Kathryn Lund

I went to Iceland in 2018 for a long weekend and loved it! It’s hilarious that they did this mockery of Zuckerberg’s announcement! I think it’s so funny how many memes have popped up about Meta and Facebook. I wrote my latest eportfolio post about this – do you think that the memes are helping our hurting the Meta brand? They definitely keep the conversation going longer than it would have if the announcement hasn’t been so weird.

Ha, this is very timely and funny! I agree with Kathy that all the memes have kept the conversation going a lot longer. I went back to watch the original post on Meta’s Youtube channel and saw that it hadn’t even reached 1M views. I find that very interesting and it definitely has me questioning Meta’s interest and likability factor. This goes back to our Mobile Marketing class discussion about use of social media/privacy. It seems that some of our classmates are moving away from it all and perhaps the general public is too.

Love this so much. It makes me want to drop everything and go to Iceland. I love how other brands are mocking Meta’s new stance on VR. Iceland’s tourism team needs a raise. I wish I could see data on how many people booked trips to Iceland and see if there is a correlation to this video’s views

I think this is really interesting and definitely has potential, but it is hard to imagine a world where another company unseats Google from its position of power. That said, I hope it does give Google a run for its money!

Ooooooo interesting! Here are my thoughts:

1. I like the logo very much — especially for a search engine. Very refreshing.
2. I like the positioning + value proposition
3. I like the simplicity of the website, especially the primary light grey + black font… has this very minimalist Wikipedia or Craigslist vibe to it, but more modern
4. I love that they offer up joining the Slack community right up top
5. I love the hover state…. hover + BOOM, color!
6. I’m happy there’s going to be some competition in this space; DuckDuckGo freaks me out bc all of the ultra-conservatives in my life that use it, and that just makes me uncomfortable that a certain psychographic of folx use a single platform… feels isolated and rabbit-holey!

I appreciate this!!!!
Jb

Agree with Jen that the logo and color is amazing. I also agree with Erin that it will take alot for this browser to grab any users from Google’s tight grasp. I wonder what makes this different from browsers like DuckDuckGo. How will the company make money if it won’t track or sell users’ data? THere’s alot of questions coming from my head but this is really interesting

Thank you for sharing Kathryn, As someone who works in paid advertising, I am definitely aware of how Google dominates the search engine space. For context, majority of my clients either allocate all their paid search budget to Google or do a 90%/10% split between Google and Bing. The truth is even with endless funds Bing is just not able to spend in the way Google can nor does it yield great CTR results. I am excited to see how this new search engine is going to play a part in the space and if Ill be able to recommend it to my clients.

Before the pandemic I had never used Twitch before because I thought that it was an app mainly for gamers, and I’m not a part of that community. Like you said in your post, many artists used it to hold live shows and thats’s how I started using it. I don’t use it much now but I do see the appeal of the platform! I haven’t checked out the other content they have on the app but the fact that they create more content than in available on Netflix is very shocking to me. I think I may have to give the app another look!

Twitch ranked 37th globally for overall internet engagement. So it’s no surprise that Twitch is primarily for video gamers in the U.S., but it ranks 4th in line after (Youtube, FB, Insta, Twitter). Amazon purchased Twitch back in August 2014 for $970 million. Amazon’s Prime service comes with a premium Twitch subscription which I recently found out. Since the data leak in October 2021, which included info on creator payouts, I’m sure influencer marketing managers must be creative with their strategies.
Just in the year, 2021 Twitch achieved:
– 1274 BILLION minutes watched this year so far
– 8.7 MILLION unique creators streaming each month
– 2,808,000 average concurrent viewers
– 106,100 average concurrent streamers

Hi Kathryn! Thanks for the post! Just to offer some alternative things, I have quite a few friends that will watch Twitch streams of things you wouldn’t expect. One of my friends watches someone on Twitch that records themselves following along to Bob Ross’ paint guides. My cousin watches streamers do live-action fun things, like drive in cars really fast or perform skydiving feats.

