In this Culture Hour episode of More To Tell™, the TMM team digs into why human stories continue to outperform perfectly polished, AI-driven content.
Joel Sanders, Noelle Caliguri, and the team unpack the trends dominating their feeds, from reaction videos and viral fandoms to Broadway casting, reality TV fame, and AI-generated music. Along the way, they explore what these moments reveal about attention, emotion, and why people are drawn to imperfection, struggle, and real human backstories in a hyper-optimized digital world.
The conversation ultimately circles back to the episode’s core question: in an AI-driven internet, why do human stories still win?
Watch the podcast episode:
Intro to Culture Hour
Noelle: Hello and welcome back to another episode of More To Tell, brought to you by Tell Me More, a marketing agency that helps brands organically grow through stories people want to read, watch and share. I’m Noelle, director of partnerships at Tell Me More and I’m so excited about today’s episode. Remember in our first episode when we mentioned Culture Hour? Well, you’re about to experience it firsthand. This is something we already do internally at TMM, and we thought, why not bring you along for the ride? Here’s how it works. Our team becomes your cultural interpreters. We break down what’s trending online, explore the psychology behind why certain content goes viral, and discuss how brands can authentically show up in those fleeting moments. Now, fair warning this episode is completely unscripted. Everyone on the team will share something that’s caught their attention lately. And since we all have wildly different algorithms, you might discover something totally new. We’re here to educate, entertain, and probably get a little goofy along the way. So buckle up, enjoy the banter, and let’s dive into Culture Hour. So before we start, let’s kind of go around the room. Let’s introduce ourselves. Let’s start with your name, your role here at TMM and your beverage of choice that you’re sipping on today. So Mo go first.
Meet the Team
Mo: Hey, my name is Mo. I’m the director of operations at TMM. Um, beverage. I’m sipping on. It’s usually a Diet Coke, but I’m actually drinking coffee today.
Noelle: Nice. What time is it over there in Puerto Rico?
Mo: It’s about one o’clock.
Noelle: I could pick me up. Sofia, why don’t you go?
Sofia: I’m Sofia. I’m a designer at TMM, and, uh, I’m boring, so I usually just have water.
Noelle: Good. Hydrate. Paul?
Paul: Hi. My name is Paul. I’m the marketing operations analyst at TMM, and I’m really proud of my coworker Mo today because I’m drinking coffee, which I usually do every single day.
Noelle: Nice coffee drinkers. Joel. Angelica.
Joel: Hey there. I’m Joel and the CEO here. And I’ve got water that my wife and business partner just poured into my glass because I’m actually thirsty. And normally this time of day, I would be drinking water. Uh, but I am a very big coffee drinker before noon,
Angelika: I’m Angelika, I’m one of the co-founders, and I always drink sparkling water or flat water, but sparkling mostly.
Noelle: I love that, and I’m Noelle. I already introduced myself. Director of partnerships. I’m drinking coffee because it’s, uh, around 9 :15 a m over here in San Diego, California. Let’s dive into everyone’s trends. Who would like to go first?
The Psychology Behind Reaction Videos
Mo: So this is a trend that I’ve been, um, following for a while, which is, reaction videos. So it’s, you know, reaction videos have been around for a while, and, um, a big chunk of the content that I watch is, usually people reacting to other content. So what is a reaction video? Uh, basically there’s different types usually. Most of the reaction videos are people reacting to movies or games. so you’ll have your average Joe or, um, one or two people reacting to a movie and then there’s other types of reaction content where you have for, for instance, an expert in a field, um, let’s say it’s like a military expert, and then he’s reacting to some other content on the internet, which is maybe it’s they’re reacting to a scene from Saving Private Ryan, or you get someone who was at D-Day, right, a really old vet, and he’s reacting to that movie content or, also live streamers that will react to news content. So it the it’s fascinating, especially the movie reactions because I know psychologically, like why would you rewatch, a movie that you’ve already seen but have a react, like watch someone reacting to it? Um, I’ve discussed this a lot with friends and I think it’s the, um, there’s nothing quite like watching a piece of content for the first time, but watching someone else react to it gives you kind of that feeling of watching something fresh because you see it through their eyes. and I’ve noticed, like, uh, especially when it comes to, people reacting to other YouTube videos that have already seen, so, for instance, I’ve, there’s this, um, video about how big the universe is, uh, that’s eight or nine years old, and it’s got millions of views. And I’ve seen this video probably at least thirty times just just over the years. But then every now and then I’ll see a reactor, watch this video again. And then they get wowed by, you know, all the scientific facts. And it takes me back to the first time I watched that video. And it’s fresh. And so and that video garners more views and it, you know, reaches a new audience. So yeah, I think this whole reaction content and it’s growing, right, with a lot of live streamers just reacting to old video content that’s out there in movies is fascinating.
