Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: JD Vance memes take over, Digg returns, Discord IPO, MrBeast makes a play for TV dollars + more

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MINI TECH SCROLL: JD Vance memes take over, Digg returns, Discord IPO, MrBeast makes a play for TV dollars + more · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  This week on Mini Scroll we're celebrating International
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  Women's Day by spotlighting female founded brands and today
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  we're talking about Handstand Studio.
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  Handstand Studio is a design studio based out of Raleigh, NC
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  and founded by Hannah Solari, illustrator and listener of The
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  POD. Hannah's mission is to help
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  people feel seen through her designs and products, which
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  spans stickers, bookmarks, cards, stationary tote bags,
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  T-shirts, and also event invites, which is actually
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  something that Centennial hired her for this month and we were
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  absolutely thrilled with her. Hannah's illustrations are all
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  hand drawn, colorful, bubbly, and just so Gen.
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  Z for all your illustration needs.
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  You can find Hannah at at Handstand Studio on Instagram or
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  at handstandstudio.com. Hey everyone, and welcome to
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  Mini Scroll, the daily Internet culture podcast bring you the
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  biggest stories from social media, the creator economy, and
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  the digital space every Monday through Thursday.
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  My name is Annabelle and I am your Wednesday Mini Scroll host
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  and also the deputy editor of the youth digital media brand
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  Centennial World. Before we get into the stories
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  today, I have been requested by Lauren to remind you guys to
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  please fill out the questionnaire LinkedIn, the
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  please head to that link and fill it out.
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  Aside from that, Please remember to rate review and subscribe to
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  But also please feel free to leave us a review.
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  We love reading your comments and it just keeps us going.
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  Anyway, let's get straight into the stories.
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  My first story for today definitely falls into the more
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  trend political side of mini scroll rather than the tech
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  part, but I just felt the need to talk about this because I
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  have seen it everywhere. And that is of course the JD
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  Vance memes that aren't taking over the Internet.
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  If you've been online this past week, specifically on Twitter in
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  between its various outages earlier this week, I am sure you
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  have seen these pictures of US Vice President JD Vance that are
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  completely edited. There are a variety of these
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  memes I can't even keep up at this point, but some of the more
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  popular ones have his face completely inflated or looking
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  like a child where he's wearing a propeller hat, and others he
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  is completely yacified with a perfectly chiseled jawline.
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  These memes have definitely been around for quite a while.
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  I saw on Know Your Meme that the first recorded use of a meme
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  like this actually went back to October last year, but they have
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  completely blown up after the recent and I'll fated guest
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  meeting between trump and Ukrainian president zelensky.
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  In a piece for Gizmodo by Matthew Galt, he details the way
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  these memes have evolved over time.
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  Writing quote early vice presidential memes emphasized
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  Vance Smokey eyes and chubby cheeks of the two strains, the
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  chubby Vance is now dominant for months now I've seen pictures of
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  Vance circulating that inflate him.
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  This is typical of what I see now, a grotesque and inflated JD
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  Vance with cold, dead blue eyes staring out at the viewer with
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  horrifying intensity. Aside from these memes kind of
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  just being funny, I wanted to include this story in this
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  week's episode because I have seen a lot of interesting
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  reporting around these memes and kind of what they represent.
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  It's clear that many of these pictures are poking fun at the
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  Vice President, but they also seem to be used by people across
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  the political spectrum. As reported by the Washington
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  Post quote, the left has reshaped him into a pouty,
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  overstuffed cherub intended to symbolize a tantrum throwing
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  toddler. Meanwhile, the right has
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  chiseled him into a hardened nationalist icon.
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  His image bends and warps remix to fit the worldview of
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  whoever's wielding the Photoshop tools.
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  I thought it was interesting that both the Washington Post
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  and Gizmodo articles kind of made this argument, and they
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  also likened the band's meme to that of Pepe the Frog, which was
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  the cartoon frog that was essentially hijacked by right
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  wing Internet users and became a Trump campaign mascot.
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  I just thought that was an interesting comparison.
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  I honestly forgot about them meme until I read this article,
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  but I definitely buy the argument that the Vance meme has
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  taken on a life of its own and is being used in unique ways
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  depending on who's posting it, Something that is often the case
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  with memes. But what's particularly
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  interesting to me is how it is being used on the left as some
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  sort of political defiance. Aiden Walker on TikTok, who
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  actually has appeared on this podcast before where Lauren
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  interviewed him about Skippity toilet.
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  That is honestly one of my favorite episodes.
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  So I definitely recommend you guys to check that out.
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  But he made a similar claim in a TikTok.
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  He spoke about how social media users are taking official photos
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  of vans that are essentially meant to show authority and are
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  projecting their own meaning onto it.
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  But what we're also seeing is kind of political balance here
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  because the images of Vans that people are adapting, often his
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  official Senate photo or his official vice presidential photo
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  or photo they tweeted out from the official vice presidential
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  account of him at this meeting with Zelensky.
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  These photos are supposed to connote authority.
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  You know, they're supposed to seem like he's tough.
