Latest / Open Tabs / 🎧 Why LinkedIn feels so cringey right now

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🎧 Why LinkedIn feels so cringey right now · Open Tabs

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to this week's Open Tabs Conversation,
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: and Happy Chinese New Year,
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: everyone who's celebrating.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: I hate that choice.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: I have very dirty hair today because of it.
• 0:17
  I have a super dirty apartment that I like cleaned the first
• 0:21
  thing I did when I
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: woke up this morning.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a few topics we want to talk about.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's a busy week.
• 0:30
  just jump straight into it so this isn't really like a trending
• 0:34
  news item it's
• 0:35
  mostly just been super top of mind for our clients so i wanted
• 0:40
  to talk about it
• 0:41
  today and that is linkedin um it's like definitely becoming
• 0:47
  less of like a job
• 0:48
  postings billboard and more of a actual social platform with
• 0:53
  like linkedin content
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: creators um
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, which is amazing.
• 0:58
  And it's now I feel like a must have and not just like a nice
• 1:04
  to have for people,
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: especially if you want to be like a thought leader in any space.
• 1:08
  Like I'm seeing a lot of traditional content creators from like
• 1:11
  TikTok posting on
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: there and stuff.
• 1:14
  But so that all being said,
• 1:16
  have been spending more time on the platform and
• 1:19
  And I feel like I'm getting bombarded with a lot of cringe and
• 1:24
  a lot of LinkedIn cringe.
• 1:27
  And I wanted to talk about it,
• 1:30
  like what makes something cringey on LinkedIn and what doesn't.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: So do you guys have any like initial thoughts on LinkedIn cringe?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot go on LinkedIn for like longer than five minutes.
• 1:48
  And like,
• 1:48
  it's hard because it's like,
• 1:50
  on the one hand,
• 1:51
  it is very cringy.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And on the other,
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  it's like some of your favorite people sharing some of the best
• 1:56
  news of their
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: lives.
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  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you're like, oh, this is great.
• 1:59
  And I'm really glad I know this or like doing some things that
• 2:01
  are genuinely really cool.
• 2:03
  So it's like this weird thing where it's like every now and
• 2:06
  then there's something
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: there you want to see.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: So you go.
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  SPEAKER_00: But for the most part, you're wading through a lot of
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Cringe.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Slop.
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  SPEAKER_00: To get there.
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  SPEAKER_00: But I also think it's inevitable because.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Work is inherently performative.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And social media.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Hates performativity.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: But.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: How are you going to show up as your best worker self.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Online.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: without being like performative, which is also very cringe.
• 2:35
  So I understand and like I keep going back to LinkedIn because,
• 2:40
  you know,
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  I'm a business owner.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I need to like be here.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: I need to crack this.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time,
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  I can't bring myself to go through all of the cringe and do the
• 2:51
  things that I need
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  SPEAKER_00: to do in order to be successful on that platform because it is so cringe,
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: you know?
• 2:57
  So I put a lot of that off to my business partner and she's
• 3:01
  luckily taken a lot of that.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: I do TikTok.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: She does LinkedIn.
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  SPEAKER_00: Nice, nice relationship in that regard.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I am,
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  I would like to see LinkedIn be a more interesting place that I
• 3:13
  did like to spend
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  SPEAKER_00: time and I would like to network and,
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: leverage some of my business connections there,
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: but it's just currently not.
• 3:24
  not working out is there like yeah i i was gonna say i agree oh
• 3:28
  my gosh one second
• 3:31
  oh megan i was gonna ask is there like what type of content
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  second what do you
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_03: sorry um so no melissa go
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: Melissa, are you talking?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry, guys.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: Ski week and watching my kids while doing this in Tahoe is not easy.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: No,
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  SPEAKER_03: I...
• 4:07
  It's frustrating because it feels like the algorithm rewards
• 4:10
  certain styles and
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: types of content.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: But that content...
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_02: You're going to have to hold on one second.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: Continue on.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: I will add my thought in a sec.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_00: So Mella's point, like, I agree.
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  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I don't know exactly what I want to see,
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  SPEAKER_00: but I know that I don't want to see,
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  SPEAKER_00: which is like a really long paragraph of like...
