Peace & joy as a very online person

I’m back from vacation & ready to tell haters to !@#$ off

February 17, 2023

Back on dry land

I think I’m all caught up (on work emails, sleep, and industry news) after my cruise. I had a blast dancing on a boat in the Caribbean with some of my closest friends and meeting new folks from around the world. Big fan of vacations here. That time to disconnect from work and invest in your own joy is essential for mental health. It also helps you develop new ideas and perspectives that are useful in your professional life. Go take a vacation. 

A big gay dance party outside on a cruise ship. The dance was themed “over the rainbow”. People are carrying a rainbow of balloons across the dancefloor. Above the crowd are a giant pair of witch legs wearing ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz. It’s packed, and people are loving it.

Platform Updates

Instagram 

TikTok

Twitter

YouTube

Google 

Discord

Pinterest (disclosure: I’m currently a contractor at Pinterest) 

Twitch 

Snap 

Culture Movers 

Film & TV

Music 

Creator Economy 

Gaming 

Users be shopping 

Instagram giving up on live shopping is a good reason to put down some theories I’ve had about the trend for a while. If you haven’t followed this feature’s rise across multiple social networks, here’s the tl;dr: Live shopping is huge in Asia for social apps. It generates a lot of engagement and revenue, so western social networks looking for continued avenues for growth have been gearing up to launch their own live shopping features. 

Now with Meta pulling back from their plans, I think it’s worth reflecting on if western social app users want this. Instagram already feels like a bloated shopping mall with the volume of ads I see there. Live shopping at its best could help creators seamlessly showcase merch or brand partnerships in their existing live video content. At its worst, it sounds like QVC by Zuckerberg on PCP, and I’m just not sure users want that. After last summer’s big pushback against Reels and the splashy launch of BeReal, I think it’s clear that a significant portion of Meta’s users just want tools for connecting with their friends. 

Live shopping might still work in the west, but I don’t think Meta can pivot their existing products to provide that experience. At least not right now when user trust is so low. 

Just block ‘em

I’m trigger-happy with the block button, and I think it may be the single most important behavior that’s allowed me to be this online for so long without it completely destroying my mental health. 

This week after Elon proved, again, that he’s a shallow little man-child desperately trying to buy his way into the popular kids club with his Twitter purchase, the hashtag #BlockElon started trending. Love the idea, but also, how have y’all not blocked that apartheid nepo baby already? I blocked him long before he ever floated the idea of setting a mountain of cash on fire to buy Twitter. 

My career has required me to understand how brands can use social media platforms to connect with potential customers. The best way for me to do that has been to actually use these platforms. Be on them, mess around with their features, contribute to their weird in-jokes, make online friends, and just be social. But these platforms are also full of people I don’t want to be around. Some of those people might even target me with digital or real-world violence just for being me (any very online queer person you talk to has too many bad stories about this happening to them and their friends, I’m not being hyperbolic). So I got really defensive with my block button. 

You have hate symbols in your profile? Block. You have conspiracy theory hashtags in your description? Block. You say something off that makes me feel unsafe? Block. You follow too many people I’ve blocked? Block. You consistently use your large platform to bully and harass strangers? Block. 

In the words of @ashhblackwood from one of my favorite inspirational TikTok sounds, “if it’s costing your peace, it's too damn expensive.” 

Go, my friends, and use that block button freely. Life is too precious, and your time is too short to deal with folks you already know you don’t want anything to do with.