A Japanese hotel gave 3 guests free stay if they were willing to livestream themselves the whole time they were there. Quite a few people took them up on their offer, which worked as a strangely weird promotional effort by the hotel (which had to have worked in some capacity because I’m talking about it here).

There’s quite a few niche communities, but I’ve personally never participated– there’s something so creepy to me about watching another person as they do something live.

Wow I had no idea that Twitch offered more than just game streaming. I feel like the way they market themselves doesn’t help to open it up to other people. When I see ads about Twitch (or at least the ones I can remember) they are all about gaming. I would like to learn more about their marketing strategy and find out why they aren’t marketing the other sides of Twitch.

I agree with many of you by saying that since I’m not a gamer, Twitch didn’t seem like the platform for me. My nephews use it for that purpose and I always ask “How do you find watching someone else play a video game so entertaining?”. same for kids that watch other kids play with toys on YouTube. Different generation, different trends. After a quick research, I learned that 41% of viewers on Twitch are between the ages of 16 to 24 years old which means that college students make up a large portion of the consumption of this form of entertainment. I predict that college students will play huge role in growing the gaming industry even more and it may become as competitive as other college sports. This will be interesting to see.

I don’t use Twitch and probably wouldn’t even know about it, but my husband just watches Twitch all day long in the background while he’s working. I wouldn’t have realized how many people are actually using the platform if I didn’t hear about it from him. He has his favorite streams, and the people who he watches serve as influencers for him. They help him decide what video games to play, and he even buys their merch. From a marketer’s perspective, I can see how gamers like him would be a huge segment to target – but they won’t reach me on that platform!

I have been on Twitch and have really seen how the platform has changed. Twitch in particular has dealt with the up and downs of competitors like YouTube and Afreeca. I know that it has been branching out from pure game streaming to other things, but I will be more interested to see how Twitch handles the new content. There was a trend when they were banning people streaming in hot tubs.

Thank you for sharing Kathryn. Before the pandemic I had no idea what Twitch even was and even after I have only seen the gaming side of it. I know the platform has had some very successful creators filming themselves play fortnite. I wonder why Twitch did not use its newly found popularity to market its other streaming services during a time the world was looking for ways the be entertained.

Hey Kathryn! I, too, am not an avid Twitch user but because of my job I work with many Twitch channels on producing content featuring my artists. There’s podcasts we work with that go live on Twitch first before releasing the recording on other platforms, and there’s music magazines – like SPIN – who have invested in their own Twitch channel for musician takeovers.
It’s true Twitch has evolved from gaming. It’s more-so a YouTube competitor than anything else.
I think the reason people gravitate to Twitch is the user experience. It reminds me of AIM a bit.

All evidence is that the opt-in range is driven in many ways by the content. Opt-in can be universal, but for most it’s likely “partner by partner”.

Gaming in particular offers a serious incentive to use ads to get upgrades rather than pay-for-play. In those cases, 30-40% of users are reported to opt in. Is this a harbinger for the challenges other developers or services will face?

Apple’s IDFA changes are already changing game design and monetization

iOS 14 Opt-in-Rate Is Higher for Mobile Games

As for why, 4% overall seems like a fair proxy for the share of people who just “don’t care”, at least enough to read what they’re agreeing to.

This is why I’m emphasizing 1P data as such a big part of marketer’s future. I just don’t see a viable environment where we all just let whoever wants it have our data. It’s likely to be shared, in pieces, to various parents. The ability of 1P brand to “share” data with another to see how who they know aligns with who they know seems more viable, or at least easier for people to monitor.

Wow 4%? Seems pretty low on a percentage scale, however it has me wondering the why the 4% opted in the first place (and wish there was a way to find out). BTW Kathryn, you had me at SCRATCH AND SNIFF!!!! Did this really happen? Because i would love to see this type of credit card offer!!!!

When I get the prompt, “Do you want to help us make technology work better,” I almost want to laugh. My answer is always no. They’re doing just fine updating technology without the help of my personal information. Where does all this end? I am no longer interested in receiving updates from companies either. I find that if I want to learn about something I can on my own terms.

