How the creator economy is making you talk like the internet

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The episode examines how the creator economy shapes language, culture, and identity through social media algorithms. Linguist-influencer Adam Alexic explains that “algo speak,” viral slang, and even speaking styles are influenced by platform incentives, engagement metrics, and audience categorization. The result is a feedback loop where creators adapt language to the algorithm, while the algorithm amplifies what spreads.

Main Topics: Creator economy and language as a business (Priority: 5/5): The episode frames content creation as a market where creators monetize attention, and language itself becomes part of the product. Adam Alexic shows how optimizing words, pacing, and framing helps content travel further. Algo speak and platform-circumvention language (Priority: 5/5): Alexic explains how social platforms suppress certain terms, leading users to invent alternatives like “unalive.” These euphemisms begin as workaround language but can spread offline and into everyday speech. Algorithms shaping trends, slang, and identity (Priority: 5/5): The conversation explores how platforms reward repetition, trending metadata, and hyper-specific labels. Words like skibbity, demure, and cottagecore spread because algorithms promote them and creators respond to that demand. Speech styles and influencer accents (Priority: 4/5): Alexic describes influencer-specific speaking patterns, including fast, high-energy delivery and “educational influencer” or lifestyle-influencer accents, which are selected by audience behavior and platform optimization. Generational language and youth as bellwethers (Priority: 4/5): The episode argues that middle schoolers and teens are the earliest adopters of language change, making them useful indicators of where slang and social meaning are headed. Risks of extremism and algorithmic amplification (Priority: 5/5): Beyond harmless slang, the episode warns that algorithms can amplify harmful ideologies by spreading terms from extremist or misogynistic online spaces into mainstream youth culture. Media theory, code-switching, and long-term cultural impact (Priority: 4/5): Using McLuhan and Innis, Alexic compares algorithms with earlier media shifts, arguing that different platforms shape language differently and that people should consume multiple media types to maintain perspective.

Key Arguments: Social media algorithms do not just distribute language; they actively shape which words, styles, and identities become visible and valued. Creators adapt their vocabulary, tone, and pacing to maximize retention and engagement, making language a tool for algorithmic survival. Platform constraints, like suppression of certain words, generate euphemisms such as “unalive,” which can spread from online communities into offline speech. Algorithms reward repetition and trend-following, which helps words like skibbity and demure spread quickly through memes, hashtags, and viral audio. Many trending aesthetic labels, such as cottagecore, are not organic categories but commercially useful identities reinforced by recommendation systems. Younger users are often more fluent in recognizing algorithmic manipulation, but they are also exposed to radicalizing content and extremist vocabulary. Language itself is not the problem; rather, the cultural and political incentives behind how algorithms circulate words can normalize harmful ideas. Different media produce different communication norms, and books, news, and in-person conversation remain important counterbalances to algorithm-driven feeds.

Data Points: Adam Alexic followers: over 3 million - He is known as Etymology Nerd across platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Gen Z interest in influencing: more than half - The episode says more than half of Gen Z in the U.S. would like to be a social media influencer if given the opportunity. Views on tea/chai video: over 16 million - One of Alexic’s most popular videos explaining the words chai and tea. Age: 24 - Alexic is described as 24 years old while making a decent salary from content creation and authorship. Middle school teacher surveys: 1000+ - Alexic cites examples of unalive from surveys of more than a thousand middle school teachers. Dictionary recognition: word of the year in 2024 - Demure’s new viral meaning helped make it Dictionary.com’s word of the year in 2024. Trend velocity: within a year - Alexic says a word like riz can move from obscurity to Oxford English Dictionary word-of-the-year status in about a year. Platform constraint example: kill is suppressed on TikTok - Used to explain why creators adopt euphemisms like unalive.

Pivotal Quotes: "We are entering an entirely new era of language change driven by social media algorithms." — Adam Alexic: He explains why platform incentives are transforming how slang spreads and evolves. "The algorithm really knows me. The algorithm gave you that identity." — Adam Alexic: Discussion of cottagecore and how recommendation systems shape user self-conception. "I am an optimist for younger generations having literacy about this stuff. I am not an optimist in terms of algorithms and how they impact our culture." — Adam Alexic: He distinguishes between hope for user awareness and concern about platform power.

Implications: Listeners should be more skeptical of “natural” online trends and aware that platforms shape speech, identity, and ideology. For creators, language optimization is now part of the job; for audiences, media literacy and diversified information sources are essential.