#725: Spotify slop, BookTok bros and the influencers coming out for Trump

"People lose more brand deals talking about Palestine than anything else"

Hi, hello!, and happy weekend. You’re reading the Saturday edition of Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends: a lovingly curated collection of brand-new writing on internet culture and technology, culled from the hundreds of RSS feeds I read each week for this ~express~ purpose.

I understand that lots of people are re-evaluating their media and information diets in the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election. Hundreds of thousands of users have left Elon Musk’s X for alternative platforms, like Bluesky and Threads; many of you have (kindly!!) written to tell me that you’re relying more on Links in this new environment.

If you find yourself turning to Links as an alternative to the cacophony of mainstream social networks, or if you find yourself opening these emails every weekend, please consider supporting this work with a paid subscription. You’ll get a sticker and a snail-mail thank-you note from me, access to additional fiction, TV and podcast recommendations and the satisfaction of knowing you have directly and measurably contributed to the long-term sustainability of this lil indie journalism operation. Thanks to those of you who’ve already upgraded since the election, or in the weeks and months prior to that — y’all are, and will always be, the reason I do this. xx

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If you read anything this weekend

“Bad News,” by Charlie Warzel for The Atlantic. An emerging post-election consensus holds that the mainstream media badly lost this one — maybe even worse than Kamala Harris did. This was, purportedly, the “first podcast election”; the media habits of Trump and Harris voters diverged so much you could arguably drive a whole-ass Trump Train through them. Few outside of journalism really care what this means for the media, I suspect; “the media” has been pretty soundly demonized on both the political right and left. But it’s also disastrous for civic discourse, education and our shared sense of reality, an issue that Warzel has chronicled better than just about anyone else:

“You are the media now” is powerful because it capitalizes on the reality that it is difficult to know where genuine influence comes from these days. The phrase sounds empowering. Musk’s acolytes see it as the end of traditional-media gatekeeping. But what he’s really selling is the notion that people are on their own—that facts are malleable, and that what feels true ought to be true.

A world governed by the phrase do your own research is also a world where the Trumps and Musks can operate with impunity. Is it the news media’s job to counter this movement—its lies, its hate? Is it also their job to appeal to some of the types of people who listen to Joe Rogan? I’d argue that it is. But there’s little evidence right now that it stands much of a chance.

“Influencers Are Going Full MAGA,” by E.J. Dickson for The Cut. This isn’t a long or particularly weighty read, and I initially pegged it as a good PS — but a couple observations from the influencer marketing/PR types Dickson interviewed have since taken up residence in my head:

Part of the reason “all sorts of masks-off moments are happening,” as Lipsay puts it, is because being openly political is “not as much of a deterrent for brands as it used to be,” says Melissa Vitale, owner and founder of the Brooklyn-based Melissa Vitale PR. Influencers “who are flagrant with their political leanings, on all sides, are getting brand deals. I’ll be scrolling mindlessly and be like, ‘Oh, they got this brand deal? That’s interesting.’”

There’s also been a rightward shift on social-media platforms in general. Despite conservatives’ claims that social-media platforms tend to skew liberal, a number of studies show that right-wing content tends to garner far more engagement and visibility than content that promotes progressive values … “Honestly,” the consultant says, “people lose more brand deals talking about Palestine than anything else.”

“Post-Election, Beware ‘Self-Care,’” by Jessica DeFino for The Review of Beauty. I didn’t realize that many analysts have tied the boom in beauty/“wellness” culture to Trump’s first election. (For more on this, see Jia Tolentino: “The year that skincare became a coping mechanism.”) DeFino gets at why that’s so pernicious, and also articulates a lot of my personal distaste with post-election comfort content (… if you read women’s magazines, you have seen it!):

The post-2016 obsession with conventional beauty isn’t a coincidence. It’s a cultural reaction to far right politics, and one that conveniently furthers the movement’s goals. Think of it as the aesthetic arm of trad-wifery — a promise that women can find peace, ease, and fulfillment by retreating not into the traditional roles of wife and mother, but into the traditional role of object.

“Notes App Epiphanies,” by various for Dirt. This is, simply put, extremely my shit: a collection of meaningful, messy or bizarre Notes screenshots, from an eclectic group of contributors.

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In case you missed it

The most-clicked link from last weekend’s edition involved the shifting popular consensus on Emily Oster, which I found myself reflecting on quite a lot (!) as I read her NYT op-ed on fluoride and vaccination.

#724: What I’m reading about the election

Wednesday’s edition was a visual essay on post-election internet traffic data.

Catharsis via Cloudflare

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Postscripts

Spotify slop. “Your body, my choice.” Elon Musk inspiration porn. “As a society … we’re disagreeing if two-plus-two is four.” Where are all the app love stories? Is the red heart emoji MAGA now? Meet the rare men of BookTok, the bro whisperers of the right and the left’s tenuous Joe Rogan competitors.

Why school phone bans don’t always work. Tradwives (probably) have worse sex. Love songs aren’t dying, counter Boomer gripes — they’re just getting more complex. Abbreviations make texters sound less sincere. The first “virtual meeting” was in 1916. How to reduce tech-based loneliness and how to make more time for reading. Schools should teach digital literacy skills. TikTokers should venture outside their silos. Last but not least: “The camera roll has become a hard drive for our brains, an external device that lives life alongside us.”

BELOW the paywall you’ll also find:

• This week’s fiction, TV and additional article recommendations

• Unlocked links from the The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Atlantic

That’s it for this week! Until the next one. Warmest virtual regards,

Caitlin