Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: Reddit rival Digg relaunches, TikTok rolls out micro-drama platform, the Metaverse is over & more

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MINI TECH SCROLL: Reddit rival Digg relaunches, TikTok rolls out micro-drama platform, the Metaverse is over & more · Mini Scroll

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  Hey everyone and welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
• 0:03
  culture podcast bring you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
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  My name is Annabelle and I'm your Wednesday Mini Tech Scroll
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  host and also the deputy editor of the youth digital media brand
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  Centennial World. Welcome back to Mini Tech Scroll
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  for another week. I hope you guys have had a nice
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  week so far. I don't really think I have too
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  much to say at the top of this week's episode, apart from the
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  fact that the stories today are quite techie.
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  So get excited. I guess that is what you guys
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  come here for. And other than that, Please
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  remember to rate, review, and subscribe.
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  And let's just get right into it.
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  The first story I wanted to cover was that Dig has
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  officially launched to the public.
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  I covered the story last year, so I thought it would be a good
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  time to give a bit of an update on it.
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  I will also give a summary for those of you who may have not
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  caught the episode last year. So, for context, Digg was a
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  popular social media platform in the early 2000s, and it was
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  actually the major competitor to Reddit.
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  Funnily enough, Digg actually predated Reddit, so Digg was
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  launched at the end of 2004 compared to Reddit which was
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  launched in 2005. And it shared a similar concept
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  to Reddit as we know now, where people would come to the
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  platform to share links and then users could either dig or bury
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  those links, similar to uploading and downloading posts
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  on Reddit. At the time, Dig was widely
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  considered a quote UN quote Internet darling and was
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  actually way more successful than Reddit, with really
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  impressive traffic numbers for a tech startup at that time.
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  And to put it in perspective, users thought that Reddit was
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  the flop, which is crazy to think about now considering how
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  major Reddit is in the scheme of Internet culture.
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  So you may be wondering how Digg managed to fall into
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  irrelevance. And that is because an I'll
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  Fated update that users widely disliked caused many users to
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  migrate to Reddit in 2010. So last year, Digg's founder
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  Kevin Rose shared his intention to revamp the platform after
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  buying it back. He also shared that he would be
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  collaborating with one of Reddit's original Co founder
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  founders, Alexis Ohanian. So Alexis is no longer
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  associated with Reddit and actually stepped down back in
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  2020 where he urged the board to fill his seat with a black
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  candidate. And he fairly recently sat down
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  and chatted with the Times about his journey with Reddit and
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  ultimately why he left. And the journalist who profiled
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  him positioned it as a real disconnect between Alexis
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  Ohanian and the rest of the Reddit board, where he was
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  really pushing to ban problematic forums and
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  subreddits. And they reportedly wanted to
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  keep them under free speech grounds.
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  As the article reads Quote. I could no longer feel proud
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  about what I was building at Reddit, he tells me.
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  Unbeknownst to outsiders, Ohanian had been trying to
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  persuade Hoffman and the Reddit board that the company ought to
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  be banning certain forms and content.
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  He had issues with several racist groupings, as well as a
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  subreddit dedicated to videos of people dying.
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  So with that, I think you can see why Alexis Ohanian might
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  have been keen to move on from Reddit.
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  And work for a direct competitor in Dig.
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  So when Alexis Ohanian and Kevin Rose announced that they would
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  be working together to rebuild Dig, a lot of the coverage
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  around it was that AI had presented them with this
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  opportunity. There were a couple of quotes
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  floating around at the time talking about how AI can benefit
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  this platform, and as one comment from Alexis Ohanian read
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  quote AI should handle the grunt work in the background while
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  humans focus on what they do best, building real communities.
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  This AI focus wasn't actually received very well.
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  Many users came to believe that the only reason that they were
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  coming together to relaunch Dig was because they had seen how
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  much money Reddit has been making from AI deals.
