Fanny Packs Are the New Hotness: Throwback streetwear continues to grow in popularity and according to eBay, more than 57,000 fanny packs were purchased on the site in 2017. These aren’t all ironic belt bags, however. High fashion designers are getting into the mix: Rihanna put them in her Fenty line for Puma and Supreme x Louis Vuitton made news during Fashion Week in September. We’re seeing an uptick in social conversation on this topic, like “I might have to buy a Fanny pack,” or “I’m wearing legwarmers & a jean jacket, plus I wore a fanny pack to work. All about regression, boo” and “Is that a… designer fanny pack?” – and those are all from a half hour scan this morning. (LINK)
Instagram Now Shows when Users were Last Active: Copying Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, Insta users can now see when you were last using Instagram from the direct messages screen. This new feature, “Show Activity Status,” is enabled by default, but YOU CAN TURN IT OFF! The only catch is you won’t be able to see it for others if you turn it off. Choose your fate wisely. (LINK)
Join Your Local Neighborhood Facebook Group: On the heels of Facebook’s algorithm news prioritizing group and friend conversations, we’re spending more time paying attention to Next Door and local Facebook Group communities, in all of their messy, human glory. This piece on the Outline puts it well, “It’s a magical petri dish of local action, and at a time when local news is slowly suffocating, it’s a nice reminder of place and custom.” And who doesn’t want to hear all that hot local gossip, random things for sale nobody would want to buy, or runaway emu haunting Greg’s neighborhood for the last two months. (LINK)
Our Favorite Podcast of 2017: Quartz recently named Dis/sect the best Podcast of 2017, and we agree. The latest series is a track by track breakdown of Kanye West’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” in Serial-esque format, breaking down samples, inspiration and lyrical meaning. You’ll never hear Kanye the same way again. (LINK)
App of the Week: Die With Me is a new chat app you can only use when you have less than 5% battery (YOU MONSTER!). Now you can “Die together in a chatroom on your way to offline peace.” (LINK)
GREG SWAN 