How many people are you?
Meta is up to its old tricks, the WordPress meltdown continues, and Shorts aren't long enough, it seems. Happy Monday!
The problem with the Threads algorithm
I think Jeff has nailed it here:
Post by @eaton.fyiView on Threads
This is a typically Meta attitude. Long ago, Mark Zuckerberg was quoted as saying:
“The days of you having a different image for your work friends or co-workers and for the other people you know are probably coming to an end pretty quickly. Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity.”
Meta’s platforms really struggle to service the disparate parts of who I am. Even my Instagram feeds are more meaningful when I have separate ones for different aspects of my life. One account for the town I live in, one account for the nature/outdoors side of my life, and one for my work. But those multiple identities are a lack of integrity, according to Zuck.
How dare we be messy, human, and difficult to categorise?
LinkedIn has the advantage here. One network for one part of our identity: work.
Perhaps the future is niche network for each part of ourselves. And, if that’s the case, it’s where Meta’s real vulnerability lies.
More on the WordPress debacle
Some great reporting from Emma Roth at The Verge:
“WordPress.org just belongs to me personally,” Mullenweg said during an interview with The Verge. WordPress.org exists outside the commercial realm of Automattic, as a standalone publishing platform that offers free access to its open-source code that people can use to create their own websites. But it’s not a neutral, independent arbiter of the ecosystem. “In my role as owning WordPress.org, I don’t want to promote a company, which is A: legally threatening me and B: using the WordPress trademark. That’s part of why we cut off access from the servers.”
Talk about saying the quiet part out loud: WordPress.org is the home of the collaborative, Open Source version of WordPress. And, in Matt’s mind, he owns that. I’m seeing more and more people considering shifting from WordPress over this, and I absolutely don’t blame them.
Meanwhile, he’s offering generous severance terms for people who don’t agree with his approach in the commercial arm of what he does. Nearly 10% of Automattic employees have taken him up on the offer.
Shorts get longer
YouTube is expanding its (TikTok-alike) Shorts formant from 60 seconds to three minutes. That’s the headline from a raft of Shorts-related feature updates from the platform:
Todd Sherman
YouTube will not give up its video crown to TikTok easily…
Quickies
- 👨🏽💻 Om Malik and Fred Vogelstein are launching a tech journalism newsletter Crazy Stupid Tech.
- 👩🏻💻 Hot on the heels of her latest controversy, internet culture reporter Taylor Lorenz is off to Substack with a new site: User Magazine.
- 📧 Which is the right platform to launch your newsletter?
- 🎧 The NYT is putting its podcast archives behind a subscription. Interesting. Could some end up with new episodes there as well?
- 🦠 A network of sites that create nudes of photos you upload are injecting malware into your computer. Moral of the tale: don’t be a creep.
Headline of the Day
Sometimes, you just have to make the obvious point:
Maggie Harrison Dupré
Sign up for e-mail updates
Join the newsletter to receive the latest posts in your inbox.
