“The rise of the stewfluencer is more than a TikTok trend. It’s a way of life.”
tiktok
Posted inEditor's Pick
How America Got Its Baby Back, Baby Back, Baby Back
“Chili’s was once a relic of the ’90s. Then it blew past its competitors—and conquered casual American dining. In its Texas test kitchen, I saw how.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Agony and Ecstasy of being a Viral Trickshot Video Star
“Think you could throw a basketball off a 540ft dam, into a hoop—while blindfolded? Meet the talented and ludicrously patient people putting hours into the internet’s most joyful (and pointless) clips.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Is the Decline of Reading Poisoning Our Politics?
“Your brain isn’t what it used to be.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
What Happened When an Extremely Offline Person Tried TikTok
“In 2016, I went viral for telling people to quit social media. In 2024, I ignored my own advice.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Planet TikTok
“The app’s young user base, fragmented content, and amped-up algorithm helped it spread around the world. If the US bans it, what would be lost?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Delicate Art of Turning Your Parents Into Content
“Gen Z creators are learning the lessons of Scorsese and Akerman: putting mom and dad in your work brings pathos, complexity, and a certain frisson.”
Posted inTop 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Reads from Zefyr Lisowski, David Gessner, Susie Cagle, Brendan I. Koerner, and Athena Aktipis and Coltan Scrivner.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Watch This Guy Work, and You’ll Finally Understand the TikTok Era
“The creator economy is fragmented and chaotic. Talent manager Ursus Magana can (almost) make sense of it, with a frenetic formula for gaming the algorithms.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Albanian Town that TikTok Emptied
“’It’s like the boys have gone extinct,’ say women in Kukes. They’ve all left for London, chasing dreams of fast cars and easy money sold on social media.”