This Week: It’s VidCon week ICE peeps! I’m headed to Anaheim tomorrow, come up and say hi if you see me. And if you’re still around Saturday join me at a joint ICE and Changer meetup/drink 4pm Saturday at Nova Kitchen – right next to the Hyatt! RSVP here for more details.
Is that an Avatar in Your Pocket, Or…: That next TikTok ad could feature an AI-generated avatar of your favorite creator. Might be an uncomfortable Polar Express moment – or a great way for creators to make more money. I’m not optimistic – as synthetic AI generated creators could siphon money away from real people – but am coming to this with an open mind. Creators, if you try it out, let me know how it works. And don’t miss the @adrienne Lahens avatar – it’s both creepy and compelling. Blink Adrienne. Blink!
- Related: AI dubbing is coming to TikTok – and I love the idea that any creator anywhere can reach an audience anywhere regardless of language. Alas, it doesn’t actually clone a creator’s voice, nor does it update the video with face-dubbing. Thus it’s not really that innovative. But it’s another part of a new “Symphony Assistant” suite from TikTok lets you do everything in one place – and that also helps you generate content ideas and more. Hopefully V2 will actually extend a creator rather than just replace them.
Spy Vs. Spy Round 2: YouTube seems to be testing server-side ad injection, which injects an ad directly into a video, rather than pausing the video and serving up an ad separately – much like how a host-read sponsorship is burned into a video before upload. It’s an interesting way to block ads but raises concerns too. This model essentially edits your video to burn an ad in, which could make it harder for copyright owners to detect when their content has been stolen. But if it means creators get more money, I’m all for it.
Close Friends Emerge as Next Battleground: The 12-year old in me wants to “Whee-Whee” all over Double T’s new Instagram clone, but the trend is clear. Social users are increasingly leaning into experiences and apps that let them connect with close friends and no one else. From Whatsapp groups and the new “Close Friends on Instagram Live”, to a Snap-surgence, small-group social is clearly the next big thing. @Dave Morin’s trailblazing Path app was sadly a decade too early.
YouTube Algorithm Under Fire: A new study of YouTube’s algorithm uncovers some eye-popping biases. The report from the UK-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue, found that young viewers are being served a “large numbers of videos featuring content unrelated to their interests”, and were “exposed to inappropriate and potentially harmful content… including videos related to self-harm and suicide.” Rather than being a safe space for kids, the shocking results show that YouTube “is not properly safeguarding its young users”. They also found that the algorithm consistently surfaces “content related to Christianity” – far beyond what would normally be expected. I used to consider YouTube a safer space for kids, unfortunately this research shows that it’s potentially just as bad as Instagram and TikTok. The ISD’s legit, but I’d still to see more studies confirming these results.
- Another study finds similar issues with Instagram, racy content, and teens ($).
More on the Social Health Crisis: Interesting to see some of the reactions around the Surgeon General’s push for labeling social as toxic for kids. Geekout author @Matt Navarra – one of the smartest experts writing about social today – called it a problem “not properly understood”, dismissing it as one of many “poorly thought through ‘solutions’ to the young social media ‘problem’”. Government action restricting teen access, according to Navarra, “risks doing a lot more harm than good”. I 100% disagree, as anyone who spends time with teens – whether at events like VidCon, volunteering at schools or as a parent – can attest.
- Related: “Not a problem” takes from The Daily Beast and The Atlantic ($). “Is a problem” take from @steve Rosenbaum at Sustainable Media.
- Related: My friend and event partner in Asia, Jasper Donat, sent me this story about how Singapore is moving to restrict teen access to social after the US announcement. Their health minister called it “an emergency” and went on to say “we cannot afford to wait for the debate to be concluded. We need to act and put in place measures now.” Donat, who also produces a “Ted for Teens” style festival globally called It’s a Girl Thing, reiterated to me last week that as parents “we weren’t trained for the unnatural emotional and psychological pressures that social media delivers” and that “many teens he talks to either as parent or event producer are suffering from this mental health crisis”. It’s as addictive as nicotine and does to the developing brain what cigarettes do to the lungs.
- Related: The FTC has recommended that the DOJ take legal action against TikTok and Bytedance, saying that their “investigation uncovered reason to believe named defendants are violating or are about to violate the law”. Get yer popcorn out!
