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Comment by tokioyoyo | Hacker News Reader

The social commentary i’ve read is that some fast trends are made and followed by the “top trend makers”. Then they fade out in those circles, and dwindle to “common people”. But at that point, it’s not really cool or status symbol.

The way I understood is, if you’re hyper-online and very consumerist, you’ll want to onto the train fast, and get off it fast so you would be deemed as a “trend maker” rather than “trend follower”. I’m not sure if I’m making sense, but it’s a bit more visible within Tokyo/Shanghai subcultures. It was less visible to me in Vancouver, where there’s a single main culture (everything outdoor and outdoor related) and not participating is also “not cool”.

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Isn't that the whole idea of hipsters? They existed far before online culture. And not much different to how teenagers have always rebelled against the traditional culture.

It's just been accelerated by the internet since something goes from being fairly obscure to being known by your grandma in 2 months now.

hipsters are more like a permanent rejection of the mainstream, trend makers want the mainstream to follow them

> I’m not sure if I’m making sense,

Not sure how you could make sense when the topic it self is nonsensical?? Trying to rationalize internet fads just seems as futile as getting involved with the fad itself.

Not necessarily. Things that make look weird on the outside might make sense as status games on the inside. (Or other weird 'games'.)

It's no worse than the peacock's tail.

It kinda makes sense if you talk to people who is "in the game". I know some people who do trend-chasing with their own friends, and find it fun. Not my thing, but who am I to judge some harmless consumeristic fun?

What is trend-chasing? I genuinely have no idea… is it getting onto something early and hoping it catches on so you were early? How could one even do that in an age where everything is being manipulated by algos and bot farms to make it appear that way?

Kinda. It's like like an in-group status signaling that "i discovered this before it became popular". As mentioned above, some sort of being a "hipster", but with fast-changing trends. To my understanding, it's done less consciously. Think of "oh, there's a new restaurant in town, we should check it out" idea, and people standing in a line waiting to be one of the first "to taste it".

Part of it might be the influencer culture. Which some people fall under. Be the first to have this cool thing (Labubu) or present it visibly Dubai Chocolate, could drive some engagement and thus money or clout.

I think this might also fall lower in hierarchy, just being seen as early for your friend circle.

i’m confident that this phenomenon is accelerated in “internet culture” but this is how all trends function, whether flare-cut jeans or beanie babies

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