them every hour, served them meals, changed the sheets between guests, and asked them probing questions about their sleeping habits and dreams.

From there, her career became a greatest hits of boundary violations dressed up as conceptual art. She followed a stranger from Paris to Venice and photographed him for weeks (Suite Vénitienne, 1980). She got hired as a hotel chambermaid so she could rifle through guests' belongings and build portraits of people she'd never meet (The Hotel, 1981). She found a lost address book on the street, called every number in it to build a profile of the owner, and published the whole thing as a 28-part newspaper serial that nearly got her sued (The Address Book, 1983). By the 2000s, she was one of France's most recognized living artists.

Which brings us to Take Care of Yourself (2007), which could easily be co-opted into a TikTok trend 19 years later. After receiving an email from her boyfriend ending their relationship (signed off with the painfully generic "take care of yourself"), Calle sent the letter to 107 women and asked each one to interpret it through the lens of her profession. A lawyer determined the ex was legally punishable. A proofreader edited his grammar. Performers sang it, danced it, acted it out. It’s no different from circulating a screenshot of a breakup text to your group chat — just a slightly different form.

The success of Calle’s career and our compulsive content scrolling originate from the same truth: humans love to look. But why does this view into someone else’s life feel so uncomfortable and magnetic at the same time?

Our inability to look away is a social good.

In fact, it might actually be one of the more generous things our brains do.

Behavioral scientist Coltan Scrivner studies morbid curiosity, defined as our instinct to fixate on things that feel transgressive. His research shows that people with higher levels of morbid curiosity actually have more regard for others' wellbeing, not less. The impulse to stare comes from a place of connection-seeking, not schadenfreude.

And it works both ways. Research on self-disclosure has consistently shown that vulnerability creates a feedback loop: people who share intimately are liked more, and people like others more as a result of having opened up to them. But push it too far, and the benefit goes away: inappropriate (over)sharing tanks credibility and the mutual good vibes.

The difference comes from the pacing of the relationship, which psychologists call Social Penetration Theory. Relationships deepen through gradually escalating disclosure, evolving from small talk to secrets.

Skipping straight to intense vulnerability breaks long-held social norms. Calle speed-runs Social Penetration Theory by replacing the gradual building of individual trust with the presence of her creative rulebook. When everyone is spending exactly 8 hours in bed, that framework becomes the trust.

When we skip over the constraints and start sharing our every inner thought ad nauseam on Instagram Stories, the result is apprehension, not connection.

Oversharing is a craft, not a crutch.

If oversharing alone was a content strategy, TikTok comment sections wouldn’t be flooded with the (admittedly hilarious) chastisement “this is why they invented journals.”

Jarring your audience can elicit profound connection — but only with restraint. Look at Calle. She doesn't just dump her life out on the nearest passerby. When she gives it structure, rules, and a conceptual container, it moves from confession to composed.

Too much polish with no authentic vulnerability falls flat.

Long-winded, under-edited rants feel overstimulating and aggressive.

But that perfectly crafted mix of thoughtful oversharing? When content allows you to peek through the doorway into the taboo? It’s electric.

Sophie Calle is the influencer blueprint.

Calle pioneered turning vulnerability into content before the modern internet existed. But the playbook she wrote is visible here: there are influencers who are artfully co-opting taboo and vulnerability to build their followings and careers.

Brittany Broski is one of the biggest personalities on the internet, known for endearing herself to celebrities through hyper-relatability. In one interview, she willingly read her Cole Sprouse fanfiction to him on camera, making herself the butt of her own joke. It’s her willingness to put her own ego on the line that makes her content endearing instead of embarrassing. Positioned more as a fangirl who accidentally made it big than a fellow celebrity, her interviews veer far off the PR-beaten path. And it’s magnetic — even a year later, the clip consistently gets viral attention.

Nadya Okamoto, founder of period brand August, grew a 4.4M TikTok following from talking about periods and free bleeding. Read her comment section, which is a near-even blend of disgusted comments and admiring ones, and you’ll start to notice repeat faces. Despite the “ewws” and “wtfs,” those same commenters keep returning for more. Nadya frames the conversation in destigmatization and “big sister energy,” which keeps the idea of showing bodily fluids on social media on the right side of batshit crazy.

Both Brittany and Nadya are internet oversharers, willingly veering into cringe or taboo content for the benefit of their audiences. But the form is fundamentally different from someone posting a long-winded, tone-deaf, under-edited soul-baring Instagram caption. They overshare with joy.

When someone overshares well, they extend an invitation for voyeurs to enter their world. But it falls to the viewer to walk through the doorway. Oversharing as a means of building connection requires putting your onlookers before yourself. Any ounce of self-importance kills the effort.

If I haven’t convinced you to overshare on the internet yet, that research shows time and time again that authentic vulnerability is a community building exercise. Both sharing and witnessing others’ sharing builds empathy.

Steal from Sophie Calle

I want you to start oversharing on the internet. Ask these questions to help you find your voyeuristic sweet spot:

• What unaddressed topic does your community need someone to talk about plainly?

• What are you waiting for permission to speak candidly about? Can you do it without permission instead?

• What truths define you offline but haven't made it into your content yet?

• Did you set the mood before you opened the door?

• What is the unspoken truth behind this story?

• What did you include that can be left unsaid?

Every piece of content is us asking our audience, “look at this.” Calle has figured out how to make them look more closely — and twice.

Last night, I had a bleak Slack conversation with a colleague. We resigned ourselves to an apocalyptic reality: we literally cannot stop posting every time something tragic happens, or we would never post at all.

I’ve had to give up the simplistic, optimistic flowchart I created for clients just three years ago when Roe v. Wade was first overturned. It had three options — pause, comment, or continue posting as usual. It worked because tragedies felt discrete, individually tragic, and manageable within existing frameworks. That world no longer exists.

The Endless Grief Cycle

I'm still grieving the Annunciation Catholic School shooting. But when it happened, my immediate thought was: I’m still grieving the assassination of Melissa Hortman this spring. And that’s just what’s happened in Minnesota.

I’ve seen both re-upped to contrast to the latest news of Charlie Kirk’s death. While we do need to hold elected officials accountable to their actions, the psychological cost of seeing our grief leveraged as political ammunition, plastered across social feeds for hours each day, is devastating.

Those who want to opt out can, with one notable exception:

Social media professionals are being asked to navigate this emotional minefield in the name of brand-building. We're spending 6-8 hours daily online (exactly 7.4 hours, per Link in Bio’s Very Online Survey), exposing ourselves to an increasingly overwhelming, politicized, and depressing environment.

The Externality of Who Scrolls

The people closest to this deluge are often also the most junior — early career community managers and social media managers who are eager to prove themselves… and the least equipped to set professional boundaries.

Meanwhile, strategists and senior directors think about social media more abstractly, as part of the “big picture.” This work requires less direct engagement with social feeds, meaning they can set their phones down for a few days — relying on the same community managers and social media managers to fill them in on anything they miss.

Without intentional support, companies leave their frontline social teams high and dry, primed for burnout in an industry already plagued by high turnover rates.

A Personal Boundaries Protocol

Here’s some of the guardrails I put in place for myself during intense social media news cycles:

1. Use iPhone focus settings plus external apps to lock out unnecessary scrolling. I only get work notifications during certain hours, plus use additional apps like Focus Friend and Blank Spaces Launcher to redirect my dopamine cravings towards a more productive outlet.

2. Swap endless doom-scrolling for a nightly news show. Spend 30 minutes watching a journalist-run show, then go take a walk. Much more informative and contained than getting your news from your phone.

3. Publish posts through third-party scheduling apps rather than opening Instagram directly. From experience: you never close the app after the post goes live.

4. Subscribe to social listening tools and expert reports. Get daily account insights without physically opening the platform itself.

5. Build analog rituals throughout the day to disrupt your scroll. Mine are making a morning matcha, listening to a literal radio show, playing with the cat, and an afternoon walk. Find yours.

6. Tether your phone to your desk — literally. Doom-scrolls feel doomier when they happen from the couch, toilet, or bed. Leashing your phone to your desk forces you to stay in “work mode.”

Building a Better Workplace Culture

If you manage a social media team, consider how you’re building a support system for the frontlines. Here’s a few ideas:

Invest in social listening and reporting tools so brand and cultural insights aren’t reliant on team members perpetually scrolling.

Actively promote mental health resources. Don't just offer them — lay out what your workplace offers for for meditation, fitness, mental health, and therapy benefits. Ask how team members are balancing the toll of perpetual scrolling during your reviews and check-ins, and help them build better digital boundaries.

Integrate solo community managers with customer service teams. Both roles face the challenge of difficult interactions, so your community manager can benefit from their existing support system.

Create contractor support budgets to give the social team a break from being in the feed without work stopping.

Establish clear work/life boundaries: In an industry that glorifies staying in-the-know in real time, give your social team time to do that type of research during work hours, so their thumbs can take a break after 5 PM, too.

Update your job descriptions. Replace the phrase "chronically online" with more precise, professional terms. A few I like: "student of culture," "willingness to experiment," "quick reaction times."

