Micro is Macro, Parasocial is Evolving, and Netflix Has a Burner
The great flattening, niching down, why social media is becoming less “social” and more “media,” building in public, and whether AI is the big equalizer… so much to get into this week.
🎭 Niching Down: Netflix2 as a Case Study
Last month, Netflix launched a second, chaotic, and meme-forward Instagram account: @Netflix2. Think: low-effort memes, reaction vids, deep-cut references, and content you won’t see on the polished @Netflix feed.
It launched privately (yes, request-to-follow!) ahead of their global Tudum event—a clever move that shows real fluency in internet culture and fan community → relationship building.
Takeaways:
Micro-targeting > broad reach: The main @Netflix account has 37M followers and promotes everything. @Netflix2 can serve niche fandoms, meme-lovers, alt-humor Gen Zers—creating deeper identity touchpoints.
Brand accounts ≠ corporate org charts: @Netflix2 doesn’t mirror any vertical or streaming tile. It just vibes. Audiences don’t care about your org structure—they care about POV, tone, and consistency.
Social = media now: @Netflix2 lets the brand test offbeat creative, support lesser-known titles, and tap into trends without affecting the main account. It's part focus group, part test engine, part relationship builder.
Go micro to win big: Gen Z trusts creators who reflect their worldview. Micro strategies = long-game loyalty.
📱 UGC Your Own Content: @Netflix2 acts like a fan of its own content—essentially a burner meme account built by the brand itself. This gives them creative freedom, risk tolerance, and keeps engagement in-house (rather than relying on fan pages or third-party creators). Once again Netflix is not following a marketing playbook, they are following audience culture.
👯Parasocial 2.0
TikToker Bran Flakezz (1.3M followers) launched a real-life “Bran Trip,” inviting followers to apply for a spot. The trip was sponsored by 30+ brands (Abercrombie, Beis, Drunk Elephant, etc.), and it signals a new era of fan–creator dynamics: less “followers,” more friends. This creator says it best, instead of inviting “influencers” why not invite “customers” or better yet, a combo of both! ex- Cocokind too, they are so good at this.
Sure, Influencer hosted events like Monet McMichael for Fenty and Nike or Alex Cooper’s bar crawls aren’t a new thing… but the approach and expectations of what these experiences deliver IS different. This could be a result of many colliding trends -Parasocial ties becoming real connections (driven by the loneliness epidemic and collapse of “third spaces”). And of course, the overall commodization of community. We’re basically one step away from being truman show over here - P.S. if any brands are reading this - DM me if you want to sponsor my life!!
🌱 Micro-Community IRL
Rental fashion brand Nuuly has scaled micro-meetups hosted by creators with as few as 2,000 followers. Think matcha hangouts, bouquet workshops, book swaps. The result? Subscriber base up 53% YoY AND $5.2M profit!
“We want people to feel like friends of the brand, not consumers.” – Julia Piccone, Nuuly's Sr. Director of Marketing
💄 Everyone’s a Creator
Sephora’s #SephoraSquad and Ulta’s Ulta Beauties empower creators and employees to share product recs and tutorials. In return, they get free product, early access, and training. For example this is a snapshot of the success of the Sephora Squad program:
Sephora Squad posts = 5x engagement vs. typical branded content
Sephora receives 16,000+ applications/year
Posts from Squad creators receive 10M+ impressions per campaign, OUTPERFORMING celeb partnerships
Aritzia’s Store Style program is also a great example. It generated 1B views on TikTok, driven by employee content. IRL retail workers now function as trusted style influencers. Aritzia is now expanding its footprint in the U.S.—proof that employee creators can drive real business results.
And honestly, SO MANY examples of this → Revolve, Death of Millenial brand and Even Hilton is getting execs to do TikToks to humanize the brand. Human is best. Prepare for “authencity” to become the new “viral” buzzword in corporate boardrooms.🙄 Lol!
Bonus rec: This VidIQ interview w/ Matt Korval & Rob Wilson shows why empowering insiders who get the platform is a winning move (even if they’re not technically employee creators).
🔍 The Great Flattening
AI is accelerating content creation—and flattening who gets to do it. We’re heading toward a world where depth > reach, superfans > scale.
Think music’s shift from album sales to fandom monetization (K-pop!). Content is heading that way too. Brands that survive need to understanding audiences, niches and most importantly- the power to create, nurture, and activate superfans - not just chase virality.
Traditional gatekeepers currently control some of the pipelines but attention is fragmenting VERY fast, so audiences WILL migrate if you don’t speak their language
For Gen Z and Gen Alpha, that means more micro-communities, subcultures, and niche fandoms powered by shared language, interests, values… and less friction.
