Issue 007: The Curation Renaissance
Reviving Human Gatekeeping and Returning Human Judgment
In an era suffocating under infinite content, the most radical act might be saying "this matters" and meaning it.
TL;DR:
85% of Changemakers now trust human recommendations over algorithmic ones, signaling not just fatigue but the collapse of algorithmic authority.
Algorithmic mediocrity has triggered a renaissance of human discernment, with consumers seeking trusted curators, insider communities, and editorial voices that offer genuine discovery.
We're witnessing the rebirth of gatekeeping as a premium service. What was once maligned as elitist exclusion has been reclaimed as essential curation in an age of overwhelming abundance.
The brands that understand this shift and embrace depth over reach, exclusivity over accessibility, and taste over targeting will define the next era of cultural commerce.
The Taste Economy Emerges From Algorithmic Ruins
I'm a magazine kid; I still love magazines. They shaped my taste and continue to do so. I value tastemakers and gatekeepers: editors, programmers, and stylists. In a world where everything is accessible, the most valuable asset has always been knowing what matters.
Our 2025 Changemaker data tells a story nobody buying media wants you to hear: 85% of cultural early adopters now trust human recommendations over algorithmic ones. This isn't users complaining about a feature; it's the market rejecting the entire premise of computational curation.
What's emerging is the Taste Economy. After the algorithmic interregnum of 2009-2023, we're witnessing the inevitable restoration of human judgment as the primary creator of cultural value. Algorithms revealed themselves as not curators but commodifiers, turning your attention into the product while showing you products that maximise your attention.
When 58% of Changemakes say algorithmic recommendations feel ‘predictable’ and ‘homogeneous,’ they're articulating a critique extending beyond technology to capitalism. The issue isn't that the algorithm doesn't know you; it knows you in the most boring, instrumental way possible.
Once imagined as a perfect reflection of our preferences, the idealised algorithm has revealed itself as a funhouse mirror, distorting our tastes through commercial imperatives and engagement optimisation. It delivers unprecedented homogeneity where the least ambiguous, least disruptive, and most profitable pieces of culture are promoted most aggressively.
Our collective response? I hope, and data shows, a magnificent return to human judgment. Messy, inconsistent, biased, and infinitely more valuable.
Algorithms Are Actively Destroying Culture
The widespread narrative of ‘AI disillusionment’ doesn't go far enough. Algorithms aren't just disappointing us; they're diminishing genuine cultural discovery.
We are in a discovery collapse in which constant engagement optimisation has diminished our ability to feel genuine surprise or discovery. Recent research from SparkToro provides further evidence of this algorithmic stranglehold. Their 2024 zero-click search study revealed that for every 1,000 Google searches in the US, only 374 clicks go to the open web. The rest stay trapped in walled gardens designed to maximise scroll depth rather than meaning depth.
This algorithmic suffocation drives a mass migration of younger users toward platforms that prioritise human curation. In 2025, 50% of Tumblr's active monthly users are Gen Z. They've gravitated toward the platform because it remains "more about sharing art, culture, and fandom than individual status," precisely the culture-first approach algorithmic feeds have abandoned.
Gatekeeping: From Cultural Sin to Premium Service
The most promising shift in and for culture is the rehabilitation of gatekeeping. After a decade of technological utopianism that condemned any form of cultural filtering as elitist, we're witnessing gatekeeping's renaissance, not as exclusion but as an essential service.
In an era of information abundance, the ability to filter effectively has become a premium skill. Good taste is cultural literacy: knowing the right references, understanding history, and recognising what matters beneath the surface noise. These human elements are precisely what algorithms struggle to replicate.
The pendulum is swinging dramatically toward high-touch curation and recommendation systems built on human discernment rather than data patterns. Changemaker data suggests we're witnessing the correction to the algorithmic over-correction, a revival of human judgment in response to computational flattening.
