Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: Sam Altman Orb Mini mockery, Spotify podcast 'plays' + Hinge launches on Substack

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MINI TECH SCROLL: Sam Altman Orb Mini mockery, Spotify podcast 'plays' + Hinge launches on Substack · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Tech Scroll, the daily Internet
• 0:04
  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
• 0:07
  media, the creator economy and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meisner,
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  the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
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  Oh, I did my little hand gesture before I said Centennial World.
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  Yes. So reminder I'm doing Mini Tech
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  Scroll while Annabelle is away for the next three weeks.
• 0:29
  So welcome to mini tech scroll hosted by me.
• 0:32
  I also wanted to give another reminder for anyone that doesn't
• 0:35
  care about like our little business updates that I
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  sometimes gave at the top of the episode.
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  There are always time stamps in every single description.
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  I can't believe we still get comments about that because
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  every single description of every single episode that we
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  have done in the last like 2 1/2 three years has time stamps on
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  YouTube. It will create automatic
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  chapters from those time stamps, but it sometimes will take a day
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  or two. We don't do chapters because I
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  do the same description for our podcast and also our YouTube
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  channel and because we publish every single day.
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  Like I need to be saving some time somewhere.
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  So I use the same time stamps and description across both.
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  So yes, before you comment that we should have time stamps,
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  please check the description. OK, let's get into the stories
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  for today. The first way that I have for
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  you guys today is that Sam Altman's World has launched Orb
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  Mini and everyone is making fun of it.
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  I know that was just a collection of English words and
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  none of it made any sense, so let me explain.
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  Sam Altman, who is the CEO of Open AI has another creepy tech
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  company called World, previously Worldcoin, and it's a blockchain
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  verification company where users scan their retinas to get added
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  to an authentication database. So this is from Wikipedia quote.
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  Worldcoin's business is to provide a reliable way to
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  authenticate humans online, which it calls World ID.
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  It attempts to recruit new users to join its network by getting
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  their iris scanned using World Coins orb shaped iris scanner in
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  return for some world tokens. This has caused privacy concerns
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  in multiple countries. Yeah, no kidding.
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  This is essentially incentivizing people to give
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  away their biometrics in exchange for cryptocurrency.
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  How dystopian does that sound? So there are these like physical
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  orb stations just out in the wild and you literally scan your
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  eyes and get cryptocurrency in exchange for this.
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  And if it wasn't weird enough, they have now launched mini Orb,
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  which is a physical device that basically looks like a phone.
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  You carry it around and you scan people like this.
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  You'll see my phone is sideways. So you scan people like this in
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  the wild, like people that you're hanging out with in real
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  life to authenticate their verification.
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  Everyone's making fun of this. OK.
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  And to be fair, I don't think that they marketed it well.
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  Like I don't think there was like great comms around exactly
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  what the purpose was because people are like what real world
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  problems is to solve? Like are they implying that
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  humans can't tell if they're interacting with another
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  physical human like in real life?
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  Why else would someone need this tool?
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  I was thinking there's just no way.
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  There's no way that they are thinking that a human cannot
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  tell if they are interacting with a human or not.
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  Like there has to be another purpose.
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  So based on some of my research, it seems the point is not to
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  verify if someone is a real human IRL.
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  It's more about proving someone is real to the Internet in a way
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  that can be used at a later date.
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  So it's giving like alibi vibes. It's essentially adding to your
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  digital footprint and providing proof that you as the human, as
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  like the authentic verified human has gone on that date that
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  you claimed that you were, that your digital footprint has like
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  proven that you did. Because as I will get to in a
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  second, they are saying that AI is coming in and making things
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  very confusing for people online and, you know, making it much
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  easier to replicate people's identities and commit fraud and
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  all of that stuff. So let me get into that in a
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  minute. But World wants to create Quote,
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  a universal proof of personhood system without relying on
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  government or social media logins, which I guess is why
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  it's on the blockchain. OK, so now that we've
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  established this, the question is still like, why?
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  Right? I cannot make this up.
