Why 'Template Slop' Is Making Every Influencer's Posts More Beautiful and Less Interesting

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Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Aug 27, 2026 12:30 PM EDT

Much of internet culture has been one long sales pitch to people who want to carve out their own piece of the attention economy.

The World Wide Web gave us access to an audience of just about anyone, anywhere; social media showed us that anyone can make themselves a minor celebrity if they play their cards right, and the monopolization of said social media over most of our screen time encouraged these celebrities-in-waiting to play by the rules of their platform to get the exposure they desired.

The result is a pattern that has been taking over the posting style of Instagram and TikTok recently, with countless lifestyle influencers and creatives trying to cash in on an aesthetically pleasing formula that the algorithm rewards. It involves posting images, preferably as a carousel, with text over them, almost always in pastel colors or white. The post might involve a collage, and of course, it has to have a picture of the creator in there somewhere. If it doesn't name drop some trending vocabulary, such as being kinda chic or maximizing whimsy, it probably promises some listicle-based wisdom about a topic that the creator wants to claim they have authority in. Whether telling their audience what to read to take a break from the doomscroll or advising on how to navigate a particular decade of life, they have the definitive guide. 

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    MY GUIDE TO whimsymaxxing YOUR SUMMER
    via nicscozylife

  • In a Substack posted earlier this month, writer and fashion editor Brenda Weischer coined the term ‘template slop’ to describe this combination of polished approach to presenting content. “It's like I blinked, and everyone is a gifted graphic designer, a storyteller, knows the 10 things to know about anything," she summarized. “Everyone is getting good, and no one is getting better”. 

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    kep kinda chic to not take every- thing so seriously
    via victoriamorse

  • Developing a profitable internet presence has never been more accessible, and developing a few cute slides for a carousel about how to be more of a cool girl is only ever an AI prompt away. Inevitably, this homogenizes things. Creators are already hopping on the same trends until they become a parody of themselves, and now they have a way to package it that makes it even more instantly identifiable.

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    Rosza things every cool g 1 needs to know
    via cultureclubpod

  • This isn't to say that somebody following an attractive blueprint to display their thoughts is a bad thing. In fact, it can be a valuable tool if they have something worthwhile to say. The problem is that it tends to be the aesthetic and not the message that lends these kinds of posts their authority. It is a means to drive engagement and market their personal brand, offering the appearance of insight without actually saying anything particularly memorable. Getting rewarded by the platform for using their in-app editing tools is more important than the contents of the post itself. 

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    5 thing's no one warns you about in your 30s until It's too late
    via mombuiltsuccess

  • Where we used to complain that the internet is not representative of real life, now it isn't even a true outlet for self-expression, either. For Weischer, “it's not a bad thing when everything improves. I think it's only kind of bad when the substance is missing… what will that audience do for you that followed you because of some pink font?” These aestheticized posts have value to social media such as Instagram, but less so to people seeking out a class of influencer with a genuinely original and engaging perspective.

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social media influencers graphic design quick flip
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