New York Times: The New Enemies of Argentina’s Far Right: Swifties and the BTS Army. “Javier Milei, a far-right libertarian economist, has stayed aloft in Argentina’s presidential campaign on the wings of the youth vote. To win the runoff election this month, he will need to hold on to that key demographic, pollsters say. But now, a major hurdle stands in his way: Swifties.”
Bellingcat: X’s Community Notes is Spreading False Information About Taylor Swift’s Bodyguard. “Social media platform X’s Community Notes is spreading false information about Taylor Swift’s Bodyguard. On Tuesday October 17, Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported that an Israeli bodyguard who worked for Swift returned to his home country to volunteer as a reservist in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) as it prepares for a ground invasion of Gaza.”
WIRED: The Truth About the Taylor Swift, Jets Game, Google Search Conspiracy Theory. “No one will ever know if Swift went to a Jets game specifically to shift the SEO for ‘Taylor Swift jets,’ but what is true is that interest in that search is currently the highest it’s ever been on Google Trends. Comparatively, the interest in the search term in summer 2022, when the news was going around about her PJs, has been bumped down to single digits. So if it was a gambit, it worked. Not only are the search results upended, but now TikTok videos about the ‘genius’ move are getting half a million views.” All you need to do to bypass this “genius move” is use Back that Ask Up and take one month off your search date. Presto, you’re back to reading about Taylor Swift and her carbon-burning globe hopping.
Fast Company: Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is a reminder that social media is not real life. “Of course, toxic online behavior exists in all online communities. But it represents the words of a smaller minority of users within the already small minority of people who post content online. Media narratives that emphasize certain groups as toxic based on online behavior—whether they are describing fandom or politics—fall into the trap of confusing the internet with real life.”
The Block: Taylor Swift did her homework on FTX, dodged a bullet, says lawyer suing Tom Brady, Shaq. “Taylor Swift was one of the only celebrities who did their due diligence on crypto exchange FTX, according to the lawyer suing the now-bankrupt company’s celebrity promoters.” The only song I’ve ever heard by Ms. Swift is “Shake it Off,” but this might be enough to make me a fan.
Rolling Stone: Why Some Taylor Swift Stans Are Ganging Up On ‘Gaylors’: Report. “Researchers from the social media firm Graphika found that harassment runs amok in the fan community — and it can teach us a lot about how people behave online.”
Variety: Kanye West’s Massive Reddit Page Overtaken by Taylor Swift Appreciation, Holocaust Awareness Content as Fans Abandon Him. “Following the 45-year-old’s appearance on right-wing talk show host Alex Jones’ ‘Infowars’ on Thursday, where he continued to spew anti-Semitic rhetoric and deliberately gave praise to Adolf Hitler and Nazis, fans on the artist’s r/Kanye Reddit page, which has more than 700,000 subscribers, have decided to turn the subreddit into a Taylor Swift appreciation page.” There seems to be a bit of a war going on the subreddit at the moment.
Mashable: The 9 best Wordle clones for fans and gamers . “It’s been four months since we first heard the name ‘Wordle’ and, believe it or not, that little game-that-could is still chugging along, picking up new players every day. And when you love something you learn to let it go, or you make a clone of it to satisfy your own niche interests. Check out the most fannish copies of Wordle made to delight Potterheads, Swifties, ARMY, gamers, and more below.”
NBC News: Taylor Swift album party becomes superspreader event after nearly 100 test positive for Covid. “A Taylor Swift album party in Sydney, Australia, appears to have been a superspreader event, with authorities issuing an urgent warning after the party was connected to nearly 100 Covid cases. In a public health alert issued on Thursday, the New South Wales Ministry of Health said it had been notified of a ‘venue of concern’ in Sydney connected to at least 97 confirmed cases of Covid-19.”
CNET: Taylor Swift joins TikTok ahead of Red re-release. “Some of us have been living on Taylor Swift TikTok for a while now, but it’s just been missing one thing — Taylor herself. All that changed on Monday when the global megastar joined the video-first social network by posting her very first TikTok.”
CNET: Taylor Swift is still the most influential person on Twitter in 2019. “It’s hardly a surprising result given that Swift came out on top last year, even though she only tweeted 13 times in total. This year she’s seriously upped her Twitter game, crossposting almost everything to Twitter that she also posts on Instagram and Tumblr — her favored social media platform.”
CNET: Taylor Swift named ‘most influential’ person on Twitter in 2018. “Taylor Swift is the most influential person on Twitter this year, despite only tweeting 13 times. Social media analysis company Brandwatch released on Wednesday its annual lists of the top 10 most influential women and top 10 most influential men on Twitter. With an ‘influencer score’ of 98 points out of a possible 100, Swift is the outright winner. “