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  I'm going to read several excerpts from the company's blog
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  post explaining World's mission. Please keep in mind that the
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  same person who Co founded and is the CEO of Open AI is also
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  the Co founder of World Quote. The Internet is at a crossroads.
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  Advances in artificial intelligence have made it
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  remarkably easy to generate text, images, and even entire
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  online personas that appear indistinguishable from real
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  people. In fact, experts warn that in
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  just a few years quote it will be impossible to know if someone
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  is communicating with another mortal or a neural network.
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  AI driven scams, deep fake videos and bot accounts have
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  surged over the past year signal this shift.
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  These developments highlight an urgent challenge.
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  How do we ensure genuine human presence and trust online?
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  Establishing reliable human verification isn't just a
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  nicety, it's fundamental to a healthy Internet.
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  Imagine a future online world where major interactions and
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  content are verifiably human in origin.
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  You created this problem. What AI created the problem of
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  deepfakes and scams? I mean, OK, there were always
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  scams, but you know, it really amplified problems like scams,
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  fraud, deepfakes, us being unable to tell if something is
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  human generated, if somebody that we're looking at is even a
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  real human, or if this video is just generated by AII.
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  Feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone reading this because this
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  is the problem that you created, Sam Altman, and now you are
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  trying to sell us technology to solve the problem that you
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  created. This is capitalism final boss.
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  Like I am shook to my core about how they're talking about AI and
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  how human interaction and human generated content and like
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  having a human Internet needs to be the priority.
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  That's like the key to a healthy Internet.
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  Like yeah, nobody wanted AI. Like OK, sure, it helps us write
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  an e-mail. Like other than that, nobody
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  wants to be scrolling through any of their content, watching
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  anything that's generated by AI. You created this problem, you
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  put us here, nobody wanted this and now you're trying to sell us
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  like this weird phone that we have to like scan our friends
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  with when we hang out with them and we can have like ID on the
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  blockchain in exchange for crypto.
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  Like this actually sounds like hell.
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  Like we are living in hell. We are living in hell.
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  I need to finish with this by focusing on proof of human
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  technology. This is from their blog post.
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  World is helping create the infrastructure that many tech
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  leaders and policy makers see as crucial in the AI era.
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  Yes, it is crucial in the AI era.
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  But you created this problem like you are the leader of the
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  most prolific company in the West that creates this problem.
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  I can't. I can't even.
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  I cannot, I'm in shock. These people raised $250
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  million, have like physical scanners around the world to
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  basically like scan your fucking eyeballs, which seems so
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  unethical and like I mentioned, definitely is some crazy privacy
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  breaches. I know it's been outlawed in
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  Kenya already. I'm sure other countries are
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  going to start to outlaw it. And it is so wild to me that
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  they could get by with this, especially when the founder, one
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  of the founders, is also one of the founders of open AI.
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  The next right that I have for you guys I've composed myself is
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  that Spotify has released new podcast metrics called Plays,
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  which will show you how many views are in each episode.
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  Spotify is gunning for YouTube's place as the go to video
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  platform for content and podcasts.
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  We kind of already knew that, but I think this really
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  solidifies it. On Tuesday, Spotify announced
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  Plays, a new metric that will let people see how many times an
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  audio only or a video podcast have been listened to or watched
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  actively. They say for plays that they're
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  using a number of different markers to indicate if somebody
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  has like actively consumed that content because streams slash
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  downloads are typically based on just somebody listening to
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  listening to at least 60 seconds of the episode.
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  So I guess plays in theory should provide a more accurate
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  metric. I don't know if that's totally
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  true yet. There's still some discrepancies
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  that we found on our back end because we host on Spotify.
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  So like our plays versus stream slash downloads, like based on
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  what they're saying in here, like doesn't totally add up.
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  I don't know if we're just reading it wrong.
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  There is like definitely some lack of clarity, but I think it
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  will all kind of shake out. Like I'm sure that we'll all
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  figure it out eventually. But there are mixed reactions to
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  this. So on one hand, podcasting
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  actually has the highest row As for marketers, but the lowest
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  investment from marketers. And a big part of that is the
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  lack of understanding and a lack of transparency and podcast
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  measurement and metrics. So each hosting platform
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  provides like different types of stats.
