11/14-2022: Happy National Pickle Day (see Quibis). Here’s what’s new and what caught my eye last week:
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: The shock and disgust over week 1 of Twitter 2.0 has morphed into navel gazing about the future of big social networks and scale itself. Brad Berens muses on whether true scale is even possible today – after reflecting on TikTok’s PRC-funded growth. He then imagines what a new Twitter unshackled from scale might look like. Brian Morrisey ping-pongs from the fall of FTX (see next story) and Musk’s one-sided lunch-and-learn with top advertisers to how connecting the world maybe isn’t the best strategy anymore. It feels like the last gasp of Web 2.0 – but with the pillars of the next act (Web 3.0) crumbling around us as well. A phoenix is impatiently pecking its shell – but no one knows precisely when or what will be born. There WILL be an unexpected explosion of innovation soon. But the form it takes is as amorphous as the sniveling and blubbering over the impending end of our current cycle.
Crypto Crashes and Burns (Again): One of the top crypto-exchanges, FTX, disintegrated rapidly. Turns out FTX was a house of cards, with a corporate structure as dense and impenetrable as “Remembrance of Things Past”. For more background, read Peter Yang’s look at FTX founder SBF’s rise and fall. Cryptocurrency is reeling. But as I wrote on LinkedIn, don’t throw the blockchain baby out with the FTX bathwater. Alas, I’m likely too optimistic. The realist in me thinks many creator-positive elements of Web3 will be derailed for a great long while. Another view – VC Tomasz Tunguz shares his view of what the FTX crash means for Web3.
Fixing the NFT Creator/Royalty Disaster: The promise of creators earning royalties every time a digital collectible is resold is one of its biggest selling points. Unfortunately, royalties aren’t baked into the protocols, and some platforms are selling NFTs without collecting those royalties. VC Fred Wilson leans into the issue, strongly defending royalties. He’s not the only one. OpenSea promises to enforce royalties as well on their platform. These are strong moves, and hopefully will lead to the institutionalizing of a resale royalty structure that protects market-makers (who buy and then quickly sell for a small markup) as well.
TikTok Slashes Revenue Forecast by $2B: It’s another blow for creators as TikTok cut its global revenue target by more than 15%. But it’s not all bad news TikTok’s in app revenue nears one billion dollars in Q3. But as the company slouches towards profitability and a postponed IPO, this all likely means even less of a revenue pie to share with creators. However a secret new plan to rate creators based on commerce performance could open up new avenues to get paid – but only for the most brand friendly. What happens when coins get tossed into the algorithmic flywheel? New Math: TT+ FYP = HSN.
CREATOR WORLD – and SINGAPORE MEETUP: This Sunday I’m headed to Singapore to help host Creator World – an industry and creator festival running from November 24th-November 27th. Use this 20% off code – 20OFFJL and register today. And if you are in Singapore, join me Tuesday November 22nd for an Inside the Creator Economy meet-up at “Ice Cold Beer” from 5:30 – 7p. I might have a few free tickets to Creator World to give away too!
QUIBIS:
- Latest cool platform, Gas, hit with unfounded rumor of sex trafficking.
- Meta lays off 11,000. There’s never a good layoff, but Zuckerberg looks like a prince compared to Musk.
- Pinterest could become the shopping platform for the rest of us.
- How to find creators who can actually drive sales? Influencer.club analyzes 250 monetization platforms to find the answers.
- Head back to school at the official TikTok Academy (recess ought to be fun)!
- What you need to know about TikTok’s new contextual advertising feature Pulse.
- Creator economy consolidation as Amaze buys Spring.
- Doom scrolling vs. ritual social – BeReal and Wordle as the future of social.
- WOW! 80 million subscribers across YouTube Music and Premium – Musk must be jealous.
- Now you can schedule posts on Instagram.
- I love calendars that help you create videos, social posts and more. Meltwater’s free 2023 calendar with over 500 tentpoles is now downloadable. In case you were wondering, today is “National Pickle Day”.
- Your weird relationship with your phone drives creepy TikTok behavior.
- Finally! Ad frequency caps are coming to YouTube.
CRYPTIS:
- Square Enix is launching an NFT gaming project.
- Looks like Rolex is jumping on the NFT “bandwagon”.
- Futurism slams Decentraland as a metaverse that’s not working. So why are so many brands spending money on this crap?
GENIES:
- Google updates its plans for helpful AI – including generative video.
- Meta debuts an AI audio codec 10x better than MP3 – time to upgrade your microphones!
- A strong case for why Generative AI will empower an even more robust creator economy. And expand what we think of as “creators”.
- The Generalist calls it “a copilot for everything” in a longish essay on what’s now and what’s coming.
Tip of the Week:
- If you use LinkedIn, download this new guide FROM LinkedIn to help you grow. Sample tip inside – use subtitles on your video – 79% of videos are watched with the sound off.
- Tips from TikTok on how to create branded content.
What I’m Watching:
- After hiding away in ACK cranberry bogs during much of my youth, it’s awesome to see Jojo Siwa jiggling and wiggling for Ocean Spray.
- This is the metaverse I want! I might have to move to Japan though.
- YouTube Creator Insider channel has a sneak peek at the new “Go Live Together” feature.
- Interesting video explaining the YouTube algorithm today (HT to The Publish Press)
See you around the internet (and in Singapore) and feel free to share this with anyone you think might be interested, and if someone forwarded this to you, you can sign up and subscribe on LinkedIn for free here! And don’t forget to listen to The Creator Feed – the weekly podcast Renee Teeley and I produce – get it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher!