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  SPEAKER_00: so much to say so very little.
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  SPEAKER_00: Like that's really annoying.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_00: I would say,
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  SPEAKER_01: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: and I don't want to just like shit on or crap on LinkedIn things,
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: but like,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: it's like,
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  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what I want to see because no one's invented it yet.
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  SPEAKER_00: You know,
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  because it's like I don't want to see the same stuff that I've
• 4:52
  seen on other
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  SPEAKER_00: platforms.
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  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's kind of like what we were saying with TikTok,
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  SPEAKER_00: where it's like on the one hand,
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  SPEAKER_00: it's frustrating that the algorithm keeps changing and evolving.
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  SPEAKER_00: But on the other,
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  SPEAKER_00: it's an opportunity because the first person to figure it out then,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: has an edge and like there's room for experimentation.
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  SPEAKER_00: So I feel similarly about LinkedIn.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_00: Like the field is wide open for someone to do something even a little bit
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  SPEAKER_00: different,
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  SPEAKER_00: creative and interesting.
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  SPEAKER_00: And everyone will be like, oh, this is cool.
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  SPEAKER_00: And this is kind of what I think I want to be doing too.
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  SPEAKER_00: And people will start to emulate and copy that style.
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  And eventually the platform will catch up and see what the
• 5:27
  algorithm rewards.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: I totally hear you.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's like,
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean,
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  SPEAKER_01: I want to also say,
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: if you guys like get a kick out of LinkedIn cringe,
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  there is a subreddit r slash LinkedIn lunatics with almost 2
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  million members that
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  SPEAKER_01: just posts screenshots of crunchy LinkedIn content.
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  SPEAKER_01: And it is like,
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: pretty funny.
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  But that does seem like the super long bulleted captions seem
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  to be like a very
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  SPEAKER_01: common theme with that sort of content,
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  SPEAKER_01: which is...
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  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if it's chat GPT or where that came from because...
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  SPEAKER_01: In our conversations with people at LinkedIn,
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  SPEAKER_01: they've always said like 50 to 70 characters for your caption.
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  SPEAKER_01: Like, keep it short.
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  If you have a longer thought that like you can't condense and
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  you think it's like
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  SPEAKER_01: very high priority,
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  SPEAKER_01: like at high quality,
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  SPEAKER_01: go for it.
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  SPEAKER_01: But they are not talking about super long captions.
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  SPEAKER_01: So it's like interesting that that seems to be like the best.
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  style that people I think what's also you know what I was gonna
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  say is um going
• 6:45
  into like the psychology of what might be happening at LinkedIn
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  um I feel like you
• 6:50
  know again we've ridden these waves of time where they're like
• 6:53
  oh it's all about
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  video and like posting a ton of video and then it's like going
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  live on the platform
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  SPEAKER_02: it's like this whole thing and then every time it's
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's like we get there, then it sort of backtracks a little bit.
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  And I suspect that they are really trying to calibrate to real
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  thought leaders that
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  SPEAKER_02: like they are,
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  SPEAKER_02: you know,
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  SPEAKER_02: like working professionals that are in the C-suite and high up.
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  SPEAKER_02: Because I do...
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  SPEAKER_02: I do,
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  SPEAKER_02: even in our work,
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  SPEAKER_02: I feel like individuals who have a certain level,
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  SPEAKER_02: even on a certain company,
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  SPEAKER_02: like they sort of just end up sort of getting more reach,
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  SPEAKER_02: right?
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  SPEAKER_02: Like I feel like the algorithm like rewards that.
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  SPEAKER_02: And so I feel like to Megan's point,
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  SPEAKER_02: like there really is,
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  SPEAKER_02: I think,
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  SPEAKER_02: a real opportunity right now to sort of compare
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  completely rethink how to approach LinkedIn and to be like an
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  innovative creator on there.
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  I don't think and like also there's been waves where they
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  really leaned into like
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  SPEAKER_02: turning it more into lifestyle content and then they backtracked on that.
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  Like I don't know if I've ever like if there's another platform
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  you can kind of
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  SPEAKER_02: this to where they sort of like dip their toe and then like back off.
