Twitter, Target, and Terrorism

Harm Reduction

I went to an amazing harm reduction and overdose prevention workshop at Oasis here in San Francisco this week. Local drag artist, Kochina Rude, has been giving out Narcan–a drug that can reverse an opioid overdose–at her weekly drag show for over a year now. Kochina also works in public health and did an amazing job hosting this week’s workshop and answering all of our questions. 

I spend a lot of time on dance floors and at parties where sometimes people might indulge in substances. I’ve seen people “fall out” at events, and it’s scary. Narcan and fentanyl test strips are easy-to-use tools that help keep people safe and save lives. Even if you aren’t out at clubs on the weekends, I’d encourage you to learn more about both. Attend a training if you can and look into getting Narcan to carry on you. You can probably buy it at your local pharmacy, or there might be a public health program in your area giving it away for free. 

It’s like knowing CPR. If someone’s life is in danger and you could be the difference between them making it or not, I’d rather have the tools and knowledge to help. Just that simple. 

Platform Updates

Instagram 

• This is Instagram’s new Twitter competitor (this is a look at leaked slides FYI, so not necessarily final yet) 

• Instagram Adds Search Ads Placement into its Marketing API

The Rest of Meta 

• Meta Adds New Lead Generation Tools on Facebook

• Meta sells Giphy to Shutterstock to comply with UK regulator order

TikTok

• TikTok is testing an in-app AI chatbot called ‘Tako’

• Montana Ban

  • TikTok creators sue Montana over app ban

  • TikTok Challenges Montana’s Decision to Ban the App

Twitter

• The Product 

  • Twitter Adds List Search Capacity on Desktop

  • Twitter introduces a new $5,000-per-month API tier

• The Dumpster Fire

  • Blue Tick Accounts on Twitter Add Weight to Pentagon Explosion Hoax

  • A Twitter bug is restoring deleted tweets and retweets — including my own

  • Elon Musk fails to launch Ron DeSantis in disastrous Twitter Space

  • Twitter is making researchers delete data it gave them unless they pay $42,000 

YouTube

• YouTube Makes Community Posts Available to All Channels

• A Google DeepMind AI language model is now making descriptions for YouTube Shorts

• YouTube Stories are shutting down June 26 as company focuses on Shorts (I had 100% forgotten that YouTube Stories were a thing) 

LinkedIn 

• LinkedIn Adds Verifications in Job Listings to Provide More Assurance for Users

Culture Movers 

Film & TV

• Almost 5 million people are using Netflix’s ad tier

• Netflix crackdown on account sharing hits US with $8 fee for each extra user

• Max has arrived, and it’ll feel very familiar to HBO Max customers

• Warner Bros. Discovery apologizes for crediting writers and directors as ‘creators’ on Max (this “mistake” felt very pointed arriving during the writers strike negotiations) 

Music 

• AI Voices Could Soon be Reading Ads on Spotify Podcasts

Creator Economy 

• VRChat enters the creator economy 

• SAG-AFTRA now covers celebrities’ Cameo for Business deals

• Generative AI Podcasts Are Here. Prepare to Be Bored

Gaming 

• Sony’s PlayStation handheld reportedly arriving in November

AI 

• Bing is now the default search for ChatGPT

• Microsoft’s Azure AI Studio lets developers build their own AI ‘copilots’ 

• Microsoft will ID its AI art with a hidden watermark

• Google’s new generative AI tool can help sellers jazz up their product images

Scams

• The FDA will apparently let Elon Musk put a computer in a human’s brain

The Insight 

 3-4 paragraphs breaking down a content trend or cultural insight 

Twitter Updates, I Guess 

I don’t want to spend a lot of time on it because, one, I’m tired of talking about this dumpster fire of a company, and, two, I think others have said everything I want to say already. So instead, here are two great articles I suggest reading if you want to understand how Musk is morphing Twitter into a 4chan Fox News hybrid. 

"Humanity’s digital public square” by Ryan Broderick in his newsletter Garbage Day

Twitter Is a Far-Right Social Network by Charlie Warzel in The Atlantic 

Pride Marketing Update: Missing the Target 

tl;dr - Target removed some of their Pride Merch after violent anti-trans bigots showed up to physically threaten stores 

I’m pissed at Target for not making a stronger statement against the violent bigotry targeting the Trans community they claim to support. There’s this feeling beyond anger in me. Beyond disappointment. There’s just this rage I live with every day thinking about how little accountability there is for the violent extremists who show up and threaten a Target over some rainbow clothing. 

I was in middle school in 2001. As a child, I watched American politics twist itself into knots around our great War on Terror while doing nothing about the terrorism right here in our own country, threatening the lives of queer people and people of color. I’m angry all of the time. Every day of my adult life, that anger has been there. If you’ve ever voted Republican or watched Fox News, and I don’t spend every second screaming at you, be grateful for my self-control. I’m furious, and I’m tired because anti-gay, white supremacist terrorism has been active in this country my entire life, and our culture rarely ever calls it what it is, let alone holds its perpetrators and enablers accountable.  

So yes, I know Target was acting to protect their employees and customers. They are also the victim of this violent extremism. But Target might actually worry about losing me as a shopper. I might just maybe have some leverage there. There’s a small chance my rage can get funneled into something positive if I take that white-hot atomic anger and pack it down into something “polite” and “reasonable,” then direct it at Target and let them know I’m “disappointed.” Then maybe there’s a chance something, anything, might maybe get better. 

Pride Marketing campaigns feel like a lot of fun for brands. Queer people know how to party even in dark times. But alongside the parades and dance pop remixes, there’s all this rage. That’s the landscape of emotion you are tapping into with your rainbow merch.  It’s life or death for many of the people who look at that rainbow flag and see themselves. Please take that seriously. 

Oh Canada

I’m taking a break from exploring Hyrule this weekend for a little long-weekend vacation. I’ll be up in Vancouver for my first-ever trip to Canada. If anyone has any recommendations for fun things to do in Vancouver, please DM me or add them to the comments here.