Tis the season for music, gifting...and intense political debate

The Moments Matrix is a fortnightly 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.

Image by: The Social Intelligence Lab

World Cup shocks There have been a number of shock eliminations from this year's World Cup, with the likes of Belgium and Germany falling at the first hurdle and a number of underdogs grabbing the public's attention, with Japan and South Korea generating particular buzz. Data source:Web articles Source: NewsWhipFree speech on social It is an important time for the discussions around what constitutes free speech on social platforms. Elon has been re-constituting twitter accounts in the name of free speech, but Kanye was recently suspended after posting antisemetic comments, including a post containing a swastika. Elon "personally wanted to punch Kanye" Data source: Twitter Source: ViralMomentGenerative AI takeover Generative AI is freaking us all out (in a good way... mostly). Lensa Ai's editing app takes your photos, and creates gorgeous and artistic portraits. ChatGPT is reading our minds (and writing them...?) and now we're even combining our text robots with our image gen robots. The future of creativity is up for discussion, but for now - we're having a lot of fun. Data Source: TikTok Source:ViralMomentThe protests in China Over 49k users have been posting under the hashtag #ChinaProtests. The demonstrations continue across the country as citizens oppose the country's strict lockdown rules. Twitter users commented on how brave the Chinese people are for demonstrating against their government, describing it as "an extraordinary, historic moment in China", while others shared videos and images of said protests. Some found it shocking to hear that the protestors are calling for Xi Jinping to step down, showing that they are past their breaking point. People also shared images and videos of protests outside of China supporting the Chinese protestors in a show of solidarity. Data source: Twitter Source: Listen + Learn ResearchInternet sleuths investigate mass murders Beyond the general increase in mass murders year-over-year (a 3x increase since 10 years ago), the attention around mass murders has been increasing. The discussion and attention around mass murders has increased by nearly 8x over the same time period - it has even become a hobby for some internet sleuths to investigate the motive for some of these horrific events. This is seen in search trends, social media, and the news; but there are also niche communities on Reddit and other forums discussing solutions and motives. This is on top of mind for many following the recent mass shootings at Club Q in Colorado and at a Walmart in Virginia. Data source: Twitter, news, Reddit, Google Source: Nichefire

Top holiday gifts 2022 With the holiday shopping season in full swing, we're starting to see the types of products that are most hyped for the holidays! At a high level - the most sought product categories are clothing, video games, and toys. Some top searches include affordable shapewear, sustainable clothing, and candle warmers. And many consumers - overwhelmed with the prospect of getting gifts - are looking to Google for ideas! Data source: Google Source: NichefireClosing the year with Spotify Wrapped Spotify launched its 2022 Wrapped campaign to much anticipation - announcing the platforms top artists, podcasts, albums, songs, and more. Leading the pack including artists and personalities like Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift, and The Joe Rogan Experience. The campaign gained instant popularity - many users sharing their top songs for the year. However, this campaign also spilled over into other areas in culture - many people using the Wrapped 2022 graphics for memes and funny lists. Data source:Twitter, News, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook Source: NichefireFIFA and politics 2.4k Redditors have been discussing the actions of FIFA in Qatar last week, in the thread "German football team covers their mouths at their first game in Qatar" . After FIFA threatened sanctions against teams wearing the One Love armband, the German football team decided to cover their mouths before their first game, to show that they're being silenced by the football league. Some Redditors had to ask for clarification on what the message from the players meant, while others joked that the German team would get sent straight to jail for their actions. Most said they weren’t impressed with the German team's gesture, arguing that they have no courage to speak up and stand by their beliefs because they abandoned the armband as soon as there was pushback and consequences. Redditors overwhelmingly criticised FIFA for being corrupt and money hungry. Data source: Reddit Source: Listen + Learn ResearchNetflix launches new hit shows Netflix has been on a roll these past few weeks with new hit shows, like 1899 and the latest season of The Crown. However, Netflix's launch of its latest series, Wednesday, toppled previous viewership records held by Stranger Things - achieving 341.23 million hours viewed in its short time on the platform. Data source: News, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google Source: NichefireElon vs Apple Elon Musk has been on the warpath vs. Apple this week, accusing the company of monopolistic practices for the way it charges apps to use its app store, and this has generated a lot of discussion on Twitter in particular Data source: Twitter Source:NewsWhipIndy Ref 2.0: Scottish independence 1.8k users have commented on the Reddit thread "Supreme Court rules Scottish Parliament can not hold an independence referendum without Westminster's approval". After the Scottish Parliament took its independence referendum case to the Supreme Court, it has now ruled that Scotland will need Westminster's approval to hold a referendum. Redditors were not surprised by the decision. They speculated what Scotland's next steps will be and how it will affect the next general election. Others compared the situation to the Catalan independence vote in Spain. Data source: Reddit Source: Listen + Learn Research

