🌈 Scarcity on the internet
BeReal seems to be riding the Wordle wave of giving people less than they want.
👋 Welcome to FWIW by David Tvrdon, your weekly tech, media & audio digest.
In this edition
A new social network goes viral fueled by the idea of scarcity
Elon Musk really wants Twitter and offered to buy it
A study linked podcast listening to curiosity, openness & less neurotic behaviour
BeReal shows us people love to want less
There is a new kid on the block and it wants you to be real. A new social networking app has been climbing in recent weeks to the top ranks in app store charts driven mostly by college students in Europe and USA.
BeReal seems to be leveraging the idea that has been in the midst of some of other successful projects recently, namely Wordle.
The name of the game on the internet has been abundance. There is endless content on the web, the feeds never stop and you cannot reach the end.
BeReal has strict rules. You download the app, can import your contacts and invite them (works via telephone number) and you are good to go.
Every day at an unknown time BeReal sends everyone, like on the whole planet (ok, there are 2 timezimes, but let’s say everyone on your continent using the app) a notification with the headline “Time to BeReal”. A user has 2 minutes to take a photo.
BeReal takes 2 photos at the same time, one with the front camera and one with the back one. So there is not enough time to stage something.
If you are late, there is a indication next to your photo how much late you were.
It’s that simple. And you can only react to others with a photo of your face and an emoji.
If you feel too olds for this, you probably are. College students love it.
There are many things that can go wrong while using it (while driving a car, etc…) but it shows how easily can people on internet fall for something that is actually not letting them do more.
For example, I’d love to have more Wordle letters a day. But I guess we will never have that and that’s why we all keep coming back for our daily dose.
Maybe internet needs more scarcity to make it better.
TECH
🤯 Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter in takeover attempt. There are endless takes on the matter, I will link some I liked but we are entering an even more uncertain time for Twitter. Here is a minute by minute liveblog from the NY Times. [The Verge, Platformer, The Daily, Bloomberg, Kara Swisher for NYT]
⌚️ Apple delays blood pressure feature for Watch until 2024. The highly anticipated blood-pressure monitor to its smartwatch has hit some snag. The feature has been planned for at least four years, but it’s probably two years away from hitting the market and may slip until 2025, they said. Blood-pressure features may become a key selling point for smartwatches in coming years, but the technology hasn’t been easy to master. The company also has teams working to add noninvasive blood sugar monitoring to the watch. [Bloomberg]
RELATED: Apple has started widespread internal testing of several new Mac models with next-generation M2 chips. Updated MacBook Pro and Air, Mac Pro and mini models coming. [Bloomberg]
ALSO: Tim Cook is not happy with the coming antitrust laws. Says they will leave users with less choice for privacy. [WSJ]
PLUS: iMovie on the iPhone and iPad can now automagically generate movies. The first reviews I have seen are very positive. [TechCrunch]
PLUS THIS: Test versions of iOS16 are filled with references to Apple's augmented reality device, suggesting it's likely to arrive before the middle of next year. [Bloomberg]
OH, AND THIS: Apple will face an additional EU antitrust charge in the coming weeks, in an investigation into music streaming triggered by a complaint from Spotify. [Reuters]
😎 Meta is racing to release its first AR glasses in 2024. Employees are already working on a lighter, more advanced design for 2026, followed by a third version in 2028. Zuckerberg also sees the AR glasses, dubbed Project Nazare, as a way to get away from Apple’s and Google’s ecosystems. The first version of Nazare is designed to work independently from a mobile phone with the assistance of a wireless, phone-shaped device that offloads parts of the computing required for the glasses to operate. In addition to Nazare, a separate, previously unreported pair of cheaper smart glasses codenamed Hypernova are also planned for 2024. [The Verge]
META-RELATED: Meta's new 47.5% fee on Metaverse items is not a great look. The company released details on how it plans to monetize its Horizon Worlds metaverse app, currently accessible only through VR. The 47.5% figure includes a hardware platform fee of 30% for sales made through the Meta Quest Store, where it sells apps and games for its virtual reality headsets. On top of that, Horizon Worlds, will charge a 17.5% fee. [CNET, CNBC]
ALSO: Metaverse builders see virtual pets as their killer app. [Axios]
😳 Meta (Facebook) spends on executives’ safety far more than peers. In total, the company footed a security bill of $26.8 million for Zuckerberg, 37, and his family last year, a 6% increase from 2020. In the filing, Meta hints on the reason why costs are so high: Negative sentiment regarding our company is directly associated with, and often transferred to, Mr. Zuckerberg. [Bloomberg]
☺️ Rejoice privacy-loving Mac users, DuckDuckGo’s privacy browser finally lands on desktop. Chrome is one of Google’s most powerful data collection tools and the world’s most dominant browser. Right now 63 percent of people use Chrome on their phone, and the figure rises to 67 percent on desktop. DuckDuckGo is anti-Chrome. I have DuckDuckGo on my phone and switch between that and Safari, will definetely download the desktop version too, once it’s out of beta (if you want, you can access it by signing up to a private waiting list). [Wired]