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  SPEAKER_02: But again,
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  I really think that they're trying to set themselves up to make
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  it easy and
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  SPEAKER_02: something that feels habit forming and something that feels like,
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  SPEAKER_02: again,
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  SPEAKER_02: like a repeatable kind of experience for those
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  SPEAKER_02: that are in high-level business positions.
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  SPEAKER_02: I really think that that's where their North Star remains.
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  And I just don't think live video or constant video production
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  sort of aligns
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  SPEAKER_02: easily with that for most people.
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  SPEAKER_03: I think that's a good value.
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  And then to what you were saying about just like rethinking the
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  whole thing,
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  I think that all of like the motivation to follow or engage
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  with content and
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  SPEAKER_00: especially like content from like real people,
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  SPEAKER_00: whether that's thought leaders or experts or maybe not so much experts,
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  SPEAKER_00: but like thought leaders or any Internet personalities,
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  SPEAKER_00: really.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's either because they want to be you or like be like you,
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  SPEAKER_00: be friends with you or be inspired by you.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like right now...
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  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of just like proximity of like,
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  SPEAKER_00: because at the end of the day,
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  SPEAKER_00: it is a job market platform.
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  SPEAKER_00: Like as much as it's moving into the social space,
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  I feel like people see it as a place to go to find a job first
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  and foremost and
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  aren't really thinking about it much beyond that unless they
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  are in those upper
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  levels of business where there is kind of a desire to have kind
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  of some sort of
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  conversation with one's peers in that space where there's
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  nowhere else to do it but
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  SPEAKER_00: the internet.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that's where I think these things come into play.
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  And it's just all through the lens of kind of like bragging
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  about your KPIs that
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  SPEAKER_00: just is not relatable or fun or interesting.
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  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like the takeaway here is it's ripe for opportunity,
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: but we have to be gut-checking ourselves.
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  SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, and it's a taste thing.
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  SPEAKER_01: Like with any platform, like,
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  SPEAKER_01: Am I adding real value?
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  SPEAKER_01: Am I over-talking or over-writing?
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  SPEAKER_01: And is this content I would genuinely want to consume and engage with?
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  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like if the answer is yes, go for.
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  But I also feel like LinkedIn isn't a platform where you need
• 10:50
  to feed the feed,
• 10:51
  like TikTok.
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  as much where it's like you just need to post to post sometimes
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  i think it's like
• 10:57
  the place to be super thoughtful i mean yes i a hundred percent
• 11:05
  and i also i think
• 11:06
  that like again being really intentional about who you're
• 11:11
  talking to why and like
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  what is the outcome you're trying to broker is i i think even
• 11:17
  more so important
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  SPEAKER_02: with linkedin because of how
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: again,
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: the algorithm like shows up in other people's feeds,
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  SPEAKER_02: like the way you engage with and interact with something,
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: the algorithm reads that as you sort of like advocating for it,
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: right?
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  So it looks like you're like supporting certain things or
• 11:36
  certain people in a way
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  SPEAKER_02: that is different.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: Again, on other platforms, like
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think I think it holds higher weight in LinkedIn.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: And so, yeah, so I would just I think that, yeah, I think it's like.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: Whatever you do,
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: don't follow the cringe,
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: like using chat GPT to make these like painfully long things like.
• 12:03
  I mean,
• 12:03
  it might get you—I feel like it's short-term gain,
• 12:06
  long-term pain.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I just feel like it doesn't buy you substance here.
• 12:13
  And I just hope that,
• 12:14
  like—I hope that the—I hope that we start to see more
• 12:18
  creativity on there.
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  And that the algorithm starts to reward different things than
• 12:25
  this where we are
• 12:26
  because it feels like we're sort of in this like middle ground
• 12:28
  that is just like
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: not fulfilling.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: And it actually turns people off.
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  Like I think it turns off some real like some people who would
• 12:37
  be who would lean
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: into this platform don't because of what gets prioritized.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: So LinkedIn, I hope you're listening.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, love that.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: Next topic is Wikipedia cool again.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: So this is from Vox.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I love Wikipedia.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I wanted to talk about it.
