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TWW 082
Friday 3rd February
Hello you wonderful people! It’s officially February!? This means that Australia dusts off the RM’s, puts down the fruity pale ales, and dons noise-canceling headphones to buckle down back to work. What to expect this year from the Widget? Exactly the same as last year, witty takes on the biggest stories from Media, Tech, and Marketing delivered every Friday to educate and entertain.
🏖Things you may have missed🏖
🤯The BIG stories🤯
‘Yeah, hi! Hope this email finds you well. We’re looking to run a promoted video in TikTok and the client has provided a one-line brief - “go viral”.’ TikTok rep: hold my kefir, i’ll get right to it. This is the absolutely insane news that TikTok has a ‘heating up’ button…
BIG CAVEAT - this has been disputed by TikTok. But, let’s not let it get in the way of a good story ay? According to previous employees, they have a button that supercharges distribution - meaning you, YES you, you loser can go viral. God mode activated.
Offt! This could be a bigger breakup than Justin & Britney, Miley & the other Hemsworth, Shakira & Pique. The DOJ has filed a 153 page suit against Google, to investigate potential abuse of their market power over AdTech. Grab your popcorn, and have a read…
This is an excellent thread from Jason Kint that dives into the various complaints. What could happen? Google may be forced to spin off one of its properties (most likely AdExchange), anything would be a win for the DOJ and it’s the lowest margin out of everything they own…
😎Cool & Creativ3😎
I absolutely adore this initiative from Ronald McDonald House, which provides a virtual space in the game Roblox for seriously ill children to come together and play, build, and escape to a place of comfort and connection.
If you didn’t know Ronald McDonald house, it’s the charity arm of McDonalds that does amazing work supporting families around the world. This video and initiative will provide all of the feels, “a house built on their dreams”
📚Studies & Research📚
Gen Z if you’re reading this, keep scrolling. Now that they’re gone, HOLY F*CK! This article really made me feel ready for slippers, slacks and long days at the country club. Welcome to Geriatric social media, no it’s not dead, it’s just decaying alongside the elasticity in your skin.
“…if your user base is slowly atrophying due to the network decay I described above, or if your algorithms are pretty mediocre at understanding what your users like your platform will start to feel a bit like a mall where all the stores have been replaced by weird cellphone-case kiosks.” This newsletter is just *chefs kiss*, it absolutely nails the state of social media right now - it’s not dead but we’re all bystanders bored by the algorithms.
🤓Technology & Tracking🤓
GET THAT SH*T OUTTA HERE! 2023 was going to be such a rippa for Google, Topics API looked promising and could be the answer for replacing the cookie. But, the World Wide Consortium (W3C) has smacked this proposal down which could mean curtains for Google.
Ah man, what a bummer! Concerned that Topics API will maintain surveilling consumers of the interwebs, W3C has said thanks but no thanks…Okay who had money on Google pushing back the death of cookies until 2025? Anyone?