What Happens Next

I keep thinking about that Slack conversation with my colleague. Sharing the feeling of “I’m laughing so I don’t cry” with another social media pro helped me process the complexity of the situation, then move on. But that’s not a reality for the many who are a team of one, trapped in a toxic agency culture, or at the tipping point of their compartimentalization.

Here's what I know: talented social media professionals are leaving the industry entirely. There is a huge brand (and bottom line) liability in the institutional knowledge loss, constant rehiring costs, and declining content quality that comes from churning through social media managers. The brands that thrive in years to come will be the ones that build a resilient social team culture.

Sustainable social media work that protects human wellbeing while maintaining professional excellence exists. I've seen it in companies that treat their social teams as humans first, content creators second. It requires acknowledging that working in social isn’t just fast-paced, it’s emotionally exhausting.

To get there, we first have to admit that we aren’t adequately investing in or supporting the people who keep our digital communities running. That feels hard.

Which is why it’s so concerning to think that TikTok users will migrate their attention to Meta-owned Instagram & the platform’s videos, Reels.

For any reader who may be less absorbed in online culture than myself, Meta announced a rollback of their content moderation in a message that planted a target firmly on DEI’s back.

Then, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg went on Joe Rogan’s podcast and espoused the lack of “masculine energy” in corporate culture, calling it “somewhat neutered.”

All this, combined with donations to Donald Trump’s inauguration, his reputation as Billionaire Boy #3 (behind controversial figures Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos), and Facebook’s purported origins as a misogynistic side-project, it’s clear that our Metaverse oligarch is not value aligned going into Trump’s second term.

As a good steward of internet culture, I spent Fall 2024 researching how the other half lives. On my own Instagram account (this is an important detail), I started watching reels. Despite following accounts in a few main buckets (personal relationships, climate activism, sustainable & size inclusive apparel brands, food accounts, and fellow freelancers) for years prior to this experiment, I didn’t see any reels within these categories.

Instead, here’s what I did see:

• “Seed oils are anti-Christian because the bible only mentions butter and olive oil”

• “I didn’t go to college because it’s inappropriate to consider yourself an intellectual equal to your husband”

• “I didn’t go to college because I wanted to remain pure for my future husband”

• “I don’t trust my husband alone with our kids, because he’s not naturally nurturing”

• “tips for combating lust urges in your biblical intimacy practice”

• “when you give your empathetic StarSeed red dye and sugar on a family trip, and they suddenly turn into a human supernova exploding in real time”

• “POV: You’re conservative but they/them coffee doesn’t miss”

• “the reason I only eat is plain chicken and oatmeal without seasoning is because I like how it tastes”

• “When I see a woman who radiates natural, chemical-free pheromones”

Despite the fact that I’ve been watching IG reels for months at this point, I continue to be fed this content. And while, yes, some of the videos have comments ridiculing the original poster, the psychological impact of seeing it remains.

Meet the Illusory Truth Effect, a phenomenon where we are more likely to believe something is true when we hear it multiple times. It’s the reason that you might be considering Wegovy 3,000 ads later, even though you were originally against it.

Plus, misinformation research shows that it continues to influence people even if they have seen a correction and now believe it’s untrue.

My fear is that the Meta algorithm, unencumbered by professional content moderators, will run rampantly towards the far right. Then, unassuming “TikTok refugees” looking for their next ASMR fix will get funneled into the alt-right pipeline.

As a 20-something, unwed woman who has done everything that was asked of me — straight-A’s, club leadership, college degree, career, and even building my own 6-figure business — I sometimes feel like the rug is getting pulled out from under me. Suddenly, the expectation has shifted and my hobbies like mending or baking sourdough are perceived as evidence that I’m destined for traditional homemaking.

I’ve always been an advocate for the ways that the internet can bring community, and often felt heard and understood by the people my TikTok algorithm brought me. Instagram’s algorithm, on the other hand, often makes me feel incredibly alone — like a piece that doesn’t quite fit in the puzzle.

Unfortunately, a sad, alone, and confused state is one that can be easily influenced. Call me a cynic, but I don’t think that Instagram’s algorithm making someone feel noncompliant to traditional values is a random side-effect.

So yes, the internet can still provide community — but billionaire oligarchs can’t. Consider supporting independent media, less evil apps, or even just engaging with the analog world as your TikTok replacement instead.

I’ll be sharing more resources for building a thoughtful tech stack & social media ecosystem here and, ironically, on Instagram at @persephoneplanet (just until we decide what’s next).

Key reads to keep up on industry news

• It’s Earth Month! IAE (Institute for Advertising Ethics) has a free one-hour certification to help end greenwashing. You should do it. Here’s the link. (How’s my advertising?)

• Which brings us to this oldie-but-goodie from Washington Post, which lays out how to spot greenwashing. It’s a must-read before Earth Day marketing hits.

• Gen-Z approaches vices differently, according to Business of Fashion. Read the article here, or if the paywall gets you, check out the Instagram version instead.

• Dove’s Face of Ten campaign is bringing awareness to how anti-aging marketing is affecting young girls.

• Coachella Week 1 just wrapped, and a culture shift seems to be happening. I’ve seen next-to-nothing by way of brand partnerships or influencer content, but tons of rave reviews about newcomer Chappell Roan’s set (and not-so rave reviews about Grimes’ technical issues). The music is returning, but the festival still struggled with low ticket sales. Not quite past their reputation as an overpriced influencer stomping-grounds, it seems like a rocky year for the festival.

Love This Language

Excellently composed posts, presented for your viewing pleasure.

At great personal sacrifice, I’m letting you in on the secret of Dupe Photos. I discovered them just after their launch earlier this year and watched them grow from 300 ig followers to their recent 10k milestone, seemingly overnight.

AKA, they aren’t so secret anymore. Dupe went VIRAL with the TikTok girlies and I’m pretty jealous that other people now know about my holy-grail stock-that-isn’t-stock image repository. This site will probably change your life. Also, if you see me using any of their images here or on my Instagram feed, mind your business.

Virality isn’t necessarily replicable or even that helpful, but I’m eyeing the smart tactics they use to keep viral viewers engaged with the brand long-term.

Comparatively, I’ve watched other trendy stock sites struggle to grow on social (examples 1, 2) with slower growth over a much longer timeline. Dupe has a few major differentiators that lend themselves to great engagement and a very quick ascent in the social media space.

1. They’re crystal clear on who they’re for— people who want to use Pinterest images in their marketing but can’t for legal reasons. It’s tailored to designers and SMMs who already know what they’re looking for but struggle to find it on more traditional stock websites.

2. While other stock sites tend to have a distinct delineation between creators and customers, Dupe blends both worlds. It seems that most everyone in the Dupe ecosystem both uploads and downloads, depending on whether they more recently had an aesthetically-pleasing brunch or received a new design brief.

3. They engage your creative process in a new way. While looking at an endless feed of beautiful pictures is usually fodder for an existential crisis (or at least booking a treatment or two), users scroll Dupe to get inspired, not pass comparisons. Sourcing imagery is a different purpose that gets your creative wheels turning far more than a trip through Pinterest or your IG saves.

Dupe’s content highlights these differentiators perfectly— it’s interactive, seasonally relevant, and visually-engaging. Meanwhile, other stock sites seem stuck posting design tutorials and social media management tips that are too entry-level to attract their target audience. By bringing together the aesthetically-appreciative girlies to look at each others’ cell phone snapshots, Dupe is able to stand out as a disrupter to the underwhelming stock image industry.

Their content isn’t reinventing the wheel. But it’s always incredibly grounded in their audience and mission— which is what we’re all about.

In and Out

What we need more of (and less of) on social this week

In

• Creative communities

• Aging

• Chappell Roan

• Earth Week reflection & action

Out

• Creator competitiveness

• Detoxes

• JoJo Siwa

• Greenwashing

Key reads to keep up on industry news

• Internet sleuths never seem to learn, and I love the way Jennifer Savin lays out the larger trend behind #KateGate for Cosmo. When I saw the news of her cancer, my mind went right to Chadwick Boseman and how we all purportedly learned not to mock famous cancer victims after his death in 2020. If you’re wondering why we keep falling into this old habit, Amanda Montell explores the psychology behind this rubbernecking and fixation in her 2021 book, Cultish.

• Ignore for a second that this article is about dating… unless you’re actively on the dating scene of course. The tips in here about how to form connections go deeper than just romantic relationships, and I’d love to see all of them applied in the ways we show up on social media.

• The State of Culture, 2024 from Ted Gioia is a mind-blowingly good read. Check below for a powerful, thought-provoking graphic from the article that I can’t stop revisiting.

• Greater connectivity is an important asset to our relationship building, but it can also be our downfall. As we’re trying to find the equilibrium for life on the internet, these two reads are interesting compliments to each other. “How Phones Warped Gen-Z,” meet “Gen Zers are Snapping Up Flip Phones”

• Technically a watch, but this video from Ecstatic Voice was exactly what I needed to get through some key stuff that had me feeling stuck. Hope it helps you too.

Love This Language

Excellently composed posts, presented for your viewing pleasure.

