Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: AWS outage, e.l.f. x Twitch shoppable streams, Lionsgate taps fan editors + Wikipedia user trends

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MINI TECH SCROLL: AWS outage, e.l.f. x Twitch shoppable streams, Lionsgate taps fan editors + Wikipedia user trends · Mini Scroll

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  This episode of Mini Tech Scroll is brought to you by Blackbird,
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  a venture capital firm investing in Aussie and Kiwi startups.
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  From the very beginning, Blackbird invests in all kinds
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  of technology, so if you have a big idea but need to raise
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  investment to turn it into reality, learn more and connect
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  with the Blackbird team through the link in our show notes.
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  Hey everyone, and welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy and the digital space.
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  Every Monday through Thursday and Times 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
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  scroll. Before we get into the stories
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  today, I wanted to remind you that this week we have a close
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  friends newsletter going out, which is when we pick a piece of
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  content that is interesting or viral that we want to speak
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  about, but we also open it up to you guys.
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  If you have any comments, I will link this week's article that
• 1:00
  we're talking about in the description of today's episode.
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  But I'd also just be interested to hear your more general
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  thoughts on Sora, because the article we are covering is all
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  about whether Sora is the dawn of a new digital age, a new era
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  of social media. And I'd be curious to hear what
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  you guys think about that. But yes, leave your thoughts in
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  Other than that, Please remember to rate review and subscribe and
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  star rate US on Spotify specifically.
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  We also have a buy me a coffee link in our description if you
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  are so inclined. But yes, let's just get into the
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  content for this week. Obviously the biggest tech story
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  that has happened since our last mini tech scroll episode is the
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  massive Internet outage that happened earlier this week.
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  I'm sure most of you would have been actually impacted by it in
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  one way or another, but if you managed to dodge it, firstly I'm
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  jealous. But I will also give you the
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  rundown. So Amazon Web Services had a
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  massive outage that impacted almost every corner of the
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  Internet on Monday. Amazon Web Services, or AWS as
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  I'll probably refer to it because Amazon Web Services is
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  just a bit long, is the cloud computing unit of Amazon, which
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  hosts many applications and computer processes for companies
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  around the world, as the outage proved so the outage led to many
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  platforms slash websites going down, including Roblox, Canva,
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  Reddit, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and more.
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  There are much more comprehensive lists online if
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  you're interested, but if you are listeners to many like you
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  don't watch us on YouTube, you would have noticed that our
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  Monday episode went up on Tuesday.
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  I'm pretty sure Lauren said it was about 15 hours later than
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  she usually uploads, but that was because our hosting platform
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  was also impacted. And when I was researching this
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  episode, I actually saw the most unhinged headline which read
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  quote smart bed owners forced to sleep sitting up during AWS
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  outage. So I feel like that really goes
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  to show just how far reaching this outage actually was.
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  Anyway, the issues with AWS started on Monday, October 20th
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  around midnight Pacific Daylight Time, where there were reports
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  of increased error rates. And according to updates from
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  Amazon, by 3:01 PM Pacific Daylight Time, all the RE
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  services had been returned to normal operations.
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  But it obviously did take a while until everything that was
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  down came back online and started operating normally.
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  According to updates from the tech giant, it was Aws's N
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  Virginia cluster that ended up contributing and triggering the
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  outage. As reported by Reuters quote, it
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  was at least the third time in five years that AW USS Northern
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  Virginia cluster known as US E 1 contributed to a major Internet
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  meltdown. And from the updates that I saw,
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  the outage seemed to be related to the Domain Name System DNS
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  for short, which essentially translate web addresses to IP
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  addresses so that apps and websites and platforms can load
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  correctly. As an announcement on Amazon's
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  website reads quote by 12:26 AM on October 20th, we determined
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  that the event was the result of DNS resolution issues and
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  mitigated the issue by 2:24 AM. After resolving the DNS issue
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  AWS services began recovering, but a small subset of internal
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  subsystems continued to be impaired.
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  So that I guess is the more technical side of the outage and
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  of course this actually isn't the first time that we've
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  experienced an outage like this. It actually seems to be coming
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  more and more common. In July last year, I'm sure you
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  guys remember there was the crowd strike outage, which
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  caused problems across various industries all, all around the
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  world. There were airlines, impacted,
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  airports, impacted, banks, hotels, hospitals and more.
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  And while the crowd strike outage was definitely
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  significant when it comes to the recent AWS outage, this one was
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  definitely felt more by consumers and in the digital
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  world specifically because the outage really hit centralized
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  infrastructure, which is basically the foundation on
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  which so many of our modern digital services that we depend
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  on are quite literally built around.
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  Since the outage, though, there's been a lot of discussion
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  online about what it all means and how we can prevent something
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  like this from actually happening again.
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  One of the major conversations that I've seen emerge is that an
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  outage like this reveals how the Internet has a centralization
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  problem. Chris Stokel Walker for Fast
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  Company made this point. I'll read a quote from the
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  article because I feel like he explains it pretty well.
