The hottest show on TikTok right now
I’m in Las Vegas until later this week for NAB, the National Association of Broadcasters annual conference. I’m interviewing Dhar Mann on stage tomorrow, which will be up on YouTube in the coming weeks (subscribe to my channel here!). I’m also trying to finish off a few deep dive pieces that will be paywalled in the coming month. Become a paid subscriber today to read!
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For the past week, half of TikTok has been enthralled with The Group Chat, a TikTok-native drama series by TikToker Sydney Jo (@thatgirlsydjo), who plays every single character of a show involving a group of girlfriends planning a night out. Each “episode” is essentially a vertical scene posted to Sydney’s page.
The first episode of the series amassed over 28 million views and The Group Chat has skyrocketed Sydney’s following. She recently surpassed 1.3 million followers.
The Group Chat follows the interpersonal dynamics of a group of young women planning a fun girls dinner. The central conflict surrounds Hailey and her attempt to bring her boyfriend Justin along. Justin, who speaks for the first time in a recent episode, is voiced by Charlie Puth, who became a fan of the show after it blew up.
The entire show is literally just Sydney acting out all the different girls in the chat, but I think what makes it resonate is how well she captures the subtle dynamics of communication between female friends. The show has spawned an endless stream of fan theories and commentary. The series is lo-fi and entirely rooted in the aesthetics of TikTok. “I don’t think I’ll ever watch real TV again,” one user posted.
In a world where every streaming platform and media company is desperately trying to “capture Gen Z,” it’s revealing that actual Gen Z creators are creating these highly compelling storylines on their own. Good narrative content doesn’t need budgets or backers, it needs community, relatability, and a creator who understands the dynamics of the internet. Sydney has ended multiple episodes with cliff hangers and fans in the comments post endlessly about what they think will happen next.
I think the community and the interactivity are part of what makes the series so compelling. People are role playing the different characters, pop culture accounts are doing episode recaps. Also the fact that the show features such a range of women, that almost every woman can see herself in one of the girls.
As I wrote last year, I think short-form content will continue to become more narrative and serialized. We’re seeing this trend across short-form platforms, and we’re seeing an explosion in apps like ReelShort, that provide bite-sized scripted narratives. As that happens, I do wonder if people’s viewing habits will shift from phone to TV. YouTube is already the number one streaming platform, and it’s telling that Skibidi Toilet, the first truly short-form native series, emerged there. But people still primarily consume TikToks and Reels etc by phone.
I think The Group Chat and even non scripted series like Reesa Teesa’s Who TF Did I Marry, which blew up last year, show that people actually want to invest in longer form content. They just want to be able to consume it piece by piece.
Why are right wingers still so obsessed with “Gen Z boss and a mini” video?
Over the weekend, more right wingers began resharing a viral video from an Australian skincare company where a group of women chant in a circle about various characteristics. You can watch the video here, it’s so benign it’s hard to even explain.
Nevertheless, it continues to cause a certain type of reactionary man to fully melt down. I think has the best analysis of why. Her whole piece is worth reading, but especially this part:
Let’s go back to the Australian TikTok. Back when it first went viral, I saw my fellow liberals express genuine confusion as to why it signified something so visceral for right-wing men. Perhaps all my time on right-wing Twitter has given me too much of an understanding of this, but basically, a lot of men (specifically, single and frustrated ones on the right who have a negative view of women) have a perplexingly reverse-SJW attitude toward women in the workplace. They believe women are part of an oppressor class, who has for some reason been granted unfair degrees of privilege in the form of being hired for fun, pretend jobs. In their mind, almost every working woman has an “email job,” specifically one that wasn’t available to men, and provides no value. Something like “Vice President of Pronouns.” They believe if AI replaced these unnecessary jobs, women would be rightfully forced to settle for schlubs (no self-improvement required on behalf of said schlubs) to avoid being destitute.
