Top Sounds 

Our curated picks of the top sounds on TikTok

1. That’s Just Me! 
   Conservative dating app The Right Stuff used this sound on TikTok to make fun of liberals in a very Glee manner (derogatory). Now the sound is being used by folks on the left also to make fun of liberals and conservatives.
2. A Rare Body Style This sound is being used by small-talk haters and medical professionals alike. Use this to react to hearing something strange or TMI.
3. I Don’t Care How Long It Takes This is a sentimental sound that’s been popular for a hot minute but doesn’t seem to be leaving the FYP soon, especially with the trend of showing less sentimental texts from loved ones taking off in the last week.
4. $20 This sound exists because it costs $20 to step outside these days.
5. I’m Feeling Lonely Listening to this sound you can practically see the aesthetic day-in-the-life vlogs.
6. Ludicrously Capacious Bag 
   From the Disgusting Brother himself comes this trending sound. Pair it with a photo post of the contents of your bag.

 Our Sound Highlight 

Bim Bom

Mood: 

This fun (and somewhat summery?) song is great for day-in-the-life videos and travel content. It’s been used to great effect to film cities on #filmtok but even without a film camera, it’s a great song for the background of your videos.

 Effects Highlight 

Our curated picks of the top effects on TikTok

@mesha_elle

A HIKE?! What happened to bottomless mimosas babe?! #losangeles #catchmeatbrunch #hiking #hiketok #la #hollywood #bottomlessmimosa #brunch #plussizeproblems #plussize #biggirltiktok #curvytiktok #curvybodies

♬ original sound – Regular Black Girl 🌻

Use this CapCut effect when the unfortunate (yet predictable) occurs.

https://www.tiktok.com/?referer_url=cdn.iframe.ly%2Fapi%2Fiframe%3Fmedia%3D1%26app%3D1%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.tiktok.com%252F%2540getvocal%252Fvideo%252F7218993220351446315%26key%3De27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd&refer=embed&embed_source=71169333%2C121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_discover_button

Last time I brought you Pedro Pascal eating a sandwich, this edition I bring you: Pedro Pascal dancing.

 The Moment 

Issues That Are At The Forefront of Online Discourse – Tennessee

Hundreds gathered in protest in Nashville on March 30th. Many were young. All present were horrified and saddened by the deaths of three nine-year-old children and three adults in a school shooting in Nashville. The chants were loud. Ringing through the halls, into the chamber where the Tennessee legislature was in session, hearing bills, for the first time since the shooting. These chants and shouts reached me, some two thousand miles away, from a live stream on TikTok from one of the protestors. Gun violence must end. Must be prevented. Yet that idea often seems impossible in America, in the face of elected officials who would much rather tout an NRA approval rating than end gun violence.

I often talk about the political power of young people in this newsletter. At times like this, that power can feel complicated. Young people may have organized, gathered, and protested but what does that mean in a state that expelled Democratic lawmakers, and is committed to the maintenance of power by accepting gun-lobby funds and restricting the representation of the people most at risk of harm? I am not, to be clear, endorsing any form of defeatism. I believe in the power of optimism. What do we fight for if not the chance to win? No, this is an indictment of a body that does not want to hear the chants of the electorate, that would like to censure the voices of opposition.

The response to the expulsion of the democratic representatives has been enormous. The Republican majority decided “disrespectful behavior” was grounds for expulsion, an act that seemed pointedly undemocratic. It is in the attempt to quell any dissent, that the Republican body has made an error. They taught thousands of people, in Tennessee and beyond, who really respects democracy.

 The Zeitgeist 

Hot topics from across the internet

• The Pope’s drip was almost too good to be true, maybe because it wasn’t... An AI image of Pope Francis in a white puffer tricked millions. Also, the guy who created the AI drip pope did so under the influence and now thinks we should regulate AI.
• Amazon Studios has been blowing millions of dollars on nothing according to this recent piece by THR.
• Twitter has decided to remove sanctions from Russian government accounts and decided to label publically-funded NPR as state media.
• President Biden says he is “planning on” seeking re-election in 2024.
• The Gwenyth Paltrow courtroom saga has come to an end. A trial, for the record, that involved ski-ing and the loss of ability to wine-taste. Not to minimize anything but… rich people, huh?
• How online were you last month? Vulture has a way for you to find out.
• The new Barbie trailer is everything! s/o to Greta Gerwig, a Sacramento queen.
• A company in Texas restricted their job posting to US-born white male citizens… and left it in the job description.
• Brandon Sanderson didn’t deserve the profile he got but he does deserve criticism for his stances.

 The Takeaway 

Hey Meta, what’s good?

I don’t mean that as a greeting. I’m asking the question. What is good? Because when you pull funds away from creators, don’t offer decent video editing software, refuse to even look at hate speech reports, and punish content filmed anywhere outside of your apps there’s not a lot of good to point at. YouTube isn’t acting up like this. TikTok sure isn’t. So, again, what’s good?

Maybe it’s the social media manager in me. Maybe it’s the influencer marketer side of me that wants my influencers to thrive and get the reach they deserve— or at least have a decent recourse to report hateful accounts! But Meta is making being a content creator hard right now, with algorithm changes on Instagram and pulling payment for Reels creators.

Meta is alienating creators. If Meta wants to make short-form video the center of Facebook and Instagram, they need creators to feel safe on the platform, to be competitively compensated for the millions of viewers they bring in, and to stop punishing creators for where they film and edit content. Creators are the bedrock of your platform, Meta, so let them create.

Made it to the end of this newsletter? Here are some treats, a very Yorkshire dog, Passover meets musical theater and Mika TikTok.