• 13:02
  So the premise of this article is as AI gets more and more
• 13:06
  integrated into search,
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: like the Google AI summary that pops up at the top,
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: whenever you search something now,
• 13:14
  In light of that,
• 13:15
  more and more people are turning to Wikipedia as a resource.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's human-edited,
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: human-written,
• 13:24
  and it feels more trustworthy to a lot of users than the AI
• 13:29
  overview that you get
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: on Google,
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: which is wrong a lot of the time of
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm saying that from experience.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: And it's very interesting,
• 13:39
  like how the tides have turned from like when I was in high
• 13:42
  school and Wikipedia
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: was like it was drilled into my head never to cite Wikipedia,
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: never to use it as a resource.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: And like in 2026, it feels more reliable than Google.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: So,
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: in light of that,
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: I also,
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: like,
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: having this conversation,
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: I do want to shout out one of my favorite Instagram pages that I follow,
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: Depths of Wikipedia.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: And she has almost 2 million followers.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: And she just,
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: like,
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: unearths fun,
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: random pages on Wikipedia because there's a page for everything.
• 14:24
  And when we post this on our Substack feed,
• 14:27
  I will be doing a roundup.
• 14:28
  of my favorite posts from her um but the question i have for
• 14:34
  you guys um have you
• 14:36
  been turning to like wikipedia more in your own research or do
• 14:41
  you think like as ai
• 14:44
  becomes a bigger part of our lives whether we like it or not is
• 14:48
  it that like human
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: touch that wikipedia has like is that what people will be going for
• 14:57
  I'm almost wondering if it's the human element that people like
• 15:01
  about Wikipedia or
• 15:02
  if it's kind of just more of what I said last week with the
• 15:06
  heritage brands piece
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: of just,
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: like,
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: it's been around for a long time,
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: so it feels more trusted.
• 15:12
  Whereas a lot of these AI models have yet to prove themselves
• 15:15
  to us as being
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: trusted and,
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: in fact,
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: kind of have bad reputations.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Gemini is like just straight up gaslighter sometimes.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like love it.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's the one I prefer, but it'll just make stuff up with confidence.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: And like, you know, God has its own issues.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like everyone has like reputational issues.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas Wikipedia,
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: you kind of it's like the devil,
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 15:39
  like it's like you're not going to like swear on your life on
• 15:42
  anything you read on
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Wikipedia.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, kind of the level of truth to expect.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know how that information is curated, how it's like.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: how it's interrogated, like, you know what to expect there.
• 15:52
  So I'm almost questioning if it's the humanity that people are
• 15:56
  gravitating towards,
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: or if it's the integrity of the brand,
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: which is drawn from its humanity.
• 16:01
  And it's like the fact that it's like been a labor of the
• 16:04
  internet for the past
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: however many years.
• 16:06
  But I think it speaks more to the distrust for the current
• 16:09
  brands than it does for like
• 16:12
  appreciation for wikipedia and what wikipedia is doing i also
• 16:16
  think that because
• 16:16
  it's not for profit it's seen as kind of like this inherent
• 16:21
  good altruistic good
• 16:23
  because it's kind of like the it's kind of like the internet's
• 16:26
  pbs i think in terms
• 16:27
  of like where it's coming from it wise and i think people trust
• 16:32
  that right now more
• 16:33
  than they do for-profit companies especially when it comes to
• 16:36
  what you were saying
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: of like scraping for
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: and like,
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: ultimately,
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: it's like,
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: that's what that's why Wikipedia is relevant again,
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: because all of these AI companies are scraping data from there.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: But that's where you can actually, you know, add a human perspective.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was going to say, like, so many great thoughts there, Megan.
• 17:01
  Yeah,
• 17:03
  like,
• 17:03
  it does feel like this age of AI is actually making Wikipedia
• 17:07
  better,
• 17:07
  right?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: Like, it's, like, pushing it forward more.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: As far as, like, the platform itself, yeah, like, I don't know, like,
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: It was interesting.