Noelle: I get a lot of those reaction videos too, Mo. Specifically, vocal coaches commenting on singers like Ariana Grande and Wicked. And, for the most part, it’s, positive feedback, but it’s interesting to see that professionals take on another professional. So I yeah, I love that you brought that up. Does anyone else get that in their feeds and their algorithms?
Paul: Oh, I do quite a bit. Yeah. Specifically with the movies, like, I mean, I’ve seen a bunch of ones, where, whether it’s war vets or historians they’re commenting on, how movies such as like Saving Private Ryan that, uh, that Mo used, and they’re going into the realism of it and just seeing their reaction and just saying, like, what’s real, what’s not. I mean, no, it’s really engaging content.
Joel: I was going to say no. But then I realized, actually, because I’m going to share on football, NFL football, which is my favorite sport. I actually watched these reaction videos to games. And so you’ll see, you know, somebody reacting to the big touchdown or the surprising moment in the video. And it’s funny, especially when they’re either a fan or they hate the team that did really well. They’re either like, you know, jumping for joy or cursing, you know, uh, the, the success of the, of the enemy team. so yeah, that that is an interesting one, Mo.
Football With a Positive Spin
Noelle: Well, Joel, would you like to talk about football then?
Joel: Yeah, yeah, that’s a good segue, I guess, to, uh, just continue. So my team is the Denver Broncos. I grew up in Colorado, and they’ve been really bad for a really long time. But last year they started to turn the corner a bit. And this year they’re surprisingly much better than anybody expected, even the most diehard Broncos fans like me. but this creator, Gosh, I forgot his name. His channel is Sports Talk. Denver. Oh, his name is Ben. And, the thing that I always love about Ben is, no matter what the Broncos do, it’s always the most amazing, best thing ever. And that’s his hook on every one. even if they lose or they do something, you know, that you think is boneheaded or whatever, he always has the positive spin on it. So I pulled up some of his videos. I’ll just read you some of the headlines, like the the clip on just the first four here on the clip says Dream Team and then the title is Denver Broncos. Just made a brilliant move. And then it says Denver Broncos just get a massive wave of great news. And every one of these is like this. And it’s always this way. And so when I come home from work, I honestly, I really like to watch this guy because I can always, you know, just check in on this, kind of a let go of, of reality and immerse myself in Denver Broncos land and see. And I’ll sit on the couch with my little teddy bear, and I’ll turn to my teddy bear and I’ll say, do you think that the Broncos have any good news today, or I’ll turn to Angelika and I’ll say, I wonder if there’s any good news about the Broncos today. Kind of as a laugh, because it’s always the most amazing thing. The coach did the most brilliant move. General managers, the players.
Joel: You’re never going to believe it.
Joel:Yeah. So, um, but I think there’s a great lesson there because there’s so much negativity in the news, right? Like we’re just pounded. You know, most people turn on CNN and MSN and, you know, Fox and they’re just pounded by how the whole world is, just getting worse and worse and nothing’s ever going to get better. And, I remember a long time ago learning from one of the masters of copywriting guy named Dan Kennedy, how he said it’s your job as a marketer to tell people about the good news in the world because they don’t get it from other places. And oftentimes, if you’re the one who’s always delivering some form of good news, always sees the glass half full, is always the optimist. Uh, you will be loved by a certain group of people. And so, I think there’s a lot to be learned from this. I would I would suggest anybody who wants to take their marketing to the next game, He’s only got thirty thousand subscribers, but he’s really, really dialed in on this notion of just deliver good news over and over again, no matter what’s actually happening in the real world, because people are magnetized by that.
