Newsletter 68. Banning student AI is stupid. Plus, how print-on-demand books get on shelves, the spreadsheet blooper reel, why Elon Musk loves Trump, three people to follow, three books to read, and my interview with Jane Friedman. A five-paragraph essay reveals how to revolutionize the teaching of writing It’s time to retire the venerable five-paragraph…
Elon Musk says he is sorry he amplified an antisemitic post on X. But at a New York Times event, here’s what he said about advertisers like Disney, who have since left the platform (the “Bob” in this quote is Disney Chairman Bob Iger): If somebody’s gonna try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me…
Twitter rebranded itself as “X.” That isn’t going to accomplish its goals. Why do companies rebrand? Usually, to escape the box they’ve put themselves into. It doesn’t always work, but it’s always expensive. The Twitter rebrand Here’s what Twitter’s home page looks like now. No more cute blue bird. Why? While Elon Musk did his…
Yesterday (Saturday), Twitter users found themselves unable to see Tweets for extended periods of time. There was no explanation for many hour until Twitter executive (and former CEO, and owner) Elon Musk tweeted that the social network was throttling users because, apparently, some organizations or users were “scraping” lots of tweets and causing excess traffic….
Since taking over Twitter, Elon Musk has done nearly everything wrong, destroying tens of billions of dollars in value in a few short weeks. Last night he conducted a binding Twitter poll to see if he should step down, and received a resounding vote of no confidence. What can leaders learn from Musk’s short and…
Disruptive innovation requires viewing the world differently from conventional wisdom. Disruptors who succeed manage to change the conventional wisdom. Disruptors who fail end up victims of the conventional wisdom. And that includes the conventional wisdom inherent in government regulation Disruptors who ignored the rules YouTube was built on pirated, copyrighted content. It violated rules and…
I’ve been studying social media for 16 years. I think what Charlene Li and I observed back then is still true. People want to connect with friends. People want to connect with strangers with whom they share an interest. People want to engage intellectually with strangers. Or at least, they used to. Back when blogs…
We’re not paying enough attention to the financing of Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase. It explains why he’s flailing now, and points to a shocking future for the social network. Where did Musk get the money to buy Twitter, and why does it matter? Of the $44 billion it took to buy Twitter, about $24 billion…
The hardest insight for anyone working in or through social media is this: No matter what you think you own or control, you are not in charge. The participants are. And they will do whatever they want, in spite of (and sometimes because of) any efforts you make to channel, guide, or block them. I…