The Feed: Performative males, love island usa, unlikely internet icons, and more.
The Feed
The Feed (@thefeed.global) is powered by We Are Social’s Cultural Insights team. We’re diving into the top posts from the past few months – trends include Love Island USA dominating social, unlikely internet icons partnering with big brand names, ironic performative males, and more.
Read on to find out what they all mean, and why they’ve been taking over our social feeds.
LOVE ISLAND USA proves that monoculture isn’t dead, it’s just different
Even though Season 7 wrapped a few weeks ago, Love Island USA continues to dominate this summer—not just as a show, but as a full-blown cultural phenomenon. Across social media, specifically TikTok and X, every episode sparks live commentary, contestant psychoanalysis, and deep dives into the politics of coupling up. Fans don’t just watch; they invest. In 2025, monoculture isn’t about being universally liked. It’s about being widely discussed. For platforms and brands, the lesson is clear: create spaces that invite interpretation, not just admiration. That’s where participation and loyalty live.
What do the Wealdstone Raider and Aunty Bemi have in common? They’re both unlikely internet heroes who have just secured deals with household British brands. In a viral TikTok promoting their Dim Sum, Itsu play on the iconic Wealdstone Raider’s “You Want Some?” refrain, which dates back to early 2010s British meme culture. Burberry, on the other hand, chose to partner with Bemi, aka London Bus Aunty. Leaning on the fame she garnered on TikTok from standing in front of iconic red double-deckers offering wholesome advice, they promoted their custom “Burberry bus” and hacked attention online.
“We’re 5 minutes out from the tsunami hitting Hawaii… why does it look so beautiful?” So goes the audio from a clip that @daadisnacks stitched, calling out the insensitive posting of travel influencers. The video is just one of many that Daadi, a South Asian popcorn brand come influencer whistleblower, is exposing on Instagram and TikTok. The popularity of Daadi’s critiques signals that surface-level engagement with people and places when travelling no longer cuts in on social.
Matcha lattes, reading Bell Hooks… once markers of taste and knowledge, now key ingredients in a rising genre of choreographed thirst traps on social media. Most recently, this behaviour has been satirised and transformed into spectacle through “performative male contests”, which borrow from the legacy of the celebrity lookalike competitions that took social media by storm some time ago, but with a semi-ironic twist.