While a great personal sacrifice, I’d be remiss to skip featuring Dupe Photos in a Digital Dispatch. *necessary clout-chaser loading screen* I discovered them just after their launch earlier this year and watched them grow from 300 ig followers to their 10k milestone, nearly overnight.

The Pinterest girlies took them VIRAL on TikTok and I’m pretty jealous that other people now know about my holy-grail stock-that-isn’t-stock image repository. This site will probably change your life, so if you see me using any of their images here or on my Instagram feed, mind your business.

Virality isn’t necessarily replicable or even that helpful, so I’m truthfully most interested in the smart tactics they’ve used to keep viral viewers engaged with the brand long-term.

Comparatively, I’ve watched other trendy stock sites struggle to grow on social (examples 1 2). Dupe has some major differentiators that lend itself to great engagement after a very quick ascent in the social media space.

1. They’re crystal clear on who they’re for— people who want to use Pinterest images in their marketing but can’t for legal reasons. It’s tailored to designers and SMMs who already know what they’re looking for but struggle to find it on more traditional stock websites.

2. While other stock sites tend to have a distinct delineation between creators and customers, Dupe blends both worlds. Most everyone in their ecosystem is both uploading and downloading, but probably do one more than the other.

3. They engage your creative process in a new way. The term “creator economy” is challenging to me because we are in an age when everyone outpaces anything they create with the vast amount of media they consume, usually at breakneck speed. Since scrolling dupe is often with a larger purpose of sourcing imagery, it gets your creative wheels turning in a way that other places might not.

Dupe’s content highlights these differentiators perfectly— it’s interactive, seasonally relevant, and visually-focused. Meanwhile, other stock sites seem stuck posting design tutorials and social media management tips that are too entry-level to attract their target audience. By bringing together the aesthetically-appreciative girlies to look at each others’ cell phone snapshots, Dupe is able to stand out as a disrupter to the underwhelming stock image industry.

Their content isn’t reinventing the wheel. But it’s always incredibly grounded in their audience and mission— which is what we’re all about.

In and Out

What we need more of (and less of) on social this week

In

• Creating things

• Good hygiene with your tech and entertainment— stop sleeping with your phone on your nightstand!

• Personality pics

Out

• Internet sleuthing

• Dopamine dependency

• Corny flat-lay stock imagery

Key reads to keep up on industry news

• Everyone is converging to the same TikTok accent.

• Regurgitation is not creation. Time explores the loss of creativity in a world run by generative AI.

• Posting your kids online is controversial on it’s own, but monetized child content creators are unprotected by existing entertainment laws. Fortunately, that tide is turning. Jaquelyn, a mom of a child influencer, is being called out for an even more sinister side of posting your kid on the internet… content that yields predatory views.

• The Kate Middleton fiasco is just getting worse and worse.

• Screw it, I’m just gonna bag on AI’s destruction of the internet this week. I’m crabby and will revert to my optimistic ways next week. This one from The Atlantic is a must read.

Recommendation: Embedded

Embedded

Your essential guide to what’s good on the internet. Written by Kate Lindsay and edited by Nick Catucci.

By Nick Catucci

Love This Language

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With the prevalence of “trending sound alert!” accounts and mimicking top performing posts from other brands, this MAC cosmetics campaign is a great reminder that originality always wins. Let’s take a look.

Abby Nierman, Director of Global Social Creative at MAC, shared a comparison between their current grid and her own Instagram from 2013 to her LinkedIn. Whereas trend reports says that filters are out and natural is in, this stellar grid proves a worthy exception to the rule.

• It’s a direct homage to the customers’ roots. People who wore MAC matte lipstick in the 2010s also overlaid in-app Instagram filters on every selfie and #shelfie.

• It plays off the Y2K/indie grunge nostalgia in a smart, brand-resonant way. Any brand can make a trending photo into a meme, but this campaign went deep on the right trend instead.

• The majority of consumers only want to see something from a brand if it’s 1) new, 2) fun or 3) inspiring. This campaign is 3 for 3— relaunching a product (new), nostalgic and visually rich (fun), and curating a full-on makeup styling moodboard (inspiration).

• It’s unbuttoned to a T. This campaign hits all the necessary brand account fare—content pillars, brand voice— but the resulting grid still feels like that one really chic party girl you met in a club bathroom and still follow because her life is just that perfect.

They let customer insights drive the campaign while playing smartly off of the trend knowledge in their passenger seat. Think of trends as the seasoning, not the meal.

In and Out

What we need more of (and less of) on social in our lives this week

In

• Indulging your cynicism and other unwelcomed emotions

• Making social fun, new, inspiring

• Thoughtfully applying trends to your content

• The sun setting at 7pm

Out

• Toxic positivity

• Making ego-driven content

• Chasing every “trend” without vetting it or considering your audience

• My REM sleep

Key reads to keep up on industry news

• A founder presence is as important as a brand presence in 2024. While corporate CEOs have long-held a presence on LinkedIn, I’d encourage every founder and startup CEO to invest time in posting to LinkedIn too. For an even more conversational tone, #foundertok might be your speed. Shouting out my fave, Devon from Indyx (the amount of free value from an industry expert on her page is insanely good).

• Sonja Sotomayor is officially this week’s #womancrushwednesday as the Supreme Court enters their social media era. Is social media a public or private forum, and how do censorship laws apply? We’re about to find out. Over in the executive branch, Joe Biden is thinking about social media in a very different way.

• While advertisers previously spent $$$ with journalism platforms, that budget has largely been re-delegated to social advertising. Since influencers aren’t bound by the same ethical code and credential system, it really does become a social benefit loss. Oliver Darcy’s analysis for CNN is great. It’s also an important reminder to upgrade to paid for you favorite Substack subscriptions, which is the best way to support independent journalism in this day and age.

I’m not a journalist, nor is this my main work, so Ripe for the Clicking isn’t really what I’m talking about here. But if you’re wondering, I don’t currently offer paid subscriptions on Substack. Instead, you can pledge a paid subscription for the future or buy me a matcha as a one-time contribution to my work. But seriously, go fund a journalist instead.

Love This Language

Excellently composed posts, presented for your viewing pleasure.

I know I bagged on Sandy Liang girlies last summer (pun intended), but I can’t deny their social strategy ROCKS. They just dropped this tutorial video that hit all the right points.

• It’s the perfect edutainment. It solves an education gap for their product, but it’s also fun to watch. Even if you don’t want to buy the bag, you get value from the video.

• Their content matches the organic feed of their target audience. The coquette trend is all about Y2K nostalgia and “girlhood”— every element here harkens back to this one specific aesthetic.

• It has a perspective. Palatable content doesn’t say anything. You might hate the bag or be confused by the post, but the people who get it are also the people who will buy the bag.

• It’s creator-focused. It stands out in a sea of AI because of the artful creation of it and the contributor tags in the caption. Let creators create.

Brand accounts can still thrive in 2024, but it requires a close relationship with your audience and the willingness to full-send your creative, out of the box ideas. But Claire, “brand accounts are dead!!!” Nope— it’s your strategy going stale (sorry).

From Claire’s Desk

How one girl is tackling seasonal depression and shortening days

My November newsletter about my “wintering practice” was a hit (for a refresher, you can read it here). It has brought many new subscribers to this space, all thanks to the kind souls that shared it on social and forwarded it to friends.

So, let’s revisit! The world is moving into spring, but I’m staying in winter for a while longer. My family is navigating an “emotional winter” right now, a concept I borrow from one of my favorite books of all time, Wintering by Katherine May. It’s interesting to reflect on what was one of the mildest Minnesota winters in history while also staying hunkered down in one of my hardest emotional winters to date.

In my fourth year of intentionally wintering, here are the preparations I made:

1. Waking up with sound and light

2. Accommodating varying capacity (AKA green light, yellow light and red light days)

3. Re-energizing at key points throughout the day

4. Perfecting a hobby

5. Cooking comfort food

6. Keeping special, exclusive winter treats

7. Not letting the dark sneak up on me

8. Going to sleep early when I want

And honestly? A lot of these weren’t necessary this year. With mild weather, it was easy to get fresh air, socialize, and generally continue living life as usual. I did make my fare share of homemade soups and 3 pm matcha lattes, but physical winter was pretty easy on me.

All-in-all, it was still important to build out these resources. May briefly touches on the concept of a mental health buffer in Wintering, another concept that has stayed with me through the years. Almost all eight of these concepts, while largely unnecessary for my literal winter, have been crucial in maintaining my mental health buffer during an emotional one.

My dad was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer soon after the turn of the year. Getting news like this always makes your world grind to a halt, but it is especially jarring to be frozen in uncertainty while the rest of the world relentlessly pursues new year aspirations.

I’m not going to sit here and explain how to have it perfectly together, because I definitely don’t. Yesterday I cried over a buildup of trivial inconveniences and then spent the rest of the night watching Charmed and eating microwaved oatmeal. Still, I do want to take a moment to consider the habits I laid out above and how I’ve integrated them into a time of grief and chaos.

1. Having a gentle wake up and morning routine gives me a calm start to my day where I can check in with myself and emotionally regulate before leaping into a workday.

