Swiftie Dads and The New 'The Rules'

"$250 jars of honey culled from celebrity beehives"

Meet the “Swiftie dads” at a Taylor Swift concert (w/o paywall); young K-pop fans around the globe are dishing out hundreds of dollars to fund 90-second video calls; and an influencer marketing agency is paying Gen Zers $100/hour for 10-hour TikTok watching sessions.

WHERE THE BEES ARE FAMOUS (AND THE GOATS WEAR CASHMERE), nyt
Fast-growing Los Angeles lifestyle brand Flamingo Estate — which sells highly-specific gifts like $250 jars of honey culled from beehives placed in the gardens of celebrities and $75 nine-pound sacks of manure — has raised $7.5 million and just closed a round of outside funding. According to the company, 75% of the customers are women between 24 and 40 years old, and they are split evenly between the East and West Coast.

“The opportunity for us is in cities like Chicago, Dallas, Miami,” he said. “I really do think we’ve got these two customer segments,” he continued. “We’ve got people who care a lot about the environment and about sourcing and about farming. Then I think we’ve got this customer here who’s a luxury shopper, who thinks the house is curated and likes the brand and especially the collaborations we do, and sometimes they cross over. But very rarely, actually.”

TINX EXPLAINS WHY WE’RE DATING ALL WRONG, newyorker
For her more than two million social-media followers — most of whom are Gen Z and millennial women — Tinx is the arbiter of all that is worthy: boyfriend behavior, bachelorette destinations, where to order shrimp cocktails and Martinis in many a metropolis. The New Yorker writes that her new book, “The Shift” — out tomorrow — could be the new “Rules,” the draconian dating Bible of the nineties.

IMESSAGE VS. SNAPCHAT: THE BATTLE FOR GEN Z’S TEXTS, wsj
Like most Americans her age, 22-year-old college senior Zoe Carlow owns an iPhone. But she said she only uses Apple’s Messages app for urgent situations. If she’s planning hangouts or vacations, sharing photos and just catching up, she’s on Snapchat.

YOUR CO-WORKERS DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY TO YOU AT WORK — SO THEY'RE GOOGLING IT, insider
Google search data shows that people are looking up "what to talk about at work" more than they have in the past two decades, with young workers saying they've found it hard to navigate small talk with their colleagues. Reddit is similarly awash with recent threads dedicated to the topic, providing talking points and tips for conversation starters.

GEN Z AND MILLENNIALS SAY SOCIAL MEDIA IS PRESSURING THEM TO BUY WHAT THEY CAN’T AFFORD, AND IT’S SENDING THEM INTO AN ANXIETY SPIRAL, fortune
Fifty-one percent of Gen Zers and 43% of millennials said that social media makes them want to buy things they know they can’t afford; at the same time, the high cost of living is their top societal concern—rightly so considering that they're both dealing with true inflation for the first time in their lives and the looming prospect of making student loan payments again.

MONTANA BANNED TIKTOK. CREATORS IN THE STATE ARE BRACING FOR WHAT’S NEXT., nbcnews
A group of five TikTokers sued the state, arguing the law is an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights. The legislation, set to go into effect in January 2024, makes it illegal for app stores to give users the option to download TikTok and for the company to operate within the state. Violations of a ban include every time a user is offered the ability to download the app. Each violation could carry a $10,000 penalty. Enforcement would be handled by the Montana Justice Department.

One last thought: