The a16z Show · Sunday, August 2, 2026
Ruby Turlough discusses the difficulty of distinguishing genuine social phenomena from micro-trends amplified by algorithms, citing her firm's quantitative analysis of social media data. She uses the example of 'heteropessimism' on TikTok, where her research indicated a decrease in prevalence despite media reports suggesting otherwise.
“So this is one of the hardest things to do on the internet. I like to say, is this a real thing? Is this three Tik Toks in a trench coat, right?”
“Oftentimes when what feels like a trend, what feels like a novel social behavior can just be super micro, super small.”
“And we found that dating content is mostly positive. But our beloved journalist, I think because of their algorithm, I think are getting hit with a lot of that content. And then they think it's a trend.”