2. My plan for “yellow light” and “red light” days is more needed than ever. I can’t imagine trying to hire and onboard quality subcontractors right now. That relationship is built (and training/onboarding done), so I can trust them to take over quickly if I ever need last minute support. My friend and colleague, Ash of Close Reading Studio, is actually managing “daily grind” tasks for me this very afternoon so I can spend time with my dad and write this newsletter during his rests.

3. Grief drains your energy fast. Having the awareness to check in on my energy throughout the day and replenish it as needed allows me to maintain a fairly normal workday most days (thanks, in part, to lots of power naps).

4. My dad and I are deep in a family tree/oral history/multi-media project. We’re doing lots of documentation work and journaling, which is special to share with him and a hobby that provides a productive outlet for our emotions.

5. I’m simply incapable of visiting my parents home without a portable buffet of food. We recently supped together on a homemade ham & bean soup. Being a sourdough enthusiast, I’m honored that my dad’s current lunch of choice is a bologna sandwich on 2 thick slices of my homemade bread.

6. It’s treat city over here. Nap? CHECK. Chipotle delivery because I don’t feel like cooking? CHECK. New pajamas? CHECK. Driving to the gas station to get a comically giant Dr. Pepper? CHECK. Gorgeous cut flower bouquets from friends? CHECK.

7. I’m now more worried with the emotional darkness (depression) than I am with the solar one (thank you, 6pm+ sunsets). I’m being proactive to not let it sneak up on me by resourcing myself with standing dates with friends, routine workout classes and a very good therapist.

8. Sad girl hours aren’t welcome in this house. I try to move through valid emotions when I have the time and focus to process them, which is simply not after 9pm. That’s when I turn to catastrophizing, which I usually block out with about 20 minutes of slime scooping compilation videos, an episode of the Sleepy podcast, and my brown noise machine.

Receiving this health news has majorly cut into the buffer I keep between my optimal state and my depressive state, and I don’t know that I would have the energy to implement any one of these buffer-retaining strategies from scratch. It’s so important to reflect on what we need in low-energy times before we reach them.

Operating at or above capacity when things were going well would have made this diagnosis an apocalyptic hit to my work. But because I try to schedule myself to 85-90% capacity at any given week, I was able to almost immediately pivot.

If you are, like me a year and a half ago, teetering at the precipice of burnout at all times, I can’t encourage you enough to prune your to-do list back and build a seasonal flow. It could save you the next time your buffer takes a hit.

In and Out

What we need more of (and less of) on social in our lives this week

In

• Paying to support independent media

• Maintaining a mental health buffer in your business

• Chemo

Out

• Hating on Sandy Liang (this is directed at myself and myself only)

• Operating past 100% capacity

• Cancer

Extra, Extra

Key reads to keep up on industry news

• Hailey Bieber’s Rhode Beauty is the latest brand to release a product for their product. Despite the fact that the lip-gloss-holding phone case is pretty ugly, fans are going feral for it.

• I’d much rather have our AI overlords stepping into the world of social to help with suicide prevention than to help me “generate 100 TikTok ideas in 2 minutes.” We’re finally playing to our strengths.

• Bluesky is now open to the public, but seems to still be lost in the clutter of unoriginal Twitter competitors. Which reminds me, have any of you posted on Threads yet this year?

• Florida’s senate passed a bill that would require social media users to be 16+ across all platforms. Constitutional or not, censorship or protection? Given the state’s other political efforts to frame the LGBTQ+ community as sexual predators, I’m nervous that this is another attempt to take away digital spaces for queer kids to safely explore their sexual identity… which is coincidentally the thing that first made me an internet optimist.

Love This Language

Excellently composed posts, presented for your viewing pleasure.

Look at the way this post celebrates the beauty of the collaboration, rather than just talking about it. It’s not telling us the “what” (a collab between two brands), it’s telling us the “why” (an even higher level of artistry from two brands than either could accomplish solo). And it’s FUN to watch.

Solopreneurs and independent creators are always announcing something. For your next announcement, challenge yourself to go beyond telling your audience the what. Before creating, sit really deeply in your why. The results make for more enjoyable content and better performance metrics— this one laps other Mother of Pearl reels in views.

From Claire’s Desk

Setting boundaries with yourself is an important part of solo-managing your content

I am by and large a recovering aspirant to the “Type A” lifestyle. Despite my earnest efforts, I am just not able to control my handwriting enough to form the perfect bubble letters, nor color code my notes in a way that makes sense. I can probably go 3 days without opening my planner before I notice something awry. Most of my to-do lists, no matter how thoroughly categorized, only make it to the recycling bin weeks after I abandoned them, half-checked.

And yet, I’ve taken it upon myself to be a full time freelancer in a space that requires a somewhat excellent ability to multi-task and manage details. Even more surprisingly, I love it. Having routine and structure is key in developing creativity and honing it into a useful contribution. Knowing that these things are essential to optimizing my work, it’s a little easier to accept them.

It’s known that structure is beneficial to creativity. Talk to any author and they’ll share that you can’t wait for inspiration to strike, and yet almost every startup founder I speak with says they’re stalling out on their content creation because they “aren’t feeling creative/don’t have any ideas.” I’m not calling you out— I’ve been there too and think choosing a hiatus is valid. But showing up for yourself creatively on a regular basis also builds self-trust that emanates into other parts of your work and your personal life.

Here are a few routines and structures that have freed up my brain for a creative habit, plus other gentle tips to break a reliance on that ever-elusive inspiration during content creation.

1. Don’t start with inspiration gathering. While we tend to think of a pinterest board as the first step in a project, I find that my creativity is stifled if I start looking externally before I’m 50% of the way to a fully-formed idea. Instead of looking to what’s already being done at the apps and falling into a scroll-hole, try looking inward and tapping your own intuition. You know your business best and should guide yourself through a brainstorming exercise to pull that knowledge out, not mindlessly peruse capcut templates.

2. Set creation time blocks based on your natural energy. It’s a concept that basically every habit book will introduce: Don’t set an alarm for 6am to go to the gym if you’re not a morning person; you’re gonna fail. In this situation, don’t schedule creation for the part of the day when you’re sleepy and burnt out. Being hangry and coming off of 3 meetings probably isn’t your best creative state. Block a morning, the time after your afternoon walk, or entire days— it’s about what works with your body. For me, it’s usually the hour and a half after I eat lunch.

3. Follow Maslow’s hierarchy. Creating falls within levels 3-5, so you actually just won’t be able to focus on it if you’re hungry or the tag in your shirt is itchy. Connect into your physical body first and thank me later. You have to take care of your body and your mind to create a safe place for ideas to flourish. Creating from desperation is not a sustainable act, nor is it a constructive contribution.

4. Create every day. This is the basic concept of morning pages, but there are lots of way to keep yourself creating. Creation is a muscle that you can’t call upon at-will. You have to build it and train it over time. IMO the generative-AI batch editing tips actually make content creation harder to do because you lose your creative muscle.

5. Keep a log of your ideas. You don’t have to execute on every idea as it strikes, but you don’t want to lose it either. Create a freeform space where you can jot down ideas and revisit it when it’s time for your creative time block. This way, you can break up with a need to chase inspiration while ensuring you never start creating from a blank slate.

6. Offer restraints. While desperation does not aid creativity, restraints do. For me, it’s a time constraint on how long each newsletter gets to develop so I don’t spend 3,000 hours researching and editing. On social, it’s sticking to the content pillars so we don’t have to go back to the drawing board for every piece of content. Painters might use a limited color palette. I can’t tell you what restraint will unlock your creativity, but building a container with some edges usually helps push your potential elsewhere. Try my favorite app, Groove, for a time restraint (50 minutes) with small-group support.

If your content strategy feels overwhelming, it might be because you’re missing one of these areas. Creation is, by definition, an art form, but content is a growth tactic. We have to find a way to combine the two, and celebrate the nature of each, in order to have a sustainable strategy.

In and Out

What we need more of (and less of) on social in our lives this week

In

• Working with your natural energy

• Generating ideas from your own noggin

• AI supporting mental/social health online

• Creative constraints

• Time blocks

Out

• “Powering through” content creation with uninspired or AI-generated batch editing

• Waiting on inspiration to strike

• Letting meetings rule when you get creative work done

• Single-use merch products (like the vagina phone case)

• Twitter copycats— give us something new instead!

Key reads to keep up on industry news

• As a person who has yet to successfully erase the tumblr thigh gap from my brain, I’m personally devastated by the #leggingslegs trend. Thankfully elder Gen-Z and millennials are trying to stop history from repeating itself.

• I will state my bias here plainly: I don’t trust Ozempic. If you’re curious why, this article from The Atlantic and segment from WBUR really helped me process my thoughts on it. They both cover the concerns (ranging from health risks to ethics) with injectable weight loss medication.

• It literally feels like 2014 in here. Reneé Rapp, objective hottie, is dealing with weight-related criticism yet again. Her SNL performance and casting as Regina George both brought her weight-hate. But before all this, she was also dealing with it behind the scenes on Broadway. WTF?

