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The Best, Weirdest, Funniest & Most Memorable Influencer Moments
The world of social media stardom is wider (and wilder!) than you may think. A sampling of recent thrills, deals and buzzy moments from older online stars
3-minute read
From grandmas being grandmas and welcoming everyone in, to who has the best chicken salad, here are social media’s most buzz-worthy moments.
AARP (Reuters Connect, National Gallery of Art, Getty, Shutterstock)
A big part of the appeal of social media it isn’t traditional media. Things are so planned out. What happens, happens. How events unfold can be unexpected, depending on the interactions of followers and other influencers. Here, we have compiled some online moments from influencers over 50 that made us take notice:
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Los Angeles artist Natalie Lauren Sims posted that her grandmother, Mary Story, 89, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, had put Oscar-winning actor Michael B. Jordan among the family photos. The post went viral, with more than 1.7 million likes. And so, in August, Jordan FaceTimed “Granny Mary” to thank her for being an honorary grandson.
Playing chicken
In July, entrepreneur and foodie Bethenny Frankel, 55, launched a “Chicken Salad Olympics” on her social channels, pitting some of the top such poultry dishes against each other. Millions of views and celeb comments later (including from chefs Cat Cora and Rocco DiSpirito), a winner was anointed: New Jersey’s the Blonde Shallot restaurant.
Art at any age
At 102 years old, George Strausman is still working four days a week at his family construction business in Great Neck, New York. But every Thursday, he heads off to his weekly pottery class, and that’s what led him to go viral earlier this year after his granddaughter Francesca Rietti began posting videos of him online. Viewers were immediately taken by Strausman’s dexterity and dedication to his hobby — he started taking pottery classes in his 90s. Watch the video here on People.com.
National Gallery of Art curator Alison Luchs went viral for using Gen Z slang to describe pieces of art. Fire.
Courtesy of National Gallery of Art
Cool curator
You’d think the curator of early European sculpture at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., would describe centuries-old works with sophisticated and highbrow language, but she’s actually a master of Gen Z slang. “Chat, peep this bussin’ clay dish,” Alison Luchs, 77, says in a December 2025 video that has racked up more than 10 million views. (Translation: “Everyone, look at this beautiful clay dish.”) Scripts are developed with the help of Gen Z and millennial team members.
A texting mix-up started a friendship between Jalal Hinton and Wanda Dench that’s lasted a decade.
Joseph Rondone/USA TODAY Network via Reuters Co
Their 10th Thanksgiving
It’s been over a decade since grandma Wanda Dench, 69, and Jamal Hinton took over the internet with their unlikely friendship, and the two are still celebrating Thanksgiving together every year. The pair first met via text in 2016, when Dench accidentally sent Thanksgiving plans to Hinton’s phone, thinking it was her grandson’s number. After sorting out the misunderstanding, Hinton asked if he could still have a plate, to which Dench replied that grandmas feed everyone. Now they post updates about their Thanksgivings together every year, and they celebrated the 2025 holiday with a Green Giant partnership.
Commenters said beauty influencer Cecilia Moreno couldn’t be 50, so she proved it.
Acting her age
Cecilia Moreno (@Silver_sister_says) is a beauty influencer with 342,900 followers on TikTok. After commenters insisted that she couldn’t really be 50, she posted her 1986 middle school yearbook photo — garnering nearly 470,000 views. In July, she posted a video featuring her 38-year-old husband, writing, “If you’re dating someone younger, don’t let the age gap become a bigger deal than it is.” The video is currently at 7.5 million views, and many commenters have responded with photos of their own May–December romances. Watch the video here on Newsweek.com.
Drew Barrymore isn’t afraid of aging — or talking about it.
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Night of Too Many Stars
Not a kid anymore
Drew Barrymore, 51, often shares talk show snippets and product ads with her millions of followers. But this year, some of Barrymore’s most popular posts highlight her thoughts on aging: “Aging is a privilege that I will never take for granted” (3.4 million likes); “I’m in my 50s, and it’s my favorite decade yet” (796,000); “How beautiful is it that smile lines are physical evidence of all the times we have smiled” (549,000).
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