Tech CEOs, Beige Houses and The Weeknd
Brb sorting out my Barbieoppenheimer outfits
No social all media
This summer we’ve seen not just one but two major social platforms forgetting that they need users to function.
In June, we saw the Reddit blackout. This was in protest to Reddit changing its API terms, which would effectively kill off popular third party apps that a lot of users use.
For those who don’t know how Reddit runs, it’s a social media organised by communities called subreddits. Some are public, and have over 22 million users, some are small, private and support niche interests. Subreddits cover everything from secret confessions to pics of bad MUAs. Rather than hiring paid moderators, they have thousands of volunteer moderators, who make sure that the subreddit runs according to their contextual rules.
To protest the changing API rules, many mods of subreddits took different actions - from making their community private to marking themselves as NSFW so ads can’t run on the subreddit.
Did the leadership listen? NO. CEO Steve Huffaman made it worse - doubling down on their commitment and comparing the moderators (who volunteer 100s of hours of their time) to ‘landed gentry’. The Verge documents his crimes pretty well.
Then along comes Twitter, who decided to limit the number of tweets that users can see. Yes - the app that is designed to hold the user's attention for hours on end wants to limit the number of posts you can see. CEO Elon Musk announced that verified used they can read 6000 posts whilst the unverified pleb accounts are stuck with 600 posts.
Also, the amount of tweets in a thread were also limited at one point over the weekend. Also, long tweets broke on the iOS app because they don’t load in the app and redirect to the web version of Twitter, but the mobile web version of Twitter couldn’t tell if you’re logged in. And this also made Twitter links on Reddit and other social networks completely worthless.
Both CEOs are failing at listening to their users, that provide the content and the eyeballs that keep the their platforms running. Neither are willing to allowing their platform to give users actual power.
Puri-teens
This month saw the finale of The Idol released - the latest creation of Sam Levison and Abel (aka the Weeknd). Before it had even been released, it was subject to controversy. The Rolling Stone reported that the TV show was plagued with delays, reshoots and reducing feminist aspects. Now released, it has been slated by critics for its underwritten characters, boring plot points and useless twists. It comes at an interesting time, as Gen Z are being painted as both the ‘porn-pilled generation” and being staunchly anti-sex. But in reality, it isn’t nearly as nearly as simple as imagined.The show has opened up a of interesting conversations about the relationship to sex in the age of internet culture.
The beige-fluencers
For the Guardian, Sarah Manvis writes about the rise of influencers romanticising everyday activities. If you look up #homedecor or #outfitinspiration, you will most likely see a wave of 20-something women, promoting their clean, positive, stay at home lifestyle. It’s framed as being inspirational and taking control of ones life. As if all we need to build a fulfilling lifestyle is the right sweater and tracksuit combination and discounted candles. I’m not saying these things can’t help, but flattening our identities into safely contained boxes feels like a failure of our imagination. The world is a lot more than perfecting your bedtime routine.
And finally:
Recently discovered this amazing interactive book
We’ve been thinking about how we archive out digital spaces and came across this very gorgeous project
Thanks!
Arda + Savena
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