Latest / Mini Scroll / The Rise of The Intellectual Influencer: TikTok's Performative Expertise Problem

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The Rise of The Intellectual Influencer: TikTok's Performative Expertise Problem · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  This episode of Infinite Scroll is brought to you by Britta
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  again. That's right, one of our
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  favorite partners is back supporting both the podcast and
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  our hydration needs in 2026. And we're doing things a little
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  different this time. Online trends like Water Talk
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  to staying hydrated. But this year we're getting
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  hydration goals on point this year by making drinking water
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  Here's how to. Become disgustingly well
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  educated. Disgustingly educated.
• 0:50
  Disgustingly well educated. Disgustingly well educated.
• 0:54
  Disgustingly educated. Disgustingly educated.
• 0:56
  Disgustingly educated, this is the new, oh so elusive ideal for
• 1:01
  the average TikTok user. Over the past month, the For You
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  page has become flooded with creators sharing tips on how to
• 1:07
  get quote UN quote charter, or at least seem like it.
• 1:11
  Some curate book and essay lists that claim to have quote changed
• 1:15
  their brain chemistry. Others post guides and quasi
• 1:19
  curricula for followers who are looking to level up their
• 1:22
  general knowledge and intellect. But this pursuit of being
• 1:25
  disgustingly well educated didn't come about in a vacuum,
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  it has emerged. At a time when TikTok seems
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  obsessed with all things intellectual, the For You page
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  is virtually unrecognizable from 2019.
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  What was once dominated by dancing videos and slow motion
• 1:40
  thirst traps has been slowly replaced by green screen
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  explainers and face to camera commentary.
• 1:45
  Scroll for a few minutes and you will probably encounter a
• 1:48
  creator dissecting the launch of a buzzy new product, breaking
• 1:51
  down recent news, or offering their take on an influencers
• 1:54
  latest faux pas all within the same feed.
• 1:57
  While the whiplash between topics can be intense, it's also
• 2:01
  what keeps people engaged. Through this, it's clear that
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  TikTok has become a space where young people go to learn about
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  virtually anything. And who better to teach them
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  than this emerging type of creator, the intellectual
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  influencer. This episode explores the
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  intellectual influencer phenomenon.
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  We will define what they are, explore why they've become
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  important and what their rise tells us about a creator economy
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  flooded with misinformation, grifters and brain rods from
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  Centennial World. I'm Lauren Meisner, and this is
• 2:32
  Infinite Scroll, a podcast about Internet culture, the creator
• 2:35
  economy and how social media is shaping Gen.
• 2:38
  Z Welcome back to Infinite Scroll, everyone.
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  OK, I have a bottomless lunch for my friend right after this.
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  So that's why I'm so dressed up. Usually I'm in like a baggy
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  T-shirt when I record the podcast, but today we're in a
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  slinky little black dress. All right, so before I get into
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  Keep scrolling for for the sake of this episode.
• 3:14
  We're defining the intellectual influencer as a type of
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  commentary creator, but with a key distinction.
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  These creators aren't just reacting to whatever is trending
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  or dominating discourse. Instead, they speak primarily
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  within a defined area of expertise, which is usually
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  informed by their career outside social media, their academic
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  background, or both. To put it simply, these creators
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  exist in a digital landscape where specialized knowledge
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  becomes currency. We've covered some of these
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  so-called intellectual creators before, particularly in our
• 3:44
  newsletter. For instance, a few months ago
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  we spoke to Internet anthropologist, a creator named
• 3:49
  Carrera, who treats the digital world as an anthropological
• 3:52
  field site, as she told us. Quote I graduated from my
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  master's program in cultural anthropology at Columbia in
• 3:59
  February and wanted to apply some of the learnings to trends
• 4:02
  in Internet culture I was seeing online.
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  According to job reports, anthropology is one of the least
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  employable disciplines, but I think the knowledge it offers is
• 4:10
  incredibly useful for understanding current cultural.
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  I wanted to make content that shared that.
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  Other examples of these intellectual creators might
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  include Aiden Walker, a meme expert who wrote a 100 page
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  monograph on the distracted boyfriend for his master's in
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  history and literature at Columbia University, Adam
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  Alexic, or as he is known online, The Etymology Nerd, is
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  another example. He uses linguistics to explain
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  phenomena in digital culture and breakdown Internet discourse.
