Hello from the arctic tundra — where boiling water turns into snow, raw eggs don’t crack when you drop them (see 3:50), and frankly, we’re freezing our pants off (see #15)!
Here’s what I’m tracking around the social web this week…
TikTok, the breakout short-form social video app, is growing its base and ranking high in the App Store. And they are now starting to quietly test advertising. Here’s a look at the pitch deck they are sharing with agencies in Europe.
This Twitch streamer fell asleep during a stream and woke up to find 200 people watching him sleep. ZZzzzz… have we finally reached peak stream?
CNN has an in-depth piece on the Pentagon’s efforts to combat deepfake videos, including examples of manipulated videos and tips to spot a fake one. We’ll be seeing lots more about this technology leading up to the 2020 election.
In Facebook news, Mark Zuckerberg shared Facebook’s 2019 priorities this week and clarified that the merger of Whatsapp, Instagragram and Messenger won’t happen until next year. If you haven’t already, give the Facebook 2019 Topics & Trends Report from Facebook IQ a skim.
Is Snapchat giving up disappearing content? This week Reuters shared a much-debated story about making Snapchat content shared publicly via the “Our Story” section more available outside Snapchat, which seems similar to Instagram’s test of sharing a direct link back to an Instagram Story. You just can’t keep good content a secret!
You know when your computer gets overloaded and its fan starts running really fast? Slow Hot Computer is a website that makes your computer run slow and hot – ON PURPOSE. Use it at work to decrease your productivity and maybe keep your fingers warm on a cold week. Apologies in advance to your IT department!
GREG SWAN 