This reclamation of gatekeeping as a positive force represents a profound cultural correction. After a decade-plus experiment with open access and algorithmic sorting, we're collectively rediscovering the value of boundaries, expertise, and taste hierarchies. The critical distinction is that today's gatekeepers derive authority not from institutional power but from demonstrated discernment. Cultural capital now flows to those who can navigate overwhelming abundance with skill and intention.
The 2025 Tastemaker: Scene vs. Internet Cool
The modern tastemaker exists in a state of productive tension. They embody what Sean Monahan of 8-Ball brilliantly terms' Scene Cool’ rather than ‘Internet Cool’—a distinction that has become increasingly significant in our hyper-networked world.
‘Scene Cool’ values high quality over high sales, fellow tastemakers over mass-market followers, and specific geographical context over post-geographic audiences. While ‘Internet Cool’ chases clout and virality across global digital networks.
The ‘Scene Cool’ practices a studied absence from digital performance. Their power derives from what they withhold rather than what they share. "IYKYK" (If You Know You Know) isn't just a hashtag but an operating principle. The algorithmic logic of Internet Cool demands constant visibility, engagement metrics, and TikTok-ready moments. In contrast, ‘Scene Cool’ operates through whisper networks, physical presence, and the deliberate creation of information asymmetry.
The ‘Scene Cool’ are ultimately cultural arbiters whose tastes deliberately contradict market trends rather than follow them. They have replaced the mass market influencer as the true vector of cultural capital. These people understand the difference between quality and popularity and recognise that high sales often signal creative compromise rather than excellence.
Cultural influence without digital amplification
The most culturally influential brands now operate in two distinct modes:
Scene Creation: Building genuine cultural experiences for a highly selective audience with strict digital documentation policies.
Myth Management: Allowing controlled glimpses of these experiences to circulate through trusted channels, creating desire through partial visibility rather than total exposure.
Dover Street Market exemplifies this dual approach. Its physical retail spaces function as true scenes, with location-specific curation and installation art that can't be adequately captured digitally. But it releases just enough documentation through its own channels to create mystique without destroying exclusivity.
Their "DSM Private" program requires an application that nobody talks about how to complete. The membership criteria shift constantly. Some members report being invited after multiple in-store purchases; others after attending specific cultural events. The program promises nothing explicit but delivers everything implicitly: first access, exclusive colorways, and installation previews. It's the membership program that refuses to acknowledge it exists.
The 2025 tastemaker navigates this tension with remarkable dexterity. They aren't anti-digital but post-digital, using online tools with intention rather than compulsion. The crucial distinction lies in their relationship with attention: Internet Cool seeks it desperately; Scene Cool appears indifferent. This studied indifference isn't affectation but a genuine prioritisation of depth overreach.
In a world drowning in thirst for likes, views, and validation, the most radical position is genuine satiation, a complete lack of hunger for digital approval. They are deeply knowledgeable experts whose authority comes from depth of understanding rather than breadth of influence.
This isn't nostalgia for pre-internet cultural mechanisms but their evolution into more resilient forms. They accept digital tools; they subordinate them to human judgment and physical context. They understand that the strongest cultural signals can't travel through algorithms without significant degradation.
Why Gatekeepers Have Always Been Essential to Culture
Gatekeeping isn't revolutionary; it's simply the correction of a brief historical anomaly where we convinced ourselves that filters were oppressive rather than generative. Look at any significant cultural movement and find a boundary-keeper at its core.
Tastemakers and gatekeepers serve essential cultural functions through curation, quality control, education, discovery, and preservation. They help audiences navigate overwhelming content abundance while providing expertise, building community, reducing risk, and supporting creators' economic viability. However, their traditional authority faces legitimate challenges from democratised production, questions of representation, concerns about exclusion, and algorithmic alternatives.
The ideal cultural ecosystem balances thoughtful curation with sufficient openness to welcome diverse voices and innovative approaches. It maintains standards while ensuring the cultural landscape remains dynamic, accessible, and representative of human creative expression.
Our 2025 Changemaker data confirms what cultural history has always shown: meaningful culture requires meaningful filters.