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  Having said that, commentary content itself isn't new.
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  We've seen versions of it perform well on social media for
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  years, from news first accounts to video essays to drama
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  channels. But what is new is the emphasis
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  on qualifications, disciplinary context, and theoretical
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  frameworks, drawing on disciplines like sociology,
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  linguistics, anthropology or political theory.
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  This more academically rigorous approach differs from what we
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  might once have lumped together as commentary content or
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  commentary creators. Going back to Carrera as an
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  example, she has a series called Anthropologist to Know where she
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  highlights Key thinkers and applies their ideas to Internet
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  phenomenon. One of her first breakout videos
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  focused on French sociologist Pierre Bourgio's theory of taste
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  and distinction, using it to explain our obsession with
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  online status signifiers. It's hard to imagine this kind
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  of content gaining traction online throughout the 20 tens.
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  It simply wouldn't have happened.
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  That brings us to the first question we will try to answer
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  in this episode. What is it about our current
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  context that has brought intellectual influencers to the
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  forefront? We have 8.
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  Yes, 8 structural and cultural factors worth considering.
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  The first two we covered in a deep dive last month, so they
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  won't need much more than a mention, but they offer relevant
• 5:51
  context. The generative AI boom and the
• 5:54
  rise of AI slop have helped create the conditions for this
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  shift. Here, the move to more
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  intellectual creators is about audience pushback.
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  We know what generative AI and large language models can do.
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  They can synthesize existing material and essentially rewrite
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  what's already out there. This is often completed
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  uncritically, sometimes inaccurately, and more often
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  than not, plagiarized with inadequate references.
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  What these tools can't achieve is to produce original opinions,
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  and that's exactly what many intellectual creators are
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  trained to do, especially if they have a background in
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  research. In theory, the content these
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  creators produce isn't easily replicable by AI.
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  Their commentary is shaped by disciplinary training, lived
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  experience, and niche framework, not pattern recognition or
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  prediction. Closely related to this is how
• 6:41
  AI content feels to consume. Don't get me wrong, sometimes
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  it's entertaining to watch AI generated Chihuahuas working at
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  McDonald's or cooking breakfast. But after a doom scroll, that
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  kind of content often leaves us feeling hazy, empty, and scarily
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  unable to remember how we spent the last two hours.
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  On the Arsenal slash productivity subreddit, 1 user
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  summed it up with a post titled How AI is Gradually making me
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  Dumb lol. And there may actually be
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  something to that. Last year, researchers at MIT
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  explored the neural and behavioral consequences of large
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  language model assisted essay writing.
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  Comparing three groups, LLM users, search engine users, and
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  brain only writers, they found significant differences and
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  brain connectivity and critical engagement.
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  As the findings read quote, brain only participants
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  exhibited the strongest, most distributed networks, Search
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  engine users showed moderate engagement, and LLM users
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  displayed the weakest connectivity.
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  Therefore, as AI tools increasingly influence our
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  working lives and media consumption, it's not surprising
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  that many people might feel cognitively under stimulated.
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  With that context, educational or intellectually challenging
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  content becomes appealing. Eugene Healey, in our
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  conversation on our Touch Grass miniseries, actually mentioned
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  this feeling, pulling from his experience as a brand strategist
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  and posting specialized content on TikTok.
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  He noted that the job is quote about making other people feel
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  smart, as he told me. What I learned from not only my
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  strategy career, but also my education career.
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  So like both of these things have kind of come together and
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  where I'm at now, strategy, brand strategy in particular,
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  it's not an output, it's just a plan of action effectively or
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  brand strategy specifically, which is brand is just the sum
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  total associations of an entity. So brand strategy is defining
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  what you want those associations to be.
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  And so the only way that you're going to make your brand
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  strategy effective is whether people in the organization
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  actually believe in it. And so you have to not only get
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  them to believe that you're smart, but that they're smart
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  for following the advice as well.
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  And so that I think is, is really the key.
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  And like what I, what I try to do for the content is combine, I
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  guess, the intellectual rigor that I learned in academia with
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  platform logic, which is this incredibly frenetic pace that we
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  have to like, be on, on the Internet.
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  Another contributing factor to the rise of this kind of content
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  might be the sheer volume of rage bait and conspiratorial
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  content online. TikTok in particular has become
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  a major hub for conspiracy theories.
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  We should note that a majority of users don't buy into this
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  content. For instance, a study conducted
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  at the University of Michigan found that anti establishment
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  sentiment is significantly more dominant in conspiracy focused
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  TikTok spaces than on the average for You page.
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  But it would be naive to assume that this culture and messaging
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  does not impact the wider platform.
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  As Catherine Kim writes for Politico quote, there's a
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  dangerous feedback loop at play. Many young people are growing
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  deeply skeptical of institutions and more inclined toward
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  conspiracy theories, which makes them shun mainstream news
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  outlets and immerse themselves in narrow online communities,
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  which then feeds them fabrications based on powerful
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  algorithms and further deepens their distrust.
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  That's not to say that Gen. Z should trust traditional media
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  blindly or uncritically accept mainstream narratives.
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  Questioning institutions is necessary, particularly when
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  many are historically underpinned by racist and
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  misogynistic structures. However, the prevalence of
• 10:06
  conspiratorial rhetoric on platforms like TikTok can create
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  an environment of no nuance communication near what about
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  isms, flatten complexity, and make information and news harder
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  to interpret. This is especially true and rage
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  bait style conspiratorial content.
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  Much of these videos follow a formula that reduces complex
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  issues into emotionally charged and click bait driven sound
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  bites. Content of this nature will
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  undermine fact, attack expertise, and amplify false or
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  unproven claims. At the same time though, these
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  are often the videos that go the most viral on TikTok.
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  That's to say, even if the conspiratorial mindset isn't
• 10:43
  representative of the majority of users, it still shapes Gen.
• 10:46
  Z's media diet, which is increasingly fragmented and
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  niche compared to previous generations.
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  At least hyper personalized media consumption helps explain
• 10:55
  why secondary platforms have surged in popularity, bringing
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  us to our 4th factor. Over the past few years,
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  platforms like Substack and formats like podcasting have
• 11:04
  become extremely popular, prioritizing originality, depth,
• 11:08
  and longer form thinking. In 2025, Substack saw an influx
• 11:12
  of A list including Lily Allen, Rosalia, and Charlie XCX.
• 11:17
  This year, legacy media publications like Playboy have
• 11:20
  even joined the platform. According to Substack, its
• 11:22
  network now includes over 50 million active subscriptions
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  with more than 5 million paid subscribers.
• 11:28
  To put that into perspective, between 2017 and 2021, Substack
• 11:33
  managed to reach 1,000,000 paid subscribers.
• 11:35
  The additional 4 million came in essentially the same time
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  period, showing just how impressive the platform's growth
• 11:41
  has been. While Substack has since
• 11:43
  expanded into video and live streaming, its roots in the
• 11:46
  written word analysis and independent publishing have
• 11:49
  arguably helped normalize intellectually driven content.
• 11:52
  That ethos has since bled back into platforms like TikTok, as
• 11:56
  we see users take to the app sharing their favorite sub stack
• 11:59
  essays and recommended authors. At the same time,
• 12:02
  intellectualism itself has increasingly become an aesthetic
• 12:05
  to aspire to, which we will explore a little later.
• 12:08
  But this is especially visible in Gen.
• 12:10
  Z's obsession with cores. Throughout the early twenty 20s,
• 12:14
  we saw the rise of aesthetics like mob, wife, indie, sleaze,
• 12:17
  and others. Among them was dark academia, A
• 12:20
  subculture, and also a literary genre for that matter, that
• 12:24
  generally romanticizes higher education literature and the
• 12:27
  art. Originating on Tumblr in the 20
• 12:29
  tens and heavily inspired by The Secret History by Donna Tart,
• 12:33
  dark academia found new life on TikTok in the past five years.
