In Washington Square Park, everyone has main character energy.
On any given day, dozens of young people scour the downtown park with smartphones and microphones, looking for people to interview. Buskers and dog walkers increasingly compete for space with tripods, even in corners of the park with well-earned reputations for grittiness.
The park, which for decades was known as a hub of counterculture and an anchor for protests in the city, has now been overrun with social media influencers looking to go viral.
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“They'll come up to you and you can't see it. There'll be someone from afar, like, filming you. It's stressful”
