Passengers claim a Southwest Airlines flight from Atlanta to Houston was grounded for an hour because no one would admit to spilling rice on the floor. Eventually, flight attendants stopped grilling the group and cleaned it up themselves, but not before asserting that “nobody was raised right.”
In today’s email:
Heir app-arents: The next social apps ready to flash in the pan.
Downtown funk: Can cities turn empty offices to their advantage?
Netflix: Why its international ambitions center on Korean creators.
Around the Web: A famous swan, learning to code with ChatGPT, a salary comparison tool, and more internet finds.
The big idea
The next big app is here — until it isn’t
Chart-topping social apps like BeReal don’t always have a long shelf life.
2023-04-26T00:00:00Z
Ben Berkley
Wanna slam some pogs? Winner’s got a slap bracelet with their name on it.
Look, every era has its own fleeting sensations, and this era isn’t any different — except the fads come in app form.
Just ask BeReal
The French social app was last year’s darling. Prompting users to speedily document their lives, sans artifice, at random intervals, BeReal grew to ~15m users and scored a 2022 app-of-the-year honor from Apple.
But peaks don’t last long in this game; BeReal’s glory days may already be real over — perThe New York Times, users dipped sub-6m in March (though BeReal disputes that number).
Next in social fads
Blame user fatigue. Blame established social networks cloning new platforms’ popular features. But for every TikTok that strikes gold, there are 20 Meerkats that strike out.
Still, app developers keep churning out challengers for the (almost certainly temporary) throne.
To what end? You already know this answer: fat wallets. (BeReal, for example, has raised $90m to date.)
The next ephemeral ascension is already bubbling up. Here are some of the rising-star apps you may need to know about — until you won’t:
Nocam: Friends exchange challenges, except — pause for dramatic effect — nobody can see how they look while filming.
Kiwi: Called “BeReal for music,” it randomly prompts users to share their most recently played song. (Spoiler: Our friends are getting Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” every single time.)
Wavelength: This group chat facilitator looks great — in a world where texting, Reddit, WhatsApp, Discord, and online message boards don’t exist.
Minus: When a wannabe philosopher at a party musing, “What if social media were, like, finite? And you only have 100 posts… ever?” reaches transcendence, what remains is this minimalistic app.
RIP in advance, sweet applications.
TRENDING
A University of Oregon study produced two groundbreaking findings: that worms exposed to cannabinoids get the munchies, same as humans — and getting nematodes high is an actual job one can get paid for.
SNIPPETS
The (pricing) powers that be: With its prices up 16% overall, PepsiCo’s Q1 sales were up 10.2%. Meanwhile, Huggies and Kleenex-maker Kimberly-Clark’s sales jumped on 10% price hikes. McDonald’s also boosted sales 12%, partly through higher prices.
Music to investors’ ears: Despite marking a quarterly loss and lower-than-expected revenue Tuesday, Spotify stock jumped after the company reported 515m monthly users in Q1, up 22% YoY, with paying subs up 15% to 210m, ahead of expectations.
Not slackin’ on new features: Finally, there’s a good place to organize information within Slack — Canvas is a new collaborative document editor that works kinda like a (very) lite version of Google Docs, except it lives in your Slack app.
Tesla prices shock: At ~$47k, the automaker’s Model Y SUV — the bestselling EV of 2022 — now costs $759 less than the average US vehicle. Aggressive Tesla price cuts won’t help legacy automakers as they struggle to enter the electric market.
Bot-ched reviews: AI-generated product reviews are starting to pop up on Amazon. At least AI can be an honest liar — “As an AI language model,” one review reads, “I haven’t personally used this product, but… I can confidently give it a five-star rating.”
Alphabet and Microsoft both beat analyst expectations with their Q1 earnings reports, showing 3% and 7% YoY revenue growth, respectively. They combined for ~$123B in revenue. Not so bad for one quarter of work.
The Supreme Court will consider if public officials are allowed to block their constituents on social media. Current cases involve two California school board members and a Michigan city manager.
Yahooacquired Wagr, a social sports-betting platform that will integrate into Yahoo Sports fantasy offerings. It should not be confused with Waggr, which doesn’t appear to be a dog-walking app yet, but give it time. Just give it time.
Fan friction: Author Demetrious Polychron is suing Amazon and the Tolkien estate for $250m, claiming they stole elements of his Lord of the Rings fanfic for “The Rings of Power” TV show. Is it too late to say hobbits were our idea?
