Reading Time: 2 minIn the past few weeks you’ve probably seen this photo of a little girl holding her puppy during the flooding from Hurricane Helene. You probably also know that it was AI-generated. This type of thing seems like a growing problem, and it is, but I was surprised to see how far back the problem of […]
Social Media
Hatred for outgroups is the best way to go viral on social media
Reading Time: < 1 minI have a great tip for you today to help you go viral more often on social media: show a lot of hate. While we all say that we want to more uplifting content on social media, hate spreads much more quickly. I know you’ve all seen it, often from very “nice” people online that […]
Who are you working for?
Reading Time: < 1 minPeople talk about “the algorithm” incessantly, and for good reason. If you’re sharing content online you want it to be seen, and the algorithm is a big piece of that in many cases. Chasing the algorithm is one way to approach business, and it’s one that we certainly take from time to time. Depending on […]
Almost all word of mouth is still offline
Reading Time: 2 minThere are a lot of influences in our lives, but word of mouth is still the top reason why people buy products and services. Ads are important, marketing is important, but people buy most often based on what other people have to say. Of that word of mouth, how much happens online? Most people guess […]
Just a little bit can ruin your day
Reading Time: < 1 minIt’s amazing how little it can take to put us in a bad mood. This can come from other people, but it can also come from just a bit of negative news. In his book “Big Potential“, author Shawn Achor shares this surprising bit of insight: “Indeed, we found that just a few minutes spent […]
You can escape the algorithms, but you need to work for it
Reading Time: 2 minWe all hear many people complaining about “the algorithms” on social media, and it’s often a legit complaint. At best, the algorithms show us a bunch of stuff we didn’t ask for. As worst, they could be affecting political outcomes. Part of the problem is the algorithms themselves, but the other part is our overall […]
Social media is an empty vessel
Reading Time: < 1 minMany people complain about social media, and often rightfully so. While it can be an amazing tool, there are significant downsides to it. We can talk about the pros and cons of each, but I think TikTok is a unique case among all others. It’s the most vilified by politicians, but it’s also the most […]
The algorithm can make social media really weird
Reading Time: 2 minWhile it seems the digital world is becoming more real-time, traditional social media is becoming more algorithm-driven and can lead to some weird posts. For example, here is a post from a friend that I saw earlier this year. The post appeared for me a few days after it was posted, and I have literally […]
Creating “zero click” content
Reading Time: 2 minAs I mentioned a few weeks ago, a growing problem with Google is the number of “zero click” searches on there — searches that don’t lead to another click, because Google answered the question for you. It’s generally a good thing for users, but it’s a bad thing for companies wanting to get more website […]
Attention spans aren’t getting shorter
Reading Time: < 1 minIt’s popular to say that our attention spans are getting shorter (though not like a goldfish), but that may not be entirely true. Studies are mixed, but it’s not clear that they’re getting shorter. Tools like TikTok help play into this idea, where users are fed an endless stream of very short videos to help […]