Blog: X

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

If the internet dies, where does all the attention go?

Cover image for If the internet dies, where does all the attention go?
Hanna Kahlert
Key takeaways from this blog: Social platforms dominate culture, but a vibe shift toward offline experiences is emerging as users crave more intentional, less addictive engagement (as explored in MIDiA's' Analogue revival ' report) TikTok’s recent disruption signals a loss of cultural centrality, with no clear successor, leading to fragmented attention across platforms and offline spaces Brands and creators must rethink reliance on shallow metrics and embrace taste-led, context-aware strategies, focusing on sentiment and human nuance over empty virality Consumers no longer need to leave their social feeds.
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TikTok’s creator subscriptions point to the future of social platforms

Cover image for TikTok’s creator subscriptions point to the future of social platforms
Hanna Kahlert
It’s been a big week for TikTok. On the heels of shutting down its music streaming service , the platform has announced an expansion of its creator subscription program. In addition to existing LIVE Subscriptions, the paid subscription offering for livestreams, TikTok has announced that creators can now develop paid subscriptions for their followers, allowing them to access exclusive content, perks, and communities where they can engage with each other.
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BlueSky benefits from X’s Brazil ban: a fragmenting social ecosystem is shaky ground for incumbents

Cover image for BlueSky benefits from X’s Brazil ban: a fragmenting social ecosystem is shaky ground for incumbents
Hanna Kahlert
X has long been the social platform of ‘on the pulse’ news updates and cultural happenings. Its users over-index for using social platforms to keep up with news and culture (as outlined in our social platform user behaviour report ), and its high-profile posts often make it into the broader news cycle and dictate coverage and strategy.
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Instagram and the download-delete cycle: a cultural shift for social platforms

Cover image for Instagram and the download-delete cycle: a cultural shift for social platforms
Hanna Kahlert
Forget the tech-centric sci-fi future promised by the early 2000’s; the new aspiration is going offline. Analogue is the new ‘cool’, and it is not just about nostalgia. Audiences are searching for authenticity, connection, novelty, experience, and tangible ownership of the things they love, all of which are scarce now in an oversaturated digital environment .
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The X rebrand is Twitter’s Meta moment… but there’s already a Meta

Cover image for The X rebrand is Twitter’s Meta moment… but there’s already a Meta
Hanna Kahlert
Meta’s launch of Threads has been the biggest challenger to Twitter’s social standing to date, with record-breaking uptake in its first weekend. However, Twitter still had an edge: an online culture that would be hard to regrow or replicate; existing creators and content ‘style’, and a brand reputation linked with critical cultural moments that the app played host to, from the US Trump election cycle to the theorising around Tiger King.
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