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  Quote. The outage highlights just how
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  much the web's day-to-day functionality relies on the
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  existence of two few companies. AWS controls around 1/3 of the
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  market. Microsoft and Google hold around
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  another third. It means that in a rare event of
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  an outage from those key infrastructure providers, we see
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  catastrophic consequences across different sectors, from gaming
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  to government. I will say though, unfortunately
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  though, the monopolization of these companies over the market
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  isn't new or uncommon, and it's literally across every single
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  industry. But it seems like governments
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  and regulators are kind of behind, I guess, on how
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  important it is to uphold cloud infrastructure.
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  Like there definitely needs to be more in place so that the
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  whole of digital society doesn't crumble when there is one
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  hiccup. I also think it's particularly
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  interesting from an outside of the US perspective.
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  Like it's crazy to think about how something in North Virginia
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  took out so much of Australia's digital landscape and how we
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  show up online. On top of this, I do think it
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  would probably be beneficial if there was increased trans
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  conspiracy or even education across the board about what has
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  failed in real time apart from updates just on a website.
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  But I guess this is something that companies, governments, and
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  social platforms are just going to have to learn from moving
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  forward. That brings us to our next story
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  and the next one is a little bit more of an industry slash fun
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  one, but I wanted to talk about how elf cosmetics is bringing
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  live shopping to Twitch. Elf has always been pretty on
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  the pulse, or at least trying to be on the pulse when it comes to
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  Internet culture. Of course, that is excluding the
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  campaign they recently did with Matt Rife, which Lauren covered
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  pretty extensively in Mini Scroll.
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  Having said that though, Elf has been a pretty early adapter when
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  it comes to live streaming. They launched their branded
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  Twitch channel years ago, I think way back in 2021 at this
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  point. So they've definitely been
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  operating in the live streaming space for a while now.
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  But if you weren't aware, they launched their channel as Elf
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  you and they were focused on the quote intersection of gaming and
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  Maker. But now ELF is clearly leveling
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  up where they are partnering with Twitch to incorporate a new
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  in stream shoppable feature and it will reportedly be powered by
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  Amazon ads as a press release explains quote building on elf's
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  popularity with the twitch community, the first of its kind
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  collaboration allows viewers to seamlessly purchase elf products
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  directly through twitch streams without interrupting their
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  viewing experience. So yes, this is definitely an
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  attempt from elf to encourage purchasing and it's also a way
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  for elf to make more money from twitch.
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  It definitely makes sense because social shopping is
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  already a major strategy on other social media platforms,
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  like you can buy through TikTok, live stream through the
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  integrated TikTok shop feature. Having said that, though, it is
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  still a relatively nascent industry and approach in the
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  United States, with live streaming being increasingly
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  popular in places across Asia. As an article for Vogue Business
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  Reads Quote, live streaming has been met with huge success in
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  China, which can be partly credited to its role in
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  responding to audiences. Changing media habits it
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  entertains, simplifies shopping, and ultimately allows brands to
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  cut through the noise. Obviously this isn't so much of
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  a thing here in Australia yet because we don't even have the
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  Tick Tock shop, but there are definitely pros and cons to
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  purchasing through live streaming.
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  Some of the pros would be that obviously consumers can see
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  products in real time and for brands it might be an
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  opportunity to incorporate influencers and spokespeople in
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  more meaningful ways without necessarily forcing them to
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  produce ad like content on their own socials.
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  I feel like it's kind of an updated era of infomercials at
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  this point. I'm definitely intrigued to see
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  how this goes for both Elf and Twitch because this is the first
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  time that they are doing something like this.
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  I think we're already seeing the rise of live streaming among
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  young people, but I think live streaming, especially with IRL
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  streams, have a sense of authenticity and connection that
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  is becoming harder to come by in today's AI dominated social
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  media landscape. And if people are still
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  searching for that human to human connection, I think a live
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  streaming is a place where that will continue.
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  But I'm definitely curious to hear what you guys think about
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  our move to more social e-commerce and purchasing
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  through live streams. Is that something you would
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  actually do? I personally love watching a
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  live stream. I don't know what it is about
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  it, but I I don't know if I would actually purchase
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  something straight off a live stream.
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  OK, the next story I have is also kind of another industry
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  one. We are really leaning into the
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  industry side of mini tech scroll today, but we need to
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  talk about how Lionsgate has hired TikTok fan editors to
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  market films. I presume if you listen to mini
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  scroll and mini tech scroll you are familiar with fan edits, but
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  if you aren't, these are edited clips to trending audios or
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  songs of celebrities influences or even cartoon slash like
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  fictional characters. While we have seen the right
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  rise of clip farming among streamers, we've also seen the
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  rise of edit farming among influences.
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  I feel like Quinn Blackwell is notorious for this and it's
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  always pretty funny. But anyway, fan edits have been
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  around for ages now. I remember seeing them way back
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  on Vine, but they seem to have a renewed influence with TikTok
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  and have ultimately seeped into what may seem as unconventional
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  industries. The US presidential campaign
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  last year is definitely a case in point with all the Kamala is
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  Brat edits. I feel like there was this one
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  edit on X that people point to as the catalyst of the Kamala
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  Harris presidential campaign because it was the mash up of
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  songs from Brat and Kamala Harris and I just think that's
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  really funny. But with that all being said,
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  Lionsgate has gone on to hire TikTok fan editors to promote
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  movies, which is honestly an extremely smart move.