The Business of Exclusivity: Inside Brand Secret Clubs
The most forward-thinking brands have already recognised that in the Taste Economy, exclusivity isn't just a marketing tactic but a core business model.
Bottega Veneta deleted all social media in 2021—then went darker. Their "Issue" digital zine circulates only to a pre-selected list of industry figures and clients. Each edition features collection previews and cultural commentary unavailable anywhere else. It can't be subscribed to or purchased. It simply arrives if you're deemed worthy. Bottega created the ultimate status symbol in eliminating public-facing digital presence: content nobody else can see.
032c Apparel operates a Berlin-based WhatsApp group parallel to their magazine. What began as friends sharing references evolved into a global shadow network where product drops are announced between discussions of obscure film screenings and architectural exhibitions. The group has no formal joining mechanism; existing members simply add others they deem compatible.
Jacquemus's "Les Amis" WhatsApp community provides a masterclass in creating the illusion of intimacy at scale. Members receive voice notes from Simon Jacquemus, location pins for pop-up events, and access codes for limited pieces. The group leverages digital tools but deliberately maintains an analog, personalised feel—as if Simon is texting you directly while overlooking a lavender field in Provence.
Telfar inverted the scarcity model with their "Bag Security Program"—a 24-hour window where anyone can pre-order their iconic Shopping Bag in any style. The twist: access to this window comes through a private notification system that prioritises previous customers. It's democratic in theory but hierarchical in practice. A waitlist for the right to wait in line.
None of these approaches are about selling more products. They're about selling meaning through restricted access. In the attention economy, the most valuable thing isn't the purchase but the path to the purchase.
Closed Friends: Corporate Intimacy as Coupon Code
This is getting muddy with Instagram's co-opting of its "Close Friends" feature, revealing a fundamental misunderstanding of influence. Brands are using ‘Close Friends’ stories not for intimacy but for conversion: early access to products and discount codes.
Only 27% of Changemakers now share brand discoveries on social media, down dramatically from 43% in 2021. Nothing feels genuinely worth sharing when everything is optimised for virality or capitalism.
That is why these strategies miss the mark. When Away sends a ‘Close Friends Only’ story, the motivating question isn't "Who deserves special access?" but "How can we maximise conversion while simulating selectivity?" The result feels exactly like what it is: a coupon code delivery mechanism with a veneer of exclusivity.
The distinction between this approach and genuine IYKYK culture is purpose. In authentic taste communities, information gains value through restriction. The underground restaurant is better because it's difficult to get to. In corporate ‘Close Friends’ strategies, the restriction is arbitrary and temporary, a marketing tactic rather than an intrinsic quality.
The most telling statistic is that 68% of consumers who join brand messaging channels do so primarily for discounts, not for ‘connection’ or ‘community’ (Sales Force). This isn't cultural participation; it's transaction-seeking behavior.
True taste communities don't need to manufacture exclusivity; it emerges organically from genuine knowledge, access, or cultural capital scarcity. Exclusivity isn't valuable because it's restricted; it's restricted because it's valuable.
Corporate ‘Close Friends’ strategies reveal a crucial truth: exclusivity cannot be manufactured through features alone. Brands seeing genuine cultural impact aren't creating artificial VIP tiers but are building information asymmetry organically. The question isn't "How can we make people feel special while selling more?" but "What genuine value can we reserve for those most invested in our world?"
Reddit: The Original Human Curation Engine
Despite algorithmic elements, Reddit remains the internet's most resilient human curation system because it preserves the core principle where humans collectively determine what matters. Unlike platforms where content creators chase engagement, Reddit's structure privileges content consumers as the arbiters of value.
This structure explains why "Reddit + [search term]" has become the default information-seeking behavior for many discerning internet users. The implicit assumption: what emerges from Reddit's community filtering is more trustworthy than content optimised for search algorithms or social feeds. Tools like GigaBrain, which layers Reddit commentary over Amazon reviews, merely formalise this widespread practice of seeking human filtration before making decisions.
