For four weeks spanning January and February of 2021 (and really two bonkers weeks from the 26th to the 4th), something interesting happened that hasn’t really ever happened in the Social Media Age (that’s what I’m calling the time post-2008). A retail business’s stock went from an average of about $15-20 per share to $347.51 per share in a matter of days. Stock prices soring and falling isn’t anything new. But what is new is the method in which this stock increased, and how it captured its own moment in the cultural zeitgeist.

But before we start, let’s get a few things out of the way…