Mo: Well, let’s hope the Broncos make it to the Super Bowl. So his good news is grounded in reality.
Noelle: Angelika, are you just as passionate about football?
Angelika: No, not at all. But I do get foot scratches when he watches football, so I always want to know when’s the next game? At what time am I going to get foot scratches.
Joel: She sits on the couch and puts her feet across my lap. And so, like, I’m watching the game and like, it’s, you know, getting tense and I’m like really digging in there and the tense moments and yeah.
Angelika: Like I’ll read or I’ll listen to something or watch something on my phone while I get foot scratches for like three hours. That’s the only thing I like about football is the scratches.
Viral Momentum: From TikTok to Broadway
Noelle Okay. I’ll pass the tip on to my husband. Well, since you’re at the mic, Angelika, what’s your trend?
Angelika So, um. I saw something in the actually mainstream media news yesterday, about TikTok. And so I was wondering, because it is in the mainstream news, it was on Apple News. It was a headline, if it’s actually already if the trends already done or not. But it talked about, all these TikTok videos of African grey parrot. No idea what they’re talking about, but it was in the Rolling Stones, publication. They talked about how the African grey parrot is as smart as a young child and is, like, freakishly good at, saying human speech. So it sounds like a human. So it’s a really popular pet. And so there’s this whole, like, shadow market and a parrot cartel where, like wealthy people and influencers, I don’t know, people all over the world, like, want this African grey parrot as a pet. And apparently TikTok has like hours and hours and hours of videos like of these parrots like, you know, singing, like, who led the birds out or, like, saying funny human things or apparently people sharing videos of, somebody’s parent helped solve a murder because it heard, like, the last two words that this person said. So it’s like all this stuff, I’m not on TikTok, but does anybody know? Has anybody noticed?
Noelle Well, I’m on TikTok now and I just typed in African Grey Parrot and this parrot’s talking about going to the pub. And singing this is so funny. But it’s interesting that I haven’t come across this, Wow.
Angelika It was more interesting to learn about the African grey parrot because I didn’t know anything about it.
Noelle And when did you say that? What was that last week or this week? Oh, yesterday. Okay. Well, thanks for sharing. That’s awesome. Sofia, do you want to go next?
Sofia Yeah, sure. Well, Wicked came out pretty recently. I haven’t seen it yet. Well, I’ve been seeing a lot of memes on TikTok with the songs in the background. Um, specifically with the song No Good Deed. Um, have you seen that trend, Noelle? Where, like, basically the witch Elphaba is like trying to cast a spell, and she’s singing in this, uh, like a made up language. So people are using that audio in the background of their TikToks when they’re trying to do something and they’re frustrated and they can’t do it. So like, I’ve seen, college students using it and people at work, and it’s just like a, I guess, like a funny way to, you know, joke about whatever’s frustrating
Noelle That’s hilarious. Yeah. When she was doing that chanting in the movie, I kind of lowkey cringed a little bit because it’s it’s really interesting language.
Sofia I know,
Noelle But okay, well that’s interesting. And, uh, yeah, that hasn’t come across my feed yet, so I’ll have to check it out. That’s awesome.
Sofia Yeah, I guess I’m somehow on Wicked TikTok
Noelle In my personal opinion, the first one is better, but the second one is also really amazing. So, uh. Yeah.
Sofia Yeah, yeah, that’s what I’ve been hearing too.
Noelle Mo, have you seen it? You’re a theater lover, right?
Mo It’s on my, to-do list to go see. I saw the first one and, I, I liked it, so, yeah, that’s it’s gonna be one of the Christmas movies I go watch.
Angelika This colonoscopy place in Puerto Rico called the Gastro Spa has the entire lobby set up in the wicked theme, and they’d always have the Wicked movie playing in Spanish.
Sofia Oh, wow.
Angelika And the big TV screen in the lobby. Like, they literally have, everything around the lobby area decorated. And every time we’ve come, they’ve had the same Wicked, you know, the original Wicked movie playing.
Joel Well, it’s not like we get colonoscopies, like, every week. But yeah, we had to we had to go back to the office a couple of times. And yes, they had Wicked playing. But every.
