1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,360 Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet 2 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:06,320 culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social 3 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:09,720 media, the creator economy and the digital space every Monday 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:12,760 through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meisner, 5 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:17,240 the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World. 6 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,160 Happy Tuesday everyone. July 9th. 7 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:26,480 OK, so I have two stories that I have been asked to cover. 8 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:30,360 One of them is Tara Yummy and the other one I feel like maybe 9 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:35,240 I will leave as a little bit of like a secret surprise, but I 10 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:38,800 need a bit more time to like properly dive into like what's 11 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:41,480 going on, especially for the second one. 12 00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:43,840 So I'm going to hopefully be bringing you guys those 13 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:46,040 tomorrow. So today's mini scroll will be 14 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:50,880 quite light because I just need a bit more time to like dive in. 15 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:53,680 And I was going to have two stories for you guys today. 16 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:56,800 But Crystal, I was telling her about like something that I was 17 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,560 going to do for mini scroll. I was talking to her about it 18 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:03,240 this morning and she was like, do not give him the 19 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:05,120 satisfaction. So basically Crystal is going to 20 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,120 kill me for saying this, but I was going to cover Ashton Earl 21 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:11,040 possibly dating John Summit, the DJ. 22 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:13,480 And I was like, do you know anything about John Summit? 23 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,480 Like he's apparently a DJ. I had never even heard of him 24 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:20,160 until this Ashton Earl stuff and Crystal was like, do not cover 25 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:21,200 this. Don't give him that 26 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:23,120 satisfaction. That's exactly what he wants 27 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:25,360 because it is true. He has an album coming out on 28 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:27,640 July 12th. So this is definitely giving 29 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:29,520 like PR vibes. She's like he's just some DJ 30 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:31,880 that college girls thinks hot like don't give him that 31 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:34,600 satisfaction of like properly reporting on him. 32 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:38,920 So this is me not not reporting on that story. 33 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:43,920 OK, but the actual story that I have for you guys today, like I 34 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:46,360 said today is a bit light, but I feel like my episodes have been 35 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:48,320 like quite long. So, you know, we're due for like 36 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:51,480 a little light one. I wanted to talk about the 37 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:55,880 discourse going on online right now about Threads and if they 38 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,360 have or if it has a creator problem. 39 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:03,640 So journalist Taylor Lorenz, who has also been on this podcast, 40 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,760 she posed this question recently in an article for The Washington 41 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:12,280 Post and also on her own Threads account, basically asking where 42 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:16,080 are all the Threads creators. So Threads doesn't seem to have 43 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:20,600 any like native creators. No one so far has seemed to have 44 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:24,160 built their entire platform off of Threads. 45 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:25,640 And that's quite different to Twitter. 46 00:02:25,640 --> 00:02:27,960 I know, I don't know. I know a lot of people like 47 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:31,440 stopped using Twitter a long, long time ago, like way pre Elon 48 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:33,560 Musk. But Twitter was quite unique in 49 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,400 the sense that like, you could be a Twitter creator, you could 50 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:38,640 be a Twitter, you could be Twitter famous, basically like a 51 00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:41,960 Twitter personality. And no one else on the rest of 52 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:45,680 the Internet would know that. And that didn't necessarily 53 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,160 translate to followers anywhere else. 54 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:50,880 And Threads so far doesn't really have that. 55 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,760 Like, people are not like a native Threads creators. 56 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:59,000 And she suggests that the reason for that primarily is because 57 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,640 Threads hasn't had a breakthrough viral moment. 58 00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:06,200 Like there's been nothing like a meme, like nothing super viral 59 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:10,720 culturally has happened on the platform for people to have that 60 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:15,320 sense of urgency to join and to start using it consistently. 61 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:18,440 So I saw a lot of discourse on Threads about how people were 62 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:20,840 like, yeah, it has a lot of like monthly active users, but it 63 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:23,760 doesn't have a lot of daily active users, which is the 64 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:25,560 problem. I mean, Jordy and I talked about 65 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:27,280 this in our episode when Threads launched. 66 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:31,160 Like it's not just that. It's it's that like the people 67 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,040 who use Instagram who are like Instagram famous. 68 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:38,840 It is a completely different ball game to be growing a 69 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,040 platform or like growing an audience on a text based 70 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,680 platform than it is on like a visual platform. 71 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:48,360 Even video platform like Instagram and reels has been. 72 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,720 I mean, I'm sure you guys remember when when threads first 73 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:56,520 launched and like it was just filled, filled with people 74 00:03:56,680 --> 00:03:59,920 posting the most embarrassing shit ever. 75 00:03:59,920 --> 00:04:02,240 People being like so bored today, Ha ha. 76 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:08,160 Is this thing on ha ha, like I can't, I never go on Threads. 77 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,040 I just get those like recommendations on my Instagram 78 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:12,920 and that's how I'll like go into Threads. 79 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,160 But honestly, Threads is literally just filled with 80 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,560 people who are like Instagram influencers complaining about 81 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:22,720 Instagram. Like that's all that Threads is, 82 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:24,760 at least for me. And that's another part of the 83 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:27,600 problem is that Threads is incredibly siloed. 84 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:32,600 So with Twitter, you could have like a viral moment or, you 85 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:34,640 know, you could report on something and it would get gain 86 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:38,480 a lot of traction and get shown to like essentially all of 87 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:39,600 Twitter. It was like a town square, 88 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:41,400 right? Threads does not operate like 89 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:42,920 that. It is much more siloed. 