Gen Z/Alpha wants to engage and immerse, you will have to do the same
Meaning, loyalty, and shared language is the currency
TLDR: In an infinite scroll world, depth will lead to reach
✏️What content to create in the AI era?
First was the democratization of distribution … next is creation. Welcome to the era of frictionless content creation with AI. The BRILLIANT creator and AI/VC expert Zauey predicts that content will start splitting into three buckets and the disappearing ‘middle’, which she calls “pretty good human content”.
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High-end Human: think big box office, live concerts, very expensive. *I’d also include sports in this (SHOUTOUT TO Savannah Bananas), though Zauey does not include in her mention. Another Fellow Kids prediction? Expect MORE novelty sports entertainment - or ‘gamifed’ psuedo scripted sports and gaming. Jo Redfern has lots of great predictions on this for KIDS too.
Mass Market AI: cheap, algo-friendly, quick churn video, “good enough” content.
Hyper-niche & personalized content: made for YOU content.
In my opinion, the film industry with the declining ‘middle’ was the canary in the coal mine for the content creation business (and this was even before the expodential speed of hyper realistic veo3).
My prediction: From a Hollywood content POV - I predict sitcoms, unscripted (reality and game) shows are next to become too inefficient to produce. The exception to this rule will be FAST, CHEAP human generated ‘pretty good’ content - which I would classify as vlogs, digital creator first content or even micro-content/dramas etc. That will likely be the ‘new’ middle.
📽 Micro-Shorts = (Another) Content Disruption
Hollywood’s next gold rush? Vertical micro-dramas aka 30–90 second stories, often serialized and optimized for TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts.
In 2024, ReelShort hit 50M MAUs. These bite-sized soap operas are blowing up because they’re:
Snackable & “Good Enough” Brainrot
Micro-shorts scratch the need for content itch faster and anywhere, making them ideal for mobile viewing. Built for short attention spans and mobile-first habits.Fast, Familiar, Comforting
Easy-to-digest tropes: betrayal, cliffhang Many micro-dramas use hyper-recognizable formats (love triangle, betrayal, cliffhanger) and simplified storytelling. It’s the "fanfic meets soap opera meets algorithm" model. This is the natural d(evolution) of entertainment as comfort food (i.e. suits, friends, all of these have led to this snack content adoption model).Algorithm-First Storytelling
These stories are built for the feed. They optimize for watch time, retention, and engagement. I.e. “Part 2 is wild 👀” or autoplay split screens to keep users locked in, often turning episodic stories into viral chains across Reels, Shorts, and TikTok.Entertainment with a group “comment thread”
Micro-shorts invite comments, fan theories, and real-time reactions. Some creators even edit the next episode based on viewer feedback, blurring the line between audience and author.Low-Lift, High-ROI
Cheap to produce, big potential for monetization and IP testing. The next YA hit or Hallmark film might start as a TikTok series.
TLDR- Sure this isn’t new, Quibi anyone? But this time around, it is not born out of Hollywood first but out of an audience behavior. Execpt to see more studios repackaging content this way as stunt tactics i.e Mean Girls on TikTok, but monetization and how we capture that will be next. AND platforms like YouTube prioritizing creators and integrations with drama / narrative / vertical creators.
🧠 Quick Hits & Headlines
Build in public: Expect more “elephant companies” and building off of social reach.
Aura Farming, Cool/ Cringe: this topic again!! Talked about it in my earlier newsletter too!
NBA & GenZ: sports that survive the great fragmentation will require their athletes to be creators and performers (calling it now). *I want to unpack this topic a lot more and how it relates to even younger generations.
AI will take entry level jobs: Bye bye entry level jobs. This will impact younger generations significantly. White collar work is in danger girlll 🫠🫠🫠
We’re only at the TIP of the Creator Economy: I want to unpack this another day, but definitely valid
More Media, Less “Social”: definitely agree with this.
Yellow Hearts Trend: Love this very harmless ‘gotcha’ prank here & here
Memes of the week: Obserdist Micro memes - Freezer muffins & Cher Gap ads revival. GenZ are diging and discovering obscure references and memeing to their hearts content. And the fact GenZ is now discovering Ke$ha is funny to me.
MrBeast goes “Hood MrBeast”: His parody of a meme becomes his most-liked TikTok ever.
Gen Z’s friction aversion: “Extreme dating” and instant ghosting is becoming the norm (NY Post)
AI dating = next parasocial frontier? Cosmo dives in
Nostalgia is the biggest recession tell: Chili’s, dad jeans, scarf tops, and Converse wedges are back (NYT)
Let me leave you with this (I dare you to stop watching after only one loop), dunno why, but gives me dopamine.
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