SPONSOR: Whalar Comes to VidCon!
Heading to VidCon this week? Make sure to meet Whalar Talent creators who will be on the ground, sharing their journey. And don’t miss Whalar’s mainstage session with the NFL, YouTube, and creator Adam W, along with speakers on the “Creator Economy Measurement Deep Dive” on the Industry Track and “Monetize Your Talent with TikTok Creative Tools” on the Creator Track. It will be a packed week of insights, creators, and inspiration!
QUIBIS:
YOUTUBE
- Good context on YouTube’s upcoming community notes feature.
- More details from YouTube on Thumbnail “Test and Compare”.
- You can now ask YouTube to remove AI-Generated content that simulates your face or voice. Looking forward to YouTube’s robust “Content ID” for NIL+V – which must be under development somewhere over there.
META
- Interesting new way for creators to share their activity and growth on Instagram with brands.
- Disgruntled users are now suing Meta in small claims court to get their hacked accounts back (and winning).
- Threads API released into the wild.
TIKTOK
- TikTok filed a huge brief laying out its First Amendment case in advance of a September court hearing. 209 Days and Counting.
- TikTok offered the US government a kill switch. Guess they didn’t want it.
- I’m not sure I would use the terms “courage” and “bravery” to describe your latest advertising initiatives, TikTok. Take a lesson from Sonos’ missteps. These terms can come back to haunt you.
OTHER CREATOR ECONOMY
- Great recap of Open Sauce from The Publish Press. YouTube Creator Liaison Rene Ritchie weighs in as well.
- The US Democratic National Convention will credential creators just like traditional journalists. And the NBC is bringing creators to the Olympics too (I’ll be watching @Kai_Cenat on Snap).
- Shoppertainment, thy name is Netflix. Wonder what the Beast activation will look like?
- From Kids React to Seen – a new app aims to capitalize on reactions. Count me as skeptical but intrigued.
- We talked a few weeks ago about a developing trend – creators launching sports leagues. Looks like golf is about to become the next big creator-sport. And Shaun White – athlete and creator – is launching his own snowboarding league.
- Lessons from the rise and fall of Something Navy.
- Old friend @terry Kawaja (aka Terry the Creator) with his hilarious send-up of last week’s Cannes show. Fun look at this booze-soaked boondoggle. But surprisingly bereft of YouTubers and TikTokers.
- FTC goes after Adobe for deceptive monthly billing practices and hidden fees.
- Smell-O-Vision comes to TV in Australia. Could this be the next big creator merch category?
- This was predictable – Yaccarino and Musk are not seeing eye to eye.
CREATOR TECH – AI, WEB3, VR, MORE
- ChatGPT shouldn’t be able to do this. But it does. Link includes a bonus look at my newsletter creative process.
- Hell hath no fury like a Wired scorned ($). Bit of a dust-up between AI news aggregator Perplexity, Forbes and Conde Nast. Casey Newton explains and then pitches the Fediverse – while @Jeff Jarvis expands on why it’s heralding a new way to think about “news”.
- Roblox is working towards “4D GenAI” – 3D models with actions.
- Matthew Ball releasing an updated version of his seminal 2022 Metaverse book in July, incorporating AI, 3D graphics and more.
- OpenAI CTO says that some creator jobs may go away due to AI but “maybe they shouldn’t have been there in the first place”. That’ll win friends and influence people.
- Geeky interview with Netflix encoding czar Anne Aaron, as she imagines how to incorporate live into the VOD stack.
- The long-awaited HaptX Gloves G1 finally shipped last week for $5,500 – huge for builders, VTubers and potentially gamers in the future.
RESEARCH
- The pivot to social video for news is well underway around the world. Read and download the full study from Reuters Institute here and find out why Facebook is down, and how TikTok has passed Twitter globally.
- How the Knight Foundation translates its research on digital media and social platforms into policy and action.
100% written by me – no human or AI ghostwriters were involved in the production (except for the cover art!).
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I’ve built and sold multiple creator economy startups to top media companies – including Discovery and Paramount. Subscribe here on LinkedIn to get this newsletter every Monday.
Let me know what you think – email me at jim@louderback.com. Thanks for reading and see you around the internet.
