It’s leaving influencers utterly speechless — and social media users couldn’t be happier.
Scrolling through an endless cycle of talking heads on TikTok, each convincing digital audiences to buy or try the latest buzzy bottle, book, bite or beauty hack, is growing stale.
So now, rather than incessantly flapping their gums about the goodies they hope to hype, cyber trendsetters are taking a golden vow of silence.
“People online are growing tired of everyone having an opinion about things,” NYC luxury content creator Cassie Thorpe, 30, from Hell’s Kitchen, told The Post.
“Sometimes they just want influencers to show them whatever it is they’re promoting without saying a word.”
Enter the #SilentReviews trend.
The antithesis of the ever-voguish “Get Ready With Me,” or #GRWM, trend — a 175.5 billion views-strong movement that sees TikTok tastemakers prattle away as they walk followers through their primping processes — the new silent reviews craze, with more than 118 million views, offers fans a talk-free appraisal of an item or fad with a welcomed dash of ASMR.
A highly appealing sensation to most, ASMR, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, refers to a pleasantly prickly tickle around the head and neck that is triggered by visual and auditory stimuli.
And silent reviewers like Thorpe, whose wordless commentary on her collection of designer mini bags has garnered more than 5.7 million views, rely on the audio-induced boost to ignite internal fires in their online fan bases.
In her crowd-pleasing clip, Thorpe can be heard clicking her claw-like nails against the leathers of her Dior, Chanel, Bulgari and Jacquemus purses, jingling their straps, fastening their zippers and unclasping their buttons while showcasing each tote’s stylishness.
Lifestyle influencer Stephanie Pena, however, snuck in a few light whispers during her hushed audit of Poppi prebiotic soda flavors.
Makeup maven Mei Tham used exaggerated hand gestures and noises to convey her honest thoughts about grooming goops like the Laneige lip sleeping mask and Yves Saint Laurent lipsticks to her more than 3.3 million watchers.
Silence has become increasingly trendy amongst virtual movers and shakers over the past few years.
In August, Gen Zs with a yen for sound-free fitness sparked the #SilentWalk trend, promoting folks to take leisurely strolls sans headphones or other noisy distractions. And a number of digital entrepreneurs are cashing in, including UK native Lottie Fellows, 20, who has earned a whopping $58,000 by sharing videos of herself speaking softly.
And while silent reviews are fast being adopted by influencers of all niches, it was actually pioneered in October by a creator exclusively known as Stephanie, 35, a member of TikTok’s book-lovers community, #BookTok.
In her inaugural post, the avid reader used ASMR to praise and pooh-pooh a series of tomes for an audience of nearly 371,000 bookworms.
The millennial tells The Post that she had no intentions of kickstarting a digital phenomenon. Instead, she just wanted to be “silly.”
“I hit record, sat down and began winging it,” she said. “My first video really took off … I was compared to Mr. Bean, the Minions and Ryan Reynolds.”
“So many people were commenting things like, “I understand everything you’re not saying.’”
However, in the wake of the trend’s supersonic boom, Stephanie, a married mother of two from Hawaii, has since shied away from the mania.
“I kind of feel like I created a monster,” she confessed in a video shared in November.
“I’m super happy and excited that so many people have participated in the trend,” Stephanie continued. “But how big silent reviews have become has dramatically plummeted my interest in doing them.”
Her slightly diminished enthusiasm aside, the creative says silent reviews will always have a special place in her heart — and on her socials.
“I love making silent reviews, but I don’t want it to be the only thing I do,” Stephanie told The Post. “Part of what makes posting on TikTok fun is constantly coming up with new, silly and engaging ways to talk about books.
“I still post at least one silent review every month, and will probably continue to do that until the end of time.”
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