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  And while the kind of industry standard is like a stream slash
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  download is someone listens to 60 seconds, that's not
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  necessarily true across the board.
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  And even the industry standard measurement systems are not
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  all-encompassing. For example, here in Australia,
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  they go by a tool called Rancor. But Rancor Australia doesn't
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  actually count YouTube views or even Spotify video views now
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  that Spotify has released video podcasts for everyone, not just
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  their Spotify exclusive podcasts.
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  So that's a bit of tea for you. That's why a lot of the biggest
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  podcasts in Australia film their episodes for social content, but
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  they don't put it on YouTube or on Spotify video.
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  They don't put full episodes as video episodes because they
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  don't want to lose their spot on the Rancor listing.
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  And that's why we've never gone on Rancor because we are a video
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  first podcast. And if Rancor doesn't count
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  video views, then what's the point of going on it?
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  Because it's not an accurate representation of our downloads
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  of our place in the Australian like podcast world at all.
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  So there's no point in US going on it.
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  But yes. So this could be really good for
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  the podcasting industry. It's obviously much more
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  transparent. It's like on YouTube, you can
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  see how many views a video has received.
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  You can see the comments. Like obviously Spotify allows
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  comments now to on the other hand, a lot of creators are
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  freaking out because this will make audience acquisition so
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  much harder for podcasts that are not really big, not those
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  kind of like top tier podcasts, because inevitably people, even
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  if they don't mean to, will grab imitate towards episodes that
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  have more views. It's already really hard for
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  independent podcast to make it and to like grow an audience.
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  Audience acquisition is really difficult.
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  So now this this could make it harder.
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  Of course, like, you know, I think now when you're scrolling
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  through podcast apps, not necessarily YouTube, but podcast
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  apps, like you can't always tell maybe by the number of ratings,
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  but you can't always tell how big a podcast is, especially
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  because some of the rating systems are based on location.
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  So like our podcast is based in Australia, but we have quite a
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  big split between like Australia, US audience.
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  So you know, our ratings on certain platforms are only going
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  to show you if you're based in the US, like the US ratings,
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  they're only going to show you the Canadian ratings if you're
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  based in Canada. So that doesn't give you a full
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  picture of like our audience essentially.
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  And if you knew that, then the playing field was a little bit
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  more level for independent smaller podcast to grow, right?
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  Because if the content is good, the cover art looks
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  professional, the sound is decent, like there's no reason
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  for someone to think that you're like a tiny podcast versus a
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  bigger podcast. But now obviously this is going
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  to possibly change that game. Like the discoverability was a
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  much more even playing field, I would say prior to introducing
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  this. I also think this could be good
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  though, for smaller podcasts because one of the reasons why
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  podcasting is so tough to monetize, like I said, is
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  there's a lack of transparency in the stats and the metrics.
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  And a lot of the big podcasts, they are lying.
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  They are lying about their metrics, their downloads, their
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  reach. And so this will actually
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  provide a bit more transparency. Again, it's not going to
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  encompass Apple listens or any other platform.
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  It's obviously not encompassing like YouTube listens.
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  So it's just for Spotify. So it really just shows you like
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  how many people on Spotify are consuming that content.
• 12:37
  The last story that I have for you guys is that Hinge is
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  launching on Sub Stack. So I actually got this story
• 12:43
  from Caroline Albro who writes the Brand Baby newsletter.
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  It's a Gen. Z marketing newsletter, so
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  definitely go subscribe because I think it's going to blow up
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  and I just love Caroline. So Hinge has jumped on the Sub
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  Stack train. As we know, Sub Stack is trying
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  to be a bit more of a social media platform lately rather
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  than just like a newsletter platform.
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  And I think they're doing quite well with this.
• 13:06
  They've poured a lot of money into creators, especially in the
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  US. They've launched new timeline
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  and post features that make it feel more like a hybrid, like
• 13:14
  newsletter publishing platform mixed with like Twitter.
