What’s Hot? 26/02

This week, we’re reminiscing about The Lonely Island, following Perseverance, getting transparent with TikTok, celebrating Gwyneth, and making a new hashtag strategy…

The one to watch: SNL x Gen Z

Last Saturday’s SNL host was a pleasant surprise: Rege-Jean Page. While over the moon at the thought of spending more (screen) time with the Duke of Hastings, a lot of us were surprised to hear he’d landed such a huge gig. It felt like an attempt from SNL to lure in younger viewers, which was confirmed when one skit was focused on Olivia Rodrigo’s song Driver’s License (watch it here).

This year, SNL also launched its TikTok channel – follow it here – where the average post has around half a million likes. The Driver’s License skit has 2.4 million.

It’s not the first time that SNL has tried to keep up with the times and attract younger viewers. Back in 2005 for season 31, SNL hired The Lonely Island to create a series of digital shorts due to the rising popularity of YouTube (remember Natalie’s rap? Lazy Sunday? I’m on a boat?) The digital shorts launched The Lonely Islands career, and we’re intrigued to see if any TikTok creators end up joining the SNL cast anytime soon…

The account you need to follow: Perseverance

Last week, NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover landed on Mars, nearly seven months after launch. You can follow it on twitter at @NASAPersevere for the latest images, videos, and articles.

OR you can follow @PercyRover, who is certainly not the real Mars Rover, but is much funnier. Percy is a proud immigrant who loves his new home (Mars) but distrusts his surroundings (rocks).

Our favourite post?

The one to read: Transparency with TikTok

TikTok has released its latest transparency report, an overview of all the content that has been deleted over the last six months. Over 89 million videos were deleted, which don’t even make up 1% of all TikTok content – meaning about 9 billion videos were uploaded in just six months.

TikTok is currently under investigation due to concerns it exposes its (young) users to inappropriate content, so it’s great to see the platform is taking this seriously – key reasons videos were removed were due to nudity, illegal activities or violent content.

The one we should have seen coming: Gwyneth

Do you ever have imposter syndrome, or just generally feel not good enough? The obvious answer is yes – everyone feels like that. Yet, we can’t help but wonder if there’s one person in the world who doesn’t: Gwyneth Paltrow.

Last year she made headlines by selling a candle that smelled like her vagina, and this week she faced backlash for claiming she started the face mask trend. In an interview with the New York Times, Gwyneth stated that she was one of the first people to wear a face mask, before it was quickly adopted by everyone else.

Gwyneth, we love your self-confidence, your charisma, and your candles. We even love the fake news that you made masks a thing. Keep doing you hun.

The one to read: Twitter’s 2021 trends report

Twitter’s 2021 trends report breaks down the six key trends to help brands stay ahead of what’s happening: wellbeing, creator culture, everyday wonder, one planet, tech life, my identity. Each topic is fairly broad (but explained fully in the report), so it’s easy for brands to map their own content pillars against a few of these areas.

To help you out, Twitter has explained the growth of each topic, including key terms and themes. They’ve also provided a HUGE list of popular hashtags to use for each topic, perfect for updating your hashtag strategy.