Angelika Single time. And the whole place, the whole lobby is decorated with like, the life size, you know, cutouts and trees and flowers and, like, all week of stuff.
Joel Maybe it’s calming, I don’t know. Is it calm? Is that a calming movie or.
Noelle Oh, I wouldn’t say calming.
Joel Maybe they just love it, I don’t know.
Mo Yeah. You know, this, uh, this how they get you into getting a colonoscopy? Hey, we’re showing Wicked for free, so to come multiple times.
Joel Hey. Good marketing. Right? I mean, it’s working.
Noelle Well, the movie theater that I went to to see wicked, they had, uh, two different wicked cocktails on the menu. They had a green one for Elphaba and a pink one for Glinda. So they were capitalizing on, you know, branding and trying to get people in the mood before entering the theater. And then I’ve just. I mean, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, I was kind of doing my shopping and everything’s wicked themed. Like, I went to Sephora and they’re selling wicked lipstick and blush and eyeshadow and, um, it’s everywhere you turn.
Joel What is it about the brand? Like, what are the elements of this that are so appealing? Is it? I mean, Wicked itself is kind of wicked, right? I mean, it’s, it’s a cool kind of thing that I guess, uh, calls out a sort of naughtiness, a kind of, um, like I’m edgy, right? But, yeah, I don’t follow the rules. I guess it has all those elements which people, especially in American culture, like to think of themselves that way. Independent minded. Um, I’m going to do it my way. All that sort of stuff.
Noelle Well, I think the, the wicked brand itself is very, um, it’s a fantasy land. People can kind of lose themselves in this dream-like landscape when they’re watching it, and you forget about the outside world and the two celebrities they cast in it Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo I mean, they’ve built a huge fan base, um, even prior to wicked. So I think people are also bought into those two women who are really leading this movie. yeah, I mean, I, I love both of them. They have incredible voices. But, um, so I think it’s a combination of thing and it’s, uh, one of the biggest shows to ever, um, gone live on Broadway. So there’s been this big anticipation for the movie. Um, and I think the director really captured the magic that you see on stage when you watch wicked, and he’s been able to, to, um, transfer that to the cinema, which is really amazing.
Mo It’s like, yeah, even if you’ve never seen, Broadway show or any sort of theater production, if you had to name a few theater productions off the top of your head, most people would probably name Les Miz and Hamilton and maybe the Book of Mormon.
Noelle Maybe Phantom of the opera, you know?
Mo Yeah,
Joel :Well, yeah. And I guess in an era when so much is coming out of Hollywood is so bad and people are complaining so much about the quality of movies and how they’ve gone downhill over the last four or five years. Um, I think that, uh, rolled into it, it’s like, well, this good stuff that does come out, people really rally behind.
Noelle: Well, speaking of Broadway, I think this is a good segue into my trend. so I don’t have time to watch a lot of reality TV. But there is a show that’s been on television for a while, Dancing With the Stars. And, I feel like each year, um, you know, the casting directors have to think more outside of the box on who to to invite onto the show to compete. And so this season, they invited, um, this girl, Whitney Levitt, from the Real Lives of Mormon Housewives, I believe, is the show. Sofia, is that correct?
Sofia: I think so. The secret lives, I think something like that of Mormon. Mormon wives.
Noelle: This girl, Whitney Levitt, blew up on the show. And so, inevitably, she went on Dancing With the Stars. And she was one of the semifinalists, I believe. Um, but she’s a really great dancer. I think she, majored in dance, I believe, at some university in Utah. And, she has all this charisma. But she’s never performed in a theater production before. And so, anyways, the internet caught wind of her, and she announced a few days ago that she’s starring in Chicago on Broadway. So she went from this Mormon wives show to dancing with the stars to now Broadway. and so I was thinking from just a branding perspective, how quickly and swiftly you have to move to, to capitalize on, all of this attention she’s getting, right? And, it’s just amazing how Broadway is now casting these, like, reality TV stars, which I think it’s a shift we’re seeing, because they, they want to continue to, fill the seats, right? Mo, have you seen this?
