LET’S BE FWENDS ISSUE #14:

WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON WITH SOCIAL MEDIA?

Amazing Cartoon by Nathan W Pyle - Insta

There is so much going on in the social media space right now, and mostly it’s about unfair competition, undisclosed partnerships and other shenanigans. I’ve covered the issue of advertising influencers on Instagram before, and now there’s a nasty case of “partnered” mattress reviewers …

Stuff like that gets me thinking: What is happening with Social Media?

In my opinion, we are witnesses ofAdvertising eating Social Media. I’ve written a short post about it over at medium.

In short: As social media companies matured, they needed to find a sustainable business model that also allowed for growth. One by one, they took a deep look at all the ‘old media’ they despise so much (TV, radio, newspapers) and then copied their business model: Selling audiences to advertisers.

This was a logic step, but also a shortsighted one, because it will ruin user experience over time (in fact, it is ruining it already, but there are no alternatives users can migrate to).

Read the rest on medium.

Cutaways of the London Underground tube system

Ohboyohboyohboyohboy - Maps, schematics, transportation systems. This blog post ticks ALL the boxes.

Doing nothing?

You might have noticed that it took me a little longer to get this issue out of the door, and that it is also a bit slimmer than usual. It’s not that I took John Arbuckles advice, quite on the contrary. Exciting things are happening, and they keep me quite busy. I’ll update you soon, I promise!

Until then: Here’s to brevity and bravery - one sometimes requires the other. High-five yourself, and keep going! ⚔️