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  And whether that is true or not, prospective users are definitely
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  continuing to question how AI will be used in this new
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  platform. OK, so that is I guess all the
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  context. But last Thursday, Dig public
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  beta officially went live. Users have been invited to join
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  and start making Communities, which is basically a subreddit
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  equivalent as a tweet from Diggs X account reads quote.
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  Digg is for people, places, things.
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  We want to bring back social discovery built by communities,
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  not by algorithms. Join the community.
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  Create a community. Let's dig.
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  And according to posts by Alexis Ohanian that I've seen, there
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  are over 10,000 communities at the time of recording.
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  So I thought it was quite interesting that Kevin Rose and
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  Alexis Ohanian actually took to Reddit to do and ask me anything
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  about dig. The most upvoted question under
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  this Ask Me Anything was about AI with the user asking quote
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  why should we expect this to be anything other than another AI
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  investment pump and dump? Alexis Ohanian did go on to
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  respond to this question and noted that AI is not the
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  centerpiece of Diggs product or business model.
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  He explained that quote we are not using AI to rank content,
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  shape discourse, personalized feeds, or decide what you should
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  see. There is no black box
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  recommendation engine optimizing for engagement.
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  Where AI does show up is in narrow, boring infrastructural
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  places. You can see in the responses
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  that Reddit users did go on to debate whether his answer was
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  100% truthful or not. Some of the users did also
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  praise him for being upfront about the use of AI in certain
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  cases, whereas others claim that he was downplaying it.
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  But at the end of the day, I think this is an example of how
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  disillusioned so many users are with AI infiltrating absolutely
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  every aspect of social media in one way or another, and how
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  there is a clear problem when tech companies market their
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  product to consumers by highlighting AI.
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  Even though this is something that might be interesting to
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  investors, I don't think it lands with consumers.
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  And I feel like you really see platforms doing one of two
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  things at the moment. It's either highlighting the AI
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  or completely rejecting it like Divine, which is Vines reboot
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  that we've spoken about before. But this whole conversation
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  reminds me of a TikTok I saw earlier this week that I wanted
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  to share with you guys. A TikTok user named Fazan who is
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  also a design researcher, said why AI feels so intrusive on
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  social media, noting that it's a way to increase demand because
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  organic demand isn't high enough to what the tech companies need.
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  I'll insert it now, but I thought it was really
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  interesting analysis. Every time you see an AI button
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  where it doesn't belong, you are looking at 100 year old strategy
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  that brought toasters to our kitchens.
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  To understand why, we have to take a look at the early 1900s.
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  Back then electric companies had a problem called load factor.
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  People only use electricity for light at night, so during the
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  day the power plants sat idle. They didn't just need to sell
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  convenience, they needed to invent appliances like irons and
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  toasters to keep the grid running 24/7.
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  Shocker that they weren't invented because humanity was
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  desperate for perfect toast. They call it induced demand, but
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  you can call it supply side desperation.
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  And today we're seeing a repeat of the same playbook.
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  Companies like Open AI are projected to need hundreds of
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  billions of dollars just to stay afloat.
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  They have built massive data centers and they need you to
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  keep the meter running. The organic demand isn't enough
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  to pay the bills, so they can't just be niche tools.
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  They need to insert themselves into our daily lives.
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  With these new AI agents, they are actively moving into your
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  house. They want to cook and clean and
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  talk for you, whether you ask them or not.
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  It's a form of digital colonialism.
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  And for those of us in the global majority, this is a
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  sovereignty issue. If our primary digital spaces
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  are populated with AI trained on Western norms, what does that do
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  to our unique voices? I'm not trying to say that this
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  strategy that he explains all quote UN quote digital
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  colonialism is applicable to Dig, but I think it helps
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  explain maybe some of the undertones why users are so wary
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  of AI features even if they are supposedly helpful or they are
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  in minor aspects of the platform.
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  Anyway, aside from the AI of it all, I am really curious to see
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  how DIG goes. To be fair, I haven't really
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  seen much buzz around it or really anyone talking about it
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  so far. But I do think it's probably
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  positive to have a competitor to Reddit because Reddit has really
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  monopolized the forum space I guess online, and if Dig does
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  turn out to be a formidable competitor to Reddit, it might
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  improve user experience for Reddit uses.
