Surprising New Teen Research Shows YouTube, TikTok Dominate, Twitter and Facebook in Steep Decline plus Will Netflix Kill Fandom?

8/15/2022: Here’s what’s new and what caught my eye last week

Pew Research Shows Teens Still Prefer YouTube over TikTok:?You’ve probably seen the headlines about TikTok surpassing YouTube in time spent and beyond.?Well according to a new “Teens and Tech” survey from Pew Research Center , YouTube dominates casual and constant usage among US teens – but TikTok beats Instagram , Snap Inc. and Facebook .?Interesting differences between boys and girls too, with boys spending more time with Twitch and Reddit, while girls favor TikTok, Snap and Instagram.?Also, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr are in steep decline.?And teens spend a LOT of time on these services! Lots of good (and projectable) data here. How predictive is it???Check out page 23 of the full PDF for sample size and 95% sample error confidence as well.

Unrest in the Corporate NFT Space:?Been a rocky week for NFT holders.?What looked like a win – Tiffany's sold out CryptoPunk project – was revealed to actually be a sneaky naked grab for IP rights.?A $51M win for the iconic jewelry brand but a terrible precedent.?? Kevin Rose retroactively put the Moonbird NFT artwork into the public domain without consulting his NFT owners - and those owners are NOT happy.??And a handful of other recent branded NFT drops have dribbled away into insignificance.?Want to know how you can do NFTs right?? Peter Yang has a timely playbook for brands that you must read.

Gartner’s Full Hype Cycle for 2022 Out:?You’ve likely read my breathless adulation of Gartner ’s #hypecycle.?I love it because it works (usually).?Two weeks ago we explored the Web3 only slice, this week Gartner released the full “Emerging Tech” version.?If you’re working at the intersection of technology, media, creators and community then you absolutely need to peruse this chart.?Even those technologies that don’t seem relevant on the surface will change everything in our world. “Generative Design AI”, for example, will bring DallE-2 style image generation to video.?Computation storage will dramatically change video editing. And decentralized identity will shake up the trolls.??Well worth a deep dive!

Bridgerton Suit Could Change Fandom:?From Star Trek fan games to real-life Quidditch and cosplay, reinventing and inserting yourself into your favorite worlds is part of the fabric of fandom. Even Mr. Beast’s Squid Games and Willy Wonka remakes fall into this category of remixing favorite IP.?But Netflix could change all that with its recent suit focused on the Bridgerton musical.?It’s an incredibly misguided attempt to punish super fans, and shows just how desperate the streamer has become.?Creator Economy leader Gil Kruger has a solution though – big media needs to legitimize “Official Fan Works” and embrace fandom, not destroy it.?I hope it happens, but I doubt it will.

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QUIBIS:

• Formerly popular audio social app Clubhouse is pivoting to private social communities with new “House” feature.?Join the beta here.
• Roblox keeps on innovating with a new “Live Animation Creator” and “Face Recorder Studio”.?This is the future of creator-led immersive entertainment.
• Brian Morrissey nails the Zaslav spreadsheet-first culture ruling Disco-WB today.? Rich Greenfield details more of the pickle WBD is in today.
• Fascinating insider look at making the donuts from a former TikTok content moderator, and the challenge of “operationalizing opinions and morals at scale”.
• Not sure if I’m reading Roblox latest quarterly financials right, but it looks like they paid 27% of revenue to creators in the form of “Developer Exchange Fees” (HT to The Information ’s Creator Economy newsletter).
• Great interview with Hank Green on The Decoder podcast with Nilay Patel (read the transcript).
• Instagram Now Copying BeReal. too.
• Social Commerce might not be the droid you’re looking for.
• Europe is about to rule on Instagram and kids' data.?I expect fireworks.
• Here comes TikTok Music.
• More on how TikTok has changed book publishing.
• Geek alert – what is an “Exaflop”?

CRYPTIS:

• Instagram native expands NFT features globally.
• Roblox hiring Web3 developers as competitor Minecraft shies away.
• Exciting!? CreatorDAO raises $20M to invest in creators – what it’s all about from the founder – and how creators can apply.

TIP OF THE WEEK:?This week’s tips come from creator/expert Jeremy Vest , who just launched a kickstarter for a 14-day course to help YOU be successful on YouTube.?Back the project (it's a mega-bargain) and heed his advice!

If I could only focus on 3 things on YouTube here is what I would focus on: Clickability, Watchability and Likeability. ?You have to have very clickable titles and thumbnails or people won't watch your video.?You have to tell great stories with a strong hook and fast paced editing to keep people watching as long as possible.?And you need to create reasons for people to share, like and comment.

Focus on these three and the rest of YouTube gets easier.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING:?Have you played the cool new third-person kitty videogame “Stray” yet??This dog loves it!

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Jim