#VIRAL, The Newsletter: July 17, 2025

The art of the Instagram Story makes it to TikTok as a narrative-building trend

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Girl and the Gov®
July 17, 2025

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TIKTOK CONTENT TRENDS

Give these a whirl (and post them on Reels & Shorts too)

“I JUST NEED SOME WATER” TREND: This trend has creators dropping videos of scenic moments on the water, suggesting that via the verbiage added to their video, that being on the water is their solution for what ails them. The verbiage added to the videos is as follows:

  • “I’m okay. I just need some water.”

  • The water: 

Both lines of verbiage have potential as places in which political messaging can be inserted – for example:

  • “I’m okay. I just needed some water protected by [INSERT NAME OF A LAW HERE].”

  • The water that’s protected by [INSERT NAME OF LAW HERE]”

Both lines don’t have to include the political message to be effective – in fact, better to just integrate it on one line. This concept can work for programs that impact a body of water, local gov best practices that keep a body of water clean, and so on.

“THE ART OF THE INSTAGRAM STORY” TREND: Despite a nod given to Instagram in this trend’s name, it’s chiefly built for TikTok. And in its growing existence in the feed, the trend has creators sharing a carousel of images that they’d either share on their Instagram Story because the images reflect their modus operandi, or are images that they’ve already shared to their story that have operated with the same context in mind. The trend can easily be applied to political accounts, sharing a mix of on-the road content inclusive of meeting with constituents, potential voters, etc, examples of policy at work [ex: a bridge made possible by funding secured by an elected], and so on, that share with the viewer what IG stories are indicative of what the account’s principal is about.

“DO YOU GAMBLE?” TREND: As seen here, this trend makes light of an action taken, that in a sense, is a gamble. Specifically, the trend has the creator posing the question (and answering it) of “do you gamble?” The answer is again, that likely daily action, that has varied results. In a political application, the trend could be used by an organization that endorses candidates, acknowledging that an endorsement or push behind a campaign is a risk, but a worthwhile one. The trend could also be used by an elected making light of their attempts to get a member of the opposite party on board a piece of legislation. It’s a trend all about showing the dynamics of risk and reward in political decision making.

“TIPPY TOE” CHALLENGE TREND: You may have seen this trend making its rounds, and bringing this Nicki Minaj song to the forefront of everyone’s brains, as well as Nicki’s signature pose. And in this trend – which btw, do at your own risk – creators are squatting ten toes down on one leg, in heels, showing that they have stamina – and tbh, that pilates is paying off. The vibe of the trend is that they’re standing on business, and for the athletically inclined that can pull this off, the verbiage added to the screen could be about standing on business on a belief or against the opposition. For example, for a state AG doing the trend, the text could read: “POV: me when the Trump Admin tries to withhold Congressionally mandated education funds.” The caption could then feature details on the lawsuit that’s ensuing. It’s very “they can’t knock me down, best wishes” vibes.

“BRUNCH WITH THE GIRLS” AUDIO: This audio will 1000% be stuck in your head after listening, but the positive is that it’s also a giddy, happy, creator-made bop on being excited to go get ‘brunch with the girls.’ The audio can be used with a group of electeds, candidates, thought leaders, that are pals, and going to brunch or are at brunch. The political twist isn’t the “who,” but also the text that could be added to the video – a few examples:

  • “Brunch with the girls except we’re talking about [ISSUE/PERSON IN POLITICS/POLITICAL SITUATION]”

  • “Brunch with the girls except it’s us debriefing [INSANE POLITICAL SITCH THAT HAPPENED]”

  • “Brunch with the girls feat. our fave spots in [DISTRICT/TOWN/LOCALE THAT’S RELEVANT]”

TIKTOK AUDIOS

TikTok audios for BTS and b-roll vids

AUDIO → The Kite

AUDIO → Crazy in Love

AUDIO → original sound flightschool *could be good for nostalgic edits of past reps that people love or elected [ex: Obama b-roll], or two reps that have a bromance that are separated when they’re out of session