AI, Authenticity, and the Future
Mo: Um, I haven’t heard of this, but it totally makes sense. I would say like, because internet fame doesn’t last that long, especially if you’re totally unknown and you get viral on a TikTok. I’ve seen many people just build entire brands off, like, getting famous, for fifteen minutes from another influencer who highlighted them in a video or something. Um, but actually, like, as you were speaking, I was actually I was thinking about a conversation we had a while back about how the movie industry might change because of AI actors. And are we going to a world where, like, the traditional idea of a movie star may not exist? Because, you know, if you could become your own director with AI content, for each story that you tell, you could have a completely new character. Um, and rather than have having actors replay those roles in movies and then consequently, you might see a bigger shift to people doing, theater and Broadway, because people who actually crave real human being, real human performances, then, uh, you know, would we see a shift away from actors in traditional movies and more towards those actors, doing Broadway shows. So it’s an interesting trend that I’ve been thinking about. And then the other realization from this week was, a lot of the music I was listening to this week was AI generated music. And, um, similarly, it’s like, okay, if I’m kind of on this train and okay, listening to AI music that I actually like, you know, what happens to other artists and, maybe it’s a similar thing, like, you know, real artists, either they go to this royalty, model where they, loan their voice, to music, or we see an increase in live performances, and that’s where they really shine.
Noelle: Paul, do you have any thoughts on. Moe’s trend?
Paul: I’m not really sure. I mean, as of now, I don’t listen to any AI generated music that I don’t know about. Like Moe. How did you start out? Were you just curious about this? And you just start analyzing it, or, just trying to see if it was any good like, I’m just curious about your approach.
Mo: No, it was just recommendations from my Spotify discovery, music that I saw on Instagram that I thought it was a real human being. Turns out it was AI generated, and I really liked it. And then started, uh, listening to that artist and others on, on Spotify and, yeah, at this point and then I realized, like, hey, a lot of the music that I listen to, anyway, it was, you know, like electronic music if it was made by AI or a human being it doesn’t really matter because I’m just listening to the ambience or the beat. but some of the more recent music was actually, songs that were sung by an AI artist. And, yeah, didn’t really, didn’t really think anything of it that, that it was completely computer generated.
Noelle: I so I haven’t personally delved into AI music yet, but now I’m, I’m curious, does it sound any different? I’m sure there’s this level of perfection, right. Because, you know, real music sung by real humans, it’s obviously a little bit more dynamic and not as polished per se, but could you pick up any differences there?
Mo: It’s hard to tell. It’s very hard to tell. The song I was listening to, it was actually, um, it was sung in Spanish, and I could not tell you that it was not sung by a human being.
Joel: Because the AI can mimic our imperfections, too, right?
Mo: Yeah.
Joel: So it’s designed to completely trick us into thinking that it’s a real human behind it.
Angelika: Actually, that’s what Ray Kurzweil, works for Google Sciences, and he is a futurist he predicted when like, the human genome was going to get sequenced. Nobody believed him because they didn’t think they were going to do it that fast, but then they did it even earlier than he predicted. So he talks about like the Turing Test for AI, and his definition is that AI gets smart enough where it could dumb itself down and trick us into thinking that it’s human. Because obviously we know that AI could be, perfect or better than human. But like, if it gets smart enough to trick us into to dumbing itself down so that we think we’re actually talking to a human and not AI is when it all, pass the Turing Test, which he was predicting, I think a couple last year or maybe a couple of years ago that it would take another maybe three years.
Joel: But here’s what’s interesting, though, is, you know, juxtaposing what we’re talking about now versus what Noel was just describing about the real Mormon housewife and that backstory that led to the next thing that now leads to Broadway. Like, how is AI going to replicate that, right? Like, there is no AI that starts off as a housewife someplace in suburbia that happens to have this big break. And so and it’s interesting because, like, NFL football is very similar. A lot of the times, what’s entertaining in the broadcast is the story behind the guy who lost his dad when he was fourteen and struggled with, you know, got raised by the grandma and, then had the big break to go to the university. And all of those stories are told in every single game. Like it’s literally it’s so there’s that deep human struggle and pain and suffering that is a part of what connects us to entertainment. And, you know, Ariana Grande has her own story and, you know, these other actors and actresses and, so until we actually have robots who can struggle, I mean, will they ever struggle? Like, I don’t know. So maybe we’ll get there. There’s obviously elements of AI that we’re using now that’s part of better storytelling, perhaps better movies, better theater productions, can be in the works, because we have the power of being able to use these technologies in certain ways. But is there really a substitute for the human story that’s behind things that really attracts us? Not yet.
