Hello fellow citizens of the internet! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
Happy Friday! Our top stories today are about: A person who showed exactly what happens to your luggage after dropping it off at the airport, why the meaning of “babygirl” has a whole new context online, how data from the nation’s leading cigarette manufacturer has been exposed online, and how people are resonating with a video of a woman saying she orders “emotional support” Coke on DoorDash.
After that, our Culture Editor Tiffany has her “This Week on the Internet” column for you about how Sad Affleck memes are back.
Plus, it is Friday, which means it is time for our weekly news quiz! If you guess the correct answer, you’ll be entered to win a “Blogs in Bloom” shirt. Good luck!
See you around the internet.
— A.W.
⚡ Today’s top stories
🧳 CAUGHT ON CAMERA
‘This feels illegal’: Passenger puts camera on luggage to see ‘what the airport does with their bag’
A curious TikToker wondered what happens to your bag once you entrust it to airline staff on a flight—so he attached a small camera to his luggage to “find out what the airport does with my bag.”
📱 INTERNET CULTURE
What does babygirl mean? And why does it refer to middle-aged men?
The original meaning of “babygirl” is pretty self-explanatory, functioning as a cutesy, diminutive endearment aimed at women. Over the past couple of years, it’s developed a whole new context online.
🔒 TECH
Leaked data from tobacco giant Philip Morris posted to 4chan
Data from Philip Morris USA, the nation’s leading cigarette manufacturer, has been exposed online following an apparent breach at a cybersecurity firm.
🥤 VIRAL
‘It makes me feel something’: DoorDash customer orders just an ’emotional support’ Coke from McDonald’s
In a viral video that has been viewed over 266,000 times, one TikToker showed how she uses DoorDash for emotional support. Yet many responded by saying, effectively: Same.
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🌐 Take our weekly news quiz!
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People online have doubts about the NYPD’s claim that someone made a Molotov cocktail with a bottle of a certain brand of sparkling water. What was the brand?
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🌴 Chill vibes only
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🗣️ This Week on the Internet
Sad Affleck strikes again
In each edition of web_crawlr we have exclusive original content every day. On Fridays our Senior Culture Editor Tiffany Kelly recaps the most pressing online discourse of the week in her “This Week On The Internet” column. If you want to read columns like this before everyone else, subscribe to web_crawlr to get your daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to you inbox.
🕸️ Crawling the web
Here is what else is happening across the ‘net.
🌴 A woman who worked as a nanny is going viral after sharing that a family had the audacity to ask her to take care of their kids on vacation for free.
🌮 On UberEats, Taco Bell sauces can occasionally be added to an order free of charge. This got one person thinking: what if a customer places an order of solely sauce packets? And that’s exactly what they did.
🔊 Talk about bad luck. A user on TikTok has gone viral after moving out of an apartment with noise problems—and into another apartment with noise problems.
⛽ A TikToker’s PSA about safety measures while pumping gas has drawn over 1.8 million views and triggered a debate among viewers about the safest practices.
🏠 With more and more people finding home ownership a distant dream, this viral video of one person’s home shopping is resonating with a lot of people.
🦠 From the Daily Dot archive: Here are the viral marketing campaigns that helped shape the internet as we know it.
🛒 A Walmart employee received mixed reactions toward her viral video about store customers who approach her with questions while she’s completing other tasks.
🔨 A Home Depot worker claimed that they were fired from their job for making TikTok videos during their breaks.
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📅 Meme of the Week
Clips from the TV show The Good Doctor went viral this week, and “I am a surgeon” became a big Twitter meme.