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  This has them narrowing in on that, like community based
• 13:20
  publishing, which we talked about yesterday when I was
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  telling you guys about like our journey and how we went all in
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  on community based publishing about like 2 1/2 three years
• 13:29
  ago. And that made such a big
• 13:30
  difference. So now this has incentivized
• 13:32
  some brands to start experimenting with sub stack and
• 13:35
  Hinge is the latest major one to do so.
• 13:38
  So Hinge is launching A5 part mini series of essays by
• 13:42
  different writers on their real love stories told from the
• 13:45
  perspective of both people in the relationship.
• 13:47
  The series is called No Ordinary Love, and the Sub Stack will be
• 13:51
  managed by Hinge. The writers will be like guest
• 13:54
  writers, and it's a miniseries. So after these five essays,
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  Hinge will stop posting on Sub Stack, at least for now.
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  But throughout the campaign, they're partnering with other
• 14:03
  writers and creators on Sub Stack to kind of spark
• 14:07
  conversation, bring their audiences into the Hinge Sub
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  Stack into that world. And these partnerships will
• 14:12
  continue after the essays have finished.
• 14:15
  This is from brand baby Caroline writes quote instead of
• 14:18
  launching A dedicated newsletter, I like that Hinge is
• 14:20
  leaning into short term series full of impactful, high quality
• 14:24
  content. I also like that they're
• 14:26
  partnering with existing Sub Stack creators as writers. 4 out
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  of the five participating writers have sub Stack
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  presences, giving those creators A broader platform while also
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  cross promoting the no ordinary love stories.
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  And two of the writers are Jenna Winston and Hunter Harris, among
• 14:41
  others. So, yeah, very cool.
• 14:43
  I think this is a really interesting way to be kind of
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  tapping into, like, new media. I know that's a huge pain point
• 14:50
  for brands is they want to work with media.
• 14:52
  They want to work with new media, independent media.
• 14:55
  They want to do cool campaigns. It can feel overwhelming.
• 14:58
  There's so many options, and you really don't want to show up in
• 15:01
  an inauthentic way when you're trying to reach Gen.
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  Z. You don't want to just show up
• 15:05
  on every single platform and just be kind of like throwing
• 15:09
  shit at the wall. That's going to seem really
• 15:10
  desperate. We know that Gen.
• 15:11
  Z are experts at avoiding advertising, but they really
• 15:16
  love when a brand gets them. And that's like the main thing
• 15:20
  that I say to our consulting clients is if you have somebody
• 15:23
  on your team who is chronically online that can help inform
• 15:27
  these decisions, then you will be OK.
• 15:30
  Because understanding how to reach Gen.
• 15:32
  Z in an authentic way just means speaking their language.
• 15:35
  And speaking their language really just means understanding
• 15:39
  the chronically online space that they exist in.
• 15:41
  Because at the end of the day, for Gen.
• 15:43
  Z, Internet culture and culture are one in the same.
• 15:46
  Their online worlds are completely blended with their
• 15:49
  offline worlds. I mean, for all of us, honestly
• 15:51
  at this point, but especially for younger generations who have
• 15:54
  not known like life without social media, they're completely
• 15:57
  blended. They are one in the same.
• 15:59
  So if you can tap into the online zeitgeist and show up in
• 16:03
  a way that makes sense for your brand, like Hinge, doing these
• 16:07
  like love letter essays, which makes total sense obviously for
• 16:10
  a dating app like Hinge, then yeah, like people will be
• 16:13
  excited about it. Like people are excited about
• 16:15
  this. Anyways, guys, that's it for
• 16:17
  Mini Tech Scroll today. Thank you so much for listening.
• 16:19
  I love you guys. Please rate, review and
• 16:21
  subscribe. We are just a few subscribers
• 16:24
  off from 10,000 on YouTube. So please subscribe to us on
• 16:26
  YouTube. Please leave us a Spotify star
• 16:29
  rating. And I will talk to you guys
• 16:31
  tomorrow for mini scroll, regular mini scroll.
• 16:33
  OK, bye.