AI on social Late last week, OpenAI released an updated version of its chatbot powered by a large language model — called ChatGPT. Twitter in particular was abuzz with examples of how it could be used and the power of the technology, with some tweets getting tens of thousands of engagements. As is often the case, Reddit was a little more skeptical of the new tech, and posted some examples of the chatbot answering incorrectly. Data source: Twitter, Reddit Source: NewsWhipBTS' RM goes solo RM from K-Pop group BTS is releasing solo music, and it's getting a lot of attention on Twitter, thanks to his old band's Twitter account promoting his solo efforts. Data source: Twitter Source: NewsWhipFootball bromances TikTok users are calling out bromances, sharing world cup videos where player celebrations look a little...errr.... romantic? Maybe fans are just jealous, and want someone to look at them the way Mbappe looked at Giroud, or Hendo gazed at Bellingham... Data source: TikTok Source: ViralMomentNightcore: The new TikTok music trend The latest music trend is to SPEED THAT STUFF UP. Fans are speeding up songs on platforms like TikTok, and creating and participating with the music by making art, dances or trends to go alongside it. 80% of recent uptempo songs posted to TikTok were sped up. The genre has been dubbed "Nightcore" Data source: TikTok Source: ViralMomentReligious debates A recent census has shown that fewer than half the English and Welsh population describe themselves as Christian for the first time. With England and Wales now 'minority Christian countries', it has caused an outcry amongst right-wing Christians who blame immigration for the falling numbers. 214k users discussed this on Twitter. Many pointed out that this is a conspiracy theory: Christian migrants inflate the falling numbers and it is British-born people who abandon the religion and instead identify as atheist. They also believed that Muslims shouldn't be blamed for falling numbers because it’s unrelated to other religions, describing it as a "xenophobic claptrap". Some users also accused the people who complain about the changing demographic of being un-Christian or failing to follow Christian values. Others mentioned that the falling numbers are caused by bishops increasingly meddling in politics instead of spreading spiritual messages. Data source: Twitter Source: Listen + Learn ResearchKidulting at Christmas Kidulting is a growing movement where adults are lisenced to party like their inner child. Whether that includes playing Pokemon, skipping school, going to Disneyland, or spending Saturdays eating cereal and watching cartoons, the grownups are tapping into their youth. This has a big impact on Christmas shopping habits, and TikTok is ripe with kidult videos of "grown ups" unboxing their Christmas toys, and making wish lists for Santa. Data source: TikTok Source: ViralMoment

US rail strike The US House passed a bill this week to avert a rail strike that threatened to grind American logistics to a halt. This caused a big stir from all sides of the political spectrum and a lot of discussion about whether the bill should have been passed. Data source: Web, Twitter, Reddit Source: NewsWhipThe Matcha match If you're not a coffee person - you might be a matcha latte person! Consumer interest around match has followed a seasonal pattern; interest has consistently spiked up at the beginning of December every year for the past five years. In general, matcha has recently become a staple at many coffee shops - and that makes sense consider consumer conversations and search interest have spike by over 53% since 2017. Data source: Google, Twitter, Wikipedia Source:Nichefire