INSTA REELS AUDIOS 

Background audios that make Reels move

AUDIO → Deslocado

AUDIO → Deeper Well

AUDIO → Disparate Youth

AUDIO → Mexican Dream

AUDIO → Mix: Paul Anka

Creative content concepts to try

“JUST ANOTHER DAY IN CALIFORNIA” AUDIO: For those living in California, this audio is gorgeous, perfect – kind of like the many natural landmarks and parks throughout the state. The audio pokes fun at Republicans who think that the state is trash, but as seen with the many Reels that have come before paired with this audio, the state is anything but trash. It’s a quick visual that proves them wrong, and claps back, but with nature and a caption area to brag about what California does right.

“I LIED TO YOU” AUDIO: This audio has already been adopted many times for political Reels, but in our opinion, it should be used even more to point out lies from the opposition. Use the audio to do a split screen, sharing someone in the opposition’s lie in action; use it with b-roll of the liar, showing a quote from them versus the action that they’ve taken that makes them a liar; and even use it with a Carousel post.

“GOLDEN MARSHMELLOW” TREND: Calling all campaign golden retrievers that break down barriers for people – this audio is for you [or rather your owners to use with videos of you being a goofball]. The resulting video, which can make use of loads of dog-approved b-roll, provides an approachable, soft way to bring people – yes, people – into the fold and get to know the candidate.

THREADS TO THREAD

Reply or Repost to these digital notes on Threads

The Thread → Reply OR repost share another moment where Trump either forgot that he was responsible for an action that he’s complaining about OR is scapegoating someone/something else, again for an action he himself took.

The Thread → Reply OR repost with a bit of relatable lore about yourself.

The Thread → Reply OR repost with a political green flag that you notice or have noticed upon meeting someone.

The Thread → Reply OR repost with your thoughts on releasing the Epstein files.

The Thread → Reply OR repost by adding more details on what “recission” means and how it’s relevant this week.

The Thread → Reply OR repost if you’re a blue dot in a red state making things happen – running for office, running an org, etc

SKIES ARE BLUE

Trending topics ATM on Bluesky

Trump and Powell

Reddit Issues

Superman Movie

Big Brother 27

Culture meets social Insights from Open Tabs’ Lucy Ritzmann

The Quick Scoop:

Lucy Ritzmann is the author of Open Tabs, a bi-weekly newsletter sharing the latest + greatest stories in politics, social media, tech, and pop culture. Subscribe to get the debrief in your inbox every Tuesday and Friday. 

The need-to-know:

This week, I got a notification on TikTok that blasted me back into the 2014, peak-Buzzfeed era. 

That’s right, Tasty, Buzzfeed’s cooking vertical, which I haven’t thought about in the many years since my best friend in high school and I used to lock ourselves in the kitchen, and try out five recipes all at the same time, is fighting for relevance once more – and is trying out TikTok’s latest feature. 

But my question is… why? I’m in many (too many) Instagram broadcast channels, and I was really excited about them at first… Broadcast channels, in theory, offer brands and public celebrities a closer way to interact with their most devoted followers by sharing a look behind the scenes, polls, and other exclusive content. But, in my experience, the hype quickly cooled and, for many, broadcast channels are just something that clogs up their DMs. 

Which is why it’s so interesting to me that TikTok – which is, of course, already facing so much chaos – is trying to duplicate a feature of another app that might not work so well? And even when they try to copy successful features, that’s not always what users are craving from them: for example, when’s the last time you opened a TikTok Story?

However, every new feature – whether it seems fated for long-term success or not – undeniably presents an opportunity. It’s safe to assume that there’s some kind of algorithmic reward for trying an app’s new features. So people who are hoping on the “bulletin board” trend and, like Tasty, being pro-active about getting people to join their channels may very well see bumps in engagement, followers, etc.

And how is that going for Tasty? It seems like pretty well. As of writing this, the channel was formed about six hours ago: They have 6,900 folks in there (with, for context, a following of 4.8 million on TikTok), and it seems like the reax are reax-ing in the chat. It’ll be super interesting to see how this plays out and how other accounts use this feature 👀

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