• “We only like change if it makes us thin.” I didn’t need to be called out like that. This episode of the podcast Burnt Toast was the real-talk I needed after going down the diet culture rabbit hole again last month (thanks to all those targeted ads of yours, Ro)

Love This Language

Excellently composed posts, presented for your viewing pleasure.

WRAY is consistently a favorite brand follow for me. They hit on sustainability and size inclusivity in a fun-yet-meaningful way that makes both causes feel compelling, not annoyingly virtuous.

Their recent just-in-time-for-valentines drop includes gorgeous imagery and sharp social copy that celebrates and centers the plus-size model… dare I say even more than her straight-sized counterpart?! More of this, please.

In and Out

What we need more of (and less of) on social this week

In

• Social-first content

• Dunkin— they had my favorite ad of the game

• Beyoncé country era

Out

• 95% of all super bowl ads

• Temu (they could have put their super bowl ad budget towards paying their employees a living wage, *cough cough*)

• Taylor’s emissions era

Key reads to keep up on the industry

• McKinsey’s report on the $1.8 trillion wellness industry is here for 2024. Check it out here. My key takeaways? Gen Z and Millennials are more likely to spend on wellness than older generations, and wellness influencers carry pretty insignificant weight in purchasing decisions.

• Maybe we’re prioritizing wellness spending because our generation has a shorter life expectancy than our parents? Grim if true. If policy can’t keep us alive and healthy, maybe a cold plunge can! The good news is *cue sarcastic shocked face* addressing economic inequalities could bump up life expectancies.

• With ever-rising healthcare costs burdening the middle class, it’s a natural reaction to look to free resources instead. The big problem? Influencers can’t be trusted to fact check for you. Mashable digs into the prevalence of mis- or disinformation on wellness accounts.

• Wellness writer Amanda Modaragamage quit coffee for 30 days under the persuasion of "hormone balancing” influencers. Read her reasons for resuming her morning caffeine habit on The Everygirl.

• How fake science sells wellness from the NYT. The article title speaks for itself— it’s a must-read.

• I saw a stat that more Americans would choose to be 25% healthier than would choose a 25% salary raise. I can’t for the life of me locate where I originally saw it (curse my maze of bookmarked newsletters and articles), but this article touches on the same concept: Charles Schwab survey on health vs. wealth.

From Claire’s Desk

Resources to push against wellness disinformation online

• I’ve been working with a Nourish dietitian and she’s helped me figure out what works for my specific body instead of just trying what’s trendy. I’m taking two very unphotogenic supplements at her recommendation and otherwise just staying in my lane. (Nourish is free with almost all insurances and does a great job checking for coverage).

• When you see a claim on social media, quickly type it into Google Scholar. Braving the undergraduate research paper vibe is worth double checking with a primary scientific source.

• Study up on propaganda techniques with propwatch.org.

• Factcheck.org has an entire section for scientific misinformation.

• Well-researched podcasts are another easily-accessible favorite. A personal must-listen is Maintenance Phase (check out their episode on Ozempic).

• Dr. Joshua Wolrich is known for taking on dubious wellness claims with terrifying vigor. I don’t agree with 100% of his tactics, but he always brings the receipts.

What other resources help you keep a level head amidst the social media wellness pandemonium? Comment any favorites!

Leave a comment

In and Out

What we need more of (and less of) on social this week

In

• Using indie/talking audio on TikTok. Those who relied too heavily on trending songs were left in a lurch when UMG pulled their entire portfolio (including all Taylor Swift songs!) off TikTok last week due to botched licensing negotiations. Not very *bejeweled* of UMG, imo.

• Doctor endorsements

• Research-based wellness trends

Out

• UMG. Artists such as Noah Kahan and Chapell Roan attribute much of their success to the app, which means the removal of their discography is leaving a huge gap in the audio library. Creators everywhere are frustrated.

• Influencer endorsements

• Natural/aesthetic based wellness trends

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As an act of self love, I usually don’t get sucked into these. It’s the exact reason I straight up don’t scroll social media after 8 pm anymore, actually. But this one hit a tender spot, I suspect due to the deeply fitting nature of a post which became about performative introspection gained traction during arguably the most introspective days of the year.

So as a light subject to bring us back from our holiday hiatus, let’s dive into the question: Where is the line between vulnerability and performance? And how do I make sure my content falls on the right side of it?

First, here’s the tweet in question.

And a sampling of the quote tweets and responses:

From the emotional interpretations

to the literal

The spicy takes about the content-ification of our lives

and the spicy takes about the spicy takes

and for your reference, the Margaret Atwood quote in question

Policing women’s behavior isn’t a new endeavor, but the internet certainly makes it 1) more visible and 2) a team sport. I long for the days of Ariel rebelling against the singular King Triton— now anything posted online can quickly attract an entire ocean’s chastising.

We can’t always change how our content is received, but we can stack the odds in our favor. I sincerely believe this was a simple post with heartfelt intentions to share her journal. Aesthetic content isn’t automatically performative content, and her entire page shares— albeit beautiful— genuine glimpses into the life of a 20-something living in Europe.

I’ve posted from desire and I’ve posted from obligation. If you take a look at my Instagram, you can probably tell easily which is which. Human brains are very good at figuring out when other people are performing, but not when we are ourselves. (And we all get slightly less good at figuring it out when our perspective is clouded by misogyny, but I digress).

A case study in vulnerability

I’m a longtime LONDRE fan, and their vulnerability on social media has been a deep inspiration to me in my work. They leveled it up a step further this fall with a post explaining why they needed to have an end of year sale, not just that they were having one.

The anatomy of a vulnerable post

• Uses a conversational amount of emotional adjectives and personal appeals

• Captures a complete picture without oversharing beyond the comfort of the author

• Maintains a strong POV and cohesive voice, even when deviating from their typical content

And one in performance

At risk of being a bandwagon Kardashian-basher, I don’t think it’s a unique observation to say that the Kardashian-Jenners are known for carefully curating their lives. While Kendall has masterfully executed the aesthetics of a casual photo dump, it still feels a touch too deliberate.

And without fail, TikTok swoops in to confirm. Creators are talking about the possibility that Kendall has someone who curates the books she reads on social media for her. Malicious rumor? Maybe. But the fact that so many TikTok users believe it shows that we’re all a bunch of cynics who see the internet as a fundamentally disingenuous place.

The anatomy of a performative post

• A lack of either a strong POV or cohesive personal voice from post to post

• Trend-stuffing that caters to the latest in algorithmic favor and Pinterest boards over showing a genuine interest

• Pandering “haha look at me” relatability that doesn’t quite land

Perception is truth

I’m not saying that LONDRE’s post is genuine and Kendall’s is performative. If I was, I would be no better than the many aforementioned Twitter/X users dragging a normal girl on the internet for having thoughts, an interior self and *checks notes* knowing how to write. However, there is a vast difference in how these posts were received that makes one a successful vulnerable moment and the other one… well, not.

To me, the difference lies in the knowledge that you’re viewing content that was intentionally chosen as worthy of sharing. We need only to look to “The Devil works hard but Kris Jenner works harder” memes to get at the underlying public belief that the Kardashian-Jenner family will basically post and do anything to stay relevant. On the other hand, we expect brands to be exceedingly selective in what they share in order to remain positioned as aspirational and valuable in our collective conscious. When a brand intentionally adds a new window into their operational side, as LONDRE did, it’s perceived differently. The choice to strategically unveil one new aspect feels personal. Constantly baring all can read as pandering.

Close the blinds, please!

Gating off parts of ourself makes that which is shared all the more genuine. Priya Parker says in her book The Art of Gathering, “by closing the door, you create the room.” Her concept of “generous exclusion” for gatherings has applications in social media too.

When we intentionally close off some parts of ourselves online, it offers richer meaning to both our IRL and digital worlds. We have actively chosen to only share what is worthy of our audience. We have omitted anything boring or self-serving… and perhaps even selectively removed the aspects of ourselves which can’t be accurately contained or reflected by a 60 second video set to trending audio. And in doing so, we have built an audience that trusts us to make these distinctions.

Healthy boundaries on social media can function largely the same way as content pillars. Your audience may not know they are there, directly, but they can tell when they are missing. The process of choosing rules of engagement also establishes a usual beat. Any deviations are trusted to be intentional, well-founded choices because followers know we wouldn’t be sharing it otherwise. There is a different set of boundaries for every brand, creator and account on social platforms, but holding to yours own will make your content better and your vulnerability meaningful.

Boundary-setting creators I admire

• Kate Glavan is a wellness influencer who won’t share specifics of her workout plan or “What I eat in a day” content because of her disclosed history with an eating disorder. Instead, she provides personal updates and general advice, always pointing back towards reading scientific materials, working with professionals, and trusting your body.

• Abby Mills made the decision to stop accepting paid collaborations a while back and laid out her choice to her followers. She’s incredibly selective about what gifting she accepts, and it’s known to her followers in a way that lends greater credibility to the things she does post. All of which is easily summed up in the first 3 words of her bio— “Just for fun”

• Therese Jacinto has graciously broken course from the immediacy of Instagram by thoughtfully revisiting her trips and outfits, even after their fleeting IRL moment has passed. Instead of scrambling to showcase every second of her CDMX trip in real time, she offered thoughtfully curated guides based on her personal experience in the following months.