What I’m reading
On shitposting, Or, Aspirational Labor and Platform Hygiene
A deep-dive academic analysis of shitposting by Jess Rauchberg, a brilliant media and internet culture researcher — Mid Theory
Gen Z outlet says it proves young people will pay for news done the right way
RocaNews was founded in 2020 by three men in their 20s who were disillusioned with the news. — Press Gazette
Measles, MAHA, and “soft eugenics”
A look at the “soft eugenics” of the antivax movement. — Science Based Medicine
U.S. sent 238 migrants to Salvadoran mega-prison, most have no criminal records
CBS could not find criminal records for 75% of the 238 men the Trump admin sent to a Salvadoran prison, including a makeup artist, a soccer player and a food delivery driver. Of the 22% that even had records, the “vast majority” were for non-violent offenses. The Trump admin still insists, without a shred of evidence, that these people are “terrorists.” — CBS News
She Was a Gen Z Influencer for Kamala Harris. Now She’s Running for Congress
Deja Foxx, the 24-year-old activist vying to represent Arizona’s Seventh District, discusses how Democrats can resist Donald Trump’s “billionaire boy club” — Vanity Fair
How Track Star became every musician’s favorite TikTok show
A simple premise – identify the artist behind a song – has sparked viral interviews with Charli XCX, Ed Sheeran and many more. — GQ
User Mag news rundown
Twitter’s menswear guy, known for his ruthless takedowns, agreed to fight a troll outside a San Francisco Uniqlo. Basically a “meet me in Temecula” for fashion nerds. A fight took place, but was it really him? I guess we’ll never know :)
The Sweet Sisterhood is a new kids content house full of a bunch of young girls, including two 9 year old and 11 year old influencers.
The girl who started the “NYC influencers are boring” discourse on TikTok lost her job at a luxury fashion brand over it.
Kamala Harris is now on Bluesky. Hillary Clinton joined the platform last week.
Livestream videos of impoverished children begging are increasingly popular on TikTok as people in extreme poverty perform stunts and beg for virtual gifts.
Mariah Carey makes an appearance on her son’s Twitch livestream.
This TV clip of Atlantic econ writer Derek Thompson trying to explain why crashing the economy is bad is really something.
Tumblr laid off a significant portion of the company, including their entire editorial department.
A Minecraft Movie collected $157M at the US box office in its opening weekend, the biggest domestic debut of 2025 and best in history for a video game adaptation.
DOGE is planning an IRS ‘hackathon’ to create a ‘mega API’ and make it easier to access taxpayer data.
Trump’s tariffs killed his TikTok deal, now the app’s fate once again remains uncertain.
Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s AI project could involve a screenless device including a phone-like product without a screen, as well as “AI-enabled household devices.”
Zoomers are calling the em dash “the ChatGPT hyphen.”
Great video on how nuclear technology reshaped our language.
A 24-year-old YouTuber was arrested after attempting to contact a tribe on North Sentinel Island, bringing Diet Coke as an offering.
A thread of TikToks that “are so surreal you feel like you’re dreaming.”
Bytedance just announced DreamActor-M1, a new model that brings full-body, expressive human animation to a new level.
Trump is making personnel decisions based on recommendations from Laura Loomer.
A list of U.S. universities where international students and faculty have faced visa revocations, detentions, or deportation orders under the Trump administration.
Meta’s US fact-checking program will be over by April 7, and Community Notes will start appearing on Facebook, Threads, and Instagram.
National security advisor Mike Waltz added a journalist to a Signal chat after approving a Siri-suggested contact update apparently.
Journalist Evan Gershkovich who was trapped in a Russian prison for a year, is not part of the documentary and book about his imprisonment that his employer, WSJ, is selling. He is planning his own film and book (as he should!)
The MTV Movie Awards will air on CBS for the first time ever.
A cottage industry has sprung up at Harvard, Penn, and other Ivy League colleges, providing nepo babies and children of the ultra-wealthy a luxury alternative to campus living.
WhatsApp tests letting you block people from exporting your chats.
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