Reddit represents a distinct model in the curation renaissance: neither the elite IYKYK gatekeeping nor the creator-centric world of neo-blogs, but a distributed collective curation that rewards specialised knowledge, contextual understanding, and community standards. For brands, Reddit isn't just another channel but an object lesson in how human-guided discovery continues to outperform pure algorithmic sorting, even at mass scale.
The Niche Magazine Renaissance: Analog Authority Returns
The resurgence of printed niche magazines represents the Taste Economy's most concrete manifestation. The New York Times reports a 34% increase in independent magazine launches since 2021, with particularly strong growth in ultra-specialised titles.
What unites these publications is their deliberate rejection of digital publishing norms: quarterly or annual publishing schedules, limited press runs that sell out and aren't reprinted, minimal online presence, and zero concession to search optimisation.
Their value proposition isn't comprehensive coverage but extreme depth, curatorial conviction, and aesthetic consistency. A single editorial voice often dominates, with the founder/editor functioning as the primary curatorial force.
The pricing model reinforces this value proposition: Inventory ($35) and Luncheon ($45) signal the shift from content as a commodity to curation as a luxury good.
These publications offer genuine credibility transfer through context rather than reach for brands. A feature in Acid magazine (circulation: 5,000) might generate zero measurable traffic but establish cultural legitimacy in ways a million-impression digital campaign cannot.
These magazines provide exactly what algorithms cannot: a singular human perspective, confidently expressed without the optimisation that characterises algorithmic media. They offer not just content but conviction.
The niche magazine renaissance offers a template for brand communication: embrace constraints, depth, and conviction over reach. The most effective approach isn't creating more content but creating more consequential content. Brands should ask: "What would our communication look like if we eliminated all scaling requirements and optimised exclusively for cultural impact within a specific community?"
Tastemaker Credibility: More Valuable Than Any Advertising
In the Taste Economy, a single mention from a trusted curator demolishes the ROI of even the most optimised ad spend. They are not creating content but transferring cultural capital that no targeting algorithm can replicate. A way to filter, digest, and recontextualise the vast digital archive.
A recommendation from Emily Sundberg's Feed Me isn't an endorsement; it's an anointing. The mechanism isn't mysterious: curators build trust not by being right but by being wrong in interesting ways. They earn the right to be occasionally mystifying because they've proven they're making actual choices rather than optimising for metrics. This explains why brand discovery sharing on social media has collapsed from 43% to 27% since 2021 (Changemaker Report). Conventional social media is now recognised as a computational environment where sharing feels like feeding the machine rather than informing a friend.
The curator relationship operates at a fundamentally different psychological level than advertising. An algorithm might know you like blue Oxford shirts, but a tastemaker knows why a particular blue Oxford matters in a lineage of blue Oxfords. This contextual knowing, placing objects in historical and cultural frameworks rather than recommendation matrixes, creates the value premium.
From Algorithmic Cool to Authentic Expression
In "A Contempt for Cool," in i.D magazine, fashion editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson articulates how ‘cool’ has become "a tool of control, a spectre of unattainable effortlessness so far from reach that the desire to achieve it minimises people's desire to take risks."
What she calls ‘the uniform of cool’; fine woven tops paired with barrel-leg, neutral-tone trousers has become ubiquitous precisely because it's the aesthetic most compatible with algorithmic distribution. It's optimised for engagement without disruption.
But Karefa-Johnson elevates this critique beyond aesthetics into politics: "As we witness the world slip further into conservatism, with new systems of control cropping up every day, style (can and should) reemerge as a beacon of freedom." This frames the rebellion against algorithmic sameness as resistance against broader mechanisms of social control.
Her call to "redefine cool by championing our otherness" positions authentic self-expression as a political act. The personal rejection of algorithmic determinism becomes part of a larger movement reclaiming human agency in multiple domains.
The Human Touch Premium: Paying to Escape Algorithms
Perhaps the most commercially significant finding in our 2025 Changemaker research is consumers' increasing willingness to pay to escape algorithmic culture. This human touch premium represents a profound inversion of digital commerce assumptions. 54% of Changemakers will pay a premium for ‘human’ produced/ crafted products or services.