• 12:37
  According to Google Trends data, interest in dark academia
• 12:40
  actually peaked in early 2021 and has remained relatively
• 12:44
  steady sense. In a piece for The Conversation,
• 12:46
  Associate Professor in Media Arts and Production at the
• 12:49
  University of Technology Sydney Alex Munt explains why this may
• 12:53
  have been the case. As he writes quote, during
• 12:55
  COVID, dark academia proliferated online, with
• 12:58
  students locked out of their universities pining for the real
• 13:02
  thing. That longing helps explain why
• 13:04
  intellectual content might continue to resonate today,
• 13:07
  particularly for users already drawn to learning as an identity
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  or aesthetic. Another factor here is age.
• 13:13
  In 2026, Gen. Z is between 14 and 29 years
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  old, meaning the majority have finished high school and about
• 13:19
  half are at the age where they would have completed an
• 13:22
  undergraduate degree. When you're in formal education,
• 13:24
  the last thing you want to do is consume more intellectual
• 13:27
  content off the clock. So as Gen.
• 13:29
  Z ages out of compulsory school, they may be more open to
• 13:33
  engaging with this content on their own terms.
• 13:35
  This shift is furthered by how Gen.
• 13:37
  Z uses TikTok as a search engine, According to a study
• 13:40
  conducted last year by the World Advertising search center, Gen.
• 13:44
  Z is really leaning on social and video platforms for search.
• 13:47
  As the findings read quote 86% of Gen.
• 13:50
  Z Internet users said they search on TikTok weekly, making
• 13:53
  them nearly as likely to search there as on the leading
• 13:56
  traditional search engine, 90% and ahead of online marketplaces
• 14:01
  75%, or the leading AI platform 60%.
• 14:05
  TikTok has embraced its new role as a search engine.
• 14:07
  As we all know, TikTok now highlights keywords and comments
• 14:10
  sections, linking users to curated discovery pages.
• 14:14
  The platform has also introduced Taco, its own AI chat bot.
• 14:18
  Creator at Hannah's. Social Folk has linked Gen.
• 14:20
  Z's tendency to use the platform in this way directly to the rise
• 14:24
  of intellectual influencers, arguing that if users are coming
• 14:28
  to TikTok for information, they will naturally seek out creators
• 14:31
  with legitimacy. TikTok.
• 14:33
  Isn't just a social platform anymore.
• 14:34
  It's a search engine. It's topical, it's problem
• 14:37
  solving. People are here to find answers
• 14:39
  to their questions, so influencers that have the
• 14:41
  answers to those questions are going to do too amazing.
• 14:44
  And that shift is changing what people actually value from
• 14:46
  creators and why they follow. Humans are craving more
• 14:49
  substance and less perfection because AI can do perfection
• 14:52
  better than any of us humans. Can this pursuit for legitimate
• 14:55
  information on what should be considered as an entertainment
• 14:59
  platform like TikTok is also what another user at Lana Kay
• 15:02
  Social characterized as a quote recession indicator?
• 15:06
  Now, this term has become a bit of a buzzword online, and
• 15:10
  whether or not this term fully holds in this context, many Gen.
• 15:13
  Z users are indeed coming of age during a period of instability.
• 15:18
  At a time like this, Lana claims that people gravitate toward
• 15:21
  content that explains, contextualizes, and solves
• 15:24
  problems, and this desire helps explain our interest in
• 15:27
  intellectual influencers. Right now, with all these
• 15:29
  factors, it's clear that there is a real appetite for more
• 15:32
  substantial intellectual content.
• 15:34
  As we've already touched on, for many viewers, this kind of
• 15:37
  content can feel more meaningful than watching a day in the life
• 15:40
  log or a roundup of an influencer's favorite product.
• 15:43
  But this brings us to another key point.
• 15:46
  These influencers also play a role in repairing trust in the
• 15:49
  creator economy, and This is why they can be so important.
• 15:53
  Since 2022, there has been widespread discussion around the
• 15:56
  idea that the quote influencer bubble has burst.
• 15:59
  Initially, much of this rhetoric stemmed from frustration around
• 16:02
  the growing class divide between influencers and their audiences,
• 16:05
  particularly as many lifestyle creators flaunted their wealth
• 16:08
  to viewers who may be living paycheck to paycheck.
• 16:11
  I'm sure we all remember Tara Lynn, also known as Tara's
• 16:14
  World, and her viral TikTok from November that year.
