Everything You Need to Know About the New Social Media Landscape is in this Google Slide
Everything You Need to Know About the New Social Media Landscape is in this Google Slide
"This is more Provocation that Implementation"
In Today’s Newsletter—
A Google Doc on the New Social Media Landscape
Mark Zuckerburg’s Center Shift
An Unlikely Place to Buy Designer Clothing
Quick Hack: Use ChatGPT to Create Photoshop Effects
You Need to Read this Google Slides Presentation on Social Media
Whether you work in brand marketing or are a (puke) ‘content creator, Mathew Stasoff, a social strategy director, created a comprehensive Google Slides presentation you need to read.
The slideshow is an insane thoughts dump of memes, annotation, strategy, trend analysis and reads like you just popped an Adderall. The format reminds me a lot fo Emmet Shine’s (founder of Gin Lane) strategy doc on using AI for creativity.
Stasoff breaks down how the social landscape has rapidly changed with the rise of the algorithmically curated feed, and how brands and creators can use this paradigm shift to their benefit and cut through the noise.
Brands need to do more than resize existing content to work on social media, they need to adopt a ‘social media mindset’
Here are some quick takeaways I found interesting—
Social media has changed from how we see the world to how we view the world. We both can use the same internet, but have vastly different experiences and views based on the content we train algorithms to show us. Think of the common expression ‘the ____ side of TikTok’
This leads to rebound effects on how content is perceived by different types of audiences. For example, the ‘brat’ phenomena began in niche, hyper-online circles but has exploded to the mainstream, leading to niche audiences to find brat content boring, while presidential candidates ride the hype wave and CNN pundits try to explain what it means to boomers.
People don’t Google anymore, they TikTok.
Capcut has democratized editing software to the masses, leading to the TikTok-ification of the world. Edits reshape and contextualize footage, audio, and music to create novel perspectives shared by millions. (My article ‘TikTok Edits Are Shaping the World’ was plugged)
Audiences are willing to invest time into content. Streamers like Kai Cenant have thousands of audience members who watch for hours, and Emma Chamberlain can post an hour long vlog.
Consistency is key. People don’t want something new, they want to find a format that works and deep dive episode by episode. Think of hit series like ‘73 Questions with ____’ or Adam Faze’s ‘Boyroom’ This is the same concept used by serialized TV shows. The more things change the more they stay the same.
Mark Zuckerburg Regrets Regulating COVID-19 Posts
In a public letter, the Meta CEO claimed to have been pressured by White House officials during the pandemic to take down content questioning vaccine efficacy, virus origin, and other content once completely dismissed as conspiracy/misinformation.
“In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire,” Zuckerberg wrote in a letter to the Committee on the Judiciary of the US House of Representatives. And while it was Meta’s decision whether to remove content, he continues, “the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.”
This letter comes amidst a cultural shift, in which tech founders like Zuckerburg and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey have begun to shift their politics and cultural stances.
Zuck specifically has seen his public perception shift as he’s taken on martial arts, cooking steak from cows raised on his Hawaii property, and he wears a chain now.
Big tech, despite its flaws, has long been a scapegoat the left and right use. For example, during the 2016 election Facebook was blamed for spreading Russian disinformation that some liberals say swung the election for Trump. And a Texas law banning social companies from censoring content was sent back to a lower court by the Supreme Court after being challenged.
I am not sure where this shift is headed, but the rise of ‘anti-establishment’ figures like RFK Jr. is testament to a growing political and cultural shift. For example, if an Elon Musk superfan fell into a coma in 2018 and just now woke up, they would assuredly be shocked to see how the Tesla CEO has embraced right wing politics.
People Are Buying Designer on Goodwill
Vogue’s Hannah Jackson shared she shops for designer at an unlikely place… Goodwill.
Specifically, the Goodwill Finds e-commerce site.
Surfing the Goodwill Finds website is like putting the general donation bin through a strainer; the site offers donated designer items for a fraction of the price. And you can expect a host of designer labels across the spectrum, from Chanel and Prada to the more wallet-friendly brands like Marc Jacobs and Coach.
I think my dad uses this site to buy old baseball cards, antiques, and clothes.
But as consumers change their habits to buying second-hand, maybe Goodwill is for everyone now?
I quickly browsed the selection and it looks like you need to do a lot of sifting to find anything good.
But to some, the treasure hunt is better than the actual treasure itself.
I personally don’t like wearing new stuff. I like my shit to be a little worn in. That’s why I use eBay to buy 30 year old Patagonia Retro-X jackets and orange tab Levi’s.
QUICK HACK: Use ChatGPT to Make Scripts for Photoshop
I just discovered, thanks to Collage Dropout, that you can write a prompt and get ChatGPT to write javascripts you can open in Photoshop to instantly apply effects.
This is really cool and I’ll be exploring how I can write some scripts to do cool stuff in After Effects and Premiere.
The exponential need for new content is insane, so using AI to help creativity as opposed to replace it is… the move.
Jake Bell is a content marketing, creative strategist, designer, and writer based in NYC. He specializes in brand building, content strategy, creative direction, business development, and making things cool.
Want to chat? Email me: jake@jb.studio
The designer Goodwill is super interesting. I remember going to Goodwill type shops with friends when I was in highschool (many years ago). We would often find some vintage designer stuff. Probably not super high value but some were good quality. Reading this sent me down memory lane 😊