Barbie, Beyonce and a bottle of (alcohol-free) Burgundy

The Moments Matrix is a guide to what’s trending on the world’s leading social media sites. Find out what’s going viral and what's here to stay across mainstream and niche topics.

This week's matrix has been compiled by Nichefire.

Image by: The Social Intelligence Lab

The push towards better wages and working conditions
Strikes have been all over the news - such as the writers and actors strikes in Hollywood as well as the narrowly-avoided UPS strike. However, this is but a portion of the overarching conversation around fair wages and working conditions that were accelerated following the pandemic.
Data Source: News/media, Reddit, Twitter/X

Heat waves in US spark conversation around climate change
The US has been seeing record-breaking high temperatures. The result of which has many pointing to climate change as the culprit. The conversation around heat waves will subside, but what will persist is climate change's impact on these kinds of discussions. Weather abnormalities like this will likely continue to trigger conversations around climate change.
Data source: news/media, Twitter/X, Google

Twitter officially rebrands to X
Elon Musk is at it again - this time he totally got rid of the blue bird and replaced it with X. That's right, Twitter is no more - it's now X. As a result, many are speculating what the future of the platform will be - Musk supposedly wants to turn X into an "everything app", like WeChat.
Data Source: News/media, Google, Twitter/X, Reddit, Facebook

The Chinese e-commerce war and the rise of social media e-commerce
Temu and Shein are Chinese e-commerce giants that are competing for market share of low-cost goods in the United States. The race for the top e-commerce retailer for low-cost goods has been taking off. However, another Chinese company, TikTok, has been taking the next step beyond social media by integrating e-commerce into its platform.
Data Source: TikTok, news/media, Google

The rise of the "lazy girl job"
A sub-trend to the anti-work movement has been "lazy girl jobs" - or decent-paying jobs that can be done remotely with little effort. These types of jobs have been on the rise and coincides with a desire for low stress and work-life balance.
Data Source: Google, news/media, Twitter/X, Reddit

Barbie everything
Barbie is now in theatres and is among the hottest movies this year. As a result, interest in Barbie merchandise has skyrocketed - along with the numerous memes made out of scenes from the movie.
Data source: TikTok, Instagram

Beyonce Renaissance Tour taking over
Beyonce's Renaissance tour has been taking the world by storm. This and Taylor Swift's Eras tour have been some of the most highly-anticipated events this year. These tours have also been incredibly fruitful for local economies.
Data source: News/media, Google, web traffic

Mitch McConnell freeze up
US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to freeze for several seconds during a news conference. As a result, news stories and memes have flooded social media with many questioning the senator's health.
Data source: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter/X, news/media

Don't try that in a small town
There has been controversy around Jason Aldean's song "Try That in a Small Town". Critics have said the song's lyrics glorify gun violence and convey racist ideas.
Data source: Google, news/media, Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram

AI images from your nightmares
The latest trend in generative AI is fueled by our nightmares. Many have been prompting platforms like Midjourney and DALL-E to generate the creepiest and scariest images possible - dubbed "nightmare fuel".
Data source: Reddit, Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok

Regular Show removed from Cartoon Network website
Fans of the popular cartoon, Regular Show, have been up in arms after Cartoon Network removed the show from their website. The result led to fans sharing their favourite snippets of the showing and sharing their disdain for the decision.
Data source: TikTok, Google

Henry Cavill departs from the Witcher
The popular Netflix show, The Witcher, lost its lead actor - Henry Cavill. Fans have been sorrowfully sharing their opinions on the show and their disappointment in Henry Cavill leaving the show - many considering him to be perfect for the role and dubbing him "King of the Nerds".
Data source: Reddit, Twitter/X, news/media, Google

Dealcoholized wine picking up in popularity
With non-alcoholic alternatives to our favourite alcoholic beverages gaining popularity - the latest to hit the market has been gaining traction: non-alcoholic wine.
Data source: Google, web traffic, forums/blogs

Cartoons and sneaker collabs
A new sneaker collab has many sneakerheads excited - Powerpuff Girls and the Nike SB Dunk Low. Nostalgic and unique collabs like this have been on the rise for sneakerheads.
Data source: Reddit, news/media, forums/blogs

The rise of open-sourced large language models
Following the massive success of ChatGPT, developers have been looking to create open-sourced large language models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, so that others can have access to the power of AI and encourage further innovation.
Data source: Reddit, Google, LinkedIn, Discord

The battle for the perfect low-cost fitted shirt
Fresh Clean Threads, True Classic, etc... just some of the brands you may have heard of. There has been a new trend for the perfect low-cost fitted tee. New DTC brands have been hitting the marketplace to jump on the opportunity.
Data source: Web traffic, Google

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