“He only earns his freedom and his life
Who takes them every day by storm.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Moving on
Time. It marches on doesn’t it? Indifferent to circumstance. Waits for no one. Keeps rolling. So, time to move things on. To heave yourself forward, with whatever you’re doing. Lots of businesses and brands doing that too. Even the queen, moved things on this year. You could summon her speech on Alexa. Keeping pace (ish).
The car industry lurches forward too, with the opening of the UK's first all electric car charging forecourt in Essex this year. At the same time, Apple announce that they're targeting car production for a personal mass market self driving vehicle by 2024 and eyes 'next level' battery technology to power it. They say they'll radically reduce the costs of batteries and their range. So you know, moving things on.
And US startup Aptera, have launched a commercially available solar powered car, which is quite cool. With a range of up to 1,000 miles on a full battery. They call it "never charge technology" (if you only travel short distances). Not for Ireland or the UK I expect, but still, moving on.
The WFH debate moves on with Google announcing a flexible work week (3 in, 2 out), which is an obvious, likely and sensible long term outcome. And Slack’s future of work confirms hybrid is most likely and includes other kinds of obvious stuff like, people prefer choice, WFH's not for everyone, human relationships matter and remote is net positive.
And kind of related, Netflix is launching a U.K. documentary talent fund for emerging filmmakers. Onwards, upwards and outwards it seems for them too. Or land and expand. They've had a good lockdown.
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Social + & The Creators
In our shrunken worlds, one thing that continues to grow is online communities. Specifically, communities of creators. You know, YouTubers, TikTokers, that kind of stuff. We’ve talked about the creator economy before, but it continues to gain momentum. A recent study of kids aged 8 to 12 in the US, found that nearly 30% aspire to become YouTubers, which is pretty depressing stuff.
Creators and communities, though, of all types are booming. Just look at the adult platform Only Fans, with 1m creators and 85m users. It's a platform for creators, to charge subscription fees for exclusive adult content (nude & rude), put up pay-per-view posts, and generate income from tips and livestreams. It paid out more than US$2bn ($2.7bn) globally in 2020.
Or look at artist Laura Driskill who runs an Instagram channel and produces Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) videos. She’s created her own social token called TINGLE for her followers to buy in exchange for further interaction or purchasing merchandise (social tokens are becoming a thing). I mean, that's bonkers. Get a community, keep it engaged, monetise it. The attention economy is democratised and increasingly direct.
Also like the idea of social + companies, in this piece by a16z and how social is baked into a lot of new brands like Tiktok. Fortnite, Peleton, Strava and Pinduoduo. A lot to learn from them, like bring people together for a product experience, build social growth in, have active communities not just passive audiences and, use your community to improve, iterate and innovate. Just look at how Spotify built a digital campfire for their super fans, gaining invaluable product experience insight. There's huge value in communities and lots to learn about their development and maintenance.
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