Lucy Blakiston, creator of Sh*t You Should Care About

Imagine taking a simple brainwave and turning it into a career. That’s what Lucy Blakiston, along with best friends Olivia Mercer and Ruby Edwards, all 24, have done with their staggeringly popular Instagram-based news platform Sh*t You Should Care About (SYSCA). With 3.6 million followers and counting, SYSCA has become a global go-to for digestible news, hot takes on pop culture and a round up of the top issues of the day.

The idea first came about when the trio, originally from Blenheim, were studying at Wellington’s Victoria University. 

“In 2018 I was in an International Relations lecture and I thought ‘why do I not really understand these world events that my lecturers are talking about?’” Lucy says. “I felt like all the jargon was getting in the way.  

“So, I texted Ruby and Liv and said ‘I think we should start something called ‘sh*t you should care about’ where we use language everyone can understand and we cover anything and everything – from Harry Styles to mental health to world issues.’ I still have those texts and, honestly, we haven’t strayed too far from that concept ever since.”  

Initially the idea was to create a blog where the three women would contribute a piece of writing each week. “Then we thought, ‘hang on we’re all using Instagram, but we’re just using it for photos – what if we put the words on Instagram?” Lucy says. “At the time people weren’t doing that much; we got in quite early with a different way of using the platform. Plus, we were all so sick of seeing influencers trying to sell us skinny tea or teeth whitening treatments.” 

It was Covid that really helped boost the following of SYSCA. “The pandemic was something that none of us had ever experienced, so people really needed to understand what was happening,” Lucy explains. “They didn’t want all the technical information, they just wanted to know what was going on right then and how it would affect them. So Ruby and I started daily ‘no-bullsh*t Covid updates’ to help people understand what was happening. Then, with the 2020 US election, the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement and the New Zealand election, 2020 just saw huge growth.”

At the start of 2020 SYSCA had about 200,000 Instagram followers. In one month when all those big world events were crossing over the account leapt to one million followers. “Honestly getting to a million followers in a month was really stressful!” Lucy says. “What do you do with that audience? I had to learn to be an editor overnight. But the best way to learn is to get pushed in the deep end. And I really was!” 

This period of rapid growth was also when celebrities started following the account – and, critically, sharing their content. Pop star Ariana Grande (with 307 million Instagram followers of her own) is one of SYSCA’s highest profile followers. They’ve also got actress Blake Lively and model Chrissy Teigen. “I actually don’t like to think about it too much,” Lucy laughs. “I create content as if I’m just talking to my friends, it doesn’t matter if Ariana Grande agrees with me or not!” 

Today, Lucy, Liv and Ruby are all working full-time at the company they founded. As well as the flourishing Instagram account they create a daily newsletter and two podcasts, one which expands on the news and current affairs topics that they raise on Instagram, and one focused on pop culture.  

"It’s not dumb to care about what’s happening in the pop culture world,” Lucy says. “For example, Harry Styles features heavily in our content. I have always been a fan and I want young people, particularly young women, to know that you’re allowed to like multiple things at once; that you’re not dumb for liking a boy band. We’re multi-faceted people. The fandom element has been amazing because I think a lot of people feel seen and feel heard.” 

When it comes to covering complex, sensitive or potentially contentious news stories from around the world, SYSCA acts as a go-between. “There are these wonderful journalists breaking stories, or scientists writing really hard-to-understand papers, and then there’s the audience. We’re in the middle making it make sense so that all great information actually reaches people,” Lucy explains. 

“Because I write something every day and I see so many different stories, I feel comfortable to put a little comment from myself or to know where to re-direct people for more information on most topics. If it’s a really tough story then what I think or say is not that important and I can send them to someone who is covering it way better than I ever could. There’s no ego in anything we produce. I’m not an expert, but these people are, so I’ll always send people to better sources of information.

“We’re not breaking the news, we’re just breaking it down.”

SYSCA’s Gen Z roots not only dictate the casual tone and colourful style of SYSCA, they also inform the platform's ethos around transparency. "I truly think that’s the reason we’ve gotten so big, so fast,” Lucy says “It’s our transparency and authenticity. We value those two things so highly. We’ve grown up seeing filters on everything and clickbait news stories – it’s been a really weird time in the media. So I write  exactly how I speak. I can’t bullsh*t people because they’ll know as soon as my tone changes.”

Another key part of SYSCA’s appeal is their New Zealandness, which translates as a refreshingly frank and down-to-earth perspective on topical issues, especially for an audience that is 53% US-based.

“Every morning I start the newsletter with ‘Mōrena!’” Lucy says. “I get so many people asking what that means, which is really cool because it’s a fun teaching moment. A lot of them might never have heard of te reo. 

SYSCA also create a regular ‘mundane poll,’ which highlights the quirks of different cultures and often stimulates fierce debate about what things are called in different countries. “For example, people have no idea that we call toasted sandwiches ‘cheese toasties,’ in New Zealand. For Americans it’s obviously a grilled cheese. There are all these weird cultural differences, especially with vocab that I think are hilarious.”

So, after achieving such astonishing success on social media, what’s next for SYSCA? 

“It’s a very Gen Z thing to say, but honestly my ambition is to be able to do what we do now and keep it a really high quality and make sure that we can pay rent. I don’t have the urge to have a huge company that takes over everything for the sake of it.

“Besides, I’m not qualified to do anything else. I mean, yes, I have a media degree, but since this idea came into my head it’s all I’ve been focused on and all I’ve really been able to care about. So it’s quite lucky that it’s working!”