Boundaries I hold with my content

• My posting cadence is my business and my business only. 3 times a day or 1 time a month? It’s my prerogative so don’t ask questions, baby

• Please don’t ask me to look good if I’m also planning on sweating. I will never be a pilates princess. I am a pilates gremlin and what I look like when I’m working out is between me, God, and my instructor, Moira. Working out is for my body, not your eyeballs.

• If you don’t like me, leave me alone. I’m not actively trying to grow my own Instagram or TikTok account, so any bot, creepy dude or negative nancy is quickly shown the door (read: block button).

How to establish boundaries around your content

• Ask “does sharing this expand or diminish the joy I’m experiencing?”

• Ask “What do I need in order to feel in control over how long I spend thinking about content or scrolling on the platform?”

• Openly share your boundaries with followers if needed and reshare them periodically. New followers will thank you and it keeps everyone on the same page.

• Pause before posting While creating content from an emotional place can feel good, publishing it probably doesn’t. Leave that long-winded updated in your drafts until you can revisit it from a grounded and emotionally-neutral perspective. There’s nothing worse than realizing you blew past one of your own boundaries in the heat of the moment.

Post your journal

In the spirit of celebrating what it means to a heartfelt, earnest woman on the interweb, consider a boundary you could set this week that would make it even easier to show up as yourself.

Then, post whatever you want and let the discourse roll right off your back.

Key reads to keep up on industry news

• I spy with my little eye… this social psychologist points out ways to spot disinformation online.

• Al Gore takes shots (see what I did there) at algorithm-based social media at COP28.

• Forbes explores the rebranding of the humble bean with Heyday Canning Co.

Love This Language

Excellently composed posts, presented for your viewing pleasure.

Speaking of Heyday Canning Co., I’m now their biggest fan.

Their popup in NYC allowed consumers to exchange any brand of canned beans, which would then be donated to a food shelf, for Heyday Canning Co. beans, merch, and even signed photos of Beanie Feldstein.

It took many thoughtful, strategic elements to make this a viral success for the bean brand.

• Good branding and cool merch

• An element of goodwill during the season of giving

• Positioning their beans as the superior brand through the swap structure

• Whimsy and delight! Getting to shop with beans just sound so much more fun than shopping with a debit card.

• Community excitement to share on social

Targeting a generation that both shops their values to a larger extent and loves some internet-induced absurdity, this bean themed pop-up was truly a beautiful marketing moment.

Here are a few posts from the pop-up’s journey.

TikTok · Heyday Beans!

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The bean menu

TikTok · Grace

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Community content about the popup

@heydaycanningcoReplying to @Heyday Beans! SATURDAY FOLKS: WE R OUTTA BEANS! We had about 500 people come through in 3 hours but will be back tomorrow at 12pm with ONLY beans!

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Their update after going viral caused them to run out of beans

TikTok · Heyday Beans!

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And a recap of it all

In and Out

What we need more of (and less of) on social this week

In

• Beans as currency

• Ordering Christmas presents from small businesses *now* to allow for shipping time

• Values-based gifting (experience gifts, giving back to the community, bought local)

• Putting random bows on everything

• The Pantone color of the year, Peach Fuzz

Out

• TikTok Shop

• Ordering Christmas presents with 2-day free shipping on 12/21

• Impersonal gifting destined for the giveaway pile

• Beige minimalism at the holidays

• (RIP to my broken heart) Barbie pink

Key reads to keep up on industry news

• This is a great all-encompassing read that introduces and explains dupe culture. It’s different than counterfeit products, think more of shopping the generic store brand at the grocery store.

• Influencer it-girl Matilda Djerf caught criticism on TikTok after her brand, Djerf Avenue, came after small creators for their “Djerf Avenue Dupe” videos. While some of her prints are trademarked, she champions the basic, oversized Scandinavian style that frequents Pinterest boards everywhere. Her critics are questioning whether something marketed as versatile basics can be “duped.”

• From the mouth of a dupe shopper herself: Reuters talks through dupes with a millennial customer, Laura (age 31), in this read.

• If you have a Women’s Wear Daily subscription, this article is definitely perusing. Otherwise, the key takeaway is in the headline: over half of young consumers feel tricked by “dupe” purchases they’ve made.

Love This Language

Excellently composed posts, presented for your viewing pleasure.

Yesterday was Spotify wrapped day, and brands were on the ball. Here’s a few referential brand posts that jumped in on the fun of this year-in-review style sharing.

Disclaimer: I work with the CAVA social team, but didn’t contribute to this post. I just think it’s legitimately great :)

A slightly different take from another restaurant— we love the bread jokes.

As a nojito ride-or-die, I really felt this one from Spindrift.

I’m realizing that most of my examples are food brands… reply with other favorite Spotify-wrapped themed posts if you have one!

From Claire’s Desk

Why referencing, not duping, is the key to a creative life

When I saw this TikTok accusing Greta Gerwig of “duping” another movie, I felt my brain was short-circuit. What happened to our knowledge or references? Paying homage? Allusions? Things can resemble each other without being a “dupe.”

Dupes, which are typically near-exact replicas, distill art and independent designs into poor quality, mass-produced, cheap items. Duping things is bad for the original creator, the planet, and often consumer’s budgets.

But not everything that resembles something else is a dupe of that thing. For the Barbie example, it’s an allusion— in this case, to An American in Paris. Gerwig stacked the movie with them, such as the 2001: A Space Odyssey-esque opening sequence. If you know what to look for, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the film. Still, it’s not necessary to understand allusion to follow the storyline— it’s the cinematic equivalent of an iykyk.

The difference between duping and referencing lies in the intention and creation of the product. References help contextualize and enhance the new piece of work, while dupes are a crude replica of the original. Leggings that only exist to be a cheaper alternative to Lululemon are dupes. But when we engage a trend that holds it’s own outside the context of the original item, it’s referencing. I might not be shopping the Baggu x Sandy Liang collab (or the multitude of dupe versions), but I will be tying ribbon bows to the shoulder bags I already own. Referencing requires we have our own unique take.

Story time.

In 2020, I was deeply in love with this specific outfit from Prada. I loved the red floral against the black, but it was certainly outside my price range (and size range, but that’s a different fight to pick). The vintage mini dress with the same black background and red florals that I thrifted wasn’t a dupe, but it was a high-quality, inexpensive item that I could style to reference the runway look I admired.

When we covet something outside of our price range, it’s tempting to dupe hunt. But drawing on our creativity allows us to identify the alluring component of the item and then shop for it within budget. We don’t have to possess something in order to admire it.

Walking away from our reliance on dupes is an opportunity to strengthen our creative muscle for other spaces of our lives. Can you describe your personal style without using trending aesthetics like “coastal grandmother” or “vanilla girl?” Can you source furniture and decor for your home without relying on a specific brand to curate it for you?

This type of creativity is essential to having a standout strategy on social media. Replicating posts has its place (see above), but most of our inspiration should come from within our individual perspective. If all we have for “inspiration” is a saved posts folder and direct dupes of established competitors in our niche, it creates scroll fatigue for our community and weakens brand authority.

Dupe culture allows us to parrot beautiful style and successful social strategies, but not to truly develop our own. Dumping dupes might be the key to unlocking a better relationship with our budget, personal style, and social media.

In and Out

What we need more of (and less of) on social this week

In

• Referential work

• Viewing creativity as a developed skill

• Spotify wrapped

• Thoughtful sales

Out

• Dupe culture

• Viewing creativity as a natural gift

• Apple music

• Major discounting

Key reads to keep up on industry news

• Feeling depressed as we set our clocks back? It’s not just you. Sleep scientists warn that the practice of DST has public health consequences ranging from increased automobile collisions to worsening mental health.

• Is the golden age of social media over? According to this article from Wired, Jason Parham argues that millennials have no remaining home on the internet.

• There is no weirder feeling than realizing that your all-encompassing digital world isn’t actually at the forefront of the cultural zeitgeist. While I’m engrossed in TikToks demonstrating how to tie vintage ribbons into the perfect hair accessory or Christmas tree decor, apparently teen boys have been equally fixated on the concept of “looksmaxxing.” The NYT deep dive on the subject has me simultaneously fascinated and fearful.

• Will AI degrade online communities? This piece from Tech Policy Press offers a hypothesis.

Love This Language

Excellently composed posts, presented for your viewing pleasure.

Having been pitched a lot of bad UGC in my life, I’m ecstatic when I see it done well. The visuals in this reel from @courtneecrews for Vans hit the spot… literally every clip is perfection. Why? Let’s break it down.

• Opens with eye-catching, lighthearted movement

• Keeps the product as the focal point while making sure it’s organically integrated with it’s surroundings

• Innovates within the typical “get ready with me” form by adding in creative movement (moonwalk, anyone?) and shifting the zoom for each clip

• She tells a story— taking us along from getting ready at home, to an urban walk and sitting at the coffee shop— it all feels far more engaging and relatable than most “coffee shop” OOTD content I’ve seen.

