Entertainment

The Simple Explanation For T. Swift's Social Media Changes That You May Be Overlooking

by Lia Beck
Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

On Friday, something shocking occured: Taylor Swift's social media posts began disappearing. But why? Is a new album coming? Is she trying out a life without Instagram? Is she reinventing herself entirely? No one knows yet, but there is another important question to consider: Was Taylor Swift hacked? That would be a pretty simple explanation. (Bustle reached out to Swift's rep for comment on what is happening with her social media pages, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.)

Odds are, Swift has probably not be hacked. Whatever else you think of Swift, she is quite savvy in the ways of business, especially when it comes to album promotion. Her fans on Twitter are already wise to that fact — #T6IsComing is already trending shortly after her social media posts disappeared. And there is some deep, obsessive Da Vinci Code-style sleuthing going on. The user @SimpleSFans claimed to have delved into Swift’s website’s coding: “Taylor's website has coding i'vegotablankspace', which makes it black & "that's what you don't see" when you run a cryptogram.”

That. Is. Extra. But extra-ness is what defines the Taylor Swift fandom. Everyone tweeting with the hashtag seems to be hyperventilating. It’s gonna be OK, y’all!

More evidence that Swift wasn’t hacked, but went dark on her own? It’s the three-year anniversary of her announcement of 1989. Her media blitz promoting that album was over the top. It was long, involved campaign that included skywriting planes and a live-stream of a secret session on a Manhattan rooftop with the Empire State Building providing a light show in the background. The kid can create a spectacle.

And this time, all she had to do was disappear to cause a hurricane of hype, so whatever is going on in Swift’s social media world, hacking doesn’t seem to be the culprit. Many users on Twitter noted that Swift is very strategic, and she really does know what she’s doing in terms of marketing. So, Swifties, just remember to take some deep breaths and drink some water so you can make it to her announcement of whatever it is. (It's probably an album, she wouldn’t punish you like that.)