Before starting this class, I accepted without thinking twice. I’m assuming the 4% are those who just really don’t know or care, but I’d bet they are not intentionally opting in for contribution’s sake, lol. The percentage about gamers makes sense and I find troublesome as games already exploit addiction and now this is taking it to the next step – with the realization that the gamers are such feins they’ll say yeah, sure whatever, just let me in.
And how many parents are aware enough to ensure that their children informed. Ugh. In the meantime:
https://www.theverge.com/22403523/ios-14-5-tracking-consent-app-transparency-how-to

Thanks for the thoughts Kathryn! It’s funny because I’ve started to agree with your mindset about opting-in; I used to opt out of everything and anything, and would unsubscribe with the first annoying email. But since this class and maybe my most recent job position has me much more curious about the marketing and advertising tactics being used by others. To be honest, I may have been one of those people that have opted in because I happen to enjoy targeted ads. Maybe it is because I can always tell an ad from organic feed, that I can appreciate the marketing tactics it took to get, and I doubly appreciate it if it is actually relevant to my life, and triply if it is actually appealing. I’ve clicked on more ads in recent years than ever because the targeting is so good, that I get ads for actual things I need!

As a marketer, I wish that number was higher. But as a person who adds to the other 96%, I don’t really understand why people would want to opt in. Of course companies promise opting in and giving away your information will benefit you with more personalized experience but has anyone see that benefit? All I have seen is non-stop ads from something I accidentally clicked on once. And to Steve’s point, I think they are doing just fine making decisions without the use of my data. If they really wanted consumer input, make a survey

Reading your post got me thinking about the line between protecting content and censoring it. As a Chinese based company, TikTok is preprogramed to over censor content. The fact that they banded someone that has same sex content does not surprise me at all. This is not just a TikTok conversation. Every social media company is trying to find that fine line. I think the answer gets back to our conversation about a company’s social media policy. Social media companies should define what is and is not allowed on there platforms, universally enforce it, and then make it a continues process to review and update the policy. These are not new problems, they are just new in the number of and speed the information can reach people.

I feel like everyday I hear about content creators and influencers are having their content banned or having their profile restricted. I’m not on Tik Tok so I’m not fully aware of the issues creators are having but I have been seeing this issue with content creators I follow on Instagram. Some of the reason they have been restricted seemed really unnecessary and didn’t seem to go against the Instagram guidelines. It’s really unfair to those who like Kevin James Thornton, have poured so much into creating a thriving community on these platforms only to have them “start again”. I wonder if TikTok is willing to amend some of their guidelines around their moderation system in order to protect their creators since they help to bring so many eyes to the platform.

OUTSTANDING post and comments here, all! Sean, absolutely agree with your point that “these are not new problems, they are just new in the number of and speed the information can reach people.”

Does it ultimately come down to accountability? To whom are social media companies accountable for establishing clear values and expectations, and then upholding them? What happens if they aren’t accountable or consistent in doing so? At what point is social media considered a utility that could be regulated? Lots to consider…

This is unbelievable to me. Kathryn’s post and your comment just sent me down a wormhole of reading articles about TikTok’s haphazard censorship. I still don’t understand how having the word “nazi” in your bio wouldn’t automatically get you banned… what alternative context is there? Based on my minimal understanding of algorithms, I can maybeee see how TikTok had to make some tweaks around BLM to ensure people who should be blocked were and vice versa (though apparently it’s still an issue: https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2021-09-16/fed-up-with-tiktok-black-users-are-moving-on)
But when TikTok programmers came together to discuss what should be censored (if that’s how it’s done), how was censoring the word nazi (or white supremacy) not an easy box to check, especially when used in a bio? Maybe they’ve figured that out by now… Not sure because I’m not on TikTok, and I’d hope the algorithm would know me better than to show that content but YIKES.

Katheryn, I totally agree with your comment on the possibility that a platform could lose its audience or advertisers because of the overzealous banning of creators. Do you think this is because of the origin of this social app? Does Tick Tok actually have defined values that makes it different from any other social platform that also has trolls string up trouble?