• The LIGHTING. Need I say more?

• The framing and video work has a nostalgic, 2000s home video with friends quality. Paired with her genuine smile and candid moments, it becomes immersive

• And a bonus: It’s all paired with an unexpected, delightful audio

From Claire’s Desk

How one girl is tackling seasonal depression and shortening days

I recently used the phrase “my wintering practice” in earnest on a phone call and it was greeted with shocked, but not unkind, laughter. Each party on that call was phased afterwards— I by the fact that they didn’t think about wintering as an intentional act one could “practice” and them, I’m sure, by the odd lingo I used to describe what is, in effect, spending a lot of time under a blanket on the couch.

The difference between the two comes down to intention far more than it does to action. We probably both wear sweaters, eat soup, and primarily workout indoors during these months.

Whether we embrace them or not, every person navigates both literal and emotional winters. A few years of intense work around seasons and cycles in therapy and rereading my beloved Wintering by Katherine May have lead me to believe we all benefit from times of hunkering down against the cold.

My first year of intentionally wintering, I bought some elasticated pants so as to minimize the time the sharp morning chill had to slice into my skin while getting dressed. My second winter, I subsisted largely off of homemade sourdough bread and scented candles. In my third, I attempted to flip my workday and run errands or go for walks during the midday warmth and then tuck back into work once it was dark outside. It turns out that mainly working from the couch and underneath a stack of blankets is far better for putting yourself to sleep than it is for growing a business.

So here I am, stepping into my fourth year of building a wintering practice. In thinking about how I can tactically shift my business to better serve myself and my customers, I’ve found that my relationship to work, social media and my own body are all transformed by winter. Here’s some of the preparations I’ve been making; I hope by sharing these, it prompts you to consider how to best support yourself through winter as well.

1. I wake up with sound and light. A combination of gentle birdsong and a sunrise lamp trick my brain into all but leaping out of bed at 6:45 am. In the spirit of deinfluencing, I’m not going to share the exact models I use, but having a good alarm clock and sunrise lamp have made such a huge difference in my life.

2. I decide if it’s going to be a green light, yellow light, or red light day early. Originally introduced to this by my coach, Jenni, green light days have great energy, yellow light days require scaling back, and red light days are for full-fledged breaks. After waking up, using the bathroom, and brushing my teeth, I face a do-or-die moment. If I keep moving, I’ll have a chance to knock out some extra to-dos or tidy around the apartment before beginning client work. If I crawl into bed, I’ll likely stay there until minutes before I’m needed online. Green light Claire walks out of that bathroom and right into the closet to put on an outfit. Yellow light Claire stays in pajamas and eats breakfast on the couch, while red light Claire gets back into bed for an extra 20 minutes of snuggles. In that one moment, I’m setting an intention for what direction the rest of the day will go.

3. I’m creating household-wide moments of re-energizing at key times. C and myself both struggle to keep our energy up in the winter. I’ve started playing a “pump up song” each morning while we make our caffeinated beverage of our choosing. His favorite? Chelsea Dagger with a hazelnut cold brew. Mine? 9 to 5 and an iced lavender matcha.

4. Perfect a hobby. One year I got really into making jewelry, another year was scrapbooking and collaging. The importance is not in the quality of the result, but the process of making. I find it’s key to have a way to relax away from screens to avoid boredom and fatigue. Picking a hobby early ensures you have something ready when a low-energy “I have nothing to do” mood strikes.

5. Comfort food is key. Our current favorite is sauerkraut with sausages and my mom’s homemade spaetzle recipe. But we also keep plenty of comfort foods that require little prep work around— protein pancake mix, a loaf of sourdough in the freezer, jars of soup, and plenty of pasta. When energy is low, the accessibility of a hearty meal is key. As much as simmering a pot of chicken noodle soup on the stove makes me feel like a cottagecore queen, sometimes chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes are slightly more practical fare.

6. I keep some things exclusive to wintertime. Urged to this practice by my therapist, I let myself do some fun stuff in the winter that’s off-limits in the summer to make the season more enjoyable. Some examples are buying new flavors of tea, buying books instead of checking them out from the library, and stocking up on scented candles. I also let myself watch tik tok in bed… the ultimate guilty pleasure.

7. Don’t let the dark sneak up on you. The transition from afternoon to darkness is one of the hardest. I try to have all my lamps on and candles lit by 3:30 or 4 pm so that we cozily fade into the evening without blinking an eye.

8. I let myself go to sleep early. Once I’m starting to feel cold, tired or sad, I lumber off to do my bedtime routine. Falling asleep on the couch or feeling restless just to mark time? Nah, I’d rather shamelessly be in bed by 8:30.

In and Out

What we need more of (and less of) on social in our lives this week

In

• Sunrise lamps

• Inverted work schedules

• Game planning for winter

• Hobbies

• Soft living

Out

• Blue light before bed

• Leaving the house after dark

• Ignoring that winter is on it’s way

• Endless netflix watching

• Powering through

Extra, Extra

Key reads to keep up on industry news

• What happens to the internet when every single brand is trying to be funny? I keep revisiting this article from the NYT— it’s thought provoking and challenges me to develop a more genuine social strategy for my clients.

• Every Tik Tok on my FYP is “halloween costumes nobody else will be wearing” and “it girl costumes.” I once showed up to a party dressed as Velma and proceeded to meet 5 other Velmas and IT WAS STILL FUN, but in the age of the internet, you have to wear something *nobody else* will think of… good luck to you all!

• Do you remember when Zac Efron revealed to Tiger Beat (or was it J14?) that he was a theater nerd in high school and preteens everywhere lost their minds? Often times, the tastemakers and trendsetters were creatives in high school, not the popular kids. But now, the popular kids have taken over the internet and we’re all suffering for it. My favorite substackers, Embedded, wrote about being cool on the internet and I devoured every word.

Love This Language

Excellently composed posts, presented for your viewing pleasure.

Much like Taylor Swift, I’m entering my sports fan era. Also like Taylor Swift, I strategically chose a team with colors I look good wearing. I’ve been rooting for the Minnesota Loons this season… mostly because they have good concessions, fun branding, and a goalie who wears hot pink on the reg.

While down in a game they needed to win to make the playoffs, the Loons social media manager posted “Everybody drink some water and watch this calming Loon footage.”

Their replies were bombarded by stressed out fans opining on the match, coaching changes, and their least favorite players. Within 8 minutes, the Loons posted this follow-up: “starting to think some of you did not watch the calming loon footage.”

It’s a perfect example of genuine humor on social media— AKA something I can see a normal human typing into their group chat. When bringing humor into our posts, the focus should be on building a community through shared laughs, not outlandish shock value.

From Claire’s Desk

Do brands need to be funny to be on social?

A little-acknowledged fact is that in college, I was deeply into comedy. Not in a I-joined-an-improve-troupe-and-worshiped-John-Mulaney way, but I did keep on top of every newly released Netflix special, listen to Mitch Hedberg albums on my walks to class, and have a crush on Pete Davidson (didn’t we all). I also wasn’t a particularly happy person in college, and upon reflection decided that it was because I valued being funny over being kind.

When I prioritized quippy remarks and sarcastic wordplay over genuine interactions to my surroundings, it was easy to deflect uncomfortable conversation but challenging to build intentional relationships. What made me choose to opt away from a reliance on humor is precisely why so many social media teams rely on it.

Social media managers tend to be on the frontlines of brand hate, getting tagged in everything from order complaints to accusations of company-wide racism, all while being afforded no budget, working long hours, and getting called an “intern” by digital passersby every single day. In that position, it’s natural to want to deflect.

I’m guilty of this in my own work, resorting on the humor behind the response “No ❤️” when asked an uncomfortable question in the brand DMs. Since social media can feel overwhelmingly negative, deflecting through humor is a protective measure.

In my personal life, I intentionally chose to phase out my interest in comedy because I felt it was making me a worse person. My commitment at the time was only to make jokes that would build a relationship through shared laughter. However, I still see the value of it while interacting with the public in a fairly casual setting.

Social media managers aren’t our friends, despite many people acting to the contrary. Humor as a deflective measure is key in keeping a game face during community management, in my opinion. However, I’ll challenge people to not rely on it as a core strategy anymore. My life is far richer now that I have relationships that go beyond humor, and the same can be said for brands. When we center customers as the hero of their own journey, it likely means that we will need to provide genuine support, guidance, and comedic relief in equal measure.

In and Out

What we need more of (and less of) on social this week

In

• Using humor as a community management tool on social media

• Hyper-niche, it girl halloween costumes

• Sports teams with good branding

• Being nerdy, genuine, and vulnerable on social media

Out

• Using humor as a sole brand strategy on social media

• Wearing cat ears with a normal all-black outfit

• Sports teams with team colors that I look bad in

• Proving your cool on social media

• Blanding and influencer speak

Help me out?

Reply to this email or comment below with topics you’d like to see Ripe for the Clicking tackle next.

Key reads to keep up on industry news (AI edition)

The good

• AI can detect PCOS (a notoriously hard-to-diagnose disorder) at an 80-90% success rate based on 10 different studies.