• 16:18
  Taking a page out of Kim Kardashian's book, Tara spoke
• 16:20
  about how Be Real made her feel as though she was the only
• 16:23
  person working. Does anybody have a job?
• 16:26
  Does anyone work? I swear to God this be real
• 16:28
  shit. Like I, I like get shit on
• 16:30
  myself all the time even though I'm the most productive person
• 16:33
  ever. Like I'm always doing something.
• 16:34
  I'm never in bed in the middle of the day.
• 16:36
  And then I got Be real and this be real could go off at 11 AM,
• 16:39
  one PM, 3, doesn't matter, everyone's in bed.
• 16:42
  TikTok users were quick to criticize the influencer,
• 16:44
  calling out the comment as an example of her privilege.
• 16:47
  And while it is true that influencing can be painstaking
• 16:50
  work, audiences consistently push back against creators,
• 16:54
  flaunting aspirational lifestyles while appearing
• 16:57
  disconnected from the realities of being overworked and
• 17:00
  underpaid. Beyond this class disconnection,
• 17:02
  trust has fractured between creators and audiences as
• 17:05
  instances of deception around brand deals, sponsorships, and
• 17:09
  personal circumstances have come to light.
• 17:11
  We saw this really hit a peak at the beginning of 2025.
• 17:14
  US based creators started confessing moments where they
• 17:17
  had misled or straight up lied to their audiences, operating
• 17:21
  under the assumption that TikTok was about to be banned.
• 17:23
  For example, Lexi Hidalgo admitted that she rarely
• 17:26
  completed the workouts featured in her videos, Serena Kerrigan
• 17:30
  revealed she'd been using an Ozempic adjacent medicine after
• 17:33
  previously denying it, and Meredith Duxbury, known for her
• 17:36
  excessive foundation application, confessed to wiping
• 17:39
  off much of it after filming. With this context, intellectual
• 17:42
  content creators may be uniquely positioned to rebuild some
• 17:45
  degree of trust. Assuming they're being honest
• 17:48
  about their qualifications and experiences, they already
• 17:51
  operate with a level of perceived legitimacy that other
• 17:54
  influencers might lack. On top of this, the way these
• 17:56
  intellectual creators produce content is different.
• 17:59
  Their videos are often more carefully researched and
• 18:02
  thoughtfully constructed, which limits their ability to post
• 18:05
  daily. Many also have careers outside
• 18:07
  of content creation, a factor that can make audiences more
• 18:10
  inclined to trust them, as their income is not solely dependent
• 18:14
  on views, virality, or brand deals.
• 18:16
  This is something that brand and content strategist Joel Marlon
• 18:19
  Arson explores in a video analyzing the growing popularity
• 18:23
  of intellectual creators. I predicted the rise of the
• 18:26
  intellectual influencer, but no one's talking about why those
• 18:29
  who once made fortunes off their looks, teeth whitening ads,
• 18:32
  tummy tea, hair gummies, fast fashion deals are suddenly being
• 18:35
  asked where is the substance? The beige get ready with me are
• 18:39
  out. In come the experts, people
• 18:40
  trading on knowledge from actually doing.
• 18:42
  You've got dermatologists suddenly creating skin care
• 18:45
  content, successful founders sharing years of lessons
• 18:48
  overnight accountants on gatekeeping finance tips.
• 18:50
  Gatekeeping knowledge is now uncool.
• 18:52
  But what's most important is that these people don't need to
• 18:55
  post. A dermatologist doesn't spend
• 18:57
  years studying to then promote products that they would suggest
• 19:00
  to patients. A psychologist doesn't go broke
• 19:02
  because they don't do an ad for a month, but a lifestyle
• 19:04
  influencer does. And that's why trust is
• 19:06
  shifting. But we're still in the Wild
• 19:08
  West. You've got the people selling
• 19:09
  courses whose only revenue comes from the course.
• 19:12
  Instead of doing the thing inside the course, they're
• 19:14
  selling the unfounded claims. The I'm the fastest growing, I'm
• 19:17
  the biggest. Beyond trust and legitimacy,
• 19:19
  there is a broader need for this kind of content.
• 19:21
  Learning is a positive pursuit, and if social media is where
• 19:24
  young people go to communicate, make sense of the world and
• 19:28
  breakdown discourse, then it is valuable to have at least some
• 19:31
  of that information delivered by people with relevant expertise,
• 19:35
  alongside a diversity of voices and perspectives.