Also, I had no idea that there were trolls on Tick Tok just trying to instigate trouble in order to get someone banned. What a disheartening thought for someone to hate on another so much for some reason, they would go to lengths to make them look bad, and eventually banned.

A year or two ago, users on Tiktok claimed it had all of the style and grace of Instagram, but without the trolling. They touted that they had an inclusive environment that didn’t have the vitriol that normal social media platforms have. In the past few months though, it is becoming clear that this welcoming attitude when you arrive is a façade that can sometimes conceal a lot of hate. I recently watched a TikTok about a woman who did a social experiment on Tiktok, where she followed and liked anti-trans users and videos, and found that the platform started to recommend other types of hate videos like racist or anti-Semitist videos. Though the suggestion algorithm can be powerful, it can also be dangerous. Thanks Kathryn for the share!

Thank you for sharing Kathryn! As someone who recently got into Tiktok I can confidently say my for you page is now my latest addiction. With that I am show many different content creators from a BUNCH of different interest and have seen a growing number of videos made about wrongfully being banned on tiktok. Even tiktok queen herself Addison Rae was banned?!?! I own a small business and can understand first hand the toll it can take on someone to lose contact with a fanbase they have put so much time and effort to build. The platform needs new guidelines to better target creators that violate community guidelines.

This is interesting. This list does seem pretty outdated. You talked about Google+ which is essentially dead for the individual user. I didn’t even know ESPN allowed comments on their site. TikTok and Reddit should be there on video sites and forums. I honestly didn’t even know there was this many social media sites. As a company, it must be difficult to include all of these sites to its Code of Conduct. I wonder how they discover these sites; is it by word of mouth by employees or do they just find it online?

Interesting post Kathryn! First, I’ll say kudos to your company for its thoroughness – wow. I think it’s good they thought about this broadly, but it does make it a bit unrealistic to actually be able to sift through all of it and understand the policies set forth. Second, I imagine whoever came up with this list, tried to do so in a way that addressed “social media” in its most broad and basic form: a digital platform where people socialize and converse. At least, that’s the only way I can make sense of it in my brain. Given Chase is such a huge company, I imagine they just wanted to cover ALL the bases, even if it is silly to think about spreading company secrets through Farmville.

Lol at Farmville…

I agree, this is an extensive list and I think it’s more about them having all their bases covered. Agree with Mo about Reddit and TikTok..those are widely popular! Also many people ask about company culture on Reddit and that can definitely be a huge platform to unleash some dirt. Is this included in the recent FAQ? This raises the question of how often should a company update their Code of Conduct and the documents tied to it? Should they release every time there is a new platform? What if the platform is hugely popular at first then burns out and isn’t used ever again? It would definitely be interesting to see the actual factors that determine what is included

Wow Kathryn, this is quite intense of a list hahaha. But also, I can understand the reason why your company would want to cover as much bases as possible in the world of social media. Even though head-on we think of the holy trinity that you mentioned, all the websites mentioned in the list give some sort of social aspect. So while Facebook is inherently social, it makes sense that our Yelp reviews would be considered a social activity as well.

Kathryn, makes me wonder if the policy would benefit from an “includes, but not limited to….” introduction to this list along with a general definition of “social media.” You’re right–platforms come and go at such a rapid pace, it can feel nearly impossible to keep up with.

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, social media is defined as “forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)”. Which I feel like is broad and would encompass a lot of platforms, like many of the ones your company suggested, that I wouldn’t necessarily label as social media. When I think of social media, I do think of the trifecta and other platforms that are somewhat similar, so it’s interesting to see ESPN comments and Farmville be counted as one. With the rate that new social platforms are being created, it may be a lot to keep constantly updating your code of conduct but it’s necessary to keep up with the times.

Thank you for sharing Kathryn! I am with you and I have always thought of social media as the big platforms such as FB,IG, snapchat etc. As technology evolves, it is so interesting to me to see how policy is shifting with it. Although you mentioned the list you have shared is outdated I do not doubt that some criminal mastermind is sharing company information through a club penguins chat. Unfortunately people are always looking for a loop and companied need to stay on top of it.