☀️The Weekstarter: Sweet VC money running dry
All the links. ALL THE LINKS. Context Collapse! #100
So. I hopped on the train today to work downtown for the first time in a year. I missed this routine and oh it’s good to get back on it.
And, damn it... I didn't realize that my usual coffee order at the little place next to my El stop would be lodged in my head all this time still. Three cheers for old routines in new ways.
Also… downtown Chicago’s just fine, if a little quiet. Office workers doing their thing, tourists taking pictures, random politicos setting up press conferences outside Daley Center, baristas and janitors and all sorts of service workers keeping things going.
I assure you. The Loop is fine. Please come visit and have dinner at expensive restaurants and go to the Art Institute or the Field and spend money at the souvenir shops on Michigan Ave after or do a weekend at a nice hotel and pump some money into the local economy. If you live in the suburbs or exurbs, tell your neighbors to come visit us on a day trip. If you live somewhere else, hop on a plane and get your keister to O’Hare right now.
Now on to the links.
New Futures:
How COVID-19 vaccines ended up being even more effective than vaccinologists expected.
Inside El Salvador’s plan to make Bitcoins legal tender.
Ed Zitron on the coming remote work culture war.
Kelli Maria Korducki on Naomi Osaka and fighting the cult of ambition.
Why Uber and Lyft rides are so expensive these days.
Michael Powell at the NYT on the ACLU’s internal tensions as large segments of both the American left wing and right wing embrace censorship.
Ryan Broderick on the critical race theory discourse tidal wave:
The American right, however, has figured out how to deal with this new world of information bubbles. The right wing is still a complete mess from an organizational standpoint, but after much trial-and-error, learning from the online conspiracies like PizzaGate, QAnon, and Hunter Biden’s emails, prominent conservatives have realized that if you want to dominate the conversation across thousands of different internets, you need a story compelling enough to spread naturally, without anyone in charge. And the hysteria around critical race theory right now is a perfect example of how this works.
Advertising/Marketing/PR:
Why brands like L’Oreal are making their own television shows. (Via Benedict Evans)
Lenny Rachitsky on the seven way people discover new products.
Inside Sweetgreen’s post-pandemic rebrand.
Dan Solin on a ban on stock photos.
Media:
Unionized workers at the New Yorker are gearing up for a strike.
The Dodo is opening a pet product review site and going after that sweet, sweet affiliate advertising $$.
Peter Kafka at Re/Code has all the details on Facebook Bulletin, the social media giant’s new newsletter product:
The Facebook twist on the product is ... Facebook. Specifically, Facebook’s massive reach, with 2.85 billion users worldwide, and its ability to target and segment people who might be receptive to reading and paying for a newsletter that covers topics they’re interested in.
“They are pitching their ability to find communities at scale,” says a writer who has talked to Facebook about joining Bulletin. A Facebook rep declined to comment.
Jane Manchun Wong has all the details on Twitter’s new Super Follows service:
Patrick Brzeski and Tatiana Siegel at The Hollywood Reporter have an excellent primer about the new tensions between Hollywood film studios and the People’s Republic of China government with lots of juicy details about how films were altered for the Chinese market.
Tech:
In a detailed story from Guardian reporter Kari Paul, workers at crime reporting app Citizen report a dysfunctional work environment and routinely monitoring audio of suicides and domestic violence with little mental health support from the company.
Kevin Roose says venture capitalists will stop subisidizing middle- and upper-class lifestyles:
These companies’ investors didn’t set out to bankroll our decadence. They were just trying to get traction for their start-ups, all of which needed to attract customers quickly to establish a dominant market position, elbow out competitors and justify their soaring valuations. So they flooded these companies with cash, which often got passed on to users in the form of artificially low prices and generous incentives.
Website builder Wix took down a website worldwide for several days after Hong Kong’s police requested the site go offline. (Via Benedict Evans)
MoviePass allegedly changed the passwords of power users so they couldn’t use the service, which… seems super bad?
Post-pandemic, AT&T and Verizon are pushing free iPhones again.
Facebook is opening the Messenger API to developers.
Eric Newcomer on the quiet backlash to the backlash:
It’s a strange world where Andreessen — among Silicon Valley’s most prominent thinkers and investors — is participating in interviews that would make most people blanch. Given that he’s willing to participate in sexist juvenile trolling and consort with some pretty terrible people — he’s uncancelable in a way that more grounded dissenters aren’t.
Many Silicon Valley leaders feel uncomfortable publicly pushing back on employee activism and publicly resisting some of the more aggressive diversity efforts. Those leaders are sensible enough not to give an interview to someone who is going to inappropriately sexualize a female reporter. And the fact that these moderate voices are susceptible to shame makes them vulnerable should they articulate a controversial point of view publicly.
MICROSOFT EXCEL ESPORTS TOURNAMENT.
Fun:
Starbucks baristas on the worst things to order from Starbucks.
The Studio Ghibli theme park looks *amazing* and Ayla Angelos at It’s Nice That has the deets:
Church cryptocurrency Reddit hijinx that are probably not true, but what a ride!:
Raphael Bob-Waksberg explains Bojack Horseman jokes for you:
Things I’ve Enjoyed Lately:
Blake Emal’s Twitter list of ways to start a small business online:
Learning about how frozen pizza conquered the world.
How Twitter amplifies journalists-as-gossip-subjects:
Natalie Wynn/Contrapoints on why certain behavior and certain things make us cringe.
What I’m Working On These Days:
I’m helping clients put together case studies, write white papers, and launch a podcast series.
I have availability to take on new projects starting in July; email to learn more.