GOOD AFTERNOON!

This is OUT OF SCOPE, your weekly intel to fuel your water cooler conversations, delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. If someone forwarded you this email, be sure and subscribe here. 

is social media too meta?

We’re experiencing some digital deja-vu. Today’s Instagram update introduced Instagram Maps, Reposts, and a "Friends" tab for Reels—features which are new to the platform, but not to Snapchat or TikTok users. 

This isn’t the first time Instagram has taken a page from other social media platforms: they previously swiped Snap’s story feature, ripped Threads from Twitter/X, and pulled Reels straight from TikTok. 

Meta’s established an M.O.—but is it lazy, pragmatic, or inevitable?

On the one hand: why roll the dice on untested features when you can wait for competitors to validate concepts and match any functionalities that might lure your users to another feed? Sure, the derivation might ding your reputation as a pioneer, but if your ultimate goal is audience consolidation, being first matters less than being dominant.

Or, perhaps we're just bumping up against the natural limits of social media innovation. There are only so many ways to share content, connect with friends, and discover new information. As platforms mature, will they all inevitably converge on the most effective solutions to these shared needs? 

The whole truth is probably a combination of both. Whether you’re more inclined to construe Meta's strategy as calculated opportunism or inevitable evolution, one thing is clear: the age of platform differentiation is drawing to a close. We're watching social media's equivalent of carcinization—different species developing toward the same form because it simply works best.

LUNCH BREAK

five quick consumption recs for the time between meetings

1. THE WHO'S-WHO OF CULTURE. The Las Culturistas Culture Awards gave the Oscars a run for its money with attendance from the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, Kristen Wiig, Quinta Brunson, and a bevy of other Mothers (not you, Jamie Lee Curtis). 

2. JUNG LOVE. On a quest for ADHD meds, Kendra found love—and the premise for a 30+ part TikTok series. 

3. AI'S OBJECTIVE IS SUBJECTIVE. OpenAI’s new “Universal Verifier” will help AI take on more nuanced subjects, like business strategy and creative writing. 

4. NOT-SO-ORDINARY. Luke Combs made history this weekend as Lollapalooza’s first country headliner.

5. RIFE WITH SPIRITS. Comedian Matt Rife leased the haunted Annabelle doll—for his sake, let’s hope he’s over the whole antagonizing women thing.

TREND RAPPORT

viral vocab of the week 

CLANKER (n.) –  A derogatory term for ‘robot’. Originally popularized by the Star Wars community, the term has now taken on increasing mainstream significance with the rise of AI chatbots. 

GIRLBOSS (n.) –  An ambitious, successful entrepreneur—but she’s a woman. The term quickly took on an ironic tone, and then fell out of parlance almost entirely—but it appears we’re in for a second wave. 

-MAXXING (suffix) –  Denotes engaging in the prefix action to an extreme, typically to an end of self-betterment. The suffix draws from the gaming term “min-maxing” (designing characters with a heavy concentration of desirable traits), and was originally popularized among incel communities to describe ways to increase their attractiveness (e.g. “looksmaxxing”, “moneymaxxing”, or “statusmaxxing”). It’s now applied widely—and often facetiously—to everything from fiber to coziness.

SEE YOU NEXT WEDNESDAY!

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