• 17:18
  I saw this on Emma's list and I was like,
• 17:20
  I don't really know what I think about Wikipedia.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like,
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: similarly,
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: like I was an English major and I think in the early odds of Wikipedia,
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: it was always just like you can't trust anything that is on there.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: You have to fact check it.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_02: It has to have a source like, you know, whatever.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_02: And then
• 17:39
  just having worked with various clients who have like issue
• 17:44
  with their Wikipedia.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: And like,
• 17:45
  I don't know how many of our listeners or followers have
• 17:48
  actually tried to like
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_02: change a Wikipedia,
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: but it is a very interesting process.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: And,
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: and it's not what one thinks like there's just,
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: it's just this like,
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: huge array of like editors on the backend,
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: which Emma in,
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: in the notes for this,
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: if there is like a,
• 18:08
  explainer on the company wikipedia like i just think it would
• 18:11
  be fascinating for
• 18:12
  people to be able to read anyway the point being is that like
• 18:15
  oftentimes like
• 18:17
  there's things in there that people don't want or it's like
• 18:20
  negative stories or
• 18:21
  like whatever and it's always perpetually at the top of search
• 18:27
  and so whether
• 18:27
  that's right or wrong i you know the moral ethics of it all is
• 18:31
  fine it's just it's
• 18:32
  just always sort of like been this interesting thing to me like
• 18:35
  how did this
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: website to get that how does it stay there and like you know and now it's
• 18:42
  interesting because i do think that there's in this moment
• 18:44
  especially with google
• 18:46
  and ai that like there's definitely this convergence of
• 18:49
  wikipedia and ai and like
• 18:51
  the ai summary and all that like and it's cause it's like very
• 18:54
  interconnected i i
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_02: don't know so i don't i don't know i sort of um
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's interesting to have, like, the human element of it, too.
• 19:03
  But,
• 19:04
  like,
• 19:04
  I've also seen and,
• 19:05
  like,
• 19:05
  heard firsthand the frustration of that as well.
• 19:08
  These sort of,
• 19:08
  like,
• 19:09
  unwritten rules of,
• 19:10
  like,
• 19:11
  how Wikipedia works,
• 19:12
  you know?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: And so, I don't know.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of view Wikipedia as, like, lovable little rascals.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: I love, like, I just feel like it's such a funny, like,
• 19:25
  community and it is a community like there are wikipedia
• 19:30
  editors and like like you
• 19:31
  said megan it's not for profit like they're not getting paid
• 19:34
  for this but like they
• 19:36
  feel so passionately about the editing work that they do and
• 19:41
  it's like taken very
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: seriously and it's kind of like refreshing
• 19:47
  like to see people like this community on the internet and like
• 19:52
  funny taking itself
• 19:53
  so seriously um i remember i'm like a huge um real housewives
• 20:00
  of new york fan
• 20:01
  that's like how me and my mom bonded in high school you'd watch
• 20:04
  it together um
• 20:05
  And Carol Radziwell would say when she couldn't sleep in the
• 20:10
  middle of the night,
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: she would edit people's Wikipedia pages.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it was, like, one of her favorite, like, hobbies that she did.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I thought that was, like, really funny.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah,
• 20:25
  I think I'll definitely include a deep dive in how Wikipedia
• 20:30
  works because it's
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: really fascinating.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it's kind of like an iceberg or a glacier.
• 20:37
  There's so much happening under the surface that you just don't
• 20:40
  know about when
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: you're scrolling some random actor's page.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: But...
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I'm a Wikipedia.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: My favorite part is always just like, I just like go to like, what is it?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: Personal history.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, wait, let's get to the juice.
• 21:00
  I think that's also part of why it's so relevant because it has
• 21:03
  all the things you want to know.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: It'll have marriage history,
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: personal drama,
• 21:09
  and then everything's hyperlinked so you can go look at it from
• 21:12
  all the different
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: angles.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's just more so than the information being curated by a human.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think the way that it's set up is very intuitive to satisfy very human
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: curiosities about the things we want to know.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_03: You're totally right.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_03: I think I'll cut out for a second.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know.
