More Then Just Data: Unexpected Ratios, Financial Argument for Learning a Language, and This is Kind of a Big Deal.
It’s not often that a new product comes along and you know immediately that it could be a potential game changer. On Wednesday, Meta publicly launched its new Threads app, which is the first Twitter replacement that enters the market with an instant massive set of users. While there have been other potential replacements (Mastodon, post.news, Bluesky, etc.), these platforms have had to try to build a following. Threads is walking in with 2 billion plus potential users on Instagram who can with a few clicks of a button move their followers, and those that they are following over to the new app.
Less than 18 hours since Threads went public, Mr. Beast (of YouTube fame) already has over a million followers on the new App (about 20% of the total users at the time). This move was pretty freakin’ genius for Meta and they have also built this platform using an open source programming language which seems to point to the fact that Meta is going to likely be the one stop shop for all similar apps using the same language…or at least, that is a guess on what their aim is. Basically, you will likely be able to pull in your other Twitter alternative accounts into one place making users lives much easier.
Now, none of this equates to guaranteed success for Meta and Threads, but during the first day of use it is hard to not recognize the general joy people are having using the app. This could all go away quickly, and the user experience could diverge into a painful algorithmic mess, but for now it’s just kind of fun. Add in the fact that Mark Zukerberg is leaning in hard on this and it seems like this platform might be the one to put the final nail in Twitter’s coffin.
The strange thing here is that the “good guys†are Meta and Zuckerberg, which is just an odd concept. This is not to say that all of a sudden, Meta is perfect and does no wrong, but it is amazing what being better than the worst will do for you. The real test is going to be whether Meta focuses on experience or dollars. If it is the former, July 5th might have been the day of something big. If it is the latter, well this could be a flash in the pan.
If you were wondering what the 2nd busiest airport in the US is thinking on this:
Regardless, it will be interesting to watch.
As always, here are some of the stories that caught our attention this week.
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The growth in streaming subscriptions has been impressive over the past few years. In 2021, 60% of respondents in our national panel indicated they had at least one streaming subscription. This year, that number stands at 80%. Parents are almost guaranteed to have a subscription (94% say they have at least one), and non-parents are not too far behind (75% currently). Another interesting finding in our data is the difference between lower income households and upper income ones. Over the past three years, those in households making more than $80,000 have always had a higher level of those with at least one subscription. This was not surprising on face value, but what was surprising was that the growth rate between the two categories has been nearly even for three years running.
The interesting question over the next few years will be if this pattern continues or if growth of both cohorts start to diverge as higher income households hit near universal levels of subscriptions.
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Data has shown that if you can speak the dominant languages in an area that it has a positive economic impact. This is not earth shattering news, but a recent look at how local languages in Mexico are fairing shows that holding on to indigenous languages has a positive impact as well. Since Spain colonized Mexico in the 1400s, it was estimated that there were about 350 different languages spoken in the region. In the early 1800’s about 60% of the population still spoke one of these languages. In 1930, the number dropped to 38% and currently it is at about 6%. Roughly 282 out of the 350 have disappeared.
This is certainly sad to see, and the biggest predictor of a language continuing is if both parents speak the language. When this is the case - there is a 73% chance that their kids will also speak that language. If only one parent speaks the language there is only a single digit chance.?
Interestingly, those who speak one of the remaining local languages have higher wages and a higher employment rate. The differences are not massive (about a 5% increase in salaries) but roughly half of the remaining languages had a positive effect.
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While the story certainly hasn’t been completely ignored, the fact that UPS drivers are even closer to going on strike should be a concern for most of us. This week alone 90% of members voted to authorize a strike if an agreement wasn’t reached. If it happens this would be the biggest strike in the US since 1959. According to the company, UPS delivers the equivalent of about 6% of the nation's gross domestic product. In 1997, UPS workers walked out for 15 days which led to about $850 million in company losses. Since the late 90’s, the company has grown significantly in size as e-commerce has driven demand for expedited delivery.
Buckle up…this could get messy (and expensive).
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We hope you enjoyed this week’s edition and, as always, we look forward to your thoughts and hearing what stories caught your eye this week.