Angelika: Well, I love watching, shows like The Voice or, you know, America’s Got Talent because these are not actors, right? These are like everyday people and they feature stories, like life stories of those who have struggled right to get where they are. And I’m like always just crying and like watching those stories and I’m crying, you know, because it’s that human connection, you know, What Joel just said.
Joel:All the rest. Yeah.
Paul: Honestly, now that we’re on this topic, and, Joel, I mean, you were just, saying it about, like, the stories and all that and Angelica as well with about The Voice and stuff like that and how we get into it. And I was just thinking it’s like, really the imperfection of being human in general is really its own entertaining factor that as of now, I don’t think technology can replicate like I was thinking right now, okay, let’s say if there was a robot who could play quarterback just at a perfect level, I can’t imagine anything more boring because, I mean, where’s the competition if he’s just throwing strikes every single time? I mean, the appeal of sport in general is just gone. Same thing with competitions like The Voice. If every AI was a great singer, I just don’t see the appeal anymore.
Mo: I think the impact will be not on reality TV because reality TV is actually about real human stories that will always be popular because we’re curious about other humans lives or sports. But I think the impact of AI will be around content, where human beings were already pretending to be other human beings, because then it’s not really that human being. It’s the pretend character in that story. Um, so think about animated movies. Do we think about who the voice actors were in that? No. Like we’re just listening to this story that’s being told in the animation? And if that voice actor was not a human being, but an AI, you know, the story would still exist. And then extrapolate that to, movies where actors are pretending to be other people. Whether it’s a real human actor or an AI actor, in that sense, you’ve separated already, the human side of that actor from the story that’s being told. And I think that’s where we might see the see the impact.
Joel: Right. But you’re still like, I mean, obviously in Wicked, they’re not they’re playing other people. But part of the attraction of Wicked are the women and their real lives that became the characters in Wicked. And so I see what you’re saying, obviously, Mo. I mean, yes, to a degree, but there’s still this element of who are the people behind it. And even in animated movies, like, you know, when The Rock is a character in a cartoon, it makes a difference. Like, we know that that’s The Rock talking. We know what his life is. We know where he came from. I mean, he played football. He did these other things right, like, uh. So, yeah, I think there’s something to the actors and actresses that and they’re actual real human lives that are an element of the entertainment piece in and of itself. I think you’re right. There are obviously stories that will be really good, stories that don’t have any of that and will connect with them anyway. But, will we still crave these stories that are humans, that have stories behind the stories? I think we will.
Angelika: I agree with Mo in the sense that like the TMM groove song that we shared, I mean, like if you want to create your own song, right, like.
Joel: Piece of cake.
Angelika: I mean, all we said was we’re Tell Me More marketing agency, you know, Joel and Angelika are the owners. We have these three employees, You know. Mo thinks AI is stupid. He plays tennis, and he’s the Chief Wit Officer. Sofia hurt her knee and she, like, eats snacks all the time. And Paul is the new guy and he loves to drink coffee. And that’s all we said. And like in
Joel: Instantly.
Angelika: In less than three minutes, it generated that song. I mean, it was just incredible.
Joel: And we all laughed and we all had fun with it. And it was entertaining. Yes.
Angelika: Yeah. And it’s like it, like, I just couldn’t believe I was so impressed. Like, I couldn’t believe how like it just created the story of the song, you know, like how it organized it all and put it all together. and it’s like a cool song. It’s like a cool voice. It’s it’s a cool beat and it’s a funny, like story. Right?
Joel: Right. And it’s really personalized, which makes it great. Right? Because it’s like if somebody randomly in the world were to hear that song, they would have no idea what it’s about. But because it’s kind of this inside joke sort of stuff, insider information that it makes at least our group connect with it.
