Social Currency.

I conduct most of my ‘sociological’ research when I watch music videos; I believe they are an excellent tool to measure where gen z is at or headed towards. Contrary to everyone else’s opinion, I believe I am keeping this art form alive. In the video that shan’t be named, it was 3 perfectly executed minutes of a glimpse into this artist's day in the life on a regular day. It had everything that fits the checkbox; jewellery, luxury cars, dream destinations, designer items and the girls. 
What stood out to me was how these people have mastered a new a transaction through a new currency.

Social currency boils largely down to ‘influence’. It adds a metric to how much of it you have on behaviours outside of your own. We currently live in a time where this is deemed as imperative for success, which wouldn’t be entirely incorrect. We see this across the industry giants, including creatives, content creators, influencers, music artists, etc. So now you are wondering, how is that I can exchange whatever I’m doing wrong for this profitable currency. 

Selling Philosophy: The Specialist

I wouldn’t class myself as being chronologically online, however it is hard to dispute that when I get every single reference made by anyone ever. So being an “average” online user, I have observed a rise in what I call ‘The Specialist’. The specialist is someone who sells you their expertise which a lot of the time is 1) inaccurate 2) omits nuance. For example, within a one minute scroll on my fyp, I came across “sharing my dating tips for 2026’, “becoming financially literate”, a how-to tutorial on ‘develop personal taste’ and a 10-part series teaching us ‘how to take care of ourselves’. I could keep going but you get the gist; all of these videos sell you on a public secret, a simple 1-2-3 step on how to achieve the best version of yourself. The ironic part is that this secret is just common knowledge and such step-by-step guide doesn’t exist. 

Selling Aesthetic: Visual Stimulation

I have a confession to make. I am an aesthetic addict; I will unfortunately fall victim to it every time. I acknowledge that and I guess expressing my thoughts on TD is a way of me fighting against it. But in all seriousness, aesthetics is what makes the social media universe go round. Clean girl, baddie, rapper, whimsical, ‘unknown’ all sell you visual stimulation, something that is captured so well, it is inherently ‘cool’. But some would argue that you could apply this to fashion, a method used to display your personal qualities. So what’s the difference? The difference is someone with a genuine passion will continue to engage in it regardless of the outcome in comparison to many who do it now as a strategy, one that will take their following from 0-100k, or gives them a fake sense of community. Unfortunately for them (myself included), the side-effect of this strategy is an identity crisis that they aren’t prepared for.

My question to you is: if you had access to unlimited amounts of this currency, how would you invest it?