Yes, the world is complicated and there are numerous simpler explanations. The fact that a few (plural) of their friends were talking about X, means that they

Yes, the world is complicated and there are numerous simpler explanations. The fact that a few (plural) of their friends were talking about X, means that they probably had a recent contact with X (searched for it, watched the videos, etc). There are anedoctal cases of shared recommendations by location/local network IIUC.