Twitter is developing a paid-for service, LinkedIn is rumoured to be considering a freelance portal and Clubhouse is looking distinctly unicorn-like. Social media is like a great white shark: it moves forward or it dies. (And it eats everything before it, for that matter.)
Social Media · 4 mins
Clubhouse’s truncated unicorn arc!
New audio-based social media app Clubhouse has gone through the standard “social unicorn” growth curve in under a year: massive explosion of interest, uptake with famous users like Oprah and Kanye leading to a clamour for people to be on the platform, privacy concerns and a valuation around $1+billion…despite the fact it doesn’t make any money yet!
A reminder: Clubhouse is an invite-only app that allows you to join “rooms” where people talk about specific topics live, in real time, rather like a podcast but with audience participation. And like all promising social apps, it’s already being copied: Twitter Spaces is coming.
Ideation · 7 mins
How to be creative when you’re not feeling it
Almost everyone has to be creative in their job at some point, but being well organised, productive AND creative is tough. Here’s some great advice on just how to do that, including: using structure to foster creativity by allocating time for brainstorming; blocking out your time; removing distractions and drawing inspiration externally.
Social Media · 4 mins
Tweet monetisation: would you pay?
Twitter is developing a “Super Follow” option, where for about $5 a month users can access exclusive content, subscriber-only newsletters, deals and discounts. Users could also run Twitter Spaces which only Super Followers can join. The big question is whether people will cough up to read tweets. Perhaps if users are paid to do so, they’ll create content worth buying. There’s a lot to play for here, and it’s a big deal for a massive channel that’s never fully monetized.
Social Media · 4 mins
Whatsapp tries again.
Last month we discussed how Whatsapp lost legions of users thanks to an unpopular new privacy policy that it claims was misunderstood. Ahead of the (moved) May 15th launch of the new policy, it’s trying again, with a clearer, infographic-based policy explanation within the app. Ultimately, if you don’t accept, you can’t use the app.
ALSO IN THE NEWS…
In other news, LinkedIn is reportedly developing a freelance portal to rival Fiverr and adding new Company Page features that facilitate employee advocacy. Elsewhere, the digital world saw one of those occasional big brand love-ins as over 140 organisations engaged with Weetabix’s cereal/Heinz baked beans mashup. Yuck!
What’s cooking?
National Careers Week:
apprenticeships’ golden moment?
It’s National Careers Week, so if you’re interested to see what goodies are on offer to help young people engage with life after school or college, check out the #NCW2021 hashtag. On that note, Rishi Sunak is set to announce a £126m boost for traineeships in England and a recent BEA Systems survey revealed almost two-thirds of young people would consider an apprenticeship. With apprenticeships now a viable route into almost any career, and the bonus that they allow you to earn while you learn, is this the dawn of a new era for a previously misunderstood form of education?