• 21:36
  But yeah,
• 21:37
  okay,
• 21:38
  so more on Wikipedia to come when we post this to our feed.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: But okay, so final topic that I wanted us to talk about.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: TikTok has just rolled out a new vocal tab on our feeds.
• 21:57
  so this is interesting it's opt-in so you're like you have to
• 22:02
  give them permission
• 22:03
  to gps track you um but it shows videos from nearby restaurants
• 22:10
  local creators to
• 22:11
  you events and it's designed to help users connect with their
• 22:16
  irl communities and
• 22:17
  support local businesses and so it's all about local discovery
• 22:22
  so i think this is
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: really interesting we've been talking a lot about like
• 22:27
  IRL connection and how like particularly young people want to
• 22:31
  like get off their
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: phones and out into the real world.
• 22:36
  So I think that like this is interesting that TikTok is trying
• 22:42
  to facilitate that for people.
• 22:45
  Have you guys taken a spin through your or have you guys opted
• 22:48
  in for your local tab yet?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Apparently I did.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: I had just checked right now.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know I had, but I have.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: I would have even if I,
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: given the option,
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: but I'm sure somewhere deep in my settings I could turn it off.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's so TikTok.
• 23:05
  I haven't actually clicked into the feed and checked it out,
• 23:10
  but already TikTok was very local.
• 23:13
  And my TikTok,
• 23:14
  I mean,
• 23:14
  I live in LA,
• 23:15
  so it's like not that hard for my FYP to be very local.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: But
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: I, so it hasn't really changed anything that much for me.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact,
• 23:25
  I feel like that was something people often always talked about
• 23:27
  TikTok being a very
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: local feed.
• 23:30
  So I see this more as them externalizing something that's
• 23:34
  always been a feature of the app.
• 23:36
  And that's almost less creepy than before when it would just
• 23:40
  serve that stuff to
• 23:41
  you without it being in a dedicated feed or even telling you
• 23:45
  that this is something
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: it was doing.
• 23:50
  I mean,
• 23:51
  I,
• 23:52
  I'm just,
• 23:53
  you know,
• 23:54
  I,
• 23:54
  you guys are the,
• 23:56
  a compelling development.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_03: And now I'm like curious about doing it.
• 24:07
  My form for me to keep me like more engaged in it in ways that
• 24:15
  I haven't before.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I feel like I might be frozen.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um,
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: You're freaking up a little bit, but we got the gist, I think.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm curious about it,
• 24:27
  and I'm wondering if it'll make the platform more interesting
• 24:31
  for me in a different
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: way than I've experienced TikTok before.
• 24:37
  it um i also wonder if like similar to megan what you were
• 24:41
  saying about um
• 24:43
  wikipedia like it's not not for profit status like feeling
• 24:47
  altruistic i wonder if
• 24:48
  this is like kind of an altruistic move for tiktok i mean last
• 24:54
  week or maybe the
• 24:55
  week before we were talking about how like social media is
• 24:58
  literally on trial right
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: now with like
• 25:03
  young people saying the platforms are too addictive and
• 25:08
  TikTok's infinite scroll
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: feature in particular was called out for being really harmful to kids.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I wonder if this is like,
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: well,
• 25:18
  now we have a local tab to connect to local businesses and so
• 25:22
  you can get out of
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: the house.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: I wonder if that's somewhat of a reaction to that.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: I do think it ultimately does have to do with location tracking.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 25:34
  I do think it ultimately has to do with like wanting us to
• 25:37
  consent to some degree
• 25:40
  of giving away our location habits so that they can better map
• 25:44
  those and better
• 25:45
  predict consumer behaviors and then charge the local businesses
• 25:49
  to advertise to
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: said consumers,
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: yada,
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: yada,
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: yada.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: But I also do think it's reflective of a shift in
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: in that it used to be that influencers were so much like New York, LA.