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  I remember seeing Lionsgate starting to lean into this back
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  in 2023 with edits of some key characters from Lionsgate movies
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  being posted to the account. And this was also the era that
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  became known as The Hunger Games Renaissance on TikTok where
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  there were so many edits going viral and also commentary videos
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  at that time. I remember TikTok users even
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  questioned whether this so-called Hunger Games
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  Renaissance was manufactured by Lionsgate since The Ballad of
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  Songbirds and Snakes was set to hit theaters later in the year.
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  Whether that was intentional from Lionsgate or not, it seems
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  like they are leaning into this strategy.
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  Variety recently published an article written by the
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  journalist Ethan Schanfeld dissecting Lionsgate's strategy
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  on TikTok. The writer noted that Lionsgate
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  has hired a suite of fan editors, reaching out to 250 at
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  1st and then now building a roster of around 15.
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  And it is proving to be quite a success as far as their TikTok
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  presence goes. But while these edits do get
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  millions of views, it's still difficult to measure whether it
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  drives engagement in real life, as the journalist writes quote
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  for Lionsgate, the first major test is the upcoming re release
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  of Twilight. It's self prompted in part by
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  the response to a fan edit campaign.
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  The studio has posted nearly 40 edits since last summer and
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  believes there is a whole community of Tik Tokers born
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  after Twilight came out who will show up in theaters for the
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  vampire romance. I honestly believe that I get so
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  many fan edits on my For You page and I definitely think they
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  are a worthwhile way to try Ryan Reach Gen.
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  Z and Jenna Alpha. They also I think highlight the
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  importance of community driven and self kind of referential
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  marketing. That obviously lands well on
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  social media, but it also shows how valuable it is to lean into
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  fandoms and their practices, whether that be through edits or
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  fan fiction. These edits poke fun at the
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  series of the characters a lot of the time and that is also why
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  they perform so well. There seems to be more and more
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  conversation around fan edits and the people making them.
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  I actually saw last week there was an article published by
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  Cosmopolitan that I actually included in the newsletter.
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  So once again, sign up if you haven't that had interviewed
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  some of the most prolific fan edit creators on TikTok.
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  So I love to see the edit gullies getting their flowers.
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  It's well served. My last story for today is a
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  short one, but I wanted to mention how Wikipedia is faring
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  with the rise of AI. We have spoken about this in
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  general before, but AI is obviously really seeping into
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  the way that we search for information online.
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  People are opting to use ChatGPT over regular search engines like
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  Google. Google has rolled out its AI
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  mode to search, which obviously pulls from existing websites.
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  There is also a suite of AI browsers like Comment from
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  Perplexity. And Open AI has actually just
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  launched its own called Atlas. That could have been a story
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  today actually, but I feel like we've discussed these browsers
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  before, so I thought I would just mention it to keep you in
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  the loop. And for your info, Atlas is
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  billed as a tool for ChatGPT to quote, come with you anywhere
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  across the web, helping you in the window right where you are,
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  understanding what you're trying to do and completing tasks for
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  you. And that came from the launch
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  blog about Atlas. But anyway, it's very clear that
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  all of these tools are changing how we gather information, where
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  many of us are operating very differently to the way that we
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  would have researched topics even a year ago.
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  The traditional way, I guess, that we would have been
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  researching topics would obviously involve searching
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  something up on Google and then clicking on various links, one
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  of which was often Wikipedia. And all of these new tools and
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  the rollout of AI is definitely impacting the online
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  encyclopedia. New user trends about Wikipedia
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  reveal that the website has seen a decrease of around 8% in human
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  page views compared to the same time last year.
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  While 8% might sound like an insignificant percentage, if you
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  think of the amount of people that would have been clicking on
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  Wikipedia in total, and 8% of that, I think it's definitely
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  substantial. As a blog post from Wikimedia,
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  the nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia Reads quote, we
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  believe that these declines reflect the impact of generative
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  AI and social media on how people seek information,
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  especially with search engines providing answers directly to
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  searches, often based on Wikipedia content.
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  We welcome new ways for people to gain knowledge.
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  However, LLMS, AI chat bots, search engines, and social
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  platforms that use Wikipedia content must encourage more
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  visitors to Wikipedia so that the free knowledge that so many
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  people and platform depend on can continue due to flow
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  sustainably. Obviously this decline is
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  something that would have been expected, but it doesn't make it
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  any less worrying. First, there's obviously
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  accuracy of information and crediting issues when AI tools
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  take information from websites like Wikipedia.
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  But also so many dot coms rely on traffic to make money and
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  sustain themselves. So if Wikipedia is struggling,
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  it's clear that there are difficult times ahead for other
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  smaller websites and publishers and even the online encyclopedia
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  itself. Well that is everything from
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  mini tech scroll today. I really hope you guys enjoyed.
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  I feel like this episode was a little bit more industry slash
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  culturey then I usually do, but it's always fun for a bit of a
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  change. But yes, thank you so much for
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  listening and I will speak to you guys next week.
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  Bye.