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  I am curious though, would you guys use Dig?
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  Have you checked it out? I think people are really
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  turning to it if they are completely fed up with Reddit or
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  if they're nostalgic and had used dig back in like the early
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  2000s. But it is interesting because
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  there does seem to be a bit of a trend of rebooting platforms
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  between Dig and divine. But yes, I'm definitely curious
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  to hear your thoughts. The next story I have today is
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  another app that TikTok has recently launched.
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  So I first saw this reported by Business Insider, but basically
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  TikTok has rolled out this quote UN quote micro drama app called
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  Pine Drama. And according to reports, it's
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  only been released so far in the US and Brazil.
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  So the apps interface reportedly look quite a bit like TikTok
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  where you are just scrolling. But instead of user generator
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  content, all the videos are mini dramas, which are short form
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  video clips that are a part of a bigger series.
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  As reported by Business Insider Quote, the most popular micro
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  drama series often include romance or the supernatural or
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  both. Think sordid love affairs with
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  vampires or werewolves. Pine drama shows are no
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  exception, with one series, Love at First Bite, garnering 18
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  million views. Its current top three trending
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  shows each had over 100 million views, according to the tallies
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  displayed on the app. Right now, users can allegedly
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  log in through that TikTok account and use the app that
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  way. And at this time, according to
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  articles I've read. Because obviously I don't have
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  access to the app, there doesn't seem to be any monetization or
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  pay walls up, which I'm sure will come eventually once the
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  app kind of solidifies and if it picks up.
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  I wanted to cover this story because I think it's a really
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  interesting niche. Like it's definitely common to
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  watch clips of TV shows as it shows up in your For You page or
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  of movies. So I can definitely see the
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  connection in creating an app like this.
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  There are also other apps that already exist that are similar
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  to Pine Drama, including Drama Box where episodes are one to
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  three minutes long and Summer Paewold.
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  And there's also a real short which was developed by Silicon
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  Valley based Crazy Maple Studio. Now I haven't actually used any
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  of these apps, but from my understanding, this content
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  format has been gaining popularity in China for many
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  years now and it's now clearly making its way into other
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  markets. I've also seen claims that micro
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  dramas or micro series like this are the future of streaming and
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  I'm not 100% sure where I sit on that, but I could so see this
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  kind of format gaining more traction over the years.
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  Firstly because it's long form content in a short form format,
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  but also it's like a game. I think part of the reason, like
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  we are also addicted to TikTok is because we are constantly
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  engaged in it by scrolling, like we constantly have to touch the
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  screen. So that keeps us really locked
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  in and I think this is another iteration of that.
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  I am really invested in this niche now.
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  I think I'm going to have to do some digging later and I'm
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  definitely curious to hear if you guys consume this kind of
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  content and if you do, how you got into it.
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  This brings us to my last story for today, and it's actually
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  kind of three short stories, but they are all relating to meta.
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  The first story I have to mention is that the metaverse is
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  quote, UN quote, officially over.
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  So there have been reports over the past week that Meta has
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  quietly pulled the plug on the metaverse, and the metaverse was
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  Meta's vision for the future of the Internet.
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  The discussion around the metaverse really picked up, I
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  would say, throughout 2021. And broadly speaking, the
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  metaverse was seen as an interconnected virtual space
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  that real people could share in real time.
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  While it was definitely seen as being in its rudimentary phase,
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  Meta was incorporating an array of of technology to make this
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  happen, ranging from augmented reality to virtual reality
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  software to 3D holographic avatars.
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  To kind of fulfil the metaverse and make the metaverse represent
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  a fully realized digital world that our online and offline
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  lives could basically go between.