🤔 WhatsApp announces Communities with admin tools, file sharing, 32-person calls, and more, to let clubs, schools, and other groups host thousand-user chats. The new feature is not live today. It’s initially being launched into a limited test with select communities to gain further feedback ahead of a public rollout. WhatsApp has not said when the feature will reach the wider public. [Facebook, TechCrunch]
🤓 Andy Jassy’s first letter to shareholders. There are some news hidden within as was the habit for Jeff Bezos. For example, Prime membership growth seems to have stalled as Jassy referred to the company’s “over 200 million Prime customers”. The figure hasn’t changed in more than a year. [Amazon]
MEDIA
😶🌫️ CNN+ struggles to lure viewers in its early days, drawing fewer than 10,000 daily users. [CNBC]
AND SO: Big cuts coming for CNN+ after slow start. Important to remember, after the Warner Bros. Discovery merger was announced noone believed CNN+ will stay standalone. I guess those who wanted CNN badly have it on cable, and the rest is waiting for the HBO Max + Discovery + CNN bundle. [Axios]
😶 The newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery revealed its logo. It’s very 2022, no surprises. [Variety]
👻 A look at how media consolidation by Vox Media is helping its brands grow. Also, paid audio (podcasts seems to be the next big thing for the publishers together with producing shows for Netflix.) [Poynter]
👾 Substack’s growth pains. It faces copycat rivals, an exodus by writers and a need to move beyond newsletters. [NYT]
🥱 Quartz drops paywall in search for profitable model. I mean, that’s one way of saying “we don’t know how to do this”. Zach Seward, chief executive and co-founder, likened Quartz’s business model to that of The Guardian or US-based public media, which rely on donations from readers, or “members”. You can read his explanation of taking down the paywall here. [FT]
👏 The seven lifetime metrics that you need to focus on when running a subscription business: Lifetime revenue per subscriber; Lifetime renewals per subscriber; Lifetime volume rate; Lifetime reads; Lifetime returns per subscriber; Lifetime time spent per subscriber; Lifetime amplifications. [Baekdal]
🤫 The Guardian to test paywall on news app in reader payments push. While the Guardian will keep its website open to all, the media group will later this month start to require a fee from a sample of regular news app users as it explores the best pricing approach to put the entire app product behind a paywall. It’s all part of the effort to build a sustainable reader revenue business. [FT]
👍👍 Netflix’s new two-thumbs-up feature could have been a heart. An interesting backstory of the two-thumbs-up. The streamer warns audiences using it will directly affect what the algorithm serves you. It has been in development and A/B tested for over a year. [Protocol]
🤠 An insightful look at starting and running a local new company in US for 18 months. Media analyst turned media entrepreneur Ken Doctor looks back at what he learned. [NiemanLab]
FROM THE FIX
3️⃣ How big audience numbers mislead you
4️⃣ Top English-language Telegram channels to follow to stay in the loop about the war in Ukraine
5️⃣ What could Elon Musk’s activity at Twitter mean for journalism and journalists using it
[ 📬 Get The Fix newsletter delivered to your inbox every week with the latest insights, news, and analysis about the European media market. Sign up here > ]
AUDIO
📣 IAB published its 2021 Internet Advertising Revenue Report for the full year (for US). Year-over-year (YoY) growth of internet advertising revenue nearly tripled, it was the highest increase since 2006 to $189 billion. Digital audio is the fastest growing advertising format (revenue totalled $4.9 billion), followed by digital video. [IAB report]
🥰 People who listen to podcasts are more likely to be curious, more open to experience and less neurotic on average than non-listeners. Researchers found correlations between podcast listening habits and personality traits. Previous research has shown that the method of podcast listening can affect “perceived intimacy”, finding that people felt more empathic and persuadable when hearing podcasts through headphones compared to through speakers. [The Guardian]
📈 Podcast downloads have grown 10% YoY in France, according to ACPM ranker which inmonitors 306 top French podcasts. [Le POD]
😲 Data suggests UK is on 'cusp of a golden age for podcasts’. Figures from consultancy Price Waterhouse Coopers suggest that UK podcasting advertising revenue, currently £37m, is set to grow to £64m by 2025 – 16 times more than the £4m that the market was worth in 2016. [Press Gazzette]
👥 Apple explaines what the new “Followers” metric means. [Apple]
🗣 Spotify brings live audio shows to its main app, rebrands companion app Greenroom as ‘Spotify Live’. At launch, Spotify’s main app will only feature live content from select original programming, while the standalone Spotify Live app will continue to allow independent creators to go live. Live listening in the main Spotify app will not support the interactive features, like audience questions. [TechCrunch]
🤦♂️ Do you know why podcasts and audio on Facebook are in a dead zone? Two words: Focus shifted (towards metaverse and short video). It’s almost comical how the social network couldn’t make even small features roll out globally. Short-form stories called Soundbites and podcasts are only available for U.S. users. [Bloomberg]
❓ Poll: How much are you following the war in Ukraine? (yes, a repeated question)
I subscribe to special newsletters on the topic and read about it once or twice a day.
I had to stop following, only look at a summary of what’s happened the day before.
🙌 Thanks. I used HandyPolls to create this poll (instructions).
Last poll results: How do you feel about Elon Musk at Twitter? 24% said if they restore Trump, I’m leaving Twitter. 22% feel nothing. 16% think it’s good news.
🙏 And big thanks to Celine Bijleveld who helped me edit this newsletter. You can follow her on Substack here.