• 19:37
  Of course, all that to say, there are genuinely interesting
• 19:40
  points swirling around the app from intellectual creators
• 19:43
  commentary we frequently reference and discuss.
• 19:45
  But there is also a version of this content that isn't exactly
• 19:49
  helpful, and that's when it becomes performative.
• 19:51
  This begs the question, has TikTok taken the rise of the
• 19:54
  intellectual content creator too far over the past few months?
• 19:57
  It seems that education and learning have become a
• 20:00
  performance rather than a genuine pursuit to broaden world
• 20:03
  views and challenge assumptions. Perhaps this is most obvious
• 20:06
  with the disgustingly well educated trend that we mentioned
• 20:09
  in the intro. Much like the move to make 2026
• 20:12
  the year of analog, the phrase disgustingly well educated
• 20:16
  seemed to be a New Year's resolution to many TikTok users.
• 20:19
  The goal is simple, become disgustingly well educated and
• 20:22
  leave brain rot behind in 2025. Sedo Diaries is perhaps the
• 20:26
  creator most associated with the disgustingly well educated.
• 20:29
  Phrase On December 11th, she posted a 5 minute tick tock with
• 20:32
  text overlaid quote How to be disgustingly educated.
• 20:36
  In her video, she explains her approach, recommending viewers
• 20:40
  to quote, read in pairs a classic novel alongside A
• 20:43
  nonfiction book or watch a film a week, among other suggestions.
• 20:47
  At the time of researching, this video had just under 3 million
• 20:51
  views. Since then, she shared her 2026
• 20:53
  reading schedule and launched her own book and film club.
• 20:56
  Many social media users have embraced her approach, asking
• 20:59
  her to create a curriculum to follow throughout the year.
• 21:02
  We can reasonably presume that Sudo doesn't have any ill
• 21:05
  intentions in creating this content.
• 21:07
  There is something genuinely valuable about carving out a
• 21:10
  corner of the Internet that prioritizes thoughtful
• 21:12
  discussion, critical thinking, and content that isn't AI
• 21:15
  generated. At the same time, though, social
• 21:18
  media users have begun to push back on the disgustingly well
• 21:21
  educated niche, which is not exclusive to Sato.
• 21:23
  To be clear, arguing that has become deeply performative.
• 21:26
  TikTok user Angel Martinez put it well.
• 21:29
  She noted that content centered around being disgustingly well
• 21:32
  educated often positions intellectualism as an aesthetic
• 21:35
  rather than a practice. It isn't necessarily about
• 21:38
  challenging existing perceptions or sitting with discomfort.
• 21:42
  It's about looking like you do. Angel expresses concern for this
• 21:45
  kind of content, questioning whether it can actually lead to
• 21:48
  genuine curiosity and a love of learning.
• 21:51
  The performance element isn't exactly a surprise.
• 21:54
  Online, everything is performance and branding.
• 21:56
  We all lean into certain aesthetics to curate a specific
• 21:59
  vibe. These are conversations we've
• 22:01
  been having for years. Performing Intellect is arguably
• 22:04
  another iteration of identity performance online.
• 22:07
  However, the obsession with seeming smart would undoubtedly
• 22:10
  contribute to media illiteracy. If users are not genuinely
• 22:14
  curious and critically engaged, it leaves them I'll equipped to
• 22:18
  consume this kind of content beyond a service level.
• 22:21
  And various TikTok users have shared this concern.
• 22:23
  User Jem Daisy Thomas noted that niches like book talk have
• 22:27
  turned quote reading into a competitive sport instead of
• 22:30
  allowing readers to sit and think about literature.
