It’s been only three years since TikTok landed in the US, and its success is unparalleled. The Chinese ByteDance-owned app garners around 100 million active users in the country, with most of them under the age of 40. With its short videos, its fantastic selection algorithm, and its strategy to increase the duration of the […]
Clubhouse’s death is Twitter’s gain
Despite the hype surrounding Clubhouse earlier this year, the platform is slowly dying in favor of its tech mogul competitors. Its invitation-only structure and its iPhone-based design (at first,) Clubhouse has been a victim of its own success—the app will disappear, but what it brought won’t. And while the app’s numbers become stagnant, the other […]
Facebook’s oversight board in action
Six months have passed since Facebook’s oversight board started working as the social media’s “Supreme Court,” and the jury is still out on its efficiency. But what’s clear is that the board is not upholding all of Facebook’s decisions on content removal; on the contrary, it is overturning most of the tech company’s actions. Still, […]
NFTs or how to collect on the Internet
In March, a new buzzword took hold of social media—non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs, assets verified by blockchain, were suddenly everywhere, and artists were trying to figure out how to take advantage of the wave. Some managed to make eye-popping gains from selling their digital art through NFTs, and soon, media outlets, musicians, and even Jack […]
Native-digital companies in deep trouble
In the early 2000s, a few visionaries set out to launch digital native outlets that would capitalize on the power of the Internet and social media. Today, those same outlets, which depend on digital advertising and virality, are in deep trouble. The latest news comes from the HuffPost, where the newspaper has laid off 47 […]
The Australian bill—good or bad for the media industry?
The last few months have brought multiple hurdles to the giants of the tech world, but the latest bill in Australia, which seeks to make Google and Facebook pay for media outlets, might be their biggest challenge. The Australian government argues that tech companies siphon ad dollars from the content provided by news outlets, so […]
Twitter diversifies as newcomers take over the Internet
As social media giants like Twitter and Facebook grapple with content moderation issues, new platforms are monopolizing the online realm. The newsletter platform Substack and the recently launched audio-based social network Clubhouse are two of those newcomers that have seen their values soar. As a response, Twitter has tried to diversify its business in these […]
YouTubers go mainstream
Social media entertainers and especially YouTubers have traditionally had loyal fan bases on isolated corners of the Internet. Though very successful on their own channels, they would rarely enter the mainstream realm. That, however, is ending. Factors like the rising popularity of Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch—in February of 2020, Twitch had 3.8 million streamers, while […]
