In this issue: Emmys postponed/Why so little generative AI product documentation?/Media narrative around AI still clickbait/Designing Threads + more.
Welcome to Context Collapse, the worldâs best comms newsletter. Iâm Neal Ungerleider. I run Ungerleider Works and used to work as a reporter for Fast Company, write op-eds for the LA Times, and work as a senior copywriter for R/GA. This newsletter helps readers navigate the weird new world of media and gleefully ignores all the conventional wisdom about journalism, public relations, marketing, and advertising.
Summerâs traditionally the slow season but everyone I know in communications is swamped right now. Hereâs whatâs on the Context Collapse radar:
âThe ripple effects from a historic work stoppage in show business have hit the Emmys. The awards telecast scheduled for Sept. 18 on Fox has been postponed due to the continuing labor strikes by screen actors and writers, according to people familiar with the situation. Organizers for the Emmys, which honors achievements in television, faced the prospect of a nonevent without the participation of writers who pen material for the telecastâs host and presenters, and without actors, who are forbidden by union rules to promote the work of studios theyâre striking against, a boycott that includes accepting trophies on national television.â
âNot a single AI lab seems to have provided any user documentation. Instead, the only user guides out there appear to be Twitter influencer threads. Documentation-by-rumor is a weird choice for organizations claiming to be concerned about proper use of their technologies, but here we are.â
âYou can read a lot of intricate arguments about what AI will and will not be capable of in the near future. Unfortunately, thereâs about 1% careful engagement to 99% insane hype. (Actual headline from a professional publication: âAI Can Now Make You ImmortalâBut Should It?â) The trouble, in part, is that thereâs just so little professional advantage in telling people to slow down and take a breath. The nature of contemporary journalism and social media ensures that âAI IS IN YOUR HOUSE WITH A KNIFE RIGHT NOWâ will always, always outdraw âAI Might Have These Interesting Consequences, But Maybe Not.ââ
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âIn fact, the Instagram design team began work on Threads when the product was still being built. âThe idea of âbuilding the plane as you fly itâ has long been a Silicon Valley clichĂ©, but in the best possible sense, it really captures how the development of Threadsâ branding felt,â Cynthia adds.â
âAhead of the 2024 elections, Microsoft-owned ad-tech firm Xandr will no longer allow political ads to run on its platform, according to an email obtained by Adweek. The policy will go into effect in October 1. In an email sent to clients, Xandrâs ad team said it will ban political ads as well as ads for alcohol, gambling, tobacco and vaping.â
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âPornhubâs parent company is surprisingly profitable despite recent financial and reputational hits, according to internal projections reviewed by Semafor that give a rare look inside the firm. Executives anticipated making tens of millions of dollars in profits despite MasterCard and Visa refusing to process payments for certain websites including Pornhub, with operating margins of about 27% in 2021 and almost 30% in 2022, according to estimates the company showed potential investors in 2021. In comparison, Facebook parent Meta had an operating margin of 25% in 2022.â
âThe employer didn't walk out over wages, benefits or support for a housing subsidy. They walked out when workers demanded that the scabs that the company was trying to hire to break the strike be given full time, union jobs. These aren't just any scabs, either. They're predominantly Black workers who rely on the $700m Instawork app for gigs. These workers are being dispatched to cross the picket line without any warning that they're being contracted as strikebreakers. When workers refuse the cross the picket and join the strike, Instawork cancels all their shifts and permanently blocks them from new jobs.â
âThe findings are consistent with the idea that Facebook represents only one facet of the broader media ecosystem, and most peopleâs beliefs are informed by a variety of sources. Facebook might have removed âstop the stealâ-related content in 2020, for example, but election lies still ran rampant on Fox News, Newsmax, and other sources popular with conservatives. The rot in our democracy runs much deeper than what you find on Facebook; as Iâve said here before, you canât solve fascism at the level of tech policy. At the same time, it seems clear that the design of Facebook does influence what people see, and may shift their beliefs over time.â
Neal Brennan talks with David Letterman about mental blocks.
âIn 2011 SinĂ©ad OâConnor was very publicly looking for a boyfriend whilst tweeting the most hilarious, filthy tweets.â
