Latest news with #attentioneconomy
Harvard Business Review
10-07-2025
- Business
- Harvard Business Review
How Pop Mart Won Young Customers in a Fragmented Attention Economy
In the Internet era, content is not only abundant but increasingly fragmented. Customers' attention is also becoming fragmented due to the short videos and other media they consume every day. As that happens, the traditional logic of consumer product innovation and marketing with sophisticated, big-budget development is becoming less efficient. Instead, to win customers who grow up in today's attention economy, leaders need agile strategies tailored to these individuals' emotional and identity needs. My research on company cases and behavior patterns of digital natives indicates that young companies like Pop Mart, a Chinese toymaker that's reached global success by selling character-based premium products, offer valuable insights. During 2024, Pop Mart's stock price has more than quadrupled year-over-year. Understanding Pop Mart's story—and the individuals it serve—can help consumer goods companies build up brand recognition among the digital-native generation and achieve financial success. The lessons in this article also apply to business leaders running B2B operations, who must learn to cater their products to a group of digitally native decision-makers. This generation isn't just individual consumers. They are increasingly influencing an organization's purchasing decisions. Appealing to Young Customers Pop Mart is best known for its artist-designed collectible figurines and 'blind box' marketing strategy, in which buyers don't know which figure they've purchased from a themed set until opening the package, which can compel them to buy more. Pop Mart first created a sensation in 2017 by organizing comic toy exhibitions in China. It then began collaborating with luxury brands, creating a series of hit products, and opening hundreds of stores around the world. In 2024, Labubu, one of Pop Mart's signature dolls with unique artistic design , wielded its charm across millions of fans in Southeast Asian countries, a market many multinational companies are actively competing for. Pop Mart's business outside mainland China now accounts for nearly 40% of its $1.8 billion total revenue. What propelled Pop Mart's success lies in its agile strategies targeting millenials and Gen Z customers. Leverage Real-time, Data-based Customer Insights In an era of fragmented attention, companies need to upgrade their ability to rapidly identify—and promote—the right innovations, based on real-time consumer feedback. Coupled with swift adjustment in supply chain decisions and marketing resources, such insights help transform otherwise fleeting trends among young customers into tangible profits. This sort of resource matching capability is akin to how TikTok's algorithm identifies emerging internet sensations. When the algorithm detects that a type of short videos is gaining traction, e.g., garnering high engagement through shares, likes, and completion rates, the algorithm automatically channels more traffic to the content, amplifying its visibility across the platform. Similarly, when developing a new product series, Pop Mart collects feedback from the markets in real-time and iterates the design accordingly. Once it identifies characters that can foster strong connections with users, the company will swiftly adjust its product development resources so it catches trendy topics among young customers. Such a doing-to-learn approach allows companies like Pop Mart and TikTok to maximize their chance of success in pushing forward the right innovations in a time when the audience's attention is highly fragmented. One example of this 'algorithmic' operation—where smart use of consumer feedback data, not just creativity, drives the lifecycle of a new innovation—is the recent breakout success of Labubu. Originally a niche figure from The Monsters series by artist Kasing Lung, Labubu rose to prominence through Pop Mart's agile and data-driven approach. When the company's monitoring caught global celebrities like Lisa of BlackPink and Rihanna organically promoting Labubu on social media and generating huge views, Pop Mart rapidly relocated resources to amplify the momentum. Recognizing higher user engagement with a soft, tactile type of dolls in plush form, the company created the 'soft vinyl plush' category by combining expressive rubber faces with plush bodies. This further enhanced shareability on social media as users posted more physical interactions with Labubu. When expanding globally, Pop Mart leveraged Shopee and TikTok data on consumer feedback to localize offerings for new markets. Data analysis also influenced its marketing decisions for the Western customers, aligning with locally relevant fairytale themes and fashion culture. Through data-driven operations from product innovation to marketing, Pop Mart demonstrated how product concepts—from the mischievous grinning, fanged Labubu to the pouty-lipped, perpetually unimpressed Molly with large emerald eyes—can be transformed into cultural phenomena attractive for global young consumers. Companies across a wide range of industries, not just those in consumer goods and services, can learn from Pop Mart and TikTok to build more adaptive and data-informed product and brand strategies. By continuously monitoring, testing, scaling, and iterating, firms can dynamically match concepts with shifting market signals, much like how algorithms amplify viral content. This requires having the infrastructure to track real-time consumer feedback and the organizational agility to swiftly adjust product development, marketing, and supply chain decisions. While today's geopolitical uncertainties often complicate supply chain planning, these uncertainties also present an opportunity for firms to build more capabilities allowing for rapid responses. For example, Pop Mart's supply chain optimization to develop precise and operationally lean infrastructures enabled a 30-fold increase in production within a year. Companies that adapt and develop sufficiently granular, responsive resource allocation systems—across a product's life cycle—will be rewarded with cost-effective growths, especially with the digitally native customers. Tap into Young Customers' Individuality and Community Needs For brands, winning the digital-native customers also means adopting marketing strategies that engage with their deep psychological needs and seizing on opportunities to create cultural phenomena associated with the brands and products. Take the blind box marketing strategy. Although Pop Mart is known for the surprising and even addictive nature of its mystery figures sold in blind boxes, the company is not the first to use the strategy. The concept originated in Japan, where consumers purchase random, palm-sized toys sealed inside plastic capsules from a special vending machine without knowing the exact contents in advance. This approach encourages the collection of various editions, including limited or hidden ones. What's special is that Pop Mart managed to turn users' collecting behaviors into a phenomenon: not only driving repeat purchases from existing users, but also attracting loads of new customers as loyal fans post their highly emotional unboxing reactions on social media. Underneath the use of limited and hidden editions are strategies to attract and satisfy the emotional needs of young customers. Moreover, these strategies greatly enhance the user's sense of self identity. When someone secures a coveted, limited-edition item, they feel cool and unique. Owning a rare Labubu doll that no one else has? That is a bold statement of identity and individuality. For other companies, they should likewise asses how their products and brands connect with young audiences on a deeper identity level, and explore innovative ways to enhance these touchpoints and foster more meaningful consumer relationships. The tangible benefits of such deep connection are evident across many consumer goods industries. It's seen in those IP-related merchandises purchased by K-pop group fans, and in Starbucks' seasonal themed products (such as its iconic holiday cups) that go beyond utility to evoke emotional resonance and deepen brand affinity. Business leaders can also learn from Pop Mart's focus on offline experiences to engage young users and build a cultural phenomenon around their brands. Different from its Japanese competitors selling blind box figurines, which are marketed via Internet sales and a distributor model, Pop Mart has built its own flagship stores with vibrant color and digital media to create a unique brand experience and encourage meet-ups. This is important for young customers who crave for human connections after the pandemic—some fans would even travel across continents to visit these iconic stores and engage with fellow enthusiasts. Having such spaces encourages customers to spend more time in the stores, building a deeper sense of brand loyalty and community. And such loyalty can extend to online platforms as well. In the case of Pop Mart, online communities for young customers from Instagram to Reddit further amplified the cultural phenomenon sparked by Pop Mart's art toys, building up a positive feedback loop between online and offline sales. In a similar vein, Nike's seamless integration of physical stores, mobile apps, and online campaigns illustrates how a unified ecosystem can deliver for consumers—and the brand. Companies aiming to foster robust engagement with Gen Z customers can draw important lessons from Pop Mart's success beyond the blind box tactics. At the heart of its appeal are strategies that spark user-generated content and help young consumers express their individuality and social identity. Equally critical is the creation of immersive offline