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  But last week, it was reported that Meta laid off 1500 people
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  in the metaverse division. On top of this, Meta also said
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  that, Quote, Horizon Workrooms are set to be discontinued from
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  February 16, and these work rooms were basically virtual
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  reality collaboration spaces for remote teams to meet,
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  brainstorm, and work together. Looking back on this, it
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  definitely feels of it's time for me like this feels like
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  ideas that were circulating in the early twenty 20s, mainly
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  because of the pandemic. But at this point, it's kind of
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  clear that the metaverse didn't necessarily gain the traction
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  that Meta was anticipating and that now the future of the
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  Internet is looking less like this and more like embracing AI
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  in certain formats. As Sean Hollister writes for the
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  Verb quote in the aftermath, it's becoming increasingly clear
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  that Zuckerberg has changed his mind about what the word
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  metaverse actually means. Mobile, yes.
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  Smart glasses, yes, but maybe not.
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  Speaking of smart glasses, I do have another quick story that I
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  wanted to mention here and that is this viral TikTok going
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  around about Meta AI glasses. So actor Kat Connor Starling
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  posted a TikTok of her mother who was blind that has gained
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  over 1 million views since being posted a couple days ago.
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  The text on the screen reads watch as my blind mom uses the
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  new Meta AI glasses to regain some independence.
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  In the video, her mom is wearing the Meta AI glasses as it says
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  and she's in a grocery store and she's basically sharing how she
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  uses it. So for example, she asked the
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  glasses to read a package that she's holding to be able to know
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  exactly what it is. So many of the users commented
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  on this video saying that this has completely changed their
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  perception and opinion on AI and talking about how this should be
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  the only form of AI that is acceptable.
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  I thought this change of opinion was kind of interesting because
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  I feel like in the popular imagination of Internet culture
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  enthusiasts, the meta AI glasses were kind of seen as needless or
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  unnecessary. Because I feel like most of us
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  have probably touched base with it when we see creators vlogging
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  in them. But I thought this was a whole
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  SIM story to show how these developments can actually be
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  helpful to some people. My last quick meta update that I
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  wanted to talk about is how Threads has reportedly surpassed
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  X in daily mobile users. I saw this reported by
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  TechCrunch so I will be pulling from their piece.
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  But they pulled data from Market Intelligence from similar web
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  and according to this data, Threads had 141.5 million daily
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  active users on mobile compared to X with 125 million daily
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  active users on mobile. And this was from early January
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  this year. And while Threads has surpassed
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  X when it comes to mobile, it doesn't seem like that is
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  universal because X is still ahead when it comes to daily
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  active users on the web. It doesn't necessarily surprise
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  me that Threads is gaining traction and gaining users first
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  because of Meta's major cross-platform promotional
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  tools. I feel like it always end up on
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  Threads from accidentally clicking on it on Instagram.
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  And aside from this, Threads is also continuously introducing
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  new features, which is likely to bring people to the app if they
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  see something that they like. And lastly, we cannot ignore the
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  context why people would be leaving X for other platforms,
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  especially in the wake of everything that I've been
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  covering with Grok and as well as everything before that.
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  And whether they're going to Threads or Blue Sky, that is up
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  to them. But I do find it interesting
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  that X, arguably it still holds more cultural capital than
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  Threads. It's obviously been around for
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  much longer. So it has a distinct culture,
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  one that is definitely toxic, but it is distinct and it's not
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  one that's been imported from other apps, which is, I feel,
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  what Threads falls victim to with Instagram a little bit.
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  But who's to say that that is going to last forever?
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  Threads can possibly catch up in time.
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  I know Lauren has occasionally found herself covering drama
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  that is going down on threads on Mini Scroll, so maybe
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  something's already happening there.
• 16:53
  Well, that is everything from Mini Tech Scroll today.
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  I really hope you guys enjoyed. This was quite a techie episode
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  as I said at the top of the episode, but hopefully you found
• 17:04
  it interesting. Lauren will be back for a
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  regular episode of Mini Scroll tomorrow and I will speak to you
• 17:10
  next week. Thanks for listening.
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  Bye.