5-2-2022 – Here’s what’s new and what caught my eye this week:
On the Cover of the Rolling Stones: The iconic music publication discovers the creator economy with its new “Creator” Issue. Their Mr. Beast profile is good but the cover shot is better. Apparently even in the diminished magazine biz, a Rolling Stone cover still matters. The Bella Poarch story is also revealing, I like her even more now. Along with a creator focus, the iconic magazine is moving into events too, according to Sara Fisher.
Revolutionary New AI Image Generator Will Change Content: Have you seen what Dall-E 2 can do? It’s an amazing image generator that takes in text input and style suggestions and almost magically delivers an incredible image. Nathan Baschez predicts it will foster a fundamental web vibe shift – just like Unsplash did five years ago. I’m convinced it will fundamentally change video production, democratizing the power of virtual production. Ben Thompson takes it even further, positing a future where the cost of all sorts of production approaches zero. The emergent social aspect is also wild. Although only a few have access to Dall-E 2 today, a fascinating Discord community has emerged where groups of users jointly develop amazing images. I can’t wait until we can all start experimenting – thumbnails will never be the same. How does it work? Charlie Snell posted a geeky analysis of the image auto-encoder and then dives into how it transforms language into art. If anyone wants to let me into the beta drop me a line. Oh, and the name itself is a mash up of Salvador Dali and Wall-E. Cute.
Li Jin on the Ownership Economy: She coined the term “Passion Economy”, and now Li Jin is revising her analysis to include what she calls “The Ownership Economy”. In many ways it’s her manifesto about how Web3 will bring ownership and aligned objectives to USERS, as well as employees and shareholders. Good news for Li Jin fans –I am one – it’s the beginning of a more in-depth series featuring Jin and the rest of her team at VC firm Variant. In addition to the primer, she’s also included a table of the important companies in the Ownership Economy as well.
TWITTIES: I’m tempted to start a whole new section on Twitter stories – but you’ve probably read them all. A couple of notable ones though: Quartz thinks Twitter should lean in on creators and subscriptions, while Politico reports on the emotional responses from staff. The Platformer decries Musk activating the troll army. And Troy Young explores media and narcissism, concluding that Twitter is 99% about the tweeter.
QUIBIS:
- Happy Birthday to Kaya Yurieff, as her must read “Creator Economy” newsletter at The Information turns one.
- Earnings update: growth at YouTube Slows thanks to Shorts, Ukraine and Meta turns positive.
- Jellysmack expands its analytics offerings by purchasing AMA Digital
- Another TikTok undiscovered country revealed: But don’t call it #AnalTok.
- Reddit has a different take on creator funds, allocating $1M to community schemes.
- Instagram is developing its own TikTok-style Templates.
- I can’t wait to visit the first “META” store, opening in two weeks down the street!
- Netflix appears to be adopting Thumbnail Science from YouTube creators.
- Snap building new creator tools, including a BeReal clone.
CRYPTIS:
- Bored Apes targeted in $3m Crypto Heist
- Hollywood celebs are piling into NFTs. Could this be a FLOOZ moment?
- 10 reasons why Web3 is about culture, not technology.
- Nike drops “digital sneakers” as NFTs. Will they make me better at Fortnite?
- What if YouTube Play Buttons and IG/TW verified checks were replaced by NFT badges?
ROBLOX REVEALED: Want to know what’s really going on at Roblox? I’m excited to be sitting down with Manuel Bronstein, their Chief Product Officer, on stage at VidCon Thursday, June 23. Bronstein’s building the future of the creator economy in gaming AND the metaverse – building on his prior experience at YouTube XBOX and beyond. Discover more about how Roblox will lead the creator economy at VidCon. Buy your ticket TODAY – and see the full agenda here.
What We’re Watching:
What We’re Watching:
- YouTube channel Mike’s Mic uploads two-hour-long videos recapping shows like Pretty Little Liars and Glee. Check out “An appropriately unhinged recap of Glee (Part 1)”!
- Colbie Caillat joins TikTok!
See you around the internet, and feel free to share this with anyone you think might be interested, and if someone forwarded this to you, you can sign up on Linkedin Here.
Jim