• 26:00
  And now that it's so democratized,
• 26:03
  I feel like there's local influencers in all the spots.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Here in LA, there's Noho Nick, which comes up on my FYP a lot.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's a creator who lives in the San Fernando Valley,
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: like the valley in LA,
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: and makes content that's hyper-specific to
• 26:21
  like burbank glendale north hollywood sherman oaks that area
• 26:27
  and it'll be like this
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: is happening at this park this club is meeting over here and so it's like
• 26:31
  theoretically like all stuff i could go to and so i think we'll
• 26:35
  see more and more
• 26:36
  stuff like that i also did you get the trend emma where it was
• 26:39
  like this is nice
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: but it's not the cheesecake factory at the americana like that yes
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Did you get it for New York or did you get it for Southern California?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: I got it for Southern California.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was one that I was expecting to like jump into a broader like
• 26:57
  you know just be a meme but it wasn't it was just in southern
• 27:00
  california so i
• 27:02
  thought that was interesting in conversation with all of this
• 27:05
  like location
• 27:06
  specificity of just like i think in general there's more of an
• 27:09
  appetite for really
• 27:11
  getting immersed in your hyper local culture and like your
• 27:15
  hyper local scene and
• 27:16
  being less invested in following the trends that are happening
• 27:20
  on platforms and
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: more invested in your actual irl communities
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was also just going to say,
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: too,
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: to that point,
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_02: I think in light of like that larger trial that is going on as well with,
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: you know,
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: mental health and whatnot.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: Can you guys hear two-year-olds chatting with me?
• 27:45
  I think that to sort of make an effort where the platform
• 27:51
  encourages people to meet in person is
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: And to have IRL connection is, like, a huge component of this.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yes to all of,
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: like,
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: the other monetary benefits,
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_02: right,
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_02: with geotracking and,
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: like,
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: advertising,
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: local advertising and all that.
• 28:08
  But,
• 28:09
  like,
• 28:10
  this,
• 28:10
  like,
• 28:10
  move to,
• 28:11
  like,
• 28:11
  sort of foster local,
• 28:12
  like,
• 28:13
  it's not new at all.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like, Facebook has tried to do this at different times.
• 28:18
  Like,
• 28:18
  I just feel like there's just more perhaps,
• 28:21
  like,
• 28:22
  legal pressure,
• 28:23
  like,
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_03: Memes, you're breaking up a little bit, but...
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's interesting.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I live in Astoria.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: My local tab is very like new larger New York city area.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: So it hasn't gotten like hyper local for me yet.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to keep like scrolling through.
• 28:49
  And if I see anything about like Astoria or Queens,
• 28:52
  I make sure to like,
• 28:53
  like it.
• 28:54
  So hopefully I'm training my TikTok local tab to get hyper,
• 29:00
  hyper local for me.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: But like,
• 29:02
  One of my,
• 29:03
  I mean,
• 29:04
  I'm subscribed to,
• 29:05
  like,
• 29:05
  a ridiculous amount of newsletters.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: And, like, I really do need to, like, go through and purge.
• 29:10
  But,
• 29:10
  like,
• 29:11
  one that I open without fail every single week is a story
• 29:16
  alive.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it's literally just,
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: like,
• 29:18
  a bulleted list of events that are happening in my neighborhood
• 29:22
  that week.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I open it every single week.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: I follow their Instagram.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it's, like...
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like,
• 29:31
  and I go to the events and it's like truly like one of my
• 29:35
  favorite follows and like
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_03: subscriptions.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, guys.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_03: Connecting IRL and URL.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_03: That's like the theme of YouTube.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: It really is.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: So it'll be interesting.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm curious to see if like TikTok.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like it's kind of been a bit quiet.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like there are obviously been articles posted about it.
• 30:00
  But like you said,
• 30:01
  I feel like this kind of like just appeared on my feed one day.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: But it will be interesting to see if like TikTok starts rolling out like.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: events in local little communities about this.
• 30:14
  I know Spotify did that for their raft and have been really
• 30:19
  leaning into that for
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: their new product releases.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll be interested to see if TikTok takes a page out of their book.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, guys.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much for this week's conversation.
• 30:36
  And yeah,
• 30:38
  we will be posting this with all the resources that we talked
• 30:42
  about.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: Tomorrow, right?
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_02: We're posting tomorrow.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: So stay tuned for that.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, thank you guys for watching and sticking with us.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you guys.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_02: And thank you for my spotty Wi-Fi.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_02: Bye.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_03: Bye.