Angelika: Yeah. So like, you can create this content like in minutes, right? Seconds, minutes, whatever. And it’s like, I don’t care that it’s AI. I mean, it sounds great. And I don’t know, Noelle, if you listen to it, if you could tell like that it was perfection. Like, I don’t know if it sounds perfect or not, but, like where you can tell it’s AI.
Mo: Well, you could tell it’s AI because, like, how did Angelica in three minutes come up with a find a singer who is gonna sing a song about, our agency. But, I think as for the actual audio, it was. Yeah, it was it was really, really good. Like human like.
Angelika: Yeah. Another trend, I guess, I mean, we’re getting to a point, and we probably talked about this before, but we’re getting to a point where it’s like, you just don’t know whatever you’re seeing online, if it’s real or AI generated or like fake generated, you know, like, not only do even like mainstream, news channels may post something like a video from last year about this year’s event that sometimes comes out like, oh, it’s not real. It’s not like real video from this event. This was like actually a video from last year or some other event or AI generated stuff. Like, you just don’t know what’s like it’s hard to trust anything that you read or watch or hear online because you just don’t know. And I think it’s only going to get, you know, worse from that perspective. Until like there is some kind of like verification where you can verify that this is like human or this is not fake
Paul: And honestly, going off of that, I might as well say the trend that I observed. So one of my interests of, among other things, like football and things like that. I’m a big geography nerd. And so there’s this TikTok channel that’s called, GeoMapping. And when I first stumbled upon the channel I knew that probably this AI, I mean, I can’t verify it, but it led me to kind of thinking, you know, a lot of short form content like this where it’s just narration and visuals and there’s no need for a person. It makes me think a lot of this will just be AI generated, you know? I mean, if there really is no need for a person eventually and it’ll probably replace people too, but a lot of things that have no regard where you need to film a person and all that, and it’s just narration and visuals. It just made me think about a lot of short form content like that, just being really all AI or taken over by AI at that point.
Mo: I think it comes down to what people will tolerate. Like there will be some types of content where people will be okay with it being completely AI generated and others where they’ll actually want to see a human being or human input. And I think one of the things that will happen is, like you as a creator, you have to be really, really good and cream of the crop because the level of competition has now increased. So you have to be that much better to stand out in the marketplace. And, I think that’s going to be a big driving force.
Final Thoughts
Noelle: Well, I think we’re getting down to the last few minutes here. Is there any other trend we’d like to discuss?
Angelika :Okay, so.
Angelika: Last week, I was in Florida with my family and my niece, who is nine years old. She’s going to be ten next month. She was doing the whole 6-7 thing, and her dad was like, also knew what it was and was also like, you know, six, seven. And I was like, oh, I now know I’ve heard of this. I’m not that old. But it was just funny.
Noelle: That’s so funny. You brought that up, Angelika, because when we were in, Portland, Maine, we were kind of waiting, to get breakfast. There was a wait outside, and there was this family with two little kids, and I turned around and they’re doing six, seven, six, seven. And I go, oh my gosh that’s that’s them in the wild. And I poked my husband I’m like oh my gosh look did you hear that. And it was just so intriguing to me. But it’s definitely still circulating. It’s still alive. from my perspective. But uh, so funny to see it in, in real time. In real life.
Joel: I think it goes from like, the trendsetters I think are, like the true trendsetters, they’re not doing it anymore. They’re like rolling their eyes at it now, um, and that’s probably like the sixteen to nineteen year olds is my guess. And then it matriculates down to the nine and ten year olds and they’re going to run with it for, you know, who knows how long. They don’t care. They’re just having fun with it. So they don’t when they’re eight and nine, they don’t care so much about cool. But those trends are set by the people who really care about cool. And if you want to know what the next cool thing is, you’ve really got to pay attention to people. You know, sixteen to twenty-two or so.
Noelle: All right. Well, on that note, I think that wraps up our show. And if you got to the end of this episode, let us know what’s a trend you’d like us to unpack next time, send us a DM or leave us a comment. And don’t forget to visit us at tellmemore.co to learn more about our work in this podcast, including show notes, links, and other resources. And if you like this episode, we encourage you to subscribe so you never miss a conversation. Thanks for listening.
