AT5 and other news outlets report on yet another queue somewhere in the city, spurred by Dutch TikTok influencer Monica Geuze.
A fried rice sandwich for a meagre €9,50 makes kids wait en masse.
I am interested in how the algorithmic (and AI?) driven recommendations of social media platforms shape people’s physical mobility and consumption patterns. A second interesting theme is the role of social influencers and fan cultures. No doubt these kids will turn their visits into mediated micro-stories about their experiences as well. Thirdly, with prices like these – especially high for secondary school kids – these TikTok crazes are inevitably exclusionary. Social media feed a hybrid ‘digital urban’ culture of age-based hype and conspicuous consumption. I think especially the young age element of this hybrid performative consumer culture is a rather new aspect of this phenomenon.
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