Hi friends! Welcome back to After School ✨weekend edition✨, an extra long and extra opinionated youth culture digest for paid subscribers.
When I say extra long, this week I really mean it. Well over 2,000 words long. But good words.
I mentioned the piece I wrote about Gen Zers’ favorite social apps a few weeks ago, but the story was published mere moments before Roe v. Wade was overturned and, uh, I think we all had other stuff on our brains (not that we don’t still…). There was some really interesting stuff in there that I’m still thinking about, so I wanted to excerpt a little more of it here.
Locket > BeReal
To get a sense of how young people are thinking about social apps today, I first reached out to Emily Herrera, a Gen Z VC who is Very Online, both professionally and personally…The 23-year-old calls herself “day one stan” of Poparazzi, but notes that it’s “kind of dead now.” (This could change soon, as they just closed a $15M Series A.) BeReal, which NPR recently described as “Instagram's next rival for teens,” “feels stickier,” Emily says. Locket, an app for sharing photos to friends’ home screens, is her favorite app “of all time,” she says. “It is my favorite thing in the world. It’s so easy, and as a user, it’s fun as hell.”
“Twitter’s probably the new LinkedIn”
Emily said she spends 9 hours a week on TikTok, 6 hours a week on Twitter, 3 hours on Instagram (“and that’s only checking my exes, probably”), and an hour on Hinge. Even though the short-form video app is her most-used app, at least according to screen time, “Twitter is my whole life right now,” she said. “There’s a lot of room for narrative, and that’s what Gen Z wants to do – they want to talk. They don’t really want to take pictures anymore.” Though she uses it for personal and professional reasons alike, she said it’s been especially invaluable when it comes to networking. “Twitter’s probably the new LinkedIn,” she added.
“I’m not trying to be a creator”
A self-described minimalist when it comes to social apps, Autumn is also not on TikTok. “I never downloaded TikTok, and I would say most of my close friends are not on TikTok. It’s a time sink. If I’m going to be on my phone, I want to be talking to someone; I want to be social. TikTok feels more like a production. I’m not trying to be a creator.”
Twitter???? Who knew. Alright, thanks for humoring me! You can read the whole thing here, if you’d like.
Today, we’re digging into:
“Vibe managers” (a real job)
The “scourge” of dating apps
The startup posting on TikTok 100x a day
TikTok’s coldest revenge
FashionTok’s favorite headphones
The “He’s a 10…” meme
Boob tape is taking off
And so is face tape, unfortunately
Minions, obviously!
Plus what I’m buying, watching, reading, listening to and so much more. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading!