Social Media & Internet Culture: TikTok Tradespeople’s Escapist Edutainment

TikTok audiences are rivetted by the professional lives of blue-collar workers. The likes of farmers and lobster fishermen are amassing millions of followers on TikTok by sharing their skills and knowledge with digital audiences. Offering detailed insight into their trades and lifestyles, these creators are tapping into mass fascination with hands-on work.

Gaming: Spiderman 2’s Diverse Side Quests

US developer Insomniac Games’ blockbuster Spiderman games are known for letting players roam freely through a true-to-scale virtual version of New York City. For the latest in the series, the game is extending its world’s complexity to depicting diversity across the city, with side missions focused on community work that give players active breaks from the crime-fighting action.

Music & Sound: Hook’s Legally Sound Music Remix Platform

Earlier this year, AI-generated remixes of copyrighted songs flooded social media faster than the music industry’s rights holders could delete them (see Pop Culture Pulse: May 2023). Hook is a New York-based app hoping to bridge the gap between AI-empowered fan remixers and record labels by framing remixing as the next vital discovery space – with accreditation guard rails.

Publishing & Broadcasting: NBC’s All-Amateur Youth Sports Network

The global value of sports media rights is projected to crack $60bn by the end of 2024 (Sports Business, 2022). While tech giants are entering bidding wars for the rights to existing leagues, NBC is laying inroads with the under-addressed youth sports sector. Its streaming platform SportsEngine Play will turn attention to amateur athletes and sportscasters.

One to Watch: Meta’s Celebrity Chatbot Destination

Meta has launched 28 specialised chatbots in a bid to become the mass-market destination for conversational AI interfaces. To make the tech more approachable, 15 of these are based on familiar celebrity faces, including rapper Snoop Dogg, influencer MrBeast, model Kendall Jenner, and footballer Tom Brady.