experiences, offering customers dedicated spaces to connect, explore, and share, while digital communities amplify this sense of belonging and self-expression. By skillfully tapping into the young customers' psychological needs, blending experiential touchpoints and community connections, companies are more likely to deepen young customers' ties to the brand and elevate their products into lifestyle symbols. Cultivate Belonging and Loyalty Among Digital Natives Like LEGO, Pop Mart has gradually developed its own unique brand language to further enhance users' sense of community and belonging. This is particularly important for consumer brands trying to appeal to the digital generation, as these young customers can often feel isolated despite constant online activity. In the case of Pop Mart, the company has intentionally cultivated a series of buzzwords that's emerged within the brand's fandom space over time. Phrases like 端盒 (buy a whole set of blind boxes to get one's target doll) and 拆盒 (split a full box) have become an integral part of the community culture. Beyond blind boxes, other particular terms have also been augmented through user generated content across social media platforms, such as 娃友 (friends of doll), while enhancing Pop Mart's relationship with users. Over the decades, successful brands—from Apple to Hello Kitty—often intentionally form a set of brand language choices in their interactions with users, strengthening their perceived identity and community engagement. Pop Mart's exclusive language is not so different. Language helps facilitate the deep rooting of a cultural phenomenon and drives a brand's continuous growth. While this lesson may not be as broadly applicable as the previous two, it still offers meaningful implications for firms aiming to communicate more effectively with digital-native customers. Companies should actively monitor online conversations related to their brands among young audiences and participate in the emerging of unique expressions and trending word choices. By supporting the shared vocabulary and linguistic style within one's brand community, companies can foster a stronger connection with the young generation. … One additional point: Many of these developments are taking place within the realm of social media platforms, such as RedNote in China and TikTok in Southeast Asia. For companies seeking to engage with young customers, understanding these platforms and effectively leveraging their traffic and insights is essential. However, generational gaps often pose challenges in recognizing and capitalizing on emerging trends. To bridge this gap, companies need to ensure they have enough younger employees and creative talent to complement their typically older management teams. Just like how Tecent's Pony Ma puts it: 'In business, maybe you didn't do anything wrong—the only mistake was being too old.'
The Guardian
01-07-2025
- General
- The Guardian
I'm not ignoring your message – I'm overwhelmed by the tyranny of being reachable
A friend messaged me the other day. I saw it. I didn't reply. A week later, I finally responded with the classic: Sorry for the late reply, just got to this. She called me out. You didn't just get to this, she said. I saw the double ticks. Damn. She was right. I'd opened it. I'd registered it. But I'd also shelved it. It needed a proper reply, and at that moment, I wasn't equipped. Maybe it got lost between revisiting pictures from 2016 and the reminder I set to cancel my Nibble app 7-day trial on day 6. Maybe I got a call? Perhaps I'd wanted to sink back into that Substack article about reclaiming attention, ironically while still on social media. Maybe I was working one of the four jobs I need to survive under capitalism's boot heel. Maybe I was doing nothing? Does free time now equal availability? I get a ping from the family group chat, which doubles as an IT helpdesk for my mum. My best friend just FaceTimed me about a White Lotus episode, and another left a voice note crying about a possible diagnosis. All this, lodged between videos of cats and genocide. The boundaries between reception and response have collapsed. I'm switching lanes like a Subway Surfer. Digital whiplash has branded itself on to my cheek. My psychological tabs are maxed out, and there's no alert to clear storage or update my internal OS. I can't tell it's happening, but it creeps in and settles into a quiet, directionless overwhelm, a kind of existential buffering I've started to call 'multiverse fatigue'. No tab to close. No log-out option. Too many realities to keep up with. Who am I? The funny friend? The unreliable co-worker? The negligent daughter? The inconsistent self. Also, why do I know about a dog's birthday in Kampala? According to a 2022 Pew Research survey, more than 70% of people aged between 18 and 29 feel pressure to reply to texts or DMs quickly. Because we appear online, we're assumed to be free. I feel guilty posting an Instagram story because everyone will see I'm online and not assume I've been mauled by a gorilla. Korean-born German philosopher Byung-Chul Han, in his seminal book The Burnout Society, argues that modern life has shifted from a disciplinary society (where we were told what not to do) to an achievement society (where we are constantly encouraged to do more, be more, connect more). This shift creates a culture of self-surveillance and exhaustion masked as freedom. One of the subtler, more insidious consequences of this shift is the way intimacy becomes emotional labour. We don't just connect – we manage, curate and optimise our availability. To Han, replying, whether to a message, a comment, or an invitation, is no longer just a communication act. It becomes a micro-performance of care, kindness or presence. We reply to show we are good friends, good partners, good people. And not replying becomes a moral failure, a small social sin. This turns intimacy into a transactional loop of 'positive affect obligation' – our perceived duty to be friendly, responsive and emotionally available, often at the cost of our own rest, clarity or boundaries. The burnout of our age, Han writes, doesn't come from external repression but from internal overproduction. We are not crushed by the lash; we are fried by the light, the constant buzz of notifications, the tyranny of being reachable, and the invisible expectation to always be on. A co-worker once saw a guy on Hinge whose bio read: 5'11, larrikin, bad replier. Like it was a personality trait. A pre-emptive disclaimer. A soft boundary. (Red flag? Probably. But I get the fatigue, sir, I get it.) In today's culture, your responsiveness equals your worth. It's a proxy for your love, your professionalism, your care. And I do care. I love the people in my life. But to be in constant rotation, always switching modes, always logging into another version of myself? I'm tired, man. I'm tired. You're not unreliable. The human brain just wasn't built for this. According to the American Psychological Association, task-switching reduces productivity by up to 40% and increases mental fatigue. Psychologists call it 'attention residue', a mental hangover that lingers after leaving one task (or identity) and moving to the next. You might be deep in work when a notification pops up; suddenly you're scrolling, replying, tapping. By the time you return, your body's at the desk, but your mind's still catching up. Replying is not neutral. It takes a toll, especially when you're juggling so many selves. It starts to make you a little nihilistic. Being connected is beautiful. But I want to spend my best energy on a world I can actually touch. So what's the fix? That's another article. But for now, here's a start: Take your time getting to messages. Use discernment to decide which ones need your attention now. Don't ghost. Most of us aren't avoiding people, we're overwhelmed. Ghosting isn't always cruelty; sometimes it's collapse. But let's be honest: silence isn't clarity. It's avoidance dressed up as boundary-setting. It doesn't spare someone's feelings, it just leaves them with unanswered questions and a story they have to finish alone. So don't leave them hanging. Flag your state. Set your boundary. I'll even write it for you. Feel free to copy and paste: 'Hey, just a bit busy right now! I'll get to this when time frees up.' Smiley face or heart emoji optional. :) <3 Miski Omar is a speech pathologist, writer and director from Sydney
The Guardian
01-07-2025
- General
- The Guardian
I'm not ignoring your message – I'm overwhelmed by the tyranny of being reachable
A friend messaged me the other day. I saw it. I didn't reply. A week later, I finally responded with the classic: Sorry for the late reply, just got to this. She called me out. You didn't just get to this, she said. I saw the double ticks. Damn. She was right. I'd opened it. I'd registered it. But I'd also shelved it. It needed a proper reply, and at that moment, I wasn't equipped. Maybe it got lost between revisiting pictures from 2016 and the reminder I set to cancel my Nibble app 7-day trial on day 6. Maybe I got a call? Perhaps I'd wanted to sink back into that Substack article about reclaiming attention, ironically while still on social media. Maybe I was working one of the four jobs I need to survive under capitalism's boot heel. Maybe I was doing nothing? Does free time now equal availability? I get a ping from the family group chat, which doubles as an IT helpdesk for my mum. My best friend just FaceTimed me about a White Lotus episode, and another left a voice note crying about a possible diagnosis. All this, lodged between videos of cats and genocide. The boundaries between reception and response have collapsed. I'm switching lanes like a Subway Surfer. Digital whiplash has branded itself on to my cheek. My psychological tabs are maxed out, and there's no alert to clear storage or update my internal OS. I can't tell it's happening, but it creeps in and settles into a quiet, directionless overwhelm, a kind of existential buffering I've started to call 'multiverse fatigue'. No tab to close. No log-out option. Too many realities to keep up with. Who am I? The funny friend? The unreliable co-worker? The negligent daughter? The inconsistent self. Also, why do I know about a dog's birthday in Kampala? According to a 2022 Pew Research survey, more than 70% of people aged between 18 and 29 feel pressure to reply to texts or DMs quickly. Because we appear online, we're assumed to be free. I feel guilty posting an Instagram story because everyone will see I'm online and not assume I've been mauled by a gorilla. Korean-born German philosopher Byung-Chul Han, in his seminal book The Burnout Society, argues that modern life has shifted from a disciplinary society (where we were told what not to do) to an achievement society (where we are constantly encouraged to do more, be more, connect more). This shift creates a culture of self-surveillance and exhaustion masked as freedom. One of the subtler, more insidious consequences of this shift is the way intimacy becomes emotional labour. We don't just connect – we manage, curate and optimise our availability. To Han, replying, whether to a message, a comment, or an invitation, is no longer just a communication act. It becomes a micro-performance of care, kindness or presence. We reply to show we are good friends, good partners, good people. And not replying becomes a moral failure, a small social sin. This turns intimacy into a transactional loop of 'positive affect obligation' – our perceived duty to be friendly, responsive and emotionally available, often at the cost of our own rest, clarity or boundaries. The burnout of our age, Han writes, doesn't come from external repression but from internal overproduction. We are not crushed by the lash; we are fried by the light, the constant buzz of notifications, the tyranny of being reachable, and the invisible expectation to always be on. A co-worker once saw a guy on Hinge whose bio read: 5'11, larrikin, bad replier. Like it was a personality trait. A pre-emptive disclaimer. A soft boundary. (Red flag? Probably. But I get the fatigue, sir, I get it.) In today's culture, your responsiveness equals your worth. It's a proxy for your love, your professionalism, your care. And I do care. I love the people in my life. But to be in constant rotation, always switching modes, always logging into another version of myself? I'm tired, man. I'm tired. You're not unreliable. The human brain just wasn't built for this. According to the American Psychological Association, task-switching reduces productivity by up to 40% and increases mental fatigue. Psychologists call it 'attention residue', a mental hangover that lingers after leaving one task (or identity) and moving to the next. You might be deep in work when a notification pops up; suddenly you're scrolling, replying, tapping. By the time you return, your body's at the desk, but your mind's still catching up. Replying is not neutral. It takes a toll, especially when you're juggling so many selves. It starts to make you a little nihilistic. Being connected is beautiful. But I want to spend my best energy on a world I can actually touch. So what's the fix? That's another article. But for now, here's a start: Take your time getting to messages. Use discernment to decide which ones need your attention now. Don't ghost. Most of us aren't avoiding people, we're overwhelmed. Ghosting isn't always cruelty; sometimes it's collapse. But let's be honest: silence isn't clarity. It's avoidance dressed up as boundary-setting. It doesn't spare someone's feelings, it just leaves them with unanswered questions and a story they have to finish alone. So don't leave them hanging. Flag your state. Set your boundary. I'll even write it for you. Feel free to copy and paste: 'Hey, just a bit busy right now! I'll get to this when time frees up.' Smiley face or heart emoji optional. :) <3 Miski Omar is a speech pathologist, writer and director from Sydney
Fast Company
17-06-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Silence isn't golden
