Filipinos have a wonderfully compact word for a sudden stumble. We call it “tisod.” You are walking, and your foot hits something, causing you to trip without warning. It is such a simple term, yet it perfectly captures how people now encounter information in the age of algorithmic feeds. We no longer search for content. We are not always in control of what we consume. Most of the time, we simply trip on it. In other words, we are living in what I call tisod culture.
Tisod culture is the reality where public perception is shaped not by intentional engagement but by accidental exposure. When people say “natisod ako sa video” or “natisod ako sa isyu,” they are describing a passive, almost involuntary encounter with content. It is not browsing. It is stumbling. And those stumbles are now powerful reputation drivers.
This shift matters because reputation used to be built through deliberate and often linear pathways. A brand is communicated through official campaigns. A leader earned credibility through speeches, interviews, and well-crafted messages. Stakeholders formed impressions based on direct experiences and curated media. Today, the most influential reputational triggers are not the front page, the speech, or the launch. They are the small, unplanned fragments people stumble upon in their feeds.
In a world where algorithms determine visibility, attention has become an accident. And accidents now shape reputation.
How did we get here?
First, let us understand the logic of algorithmic reality. Social platforms curate content based on predicted interests, emotional triggers, past behavior, and the behavior of others inside your cluster. This creates feeds that feel personalized but are actually engineered. Because of this, people form opinions not based on what they search but based on what the machine thinks they will find engaging. The relationship between intent and exposure has broken down.
This means that a single clip, screenshot, meme, or out-of-context comment can become the primary frame through which a person understands an issue or a brand. They did not ask for it. They did not verify it. They simply tripped on it. Yet the impact can be lasting.
This is where tisod culture becomes a reputation problem.
We know from psychology that humans rely on shortcuts. The more often we see something, the more true it feels. Even accidental exposure can shape belief. When a reputational fragment repeatedly appears in the feed, it becomes part of the mental landscape, regardless of whether it originated from credible sources. This is the availability heuristic at work. It is powerful, subtle, and deeply consequential.
We also know that people interpret new information based on what they saw first. That initial stumble becomes a lens. This is priming. In tisod culture, the first accidental encounter often becomes the most influential.
Finally, there is the problem of drift. Content does not stay in its original form. It is remixed, cropped, screen-grabbed, captioned, and reframed by strangers. A message that began in good faith can mutate into something unrecognizable. Audiences often encounter the drifted version first. This is reputation by distortion.
For communicators, marketers, and leaders, this is the new battlefield. The question is no longer what story you tell. The question is what story people trip on.
A company may invest in a polished branding campaign, but consumers stumble on a viral clip of a worker complaining. A government agency may launch an information drive, but citizens stumble on an emotionally charged meme. A CEO may publish a thoughtful essay, but audiences stumble on a sarcastic TikTok taken in the hallway.
Trip moments override strategy.
So how should practitioners respond? We begin by acknowledging that the accidental is now structural. This is not a glitch. It is the environment.
I propose a simple but practical framework for navigating Tisod culture. Think in terms of four forces.
One. Discoverability.
How likely is your content to appear naturally in algorithmic feeds? Not just through paid promotions, but also through organic recommendations. If people never trip on your positive content, the negative content wins by default.
Two. Distortion.
What happens to your message when stripped of context? If a single sentence, clip, or visual cannot stand alone, then it is vulnerable to misinterpretation.
Three. Drift.
How might your content evolve once it circulates through public hands? Anticipating drift is now a core skill in reputation management.
Four. Durability.
Which content fragments have the potential to stick? Reputation is built through durable impressions, not temporary flashes.
These four forces define how narratives form, move, and endure in tisod culture.
Practitioners must then design strategies that address this reality.
We need content that can survive fragmentation. We need clarity that protects meaning even when context is lost. We need active monitoring systems that detect unusual spikes, unexpected audience clusters, or emerging trip moments. And we need trip recovery protocols that respond quickly, humanely, and with narrative coherence. Silence is not neutral in tisod culture. It creates a narrative vacuum that the algorithm eagerly fills.
Most importantly, we must accept that reputation today is built not only through intentional communication but also through unintentional encounters. People are judged not by their most polished message but by the fragment audiences stumble upon on a random Thursday afternoon.
In this environment, reputation becomes a function of serendipity, design, and preparedness. It becomes a dance between the strategic and the accidental.
Tisod culture reminds us that influence no longer flows in straight lines. It flows through unexpected cracks in the algorithmic pavement.
And every stumble can change the story.
