Vanity Metrics #10
This Must Be the Place*
We made it to 10! It’s been a lot of fun pulling together these newsletters, and I’m so thankful for all the positive feedback I’ve gotten in the last 10 issues. Give this issue a heart (right up there under the title) if you open this one. Like a little birthday candle. Let’s get to it.
The Big Stuff
Image: Mikey Burton/New York Times
The next generation already has a name
I want to point out: Millenial is not a blanket term that refers to someone under 30.
“Millenial” was a term first coined by two authors in 1987 describing children who would be adults in the year 2000. Millennials are, on the top end, 38 years old now. They own homes, have multiple children, and are the majority of mid-to-upper-level employees/employers now. So please, stop using it a replacement tool for, “kids these days”.
The term you wanna go with is “GenZ”: the artisanal, GenX-crafted babies of the mid-90s reaching their 20s about now. They’ve mostly grown up with the internet as a constant part of their everyday life. The First Digital Generation.
At 90 million alone in the US (that’s 20M more than Boomers/Millenials, and 25M more than GenX), GenZs are hard-coded to cope with a visual environment that has always been cluttered, loud and connected. They are carving out private enclaves in the middle of the social maelstrom, preferring smaller, more intimate interactions with real people than the shouting matches of public comment sections. You can still reach them, but they’ve learned how to ignore you.
And believe it or not, people keep having babies! Dubbed “The Children of Digital Devices”, Generation Alpha began in 2010 (the same year the iPad and Instagram launched). GenA’s will likely hold 18 different jobs over their lives. Many of those jobs don’t exist yet.
If I can opine: If GenZ was the pivot point to reaching people who have always had internet connectivity in their households, “GenA” will assume everything can be done on their mobile devices. If it can’t, it’s discarded. And while GenA is still half a decade away from being considered consumers, you have to ask yourself — if your marketing plans are still trying to answer the question, “how are we reaching Millenials?” you have some serious catching up to do.
(Note: I am 41, not a millennial, not a GenX, not a girl, not yet a woman)
Fun Fact: Discarded names for Millenials included Generation Y, Echo Boomers, The 9/11 Generation, The Me Me Me Generation, and The Burnout Generation.
The Small Stuff
Are Twitter Stories on their way? Does Twitter need it? Do users want it? With Twitter’s purchase of Chroma Labs (a popular stories template app from the creators of Instagram’s Boomerang feature), they might be.
More: stories.twitter.com is now listed in Google search results, but redirects to the Twitter about page…
We’re people too! Meet the 45 people behind some of the most followed brands on social.
Personal note: behind these brands are individuals who work super hard and are often on the receiving end of the firehose of good and bad feedback. I was one of the first handful of people doing this job in Canada, and I’ll buy a coffee or a drink for every “Community Manager”, “Social Media Specialist” or whatever your title is, that has to slog through the daily grind of ideation, writing, revision, scheduling, and community management for a brand. You have a hard, thankless job most people won’t ever see. I see you.
Twitter continues to test methods to flag/downgrade false accounts and factually incorrect posts, including big warning flags (below) and a Reddit-style karma point system. So far this year, Twitter seems to be leading the way in the crackdown on trashposting.
Swipe to call/text ads are rolling out on Snapchat. Nice touch: you can use a different number for each ad unit (including call centers). I’m a big fan of any ad unit or CTA that ends with a 1:1 interaction with a real person to answer questions, help find locations/products or book services. It will be interesting to see if Snapchat users are responsive.
Vimeo is rolling out a new tool for small businesses. Vimeo Create is designed for small biz owners to easily create a professional-looking video with pre-built templates, stock footage, and video overlays.
Here’s a really good deep dive into the crash of HQ Trivia. From brutal in-house mismanagement to a failed acquisition at the last moment. Owners continue to state that HQ Trivia isn’t dead yet, but one would be skeptical it could ever recover from this. 5 minute read here.
80% of music revenue in the US in 2019 came from streaming. Mentioned in Vanity #3, Billboard charts now take streaming hits into account, making social campaigns that push to streams all the more valuable to clients.
More: Tik Tok is providing a major boost to new and old music alike, and influencers are cashing in (up to $3K to feature a track).
Facebook is banning ads on Coronavirus snake-oil ads, employing fact-checkers to debunk misleading posts (and there are a lot), and linking to global and regional health orgs as top search results. The full press release is here.
Citing China’s involvement in ByteDance, US agencies continue to bar employees from using Tik Tok on the job. The banned agencies include the Army, Navy, and Marines, The State Department, Homeland Security and now the TSA.
The US Federal Appeals Court has dismissed another First Amendment case against YouTube. The case was brought by notorious hate-posters PragerU, who argued that YouTube violates the First Amendment by restricting viewership and censoring their point of view. As someone who actually studied philosophy of law, it comes as no surprise that this was tossed, twice. I don’t want to rant, but it really bugs me that people tie up courts with these asinine notions that a private company is somehow a public (government) service because it’s on the internet.
This is really great: The Smithsonian has released nearly 3 million images and videos for public use. “Featuring data and material from all 19 Smithsonian museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo, the new digital depot encourages the public to not just view its contents, but use, reuse and transform them into just about anything they choose”. Like an 1874 illustration of a California Grey Whale? No problem:
Bonus for your phonus
Still on the hunt for podcast recommendations. I’ll admit I don’t listen to many work-related podcasts (we can’t be about work all the time!), but many people use the format as a great way to catch up on industry moves and insights (ahem, subscribe to Vanity). And here’s a good insight episode from Geekout with Matt Navarra. Matt welcomes Digitas Strategy Partner Jame Whatley on the growth of social media over the last 15 years, and what’s next. Have a listen right here!
*relax here. its been a long week. I know. give this a go. you’ll feel better.
Ryan LaFlamme has worked in social media marketing and advertising for longer than the job had a title. He formed the independent social consultancy Hub and Spoke in 2016, and can be found hanging out on Twitter @ryanlaf Now accepting new clients and speaking engagements.