• 22:33
  Similarly, creator Devon Shaw Gunput argued that turning
• 22:37
  intellectualism into an aesthetic on TikTok skirts the
• 22:40
  quote UN quote work needed to actually be intellectually
• 22:43
  curious. So the problem I have with the
• 22:45
  being interestingly educated trend is that we're glorifying
• 22:50
  the performative intellectualism that's going around on TikTok
• 22:52
  right now for making it look more aesthetic to have a reading
• 22:56
  list than actually reading the reading list that makes you feel
• 23:00
  stupid while you're reading it. And I know that's the easiest
• 23:02
  thing to do because I'm also learning a new language right
• 23:05
  now. And learning a new language or
• 23:07
  learning any new skill requires you to be dumb in a way that
• 23:11
  feels so ugly because you feel so stupid trying something new,
• 23:15
  especially as an adult. And I just think that this trend
• 23:18
  of being disgustingly educated or stealing people's work to
• 23:23
  perform being smart is just another way of avoiding actually
• 23:27
  doing the work. Of course there are creators
• 23:29
  producing thoughtful, well researched work, but at times
• 23:32
  the niche feels flattened because of the pseudo
• 23:35
  intellectualism. Consider YouTube Madison Brown
• 23:37
  as an example. Known for her video essays,
• 23:40
  Madison recently shared that she is stepping away from the format
• 23:43
  altogether, acknowledging her growing disinterest in common
• 23:46
  geometry content. In her video explaining her
• 23:48
  decision, she noted that as her audience grew, viewers became
• 23:51
  increasingly hostile to opinions that deviated from the quote UN
• 23:55
  quote cookie cutter answer. This pressure to sanitize ideas
• 23:58
  is arguably another byproduct of the anti intellectual culture
• 24:02
  that has seeped into the online world, where audiences seem to
• 24:05
  reward the performance of intellect rather than genuine
• 24:09
  curiosity or originality. What this ultimately reveals is
• 24:13
  that the disgustingly well educated movement and other
• 24:16
  intellectualized content continue to exist alongside anti
• 24:20
  intellectualism and brain rot, not necessarily in place of it.
• 24:24
  With that being said, it's worth asking whether this sort of
• 24:27
  content is actually well suited to short form video and TikTok
• 24:30
  as a platform. It's a difficult question to
• 24:32
  answer because when an intellectual influencer pops up
• 24:35
  on someone's feed, it is an opportunity to learn, and an
• 24:39
  opportunity to learn is generally good.
• 24:41
  But as noted in the second Glance Sub stack quote, the
• 24:44
  medium shapes the message, and short from video has a tendency
• 24:47
  to dilute knowledge rather than deepen it.
• 24:50
  As it reads quote, in today's attention economy, media like
• 24:53
  TikTok, Instagram and Twitter reward content that is short,
• 24:56
  digestible and easy to share. This naturally disadvantages
• 25:00
  more complex, nuanced ideas that require patience and sustained
• 25:04
  focus. But it isn't only the medium
• 25:06
  shaping the message, it's also the culture that exists on each
• 25:09
  platform. Considering this factor also
• 25:11
  helps answer this question more clearly.
• 25:14
  And arguably, Tik Tok's culture is not particularly conducive to
• 25:18
  this kind of intellectual content.
• 25:19
  Of course, we're speaking in generalizations here.
• 25:22
  There are intellectual creators who managed to breakthrough
• 25:25
  meaningfully. But at its core, TikTok is a
• 25:27
  platform that rewards fast-paced, emotionally charged,
• 25:31
  and often inflammatory content, especially given how passive the
• 25:35
  scrolling experience is. Inflammatory content is what
• 25:38
  stops the scroll. The problem is that this kind of
• 25:40
  content leaves little room for nuance, which is precisely where
• 25:44
  intellectual creators tend to thrive.
• 25:46
  This is intensified by the pursuit of virality.
• 25:49
  Some creators, particularly those with less genuine
• 25:51
  intentions, may feel incentivized to jump into any
• 25:54
  topic, regardless of expertise, simply because it's trending.
• 25:58
  This becomes especially concerning once monetization
• 26:01
  enters the picture. The combination of virality
• 26:04
  monetization and passive content consumption doesn't create a
• 26:07
  particularly receptive environment for intellectual
• 26:10
  engagement. Compared to a platform like
• 26:12
  YouTube where seeking out content is a more active
• 26:15
  experience, long form video essays and intellectual style
• 26:18
  content can flourish because the consumption experience is more
• 26:21
  intentional. There haven't been many studies
• 26:24
  specifically examining how TikTok users consume quote UN
• 26:27
  quote intellectual commentary, largely because this is still
• 26:30
  relatively new. However, we can use news
• 26:32
  consumption as a useful proxy. Numerous academic studies have
• 26:36
  explored how incidental news exposure impacts users,
• 26:39
  particularly in relation to political knowledge, civic
• 26:41
  engagement, and misinformation. Some research suggests that
• 26:45
  incidental news exposure is associated with increased
• 26:48
  political participation, information seeking habits, and
• 26:51
  higher levels of news recognition and recall.
