Wall Street can be seen as a literal street at the southern end of Manhattan. But as we all know, it's much more than that. It's the historic home to the New York Stock Exchange and many other HQs of brokerages and investment banks. If you're wondering about the origin of the name, it refers to a long-gone wall that was built in the 17th century by Dutch colonists. The intention for it was to defend themselves from the British, Native Americans, and pirates. Even though the Wall was taken down, the name still remains.
As of today, being on Wall Street is actually no longer a prerequisite for a financial industry firm. To the general public, the name still means investment business and the companies who trade on exchanges nationwide. You should think of it as an umbrella term or more like a symbol since today many businesses are located all around the U.S.
Wall Street is known to be a tricky environment. If you want to get a job there, it may require a bit more hustle than a resume or diploma. Troy Prince, the founder of a nonprofit organization Wall Street Bound, said that "without having formal pathways, without having the social capital, young people find it challenging to break into that space."
Since ordinary people find it difficult to access such an exclusive financial community, it sure is fun to read their private conversations on social media. From insanely long hours to not-so-friendly working conditions, people are bound to say something gossip-worthy. Although you could think that being in such a fast-paced environment would prevent them from focusing on others' lives, it's not quite true.
Studies show that it is way harder to cover our ears from strangers' personal lives than we thought. According to the research done by O2, 84 percent of UK residents eavesdrop on others’ conversations while on a train or platform. When it comes to talking on their phones, people reveal so much more information than they think, ranging from salary or work gossip (48% of conversations) to doctor results (23%).
"In drawing up a guide to ‘phone etiquette’, the mobile network has found that many people are unwittingly revealing the details of their lives to hundreds of people. Making matters worse, 74% then gossip with their friends about the overheard conversation, and 40% of us reveal details on Facebook and Twitter."
If you’ve ended up on Wall Street finding yourself between the titans of the industry, chances are you’ve been eavesdropped on. And there's a big possibility that the passive-aggressive conversation you had with your co-worker about the weekend ended up on the Overheard Wall Street Instagram page.
The hilarious content that is posted here is definitely enjoyable for people since there are so many different spinoffs of the original account. Earlier on, Bored Panda talked to a spokesperson of Overheard about the success and growth of the project: "While our home will always be Instagram, we have begun to expand to other verticals such as text via the community app Clubhouse, where we host a biweekly comedy show and are exploring some really exciting product ventures."
One of the reasons why Overheard is so successful could be that it's connecting people through things they have in common, like shared location or experience. "We’re not just posting some dumb quote—we’re focusing on these themes of dating and digital life and food and fitness and Instagram culture and all that stuff," the representative explained.
"Whether that is living in NYC (@overheardnewyork), dating on Bumble (@overheardbumble), or talking about celebrities (@overheardcelebs). It’s our goal to make people laugh and provide moments of joy and self-reflection."