The era of the invisible CEO is over. In 2025, silence equals irrelevance. Today's audiences in the attention economy don't wait for press releases. They're actively engaged on LinkedIn, exploring niche podcasts, diving into Substacks, and sizing up leaders not just on what they sell, but what they stand for. The crucial question then becomes: In a landscape filled with tech skepticism, debates over 'hero leaders,' the influence of cancel culture, dwindling newsrooms, and widespread misinformation, is a public voice essential for CEOs? According to recent data, yes. You can't afford for them not to have a public voice. The days of direct influence Forget billboards and banner ads; direct communication is more effective than almost every other source of information in terms of trust and influence. According to Mission North's Brand Expectations Index: 84% of knowledge workers and 81% of the general public trust direct communications from companies, including podcasts, long-form articles, and videos, more than national news, social media, or even academic journals. Among knowledge workers, technical articles (72%), practical explainers (69%), and human-interest stories (66%) are especially effective in building credibility and deepening knowledge. 75% of IT decision makers report increased trust when they encounter real-world stories of people using or innovating with AI. These aren't just content preferences. They're strategic cues for how—and where—audiences want to engage. Thought leadership is the new due diligence The 2024 LinkedIn-Edelman B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report adds more urgency: 73% of decision makers say thought leadership is more trustworthy than product sheets or traditional marketing. 70% of C-suite executives say high-quality thought leadership has made them question whether to stick with a current vendor. 90% say they're more receptive to outreach from companies that publish insightful content regularly. In short: If your brand wants a seat at the table, it needs to consistently say something smart—and human. Your content is your strategy. And your CEO is your sharpest edge, or your most prominent blind spot. The CEO effect: Reputation as a trust multiplier A company's brand is increasingly a reflection of its leadership. From vision and values to risk tolerance and resilience, executives are expected to show up and show their work. According to the Brand Expectations Index, 67% of knowledge workers and 57% of the public believe the CEO's reputation directly influences their trust in a company. That number climbs in innovation-forward sectors like AI, healthtech, and climate. And the message can't be all features and forecasts. Today's audiences, especially in tech, seek techno-optimism: forward-looking, hopeful stories that focus on human possibility. It's a mindset: 'Don't just tell me what the technology does. Show me who it helps, and how.' When CEO visibility is a must In B2B industries, credibility is paramount: Buyers want to know who's behind the product—reputation and reliability matter. Emerging industries demand clear leadership: In industries like AI, climate tech, or biotech, trust is still being built, making it a prime opportunity for CEOs to shape the narrative. Investors invest in people, not just products: Pre-IPO or high-growth phases magnify the equation where visibility equals credibility, which in turn equals valuation. Values-led brands require visible leadership: A silent CEO can signal apathy at best, evasion at worst. Attracting top talent depends on engaging leadership: The next generation wants to work with leaders, not just for them. If you're in one of these categories and your CEO is nowhere to be found, that silence speaks volumes, not in your favor. The limits of CEO visibility There are real limits to putting the CEO front and center: Authenticity gap: Not every CEO is a natural communicator, and audiences can smell a ghostwriter. Brand-led companies: In some B2C or community-led brands, the product or movement is the hero, not the leader. Crisis optics: When a company is under fire, CEO visibility can sometimes inflame rather than reassure. If the CEO can't lead out front, who can? When the CEO isn't the right messenger, companies still have impactful options: Other executives: Elevate functional leads, from CTOs to CHROs, who can speak credibly to their domains. Structured editorial formats: Launch a company podcast, Substack, or LinkedIn series that features a range of internal voices and customer stories. Narrative clarity: Shape a strategic story arc that anchors all content, from founder essays to customer case studies, even if it doesn't come from the CEO directly. Owned platforms: Use LinkedIn, Medium, YouTube, and even internal newsletters to showcase expertise in ways that feel transparent and consistent. The key? Tell real stories. Lead with humans. Don't just spotlight innovation—show how it solves problems that matter. The bottom line Today's business landscape favors the bold. Not the brash, but the brave. That doesn't always mean having the loudest voice, but it does mean having a meaningful one. Whether through the CEO or a broader bench of leaders, companies must find a way to lead in public: to show values, expertise, and vision in a way that feels honest and human. Done right, executive thought leadership isn't vanity PR — it's strategic infrastructure for brand trust, market leadership, and business growth. And in the age of AI, authenticity, and algorithmic noise, your CEO's voice isn't just a nice-to-have; it can be your most significant differentiator.