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  But instead, people are purposefully reading against the
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  intention of the photo that is baked into the post and deciding
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  to meme it in a different way. There's a certain defiance here,
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  and it reminds me of Luigi memes where there are pictures put out
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  by authority, whether it is a mug shot or surveillance
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  footage, and people are insisting on reading it as a
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  thirst trap, reading contrary to the way they are supposed to
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  understand it. This is the dynamic that is
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  often a play in political memes. I just thought that that was
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  such an accurate and sharp way to frame everything that is
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  going on with the JD Vance memes.
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  Because memes aren't just jokes. They are honestly so powerful
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  and an often overlooked tool for political pushback.
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  In an instance like this. They can obviously work to
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  debunk certain narratives around public figures or even
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  propaganda, but they can also on the flip side reinforce them.
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  I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but we
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  need to take memes and Internet culture seriously.
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  I mean, I know if you're listening to this podcast, you
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  already think that, but if we don't, I feel like people are
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  missing out on so much discourse, especially when
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  social media is the dominant space for public debate today.
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  And also in the US when you have political leaders who are so
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  really chronically online, it is just you can't ignore it these
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  days. My next story for today is
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  actually a little bit late. I saw this story after I
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  recorded Mini last week and I wanted to drop it in this
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  episode because I think it is so interesting.
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  And that is that Dig is returning.
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  If you haven't heard of Dig before, that is totally
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  understandable. I hadn't either until I did a
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  deep dive into Reddit last year for an infinite scroll episode.
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  I find the platform origins of Reddit super interesting.
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  I know we do a couple of platform deep dives every once
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  in a while, but Reddit has definitely been my favorite to
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  research and write about anyway. So how Dig relates to Reddit is
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  that Dig was a popular social media platform in the early
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  2000s and was actually a major competitor to Reddit.
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  Dig actually actually predated Reddit.
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  Launching at the end of 2004, it does share a similar concept to
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  Reddit, featuring a list of links that users could either
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  dig or bury. Very much like uploading and
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  downloading on Reddit At the time, Digg was actually more
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  successful than Reddit, and to put that into perspective, users
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  at the time thought Reddit was the flop and that Digg was going
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  to be the long lasting platform, which has obviously not been the
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  case. Despite Digg's early success, a
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  not so well received update that users ended up widely hating
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  caused many to migrate to competitor sites, including
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  Reddit in 2010. After many years, Diggs founder
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  Kevin Rose is attempting to revamp the platform after
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  recently buying it back. This time he's doing it
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  alongside one of Reddit's original Co founders being
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  Alexis Ohanian. Quote Mr. Rose and Mr. Ohanian
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  are relaunching Dig when social media is in tumult, Mike Isaac
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  writes for the New York Times. Amid this upheaval, Mr. Rose and
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  Mr. Ohanian sensed an opportunity to reinvent Dig in a
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  way that could cut through some of them pitfalls of modern
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  social media and focus on connection and humanity online.
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  I think this is really telling timing because Reddit itself is
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  going through a transformation at the moment.
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  While Reddit is definitely still a go to platform for many, it
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  has become increasingly concerned with commercial
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  viability in recent years, marking a shift that has
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  noticeably changed the user experience.
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  While invitations to try out Dig haven't been sent out yet, it
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  looks like the platform will take cues from the original
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  while also integrating AI, like every other social media
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  platform, into the mix. I'm actually so curious about
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  how this will go as we all know because I think I literally say
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  it in every episode. But I am so skeptical about new
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  platforms being introduced. But I've also never thought
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  about bringing old platforms back and whether they will find
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  more success because of the chokehold that nostalgia has on
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  culture at the moment. While we often associate
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  nostalgia with Gen. Z, and Dig is definitely a
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  little bit before our time, it could tap into an era that Gen.
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  Z longs for online, one that feels actually social and
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  potentially less toxic rather than just about consuming
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  content. The next quick story I have is
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  that Discord is reportedly in early discussions about an IPO.
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  Just to make sure that we're all on the same page because I'm not
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  a finance bro and this is obviously not a finance podcast.
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  But an IPO is an initial public offering, and it's when a
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  private company offers its share to the public for the first
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  time, and ultimately that allows it to be listed on the Stock
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  Exchange. There are pros and cons to this
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  process. Obviously.
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  One of the pros is that it provides opportunities to raise
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  capital and expand though it and come at a high initial cost.
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  Going public obviously also increases brand awareness, but
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  it does come with stricter regulation.
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  And of course, Discord is a chat app that has become extremely
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  popular over the years, particularly among gamers, and
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  has since expanded to other niche communities.
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  Think of it as a kind of Reddit for direct messaging.
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  We have seen various entities on social media go public in recent
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  years, ranging from Reddit last year to Face Clan back in 2022,
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  and it seems that Discord may be the next platform to follow
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  suit. According to reporting from The
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  New York Times quote, Discord has met with investment bankers
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  in recent weeks to discuss preparations for an initial
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  public offering as soon as this year, two people familiar with
• 10:33
  the talk said. Obviously, this is very
• 10:35
  preliminary and subject to change, but it is definitely a
• 10:38
  big move from the company. Discord was reportedly
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  considering going public as early as 20/21, but many
• 10:45
  technology companies and investors have put their IP OS
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  on hold due to various political and market uncertainty.