• Innovative new social media platforms are emerging that use AI to tap into users’ sense of fantasy and creativity.

• An incredible resource from Sprout Social, this guide helps marketing teams navigate the future of AI.

The bad

• Using AI to cheat on a school paper is… not great, but using it to draft a closing argument in a high profile case?! After watching 9 seasons of Suits, even I know better. Rapper Pras Michel is seeking a retrial after his lawyer’s AI-written closing argument included an omission of guilt *cue facepalm*

• AI doctors are giving medical advice on social media. Nothing much to say here except: BAD IDEA.

• Elon Musk is training his new artificial intelligence venture, xAI, with public user data from X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter). Read the full situation here.

The Ugly

• When AI is designed to draw on existing databases, it also draws on our underlying bias. Carmen Drahl is a colleague of mine in a freelancing support group, and this article from her was equal parts enlightening and enraging.

• AI-generated explicit photos of minors are posing a challenge for X and the FBI.

From Claire’s Desk

imho (AI edition)

In conversation with social media professionals, people are generally excited about AI and how it can support people in an industry where burnout and poor work-life-balance is the norm. For other industries like art, photography, and writing, conversations are more fearful: theft of your existing work, job replacement, and the future of the craft.

Most of as have a deep-in-our-gut human intuition that tells us “AI good” or “AI bad,” even before digging into the reality (and ethics) of it all. In reality, the risks and applications of it fall somewhere in the center of our worst fears and wildest dreams.

I share these curated articles to show that AI-evangelists may need to take a more considered approach in it’s usage and that those who fear it may find some beneficial context when exploring AI applications. When we dig into the current state of a mysterious behemoth, things tend to feel less extreme.

As with all things, nuance is our friend. I’d encourage you to dig into the current state of AI with the reads above and then comment below with your personal thoughts and current relationship to AI.

Key reads to keep up on industry news

• With the heightened presence of algorithm-selected content, app users may believe everything they encounter is specifically catered to them. The bean video on TikTok became a prime example for what has been dubbed the “what about me” effect.

• This TikTok from my internet friend, Devon, gives a great break down about why small and independent brands tend to cost more, and gently calls out the classic small business “why is this so expensive?!” comments section.

Love this language

Excellently composed posts, presented for your viewing pleasure.

Your posts (and prices) don’t need to be for everyone. In fact, they shouldn’t be. Jewelry brand @kinnstudio makes their price point clear (without having to say “this is why it costs this much”) by placing words like “modern heirloom,” “solid gold,” “luxurious” and “craftsmanship” in every caption.

In and Out

What we need more of (and less of) on social this week

In

• Supporting independent shops

• Spotify’s AI-curated daylist (I’m obsessed with mine)

• Intuitively, astrologically, spiritually guided business moves

• Paying usage rights to your community for content

Out

• “What about me” comments

• xAI (see, I’m mixing up my loathe for X this week!), which is being trained on Twitter users’ content

• Following *those* TikTok creators’ get rich quick business ideas

• Buying “UGC” from someone who has no connection to your brand

Key reads to keep up on industry news

• It might feel like a drop in the bucket when you join in on a photoshoot stampede, but this article explores the debilitating impact on local communities when their town becomes an Instagram hotspot.

• A new study out of Australia shows that more women contemplate plastic surgery than don’t— and social media plays a major role.

Love this language

Excellently composed posts, presented for your viewing pleasure.

While deceptively simple, this Instagram post calls upon the basic art principles of contrast and repetition to really shine. I’ve been all about non-Christmas applications of red & green lately and this is a shining example.

In and Out

What we need more of (and less of) on social this week

In

• Casual curation

• Out-going engagement via your feed & explore pages

• Blocking off meeting-free days to get creative

Out

• Gorgeous reels covers that catfish me into watching a badly lit lip-sync skit

• The post and ghost technique

• Using the last dregs of energy to panic-assemble a post

Key reads to keep up on industry news

• Elon Musk wants to paywall Twitter… I’m sorry, I meant to say X.

• Credit card debt in the U.S. has topped a trillion dollars, so here’s a reminder: impulse shopping on social media is bad for your budget and bad for the environment. As someone who has succumbed more than once, this article made for an interesting read.

• Remember kids, people on the internet can see you. Lauren Boebert, a Republican congresswoman, caught social media ire after vaping and taking flash photography during a family-friendly theater performance and then LYING ABOUT IT in a tweet. The theater then came through with receipts (aka a security tape) that showed her fondling her date in addition to the vaping and phone usage, thus opening her up to even greater ridicule. It mainly gained traction on X, but there’s a valuable social media takeaway here… don’t lie to your audience.

Love this language

Excellently composed posts, presented for your viewing pleasure.

Something about this event announcement from @fromlucienyc scratches a major itch for me.

The fact that it’s photograph of a physical hand-drawn poster instead of a Canva graphic makes it stand out from the crowd in a delightful way. Plus, they subtly reinforced event details by including the venue in the location tag and starting the caption with “See you this Saturday.” Chefs kisses abound.

From Claire’s Desk

Is everyone bedazzling bread except me?!

In last week’s digital digest, I featured this post from WWAKE. My algorithm is algorithming, because since then I’ve seen other iterations cropping up all over Instagram. Most notable: these from the Haricot Vert / Big Night collab and Dauphinette.

I’m feeling 1) envious that I haven’t thought to use a baguette as a glamorous accessory and/or social media prop yet and 2) confused because each of these brands have distinctly different styles with the exception of these bread moments.

IMHPO (in my humble professional opinion), these three brands all came to the bedazzled bread from different paths. Haricot Vert creates from an extremely literal place with their pictograph charms and consistently use food references to launch themed charm collections. While much more avant garde, Dauphinette has no shortage of food present in their work either— they encapsulated slices of fruit in a clock last winter. WWAKE is the most modern of the three brands, but they still have a penchant for unexpected flair. In June, they posted a pearl corn cob to celebrate “pearl month.”

Of course, the existence of these 3 fashion brands’ food content is rooted in the larger context of our current pivot towards maximalist fashion trends and surrealist marketing. Between each of them having an existing affinity for food props, their different brand positioning and the big picture trend towards kitsch, my conclusion is that three bedazzled breads in a week was simply coincidence.

If you absolutely adore the posts linked above, feel free to use a baguette or croissant for your upcoming social content. Otherwise, the takeaway here is much less literal. Each of these posts serve to remind us that unexpected whimsy often performs well on both paid and organic social. This week, challenge yourself to ideate content that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The bread trifecta proves you can absolutely have fun while maintaining beautiful content and an elevated presence.

In and Out

What we need more of (and less of) on social this week

In

• Bedazzled bread (see above)

• 90s soft grunge witches, à la Practical Magic.

• Instagram broadcast channels. I have yet to see a brand who is using theirs exceptionally well and there’s huge amounts of untapped potential. If you know of someone who is doing it well, send them my way so I can check it out.

Out

• normal bread (apparently)

• Reaction gifs (sorry to my millennial readers, these have been out for a while)

• X. I put it on here every other week it seems, but the paywall speculation has renewed my annoyance. We ask for the millionth time, “is this the end of Twitter?”

Extra, Extra

Key reads to keep up on industry news

• Can likes influence credibility? This article explores how approaches such as hiding likes or discouraging echo chamber behaviors can have major impacts.

• Fellow Substack, Embedded, explores how social media has forgotten the key “social” aspect of it’s name and what platforms are doing to move back towards online connection.

Love This Language

Excellently composed posts, presented for your viewing pleasure.

The second slide with the pearls in a pea pod? Chefs kiss. Jewelry brand WWAKE’s recent sale promo post proves that eye-catching content doesn’t need a huge budget, just one idea and the willingness to commit to the bit. Someone thought it would be funny to stick their rings in a sandwich and then actually followed through on it, which I love to see.

From Claire’s Desk

Chatting all things community with Brandy Cerne and Kelly Bennett

While freelancers and often cite loneliness as a top complaint of the gig, I’m fortunate to be surrounded by an incredible digital community. I chatted with two different pals (both relationships that I built fully remotely!!!!) about the power of community on social media.

Emerging Brands Podcast with Kelly Bennett: Listen here

Handing Over the Passwords with Brandy Cerne: Listen here

In and Out

What we need more of (and less of) on social this week

In

• Reducing screen time at any cost (obsessed with my pal Brandy, of Handing Over the Passwords fame, who prints and reads her newsletters on ACTUAL PAPER).

• Asking for help and taking PTO. Your followers won’t know/don’t care if somebody else (or nobody at all) responds to them for an afternoon.

• Brand photo dumps

• Late summer soft girl energy

Out

• Adding a song to your Instagram photo— but maybe that’s just because I loyally watch Tik Tok/Reels with my sound off already & it’s just another thing for me to mute.

• Hating on Olivia Rodrigo… as if everyone doesn’t have a cringe man-hater era when they’re 20.

• Sharing photos to stories with the incorrect aspect ratio

• Instagram removing sounds AFTER I ALREADY USED THEM IN MY VERY CUTE REEL.

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