Washington Post
07-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
How the Musk-Trump feud became an online battle like no other
What happens when the world's two most powerful men and accomplished attention-seekers clash on the internet? We're finding out in real time. This week, billionaire Elon Musk and President Donald Trump took to their respective social platforms to sling mud at the other after a fallout over federal spending. What started as a volley of barbs snowballed into a feud involving multiple social platforms and millions of onlookers, as everyone from big-name politicians to no-name meme accounts hurried to offer their takes and declare their allegiances. The split could have profound real-world consequences, as both men show their willingness to leverage financial and political power to hit back at the other. It also illustrates how quickly a conflict can escalate when it is fanned by algorithmic feeds and the demands of the attention economy, which prizes outrage and relishes a high-profile feud. While Trump and Musk circle their wagons, drumming up support and smearing the other through posts on X and Truth Social, millions of smaller content creators stand to capitalize on the attention it generates. On Thursday afternoon, the number of active users on the X and Truth Social mobile apps both reached 90-day highs, according to preliminary estimates by Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm. Between 2 and 6 p.m. Eastern time that day, the firm estimates that X usage was up 54 percent compared with the previous seven days, while Truth Social was up more than 400 percent, albeit from a much lower baseline. 'Public feuds like this drive social media engagement like crazy,' said Casey Fiesler, a professor of information science at the University of Colorado at Boulder who studies social media ethics. 'It's high-octane content because it's easy to meme and very algorithmically rewarded.' Musk, whose business empire includes X as well as Tesla, rocket company SpaceX and artificial intelligence start-up xAI, kicked off the fight on Tuesday when he posted on X to criticize a congressional spending bill backed by the president: 'This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,' he wrote. The post was viewed more than 141 million times and sparked a flurry of commentary on X and elsewhere online. Gen Z internet personality Lil Tay, known for over-the-top posts flaunting luxury goods, got 2.8 million views on a reply clapping back at Musk for his former support of Trump, while far-right commentator Charlie Kirk referenced Musk's 'tweet heard around the world' in a post funneling viewers to Apple Podcasts to stream his talk show. Over the next two days, Musk continued to take shots at Trump on X, at one point posting a poll asking whether America needed a new centrist political party, while Trump told White House reporters that his and Musk's relationship was on the rocks. Then on Thursday, Musk escalated the back-and-forth by claiming in a post on X that Trump is implicated in the Epstein files, documents that allegedly contain the names of people who consorted with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually assault minors. The post exploded, drawing almost 200 million views in a day and stoking a second wave of content from politicians, creators and meme-makers. A post from an anonymous X user, liked by 192,300 people, mused: 'Who gets JD Vance in the divorce?' The vice president soon provided an answer, posting that Trump has 'earned the trust of the movement he leads.' On X, where Musk's changes to the platform's verification feature have blurred the lines between real public figures and paid subscribers, fake politicians joined the fray. 'Every time I smell a movement, I know you'll be next to it,' came a reply to Vance from an account for Rep. Jack Kimble — a fictitious congressman with more than 93,000 followers whose posts have often fooled social media users. Former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon seized the moment to make headlines with his podcast, in which he called for Trump to seize SpaceX and perhaps even deport Musk. Politics creators such as Philip DeFranco took to TikTok with beat-by-beat breakdowns of the feud, while Musk's estranged daughter Vivian Wilson posted to her Instagram stories a clip of herself laughing, with the caption, 'I love being proven right,' possibly in reference to past comments criticizing her father and Trump. In the Reddit community r/politics, self-styled sleuths conducted deep dives into Epstein-related court filings, at times linking to books and YouTube series that claim to investigate Epstein's celebrity accomplices. Far-fetched conspiracy theories floated around X as users speculated whether Trump and Musk could be secretly working together toward some noble end. Critics of Musk and Trump delighted in the affair. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), who at 35 is a social media star in her own right, was stopped by a reporter outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday and asked for her reaction to Trump and Musk's war of words. She was quick to spit an online catchphrase: 'Oh man, the girls are fighting, aren't they?' The clip spread quickly on TikTok, where it was boosted by left-leaning talking heads and news accounts. Academic research on online algorithms has shown that social feeds often prioritize content that elicits fear or rage. High-profile fights can boost the power and profiles of people involved, as with the infamous internet feuds between Kim Kardashian and Kanye West or influencers Trisha Paytas and Ethan Klein, said Fiesler. But trending conflicts are also a boon to the second-order creators, who jump to offer 'side takes,' playing off the argument of the day to drive traffic to their own products and profiles. A divisive court battle between actress Amber Heard and her ex-husband Johnny Depp, for instance, spawned its own media ecosystem, with creators and channels dedicated entirely to dissecting the feud — at times even falsifying or exaggerating information to keep viewers hooked. 'This [Musk-Trump feud] is half my TikTok feed right now,' Fiesler said. 'The more that people talk about it, the more people feel obligated to talk about it and take sides.' It's a dynamic the principles in this fight have long since mastered. Vance posted on X on Thursday a picture of himself with the popular podcaster and comedian Theo Von, with the tongue-in-cheek caption, 'Slow news day, what are we even going to talk about?' Musk reposted it, adding a 'laughter' emoji. Under Musk's ownership, X has lost advertisers and users turned off by his politics and lax approach to hate speech, with rivals such as Bluesky and Meta's Threads siphoning left-leaning users in particular. Now he risks alienating Trump loyalists. But in the meantime, even critics of his leadership of X acknowledged Thursday that it seemed to have 'the juice' — that is, it was driving the conversation — at least for the moment. 'A public blowup between the world's richest man and the president of the U.S. is hard for people to resist witnessing first-hand, even for those that may not regularly use X,' said Jasmine Enberg, vice president and principal analyst at eMarketer, a market research firm. 'That said, our media usage is so fragmented and we're being bombarded with the news from every channel that it's not likely to be significant or sustainable.' Truth Social, meanwhile, has become an increasingly important component of Trump's communication strategy, with the self-styled influencer-in-chief firing off a steady stream of posts — at times dozens a day — lauding his own actions or taking aim at rivals. White House employees and right-leaning creators then spread the posts to other platforms, broadening Truth Social's reach and influence even as the platform underperforms compared with X, Threads or Bluesky. (Sensor Tower estimates X has about 100 times more active users.) The Trump-Musk brouhaha exemplifies how online influencer culture has permeated politics, said Renée DiResta, a professor at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy and the author of 'Invisible Rulers.' 'Online beefing is not about winning — it's a kind of performance,' she said. The interactive nature of social media allows the audience to get in on the action. 'We pick sides, cheer for our champion and keep the fight going. We make memes — we can grab some attention for ourselves and help shape the fight if we make good ones.' But what might be harmless fun in the case of celebrity gossip, she said, has a darker side when the warring parties are among the world's most powerful people. In a striking example, a threat from Trump on Thursday to cancel government contracts with SpaceX prompted Musk to reply that the company 'will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately' — a move that would have severed NASA's only means of transporting astronauts to the International Space Station. A pseudonymous X user who had fewer than 100 followers at the time replied to Musk's post, urging him to 'take a step back' and reconsider. Within hours, Musk responded: 'Good advice. Okay, we won't decommission Dragon.' The online bedlam prompted sports commentator Darren Rovell to revisit a famous tweet he posted in 2016 that has since become a meme: 'I feel bad for our country. But this is tremendous content.'