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  Anyway, since the news broke, a spokesperson for Discord has
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  responded to the rumors saying Quote.
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  We understand there's a lot of interest around Discord's future
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  plans, but we do not comment on rumors or speculation.
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  Our focus remains on delivering the best possible experience for
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  our users and building a strong, sustainable business.
• 11:11
  For context, Discord has been around for quite a while now and
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  was at least 10 years ago in May, and today it reportedly has
• 11:18
  over 200 million global monthly active users, so I could
• 11:21
  definitely see expansion on the cards.
• 11:24
  If the IPO does end up happening, it may just be the
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  latest example of the platform seeking to broaden its appeal,
• 11:30
  as Lauren Hirsch and Mike Isaac conclude for the Times quote, In
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  recent years, Discord has tried to expand its appeal, embracing
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  influences, musicians and other figures who have created their
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  own Discord chat rooms for their fans to gather and form online
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  communities. My next story is also another
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  short 1 and it is also not directly tech related but very
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  creator economy and industry focused and that is that some of
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  YouTube's biggest creators are taking part in an event aiming
• 11:56
  at attracting TV dollars. According to The Hollywood
• 11:59
  Reporter, creators like Mr. Beast, Colin and Samir, and Ryan
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  Trahan are hoping to shift budgets from traditional TV to
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  create a driven content. The event where this is all
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  happening is called the Spotter Showcase and is being organized
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  by the creator focused from Spotter.
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  As reported by The Hollywood Reporter quote, the creators
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  will pull back the carton for the first time, unveiling
• 12:21
  content slates, which would allow brands to buy in early
• 12:24
  audience data and other new information.
• 12:26
  Or, as Spotter says, the creators will share their
• 12:29
  content calendars, formats, tentpole series, audience data,
• 12:32
  and upcoming ideas. I thought this was pretty
• 12:34
  interesting because we often see creators try to break into the
• 12:38
  mainstream, but here they're kind of trying to pull the
• 12:40
  mainstream into the creator economy.
• 12:42
  It feels like another sign that the industry industry is really
• 12:45
  maturing, with creators becoming more normalized, I guess as
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  series players in the media landscape rather than just
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  Internet personalities, because at this point we know that
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  Internet culture is really driving the entertainment
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  industry. I thought this was especially
• 13:01
  notable after everything that has happened with Mr. Beast's
• 13:04
  Amazon show Beast Games, from the lawsuit to the allegations
• 13:08
  to Mr. Beast himself saying recently on a Diary of Aceo
• 13:11
  podcast that he lost 10s of $1,000,000 on the project.
• 13:15
  So maybe now rather than seeing creators needing validation from
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  traditional media, we're seeing them trying to bring the power
• 13:23
  back in their court, which I'm here for obviously, as an
• 13:25
  Internet culture podcast. OK, finally, the last story I
• 13:29
  have today is that YouTube is cracking down on gambling.
• 13:32
  It was announced last week that YouTube is strengthening
• 13:35
  protection policies relating to online gambling content.
• 13:38
  The platform already does have anti gambling policies in play
• 13:42
  where YouTube quote does not allow any method of directing
• 13:46
  viewers to gambling sites or applications that are not
• 13:49
  certified by Google. This is now expanded to include
• 13:52
  URLs, links embedded in images or text, visual displays or even
• 13:58
  verbal references among other things.
• 14:00
  YouTube has now also age restricted gambling promotion.
• 14:03
  But with that being said, as reported by Eve Up Clark for
• 14:07
  Fast Company Quote, YouTube has made two exceptions to the rule,
• 14:10
  content focused on online sports betting and in person gambling.
• 14:14
  Gambling being promoted on social media is definitely an
• 14:17
  issue, especially since so many users online are young people
• 14:21
  and therefore they're encountering gambling at such a
• 14:24
  young age. And it's definitely becoming
• 14:26
  increasingly intertwined with digital culture, whether it's in
• 14:30
  ads. I saw recently Trisha Paytas and
• 14:32
  Tana Mojo promote DraftKings, which is a sports betting
• 14:35
  company, their shared podcast Not Loveline, or even more users
• 14:40
  flocking to Kik, which is a Twitch competitor and a live
• 14:43
  streaming platform founded by a gambling industry businessman
• 14:46
  behind the online casinostake.com.
• 14:49
  This makes it more important than ever for platforms to push
• 14:52
  back against gambling promotion, but that effort has to be
• 14:55
  consistent or it won't actually make a difference.
• 14:58
  I'm also interested to see if this will impact sponsorships
• 15:01
  and whether creators will continue taking gambling
• 15:04
  sponsorships. Anyway, that is everything from
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  me today. I had a lot of stories.
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  I do not realize I had that many stories when I was prepping this
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  episode, but I hope you guys enjoyed and I guess they were
• 15:14
  pretty short. I will see you next Wednesday
• 15:17
  and Lauren will speak to you tomorrow.
• 15:19
  In the meantime, Please remember to fill out the saute in the
• 15:21
  description. But that's everything from me.
• 15:24
  Thanks. Bye.