Congrats: Our friends at My First Millionwon the People’s Voice Webby, and as they prepare their speech, a reminder that “Vote The Hustle next year” fits nicely within the awards show’s five-word limit.
Logo logic: From Nike’s swoosh to McDonald’s golden arches, logos can be powerful branding tools. We broke down the psychology behind logo design and how to create your own.
CHART
The developers who see dollar signs in abandoned downtowns
At the start of this year, Steven Paynter had a problem: his niche was no longer so niche.
Paynter leads a studio of 40+ architects at Gensler, one of the world’s largest design and architecture firms. Just before the pandemic, he’d developed a new, bespoke offering: transforming sad, old office buildings into nice, new apartments and condos.
Then the pandemic shut down offices, and droves of workers never returned. In downtowns across America — in cities such as New York, Houston, and San Francisco — office buildings are still 40%-60% vacant.
Local politicians see a crisis to be solved: Unless downtowns are transformed — a daunting, difficult prospect — they could become ghost towns.
But for some developers, the problem is an opportunity to shop for discount real estate in the center of North America’s most expensive cities.
Recently, a client asked Paynter to look at 12m square feet of mostly vacant office buildings in downtown Calgary, wondering if they could be turned into happy homes for urbanite Canadians.
Unless you’re a swank solopreneur and staying that way, playing nice with the pack is pretty much a part of the job.
Being on the same page is a solid place to start. Skim and share our workplace collaboration guide, which covers a ton of sensible tips on winning with the team.
Collaborate better for:
Meetings
Brainstorming
Strategizing with stakeholders
All sorts of personality types
We won’t say, “Teamwork makes the dreamwork.” Even though it’s true. We won’t do that.
Netflix pledged to spend $2.5B on Korean content over the next four years.
2023-04-26T00:00:00Z
Juliet Bennett Ryla
Netflix announced a $2.5B investment in Korean content over the next four years — 2x the amount it has invested in the market since 2016 — in a recent press release.
Co-CEO Ted Sarandos spoke of Netflix’s confidence in Korean storytelling and its impact on the world’s interest in the country.
“Hallyu” (meaning “Korean wave”) refers to that global phenomenon, spurred by K-pop bands, Parasite’s Best Picture win, and, of course, Netflix’s “Squid Game.” In 2021, South Korea saw a record $12.4B in content exports.
For Netflix, the move is obvious
Over 60% of its 230m+ global subscribers watched Korean content in 2022, while the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region has been a source of consistent growth, accounting for 1.46m of Netflix’s new 1.75m subscribers in Q1.
Contentwise:
“Squid Game” was a global sensation. Netflix’s most-watched non-English series kept people hooked for 1.6B+ hours.
Other Korean hits include revenge drama “The Glory,” legal drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” and reality competition show “Physical: 100.”
Throughout 2023, Netflix’s slate of Korean content will feature 34 new and returning titles across genres.
Other streamers…
… are catching up or missing out.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s new Max rollout won’t hit the Asia-Pacific region until 2024, which Varietynoted was a “particularly egregious” part of a “dreadful blunder.”
Disney+ wisely teamed up with K-pop superstars BTS and, in late 2022, announced numerous Asian titles for 2023, saying stories from the region would be a “key pillar” for the platform for the next 100 years.
Meanwhile, Amazon recently tried to gain APAC market share via ads in the region featuring anime and Korean dramas.
Fun fact: “Zombieverse” — an upcoming Netflix reality competition show set in a zombie apocalypse — recruited the team behind another Korean hit, “All of Us Are Dead,” to make the game’s monsters.
AROUND THE WEB
⚖️ On this day: In 1859, Congressman Daniel Sickles was found not guilty by plea of temporary insanity — the first US use of such a defense. Sickles murdered Philip Barton Key, son of “The Star-Spangled Banner” author Francis Scott Key, for having an affair with his wife.
🐟 That’s cool: Every spring, fish swim along the Netherlands’ Oudegracht (“old canal”) to the Kromme Rijn river to lay eggs. The problem is a locked gate that sometimes forces them to wait a long time. The solution is you: Watch this livestream and, when you spot a fish, ring the fish doorbell so the lock keeper knows to open the gate.
🧠 Video: Four tips to quickly learn any coding language with ChatGPT.
💰 Useful: Know Your Worth collects and compares salaries around the world.