Generation Z(oplo)

The days when social media was merely about posting your shower thoughts and vignette filtered photos feel like a distant memory, as the various platforms now have a myriad of ways for users to interact with each other. Stories, group chats, snaps, games, you name it. 

Gen Z had barely started walking and talking before they were thrust into the modern world of information technology, and their unmatched ability to understand social media comes as naturally to them as, well, walking and talking. 

One particular element that Gen Z, dubbed ‘Digital Natives’, can’t seem to get enough of are polls. There seems to be a deep, subconscious desire for expressing one’s opinion on the internet via the click of a button, and, although most won’t admit it, an even greater sense of satisfaction when your poll option is the most popular, validating that their opinion is in fact the correct one. 

Take the SYSCA polls on Instagram, for example. The Gen Z-run account @shityoushouldcareabout, which boasts 3.4 million followers, puts on an (almost) daily “mundane poll” to settle the most tedious yet fascinating debates. Should you sleep with socks on? How do you pronounce the word ‘either’? Is milk sweet or savoury? The people MUST know! 

If you’re sitting down for a cup of tea, procrastinating the tasks you need to get on with, then consider scrolling through the SYSCA poll comments and liking every single one that agrees with you, and shaking your head at those who don’t. Mmmm the sweet taste of confirmation bias. 

Popular meme account @Pubity has also taken to the poll scene to engage with its 38 million followers. On a mission to find Gen Z’s favourite actors, artists, and TV characters, Pubity has started creating master polls, that is, polls within polls! Users are to choose between two famous people, of which the winner will make it to the next round, until a champion is crowned. 

As if Gen Z’s polling obsession couldn’t get any stronger, they now have the ultimate polling app to unleash all their strong opinions and burning questions. We built Zoplo last year and it has already had 76,000+ users casting 7 million votes across 28,000+ polls. 

When it comes to polling, Zoplo is as niche as it gets, with obscure polls about dating life being a popular go to. You can follow other users and see what polls they have voted in. 

Gen Z’s intertwined relationship with internet technology has earnt them some Black-Mirror worthy nicknames, including ‘internet generation’ and ‘iGeneration’ - but is it time we consider a new name that encompasses the poll fixation of 1997-2012 babies? So how about Gen Z…oplo? Generation Zoplo. Seems appropriate.

Perhaps a few generations from now we will look back on Gen Zoplo and think: ‘What on earth was up with these poll-obsessed youths???’... and then someone will ask that exact question on a poll… on zoplo… and the cycle repeats!