90 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:46,480 So the content that you're posting is like for a specific 91 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:48,440 audience, like it's for your followers. 92 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:52,040 And there's not the same level of like amplification or 93 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:54,760 shareability. Posts exist much more in a 94 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:56,320 vacuum. So like there might be good 95 00:04:56,320 --> 00:04:59,840 discourse on Threads but I don't see it. 96 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:02,800 All I see is a bunch of Instagram influencers 97 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:05,720 complaining about Instagram all the time and then obviously like 98 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:09,960 metas stance on news and politics in general like that is 99 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:15,440 going to kill any opportunity for threads to actually thrive 100 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:19,000 because that's what made Twitter popular was people being able to 101 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:23,360 share news and commentary and opinion about current affairs in 102 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:26,440 all types of industries. So I want to read Taylor's 103 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:28,960 thread on this, her threads thread. 104 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:32,120 She said the biggest creators on Twitter, for example, were never 105 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:35,600 the biggest creators on YouTube. They were primarily curators who 106 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,880 were incredibly good at surfacing valuable information 107 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:41,440 and news. Threads has not done much at all 108 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:43,400 to cultivate those types of creators. 109 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:46,280 However, this goes back to my original point that Threads 110 00:05:46,280 --> 00:05:49,640 hasn't had its breakout moment. That's the most important part 111 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:52,480 here that is being missed. Without a breakout moment that 112 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:55,560 shows people basically how to post, you won't get a crop of 113 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:57,600 native creators with any sort of reach. 114 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:00,520 That's why those breakout early moments were so crucial to 115 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,440 platforms like YouTube, Twitter, IG, etcetera. 116 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:06,680 Threads has not had its breakout moment and that is the 117 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:09,040 fundamental problem. And it won't have a breakout 118 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:12,280 moment when it's stifling the types of creators slash content 119 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:16,000 that performs best on Twitter like platforms, people posting 120 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:19,440 timely information. I mean, yeah, I, I think it's, 121 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:24,120 it was a wild strategy that Twitter, sorry, that Threads, 122 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:25,800 that Meadow would launch Threads. 123 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:28,840 And then what was it maybe like six months later? 124 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,600 Turn off political content for everyone and you have to like 125 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:36,320 opt in to see political or like newsworthy content. 126 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:40,000 And of course there's like all this impending like Meta news 127 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:41,720 band stuff going on in Australia. 128 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:44,240 I'm Canadian. I know that happened in Canada 129 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:46,320 recently as well. They Meta basically, or 130 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:49,440 Instagram basically limits you from seeing anything that's 131 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:51,840 considered news because they won't strike deals with the 132 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:54,760 government anyways. It's like a whole mess. 133 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:58,240 And yeah, I, I thought that this was interesting discourse. 134 00:06:58,280 --> 00:07:00,680 I know that Jordy and I did a full episode on why we thought 135 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:03,240 Threads would fail. I wouldn't say it's like fully 136 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:05,640 failed. And I do think it's gaining a 137 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:09,200 bit of cultural relevance just because I think so many 138 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:12,280 journalists are so exhausted with Twitter. 139 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:13,960 Like Twitter is like unusable now. 140 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:17,080 So I think the people who were like, really popular on Twitter 141 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:20,320 initially, they went to Blue Sky and Blue Sky seemed to be quite 142 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:23,840 promising, but they didn't strike fast enough because their 143 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,880 platform wasn't ready. Like, it just couldn't have the 144 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,000 influx of user base that I think it needed to at the time. 145 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:33,640 And it was like invite only. And I don't know, like people, I 146 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:36,640 mean, as far as I can tell, like Blue Sky is, I don't know what's 147 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:40,520 going on there. So I do feel like Threads has an 148 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:44,640 opportunity because I do think a lot of people are starting to 149 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:47,160 come around to the idea of posting on Threads. 150 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:50,360 And I think a lot of the journalists who were so valuable 151 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:54,360 to Twitter and made Twitter what it was have started slowly 152 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:56,240 posting more and more on Threads. 153 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,360 But I agree, it needs this one cultural breakout moment. 154 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:04,000 The problem is it's never going to have that if you can't post 155 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,760 like timely current affairs, things that are called 156 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:09,400 considered like quote, UN quote political content, because 157 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:13,360 that's also a completely vague label like what's considered 158 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:15,360 political. You know, you could consider a 159 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:17,920 lot of what we cover political 'cause I'm talking about things 160 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:19,720 like trad wives and things like that, right? 161 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:23,680 Like it, it's such a broad vague statement that doesn't have a 162 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:25,960 lot of clear parameters around it. 163 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:29,240 I wouldn't say Threads is a complete write off anymore. 164 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:32,280 I did very much feel that way a year ago. 165 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:39,400 But Meta is not doing itself any favors with the decisions that 166 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:42,720 it's making in terms of the type of content that it prioritizes 167 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:46,240 to make Threads actually a successful platform. 168 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:51,520 So that's my tea on Threads and obviously my slight tea, not tea 169 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:54,520 on Ashton Earl may be dating DJ John Summit. 170 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:57,200 Anyways, guys, thank you so much for listening to Mini Scroll. 171 00:08:57,200 --> 00:08:59,920 Like I said, tomorrow's episode is going to be hopefully a 172 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:03,080 banger, so I'm excited to bring you guys that. 173 00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:06,800 But as always, Please remember to rate, review and subscribe. 174 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:08,680 It helps me so much. It helps me grow. 175 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:10,640 I love you guys and I will talk to you tomorrow. 176 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:11,560 Bye.