62% of Changemakers now follow archive accounts on social media, seeking the depth and context that algorithmic feeds typically lack. Meanwhile, platforms built around human curation thrive as alternatives to algorithmically sorted feeds.
This shift demands urgent recalibration for brands. Traditional marketing frameworks optimised for algorithmic distribution are increasingly ineffective with cultural early adopters.
How Brands Should Navigate the Gatekeeping Renaissance
For brands seeking relevance in the Taste Economy, the imperatives are clear:
Prioritise depth over reach. Cultural relevance now comes from deep engagement with specific communities rather than algorithmic distribution across fragmented audiences. It is better to matter deeply to a few than barely register with many. This means investing in Reddit communities or specialised Discord servers where genuine enthusiasm exists rather than chasing mass reach on algorithm-dominated platforms.
Embrace curation as a core brand function. Brands that filter and contextualise effectively create substantial value, particularly in categories suffering from choice overload. Create "digital gardens" where content is organised by human meaning rather than algorithmic relevance. Consider how your brand can function as a trusted filter rather than just a content creator.
Create insider communities. Facilitate valuable connections through smaller, more curated communities with genuine access to your brand's thinking and process. Rather than trying to make AI-driven personalisation work at scale, focus on creating truly distinct experiences for your most engaged community members.
Design for discovery, not convenience. The reflexive optimisation for ease has eliminated the pleasure of discovery. Create moments of serendipity and exploration rather than algorithmically determined paths that reinforce existing preferences. Take inspiration from Reddit's ability to surface unexpected connections through human voting rather than prediction algorithms.
Address posting paralysis. Many users have become reluctant to share content online. Create safer, more meaningful context for participation that counteracts the self-consciousness that plagues mainstream platforms. Consider focusing on comments sections and community discussions rather than content creation, as these spaces retain more authentic engagement.
Engage with human curators authentically. Rather than trying to game newsletter mentions or Discord shoutouts, build genuine relationships with influential tastemakers based on shared values and aesthetic alignment. Be wary of AI curation tools that promise to automate these relationships; they often strip away the very context and specificity that make human curation valuable.
Revive the art of editorial collaboration. Treat content not as marketing material but as editorial collaborations with respected voices who maintain genuine independence. When using sentiment analysis or opinion-mining AI tools like GigaBrain, prioritise preserving the individual voice and context of human opinions rather than aggregating them into flattened insights.
Navigate Reddit intelligently. Recognise that Reddit functions as a distinct curation ecosystem with its own rules and values. Rather than treating it as another marketing channel, approach subreddits as knowledge communities with their own standards and currencies of credibility. The brands that succeed here don't algorithmically optimise content but participate genuinely in the collective curation process.
The Future Is Human-Guided
We're witnessing the end of algorithmic hegemony over cultural discovery. Not because algorithms have failed technically, but because they've failed to deliver on their core promise: meaningful personalisation that respects human complexity.
The twin phenomena of failed corporate intimacy strategies and thriving niche publications reveal the same underlying truth: Cultural relevance cannot be engineered through features or formats but emerges from genuine conviction and context. Algorithms excel at optimising for known patterns; humans excel at creating new ones.
In this emerging landscape, the most valuable skill isn't algorithmic optimisation but cultural navigation: identifying what matters amid infinite options. Taste enables brands to punch above their weight but requires leadership with genuine discernment. Because of the more exquisite aspects of taste, emotional resonance, sensitivity to culture and time, and knowing when to break rules are things at which AI will never excel.
Gatekeeping, once dismissed as an outdated relic of pre-digital culture, has been reborn as an essential service. Not to restrict access but to create meaning in a world drowning in content. The brands and platforms that recognise this shift will not only survive the decline of algorithmic authority but thrive by facilitating a more human-centered mode of discovery.
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Download our 2025 Changemaker Report here to learn more about 2025’s cultural shifts. Don't just scan it; its depth requires thoughtful consideration to unlock its full strategic value.