We Are Social launches new Instagram-based cultural insights publication ‘The Feed’

September 15 2021, 9:40 am | BY Ricki Green | 1 Comment

Global socially-led creative agency We Are Social has launched The Feed, an editorial Instagram publication tracking digital culture and trends on a global scale.

Powered by We Are Social’s network of 900+ social specialists, The Feed features daily artefacts of digital culture from across the world, with a focus on brands, platforms, communities, creators, memes, trending conversations, aesthetics and more. Each post includes an insight into a wider cultural or behavioural shift, a data point to validate its potential and an implication for brands.

Recent posts include:

– Joke Spotify playlists are being created and used as memes. Spotify users are creating joke playlists to create and share with other users – playlists that aren’t intended for listening, but are insteadare used to tell funny, strange and unexpected stories. Read more here.

– The #girlshelpgirls movement sees Chinese women push for accountability. In a social movement sparked by a 19-year-old student, women in China have taken a stand on social against inappropriate behaviour, leading a number of global brands to reassess their local partnerships. Read more here.

– Diet Paratha is a community giving South Asians in British fashion a platform. Diet Paratha celebrates underrepresented fashion talent across the South Asian diaspora. It’s harnessing the fashion community’s long standing rebellion against systemic industry issues via Instagram to encourage people to break free from cultural stereotypes. Read more here.

The Feed has been running in invite-only beta since November 2020, and is now open to all. It’s a new output from We Are Social’s growing research division that specialises in Cultural Insights: a team of more than 50 cultural analysts and strategists globally. By distilling and applying Cultural Insights to supercharge our process, We Are Social is investing in generating communications that maximise clients’ cultural impact.

Says Lore Oxford, global head of cultural insights at We Are Social and editor of The Feed: “When people think about digital culture, viral fame is often the first thing to come to mind: jumping on the latest album drop from Drake, or getting in some good Tweets. But making an impact online is about so much more than landing a punchline.

“So many one-off digital events that have seemed alienating or niche at their conception have transpired to be early warning signals for important shifts in contemporary culture that have far-reaching implications for brands.

“In 2021, culture moves at the speed of social and as a socially-led creative agency, our global teams are identifying these moments and artefacts on a daily basis. The Feed gets the marketing community on the inside track of emergent digital culture as it’s happening, and translates it into actionable insights and opportunities they can apply to their own workstreams.”