If you’ve spent any time on social media in the past week, be it TikTok or otherwise, you’ve almost certainly encountered a sudden burst of people buzzing about the Roman Empire or filming themselves commuting on public transit while quickly tilting their cameras around, citing the “Tube Girl effect” as their motivation. The two trends have even collided in content from creators such as Chris Olsen, who created a video with the so-called Tube Girl captioned “She is my Roman Empire.” 

Though both of these trends originated on TikTok, they spilled over onto the internet more broadly in a matter of days. It’s part of a larger pattern of TikTok trends shaping internet culture as a whole and setting the topics of discussion across social media platforms for both users and brands. 

Here are five of the biggest trends that have taken hold of TikTok and beyond in the past few weeks, from a new revelation about the Roman Empire to Taylor Swift's impact on the NFL. If you missed our most recent round of trends, you can catch up here. 

Tube Girl

Sabrina Bahsoon’s rise to TikTok virality has been dizzyingly swift. The model—dubbed “Tube Girl” by TikTok users—has drawn widespread internet attention for her high-energy videos of herself commuting on London’s underground transit system. Each of Bahsoon’s videos follows a distinct format, with the creator chaotically swiveling her camera around to film herself at a variety of different angles while lip-synching and dancing along to pop songs. 

Though Bahsoon began posting these videos in August, the Tube Girl trend is still dominating TikTok. According to TikTok data, the hashtag #TubeGirl amassed 72 million views in just the past week, and over 10,000 videos were created using the hashtag in that same timeframe. 

Brands including MAC Cosmetics and Hugo Boss have already capitalized on Bahsoon’s virality and struck deals with the model for sponsored videos, but it’s also possible to participate in the Tube Girl phenomenon without partnering with the Tube Girl herself.

More: Brands are embracing Tube Girl’s self-confidence ethos

A slew of brands have emulated Bahsoon’s unique filming style in their own TikTok videos, including the Boston Bruins, streaming service Tubi, airline AirBaltic and Co-op, a U.K. grocery retailer. Others, such as non-alcoholic beer brand Days Brewing, have put a satirical spin on the trend by documenting their social media teams’ (ultimately successful) efforts to get their boss to participate in the Tube Girl trend. 

‘This is my Roman Empire’

Like the Tube Girl phenomenon, a renewed interest in the Roman Empire has also escaped the confines of TikTok and seeped into the larger internet culture. The trend began with women on TikTok asking their (usually male) partners how frequently they think about the Roman Empire—which, it turns out, is more often than the internet expected. 

The revelation that many men are mulling over the Roman Empire on a “weekly,” “consistent” or even “daily” basis quickly resulted in people using the phrase, “This is my Roman Empire” to describe something they think about nearly every day, be it a memorable moment in a movie or TV show or Taylor Swift’s burgeoning relationship with Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce. (Keep reading for more on that romance.)

Though the initial, inquisitional phase of the Roman Empire trend is already on its way out, TikTok remains abuzz with mentions of  #RomanEmpire, which received 119 million total views in the past week as the hashtag was used across 16,000 videos. The spin-off #MyRomanEmpire has garnered 4 million views in the same length of time. 

Several brands have joined the Roman Empire conversation, including Panera Bread, which combined its most popular items into a Roman Empire-inspired menu of “products you just can’t stop thinking about!” Urban Decay stitched an unsponsored TikTok from creator Jools Rosa showing off the brand’s waterproof eyeliner, captioning the video, “my #romanempire is IT’S GONNA STAY #cuzitsurbandecay.” And film distribution company Focus Features used the audio from the video that sparked the Roman Empire trend to share its own omnipresent thought: a scene from the 2005 “Pride and Prejudice” movie. 

Brands can easily jump onto this offshoot of the initial Roman Empire trend and share what their own “Roman Empire” is, such as a pop culture moment that the brand featured in, a previous collaboration with a celebrity or influencer or even a product launch.

Also: How much do brands think about the Roman Empire?

Alpha wolf meme

This next trend arguably reflects TikTok’s characteristic absurd sense of humor more than any other has this year. Over the past couple of weeks, hundreds of TikTokers have been sharing images of howling werewolves accompanied by text along the lines of “Don’t worry, your alpha is here to protect you,” and typically set to a portion of the song “I’m So Sick” by Flyleaf. The videos are often a carousel of three photos, the first two being solid colored backgrounds with arrows urging viewers to scroll to the next slide, and the final slide holding the aforementioned werewolf meme.

Despite the nonsensical concept, roughly 11,000 videos have been created following this format, and a number of brands are heavily engaging in this trend. Axe was the first brand to latch onto the lycanthropic trend, writing “don’t worry kitten…your smell good alpha is here to protect you” and photoshopping an Axe bottle into the werewolf’s hand. Following that initial TikTok, Axe leaned further into the trend with a handful of follow-up videos, including one highlighting a so-called “Wolf Paxe” of two other brands participating in the trend: Drumstick and O’Reilly Auto Parts. Lifestyle retailer Miniso and the PGA Tour have also taken part in the absurd TikTok craze.

‘Oh my goodness, I love this question!’ 

This trend is far less baffling—and likelier to be approved by brand higher-ups—than roleplaying as werewolves. In a July interview with IMDb, actress Lola Tung, star of the Amazon Prime Video series “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” began a response by gasping and excitedly saying, “Oh my goodness, I love this question!” Though that video is several weeks old, TikTok users have only recently begun leveraging Tung’s words to highlight different questions they’d gladly answer. TikTokers typically write out these possible questions using on-screen text—such as “wanna go waste gas and gossip for no reason?” or “you smell so good what perfume are you wearing?” and film themselves mouthing along to Tung’s exclamation.

A number of users have already incorporated brands into this trend in their answers to questions like the one above about the brand of perfume they use, and brands can easily join the conversation with a similar approach. Cleaning and personal care brand Grove Collaborative, for example, capitalized on the trend to showcase several of its natural cleaning products, and skincare brand Paula’s Choice did the same with its vitamin C serum.

The Travis Kelce prank

Where Taylor Swift goes, the internet’s attention will inevitably follow. So, when she attended a Kansas City Chiefs football game on Sunday and stood next to the mother of Travis Kelce, a two-time Super Bowl winning tight end, Swifties went wild with speculation over whether she and Kelce had officially begun a relationship after a couple of months of flirting. Online discussions of the game quickly pivoted to focus on Swift’s presence in the audience and many of the pop star’s fans began studying the rules of football. The NFL, too, fully leaned into the social media frenzy around Swift’s appearance at the game, changing its TikTok bio to “9/24/23. Taylor was here,” and making a “Football 101 for Swifties” video.

Recent news: Inside the NFL’s Taylor Swift era

Now, Swifties are joking about the pop star’s impact on the Sunday game and her level of fame compared to that of her maybe-boyfriend Kelce. In the new “Travis Kelce prank” trend, users ask football fans in their lives (typically their husbands, sons or other male relatives or friends) if they knew “Taylor Swift put Travis Kelce on the map” and record their reactions to the teasing question. Brands can potentially get in on the trend by asking co-workers the same question and filming their responses, or by leaning into the general buzz about Swift’s potential new relationship as the NFL most definitely has.