The Weekender, wrapped edition
How the Spotify Wrapped tech is made and how to save Twitter's backend: Context Collapse #180
Here’s what’s currently on my radar:
Twitter’s potential engineering headaches. (Via, of course, Twitter thread)
Amazon making major cuts to their Alexa division. (Via Eugene Kim at Insider)
Internally, the team worried about the quality of user engagements. By then Alexa was getting a billion interactions a week, but most of those conversations were trivial, commands to play music or ask about the weather. That meant fewer opportunities to monetize. Amazon can't make money from Alexa telling you the weather — and playing music through the Echo gives Amazon only a small piece of the proceeds.
What happened when a journalist said Yes to every single PR pitch. (Dan Kois at Slate)
As a person who writes books and generally despairs of getting anyone to pay attention to them, I was sympathetic to Armour’s decision to hire a publicist. And also: Armour was a great interview! I asked him to ruin my childhood by telling me how the Milwaukee Brewers of that era cheated, and he noted that Bernie Brewer, the mustachioed mascot who lived in a chalet in County Stadium’s bleachers, was accused by Whitey Herzog of stealing signs.
43% of digital media subscribers forget about their subscriptions (Sara Fischer at Axios)
Over 43% of digital media subscribers become inactive the day after they subscribe, according to a new report, up from 39% in 2021.
Why it matters: The rise of "subscription sleepers" is a grim signal for digital media companies looking to bolster subscription dollars as the growth in the ad market decelerates.
Driving the news: The new report from Piano, a subscription tech company, finds that a vast majority (90%) of those who disengage after they initially purchase a subscription tend to become inactive soon after they subscribe.
How Spotify’s Wrapped campaign for 2022 came together (Matt Alagiah at It’s Nice That)
