The 2008 crisis has had an effect on how Millennials view money and markets.  Do you remember the Great Financial Crisis?  Do you think it has had an effect on your generation?
Tiffany Zhong:  Honestly, I don’t really remember much about it at all, I was very young.  My parents also shielded us from things. 

We can see, however, that Robinhood is real. If you are judging your self value based on how many likes you have or followers you have then you will have problems. This is a terrible way to value yourself. That is what Instagram has created. It is all just dopamine hits.  

Is living in a virtual world bad preparation for the real world?
Tiffany Zhong:  You can learn a lot in the virtual world - if you use it correctly.

Let’s talk specifically about social media.  What platforms are most relevant to Gen Z?
Tiffany Zhong: YouTube and Instagram are extremely influential. Both set trends. YouTube is longer-form entertainment and content creators, Instagram is more following profiles and photos and seeing celebrities and what they are doing. YouTube is more for entertaining or education. I tell my creators to diversify, but they absolutely have to be on YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.

Is Snapchat still culturally relevant?
Tiffany Zhong: It is still relevant, it is how a lot of Gen Z communicate with each other. More so than iMessage.

What did you think of the Quibi flop?
Tiffany Zhong: They were dead from day one. They had a Boomer mentality. They didn’t think about it from first principles, which is about what is actually relevant to this generation. They didn’t do enough research on the pricing or the type of content that this generation wants. They had celebrities instead of content creators and entertainers. Just because you have celebrities doesn’t mean that people will watch the show. They assumed that just taking the biggest names in the world and making five to ten minute videos would work, but the eyeballs now are on content creators. Big names are always relevant, but will people pay five or ten dollars a month to watch them on a subscription? 

Mr Beast, for example, has 44 million subscribers on YouTube and his manager reached out to Quibi and said let’s do something. Quibi said no. They could have given him a couple of million dollars and just gone viral.  

Why has Facebook lost its relevance for Gen Z?
Tiffany Zhong:  It is the brand that they have built for themselves and the trust they have lost with consumers. Instagram still has that trust. Facebook doesn’t innovate anymore, they simply copy. They copy what is trendy and are always behind.

Is data privacy a big issue for Gen Z?
Tiffany Zhong: No one actually cares. Everyone is talking about it, but consumers don’t care. It is great to feel outrage for an hour, but then they move on to the next topic. As a company, you should obviously care about the consumer and the audience, because you don’t want to break that trust with them. But if you get hacked will you alienate users? Probably not. It has happened to all the big companies and they are still around.  

What would you say to a wealth management firm looking to understand internet culture and Gen Z?
Tiffany Zhong: They have to figure out this new landscape. To take advantage of network effects and get in front of the right people and properly understand Gen Z trends takes work. This is the future of media and you need to understand the consumer companies and products and know the influencers and content creators. They also might want to first figure out why. What is the intent of engaging with them? Are they looking for opportunities or just to gauge attitudes?  

It is also probably best to think of this as understanding internet culture itself rather than just Gen Z. You are really trying to understand internet trends, which is more valuable than trying to segment out different generations. The youth are always setting the trends, and right now it is Gen Z.   

The easiest way to learn about Gen Z and internet culture is to read as much as you can. The best, although time consuming, way to understand this is to spend a couple of hours on TikTok every day and just watch what is trending. Although watching a lot of Gen Z content is hard to do if you are not Gen Z! Maybe give the phone to your kid. But if you look at the comments and read them then that is how you really understand Gen Z quickly.  See how they engage with each other on Twitter or Reddit. Find Gen Z influencers and creators on Twitter and read the threads.  Then you will see what they care about.  

How do you unplug? Your whole life is social media. Where is the line between business and personal life?
Tiffany Zhong: It is crazy. Work and life have bled into each other. It is all of what I do, but it is fun for me. I do have hobbies, I make videos, shoot photography, play tennis and I like to cook, but in all honesty I am not offline very often. Though I do a digital detox every year with friends or family and go offline for a week.