You are cordially invited to this weekâs brew of High Tea, your dispatch of đĽinternet culture served piping hot. This week: Fortnite sends us down a black hole, Insta goes all #nofilter, and Jennifer Aniston breaks the internet.Â
Drink up. đ¸âď¸
what weâve been sipping on
If you havenât been sleeping under a rock like our Lady G, youâll know that Fortnite is a big deal: a $2.5B deal to be exact (despite being a âfreeâ game đ). Since its launch in July 2017, the online video game has amassed nearly 250 million players (50% of those aged 18-25) and is now firmly imprinted into the zeitgeist of our generation: âdefaultâ has taken on a whole new meaning.Â
If youâre reading this and you really arenât a gamer - bear with. Weâre here to tell you that there's more to Fortnite than just gaming: and this weekâs black hole stunt proved just that.
In a strange turn of events, which had Forniteâs hardcore fanbase going crazy on Twitch, an astroid hit the entire world, destroying it and leaving nothing behind other than a black hole. To see how this whole shabang went down, watch below:Â
What followed was 2 days where the game was completely unplayable, with gamers literally staring into a black hole wondering if it was ever going to end.Â
After a gruelling 48 hours, which had some parents more distraught than their kids, Fortnite launched its second chapter, bringing with it a new map and variety of features, and all became right in the world .
So, why is all this so significant?Â
The reaction to this weekâs down time was incredible. Despite streamers not being able to play Fortnite last Sunday, the gameâs main Twitch channel still managed to rack up 8.6 million hours of âgameplayâ, *cough*... err âblackholeâ *cough*, the most hours EVER watched for Fortnite on Twitch in the gameâs history. Granted, most of them were probably waiting for it to come back online, but to put it in perspective:Â
Epic Games sure knows how to generate hype, but it also knows how to create an experience that will resonate with its young players. Gen Z and Alpha are spending up to 27x more hours inside of these worlds than our conventional social media platforms. See below the impact of Roblox, another popular world-building game with teens, vs the millennial social networks, Facebook, Twitter and Reddit.Â
We believe weâre watching a new wave of social. Immersive, third spaces beyond IRL are becoming hotbeds for identity formation, social skills and the art of strategy. No longer just âgames,â teens are coming for the action but staying for the network and the relationships they form. We think this is just the beginning...enter Party Hub stage left.Â
nO fAkE fRiEnDs đŤ
When Instagram opened up its (beta) doors this year for all creators to add to the Instagram Effect Gallery, the reaction was explosive. AR filter creators started submitting their effects to Instagram on a global scale, all created in Facebookâs newly acquired AR development platform, Spark AR. The community has grown to nearly 40K members, with new creative filters being uploaded everyday.Â
Moving beyond the classic puppy ears of 2016, effects now consist of more niche designs such as blinking game filters, alien filters and facial distortion filters. But the latter has had some bad press, so much so that pandemonium broke out in the Spark AR Facebook group as the platform announced updates to its âWell-Being Policies.â Â
The biggest news is that Spark AR is âremoving all effects associated with plastic surgery.â This is huge, especially as facial distortion effects such as âholybucksâ, which gives the wearer bloated lips and a $$$ skin complexion, are among the most popular filters with Zs and stars like Kendall Jenner, Millie Bobby Brown and Bella Hadid.
Although the conversations in the developer group centred around the lack of creative freedom these changes will bring, Instagram is itself reacting to accusations of fuelling negative body images in teens. Since 2000 the rise in young women and teenagers getting surgery has risen by 137% on what scientists are calling âSnapchat Dysmorphiaâ, a phenomenon whereby young people are getting plastic surgery to look as they do in their filters. Instagram isnât the only one under fire here, popular editing app Facetune, which similarly promotes facial enhancement, has also had its fair share of critique, although if itâs recent $135 Million Series CÂ is anything to go by, it wonât be stopping any time soon.Â
More precautions in place can only be a good thing, but the success of holybucks and others has brought each creator one million followers and countingâŚ
kettleâs on: ones to watch
Clueless remake? Ugh, as if! Batten down the hatches, the 1995 Hollywood classic is getting a facelift. Reaching dizzying heights of cultural ubiquity in the â90s (its quotes were practically teenage social currency), Clueless grew to define a generation. Are we ready for the Gen Z remake? With Lizzo, oat-milk lattes and bisexual lighting getting their cameos in the reboot, weâd have to say this Clueless reincarnation is going to go out with a bang. Â
The One Where Rachel Broke Insta. We all know Jennifer Aniston is a big deal, but this week she proved it. When Jen finally decided to join Instagram, she broke a Guinness World Record accruing 1 million Instagram followers in only 5 hours and 16 minutes.
FB Groups aint a thing? This week thereâs been a massive shake up in the world of online groups. Not only did the 30K strong Facebook Group âWhat Would Virginia Woolf Do?â jump ship completely in favour of a separate paid app, but Meetup also announced $$$ changes to its pricing model. Can you put a price tag on community? It appears now you can.Â
RiiSee n sHiiiNee. And the Grammy Award for Song of the Year goes to...Kylie Jenner. You heard it here first. This week the internet did its thing after the youngest member of the Kardashian-Jenner clan shared her billion-dollar office tour, birthing the ârise and shineâ meme. From a Miley parody to Ariana asking if she could sample it in her next project, we feel like this could be the meme that never goes past its sell-by date. Oh, and did we mention that thereâs official merch? Of course there is. The devil works hard, but Kris Jenner works harder.Â
Every JUUL has its day. Looks like timeâs up for JUUL as they announced the removal of their fruit-flavoured pods from the US market. This marks just one of many setbacks the company has faced in recent months, particularly focused around misleading information surrounding safety concerns. As Stateside deaths continue to rise, could this be a step in the right direction?Â
Okay, you made it. Now you can go back to being hungover.
ttyl, High Tea.