Welcome to the first edition of Chronically Online, brought to you by eight&four. With a brand-new look and feel (RIP to The Social Tea), we'll be sharing a monthly round-up of all things social – because when you’re offline, ✨ we’re online. ✨
We’re going to be sharing the latest updates when it comes to channel, innovation, creative and campaigns, alongside eight&four’s latest insights and discussion.
We’ve got a lot to cover this month. Let’s get into it! 👇
What's happening on social? Our monthly round-up 🔁
Channel
There's drama at X HQ this week. Elon Musk has launched legal action against a group of companies who pulled their budgets from the platform, following previous concerns about brand safety and harmful online content. Musk has labelled the actions as a "systematic illegal boycott". We're staying close to this one - it's going to be juicy.
Google Trends has just launched a massive update to provide even better insight into emerging searches - aptly named "Trending Now". This is a perfect tool for those looking to bring more reactivity into their content. Obviously, the top search from the last 24 hours was Molly-Mae & Tommy Fury's break up. Does anyone have a tissue?
Meta drops their celebrity-style AI bots, less than one year after their release, citing a lack of user interest as the reason behind it. Despite having paid out millions to create bots in the likeness of celebs such as MrBeast, Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton.
Instagram has yet again updated its algorithm. First, it announced a focus on shares as its main metric going forward, and now for creators, it's views. Is this another attempt to stop influencers thinking about follower count and focus on authentic content instead?
X launches Trend Genius Ads. Aimed to "address the pace of conversation" and "enable brands to stay on the cutting edge of X", the new product will allow advertisers to hand select conversation topics they want to align with. When conversation around these topics reaches an increased level, their ads are automatically deployed on the platform.
LinkedIn adds company page verification. Adding another layer of authenticity, the platform hope that this will foster more meaningful interactions across audiences. If you were wondering - yes, we are verified. 💅
New data shows Snapchat as a key social shopping platform. The platform's latest data shows that 86% of Snapchatters say "I love to shop" and 82% consider shopping to be their primary hobby.
Content
We love a bit of healthy debate at eight&four ("several people are typing" pops up on slack daily) and something which sparked conversation recently is how luxury high-end brands are switching up their content strategies, leaning into a more disruptive, unhinged output.
Burberry are one such example. Playing around with trending moments and sounds, not to mention their slightly-off visuals, the British fashion house has shown a completely different side on TikTok, celebrating humour and wit.
From our perspective, this is one of the best examples of a luxury brand embracing TikTok – playful enough for the platform with captivating editing, but still feels premium.
Marc Jacobs are another brand testing the lo-fi content approach, leaning into meme culture and unexpected influencer partnerships. While their vanity performance is strong, the content doesn't necessarily feel like it's speaking to an audience who can actually buy the brands products - perhaps this is a long-term strategy to recruit future consumers?
If you're interested in reading more about the unexpected partnerships, why not read our recent article which looks into the changing face of influence?
Campaign
Kamala IS brat?
We all witnessed the run-up to the general election in the UK. Political parties peppered our feeds with slanderous meme content, void of any substance. And it looks like the US presidential election is going to be following suit..
If you're not chronically online (pun intended), the "brat girl summer" trend has taken over the internet, going from social media trend to a full-blown movement. Sparked by Charli XCX's latest album, the trend has found its way into political campaigns, notably for Kamala Harris. Endorsed by Charli XCX, Harris was quick to rebrand herself online to tap into a younger demographic of voters.
ABC News asked if Harris can "ride memes all the way to the White House." With over 850K new followers on @KamalaHQ, the numbers are impressive. But we must ask: are memes really the new cornerstone of politics?
eight&four Recommends
Each month, we're giving you a behind-the-scenes glimpse into what goes on in our eight&fourian's lives once their laptop shuts.
What are you...
- 📱 Watching? “The Olympics! Specifically, all and any events” – Rebecca Bradley, Social Content Manager
- 📚 Reading? “Sea of Tranquillity by Emily St. John Mandel” – Lewis Godliman, Senior Media Manager
- 🧘 Doing? “Swimming in Beckenham Place Park swimming lake!” – Natasha Barnden, Creative Lead
That brings us to the end of our first edition of Chronically Online. We hope you've enjoyed reading through our latest updates - come back next month for our second edition (and if you're looking for some more eight&four content, why not check out our TikTok in the meantime?).
See you in September! 👋