• 26:53
  At the same time, findings in this area are far from
• 26:56
  conclusive. Research has also established a
• 26:58
  negative association between social media use and political
• 27:02
  knowledge. Supporting this, Pew Research
• 27:04
  Center survey data from 2020 found that US who use TikTok as
• 27:08
  a new source were, on average, less knowledgeable across a
• 27:12
  range of political topics and more susceptible to
• 27:15
  misinformation and disinformation.
• 27:17
  While news content is not identical to intellectual
• 27:19
  creators and commentary, it is fair to imagine that similar
• 27:23
  attention and comprehension dynamics may apply.
• 27:25
  On top of this, Tik Tok's volatile algorithm, which pushes
• 27:29
  content and creators to users with absolutely no context,
• 27:32
  forces many intellectual creators to repeatedly quote, UN
• 27:36
  quote, prove their legitimate. This often takes a form of
• 27:39
  explaining their career in every video, listing credentials and
• 27:42
  captions, or even physically showing degrees on screen.
• 27:46
  This creates another problem. Short form video makes it easier
• 27:49
  to cosplay expertise than to truly demonstrate it.
• 27:52
  Ultimately, with audiences constantly encountering
• 27:55
  unfamiliar creators, it makes it harder to distinguish between
• 27:58
  expertise and grift. Interestingly, this issue has
• 28:01
  prompted regulatory intervention around the world.
• 28:04
  In China, the Cyberspace Administration has introduced
• 28:07
  new rules requiring anyone offering professional advice
• 28:10
  online to verify their credentials or risk being de
• 28:13
  platformed. We should note here that you
• 28:16
  could argue this approach edges into censorship or limits free
• 28:19
  expression, but it is still an interesting regulatory example.
• 28:23
  Moving through a social media landscape where users are forced
• 28:25
  to prove their legitimacy in one way or another brings us to
• 28:29
  another major issue, plagiarism. This is particularly interesting
• 28:33
  because plagiarism is in many ways built into TikTok.
• 28:37
  In some way's imitation is synonymous with TikTok culture.
• 28:40
  Consider features like stitches, duets, and pulling quote UN
• 28:43
  quote inspo from creators or trends.
• 28:45
  While we have discussed this previously on Mini Scroll, this
• 28:48
  logic can easily extend to intellectual content and
• 28:51
  creators, especially if this niche is perceived as the next
• 28:53
  bandwagon to jump on. If this is the case, it's safe
• 28:56
  to say the risk of plagiarism will likely accelerate and so
• 29:00
  will the amount of grifters on the platform.
• 29:02
  All in all, it's clear that many factors are driving the rise of
• 29:05
  the intellectual influencer, and whether the shift is good or bad
• 29:09
  often depends on which side of the algorithm you're on.
• 29:12
  Even with all this fragmentation, one thing is
• 29:14
  clear. Intellectual influencers have
• 29:16
  gained popularity because the creator economy is less
• 29:20
  trustworthy than ever. There is no denying that these
• 29:22
  creators are trying to push back against that distrust, but they
• 29:26
  have yet to fully succeed and the result is a hellish middle
• 29:29
  ground, a digital world propelled by a culture where
• 29:32
  originality is scarce and pseudo intellectualism is in vogue.
• 29:37
  Infinite Scroll is a podcast produced, presented and Co
• 29:40
  written by me, Lauren Meisner for Centennial World.
• 29:43
  This episode was researched and written by Annabelle and David.
• 29:46
  Thank you so much for listening. I love you guys and I will talk
• 29:49
  to you next week. Bye.
• 29:51
  Centennial World Podcast Network operates on Gadigal land.
• 29:54
  We would like to acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the
• 29:57
  traditional custodians of this land, and pay our respects to
• 30:00
  elders both past and present.