PPPPast is Future (Four Ps #226)
It's an "End of the Year" Content Blowout Celebration Extravaganza!
Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays to my favorite PPPPeople!
And welcome to yet another end-of-year extravaganza, where I'm breaking things down… before we shut things down for the last week of the year.
But instead of looking ahead, like everyone else is doing, I’m going to spare you the cliche predictions to which no one is ever held accountable. Instead, I’m going to spend this edition looking back over 2023 as a precursor to what is yet to come... and save the 2024 ideas… for 2024.
THE PRACTICAL: The Year of A.I.
Of course, this is where we had to start... In 2023, ChatGPT emerged as the fastest-growing technology solution, talking point, and news story brand. This OpenAI chatbot surpassed TikTok in growth, becoming the most rapidly expanding consumer app since its release. Though ChatGPT ranked impressively among Gen Z, millennials, and Gen X; it didn't gain much traction with baby boomers.
Growth: Platform growth actually varied across generations: YouTubeTV for Gen Z, Instagram Reels for Gen X, and YouTube Shorts for baby boomers. But everyone is talking about AI. I've used different AI tools in more ways than I would have thought possible, from ad optimization to image generation to edit suggestions. Google, Meta, even Twitter are getting in on the act.
A new report from Deloitte Digital explores how marketers are using generative AI in their daily work. “AI” was named the Marketing Word of the Year by the Association of National Advertisers. And of the 2,042 new martech tools introduced in the last six months, 73% of them were powered by AI.
Questions: Yet professionally, AI remains more talk than action. American businesses are frequently discussing AI, as observed in recent S&P 500 earnings calls, equating its mentions to those of interest rates. Despite this buzz, a Census Bureau survey reveals that only 4.4% of U.S. businesses have recently used AI for production, with just 6.9% planning to use it in the next six months. This disparity in AI adoption expectations versus reality is partly due to a talent gap, highlighted by an Amazon study where 75% of businesses struggled to find qualified AI professionals.
Additionally, safety concerns are a significant hurdle, exemplified by companies like Apple and Samsung restricting certain AI tools amid security breach discussions. Controversies continue, with recent security flaw allegations involving ChatGPT and Amazon's Q chatbot. OpenAI's COO Brad Lightcap suggests AI is still experimental, cautioning against expecting immediate, significant business transformations from it.
Concerns: There are also very legitimate concerns that AI presents. The recent firing and rehiring of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has revealed concerns about the ability to keep the technology under control (regarding sentience), but it has also resulted in some havoc. The ordeal of Francesca Mani, a New Jersey high school student, underscores AI's negative societal impacts. Francesca fell prey to deepfake pornography, an AI misuse creating non-consensual explicit images of her and her peers, spotlighting AI's potential for abuse, especially against women and girls.
Regulation: This incident reveals the pressing need for tighter AI regulation and ethical guidelines, along with the challenge of safeguarding digital identities in an AI-centric era. Francesca's response, advocating for legal changes and enhanced digital literacy, is a key move in tackling these emerging challenges. So, who is going to keep these companies in line? If social media corporate mismanagement over the last decade is any indication, 2024 is going to be a critical year for keeping things in check.
THE PERSONAL: Putting on My Creative Hat
My journey as a content creator in 2023 was transformative (even though I'm recommending a more transitional year for marketers). I moved from hesitant beginnings to confident engagement, pouring my time, energy, and creativity into crafting impactful content. My efforts led to audience growth and a deeper sense of personal achievement.
This year was more than about creating content; it was a period of self-discovery, skill refinement, and embracing the digital landscape's potential. It marked a year of bold decisions, learning experiences, and notable successes that defined my path in content creation.
The Snark: In addition to this newsletter, launching and managing a podcast (with 14 episodes over 6 months) was quite the learning experience. And talking with a broad range of marketing execs and finding another place to spread the snark was incredibly fun. I'd do it full-time if I could figure out how to make money doing so...
The Creator Taxonomy: In 2024, 44% of advertisers plan to increase their creator content spending by 25% on average, driven by rising digital video consumption and the effectiveness of ads around creator content. In 2023, I fully committed to creating content for LinkedIn, joining a growing community of like-minded creators. I posted every single day for 365 straight days (actually longer) and learned so much. Again, I wish I could figure out how to monetize the hundreds of thousands of impressions, but hey, we do this for the love of the game.
Linking In: LinkedIn Creator Mode is to Gen X what TikTok is to Gen Z is what Roblox is to Gen Alpha. LinkedIn saw a 15-35% increase in visibility for its most prolific creators. LinkedIn Newsletters saw a surge in 2023, with subscriptions surpassing 500 million. The platform's recent updates, like improved analytics and the introduction of carousels for user content, demonstrate their commitment to equipping creators with essential tools. Additionally, a Social Media Today study found that half of the professionals use LinkedIn for discovering new content, reflecting an increased demand for insightful information on the platform. These developments indicate a significant shift in LinkedIn's role. It's transforming from a recruitment-centered platform to a vibrant space for sharing expertise, networking, and brand building. For content creators, this evolution opens up new opportunities to utilize LinkedIn's unique offerings and engage with an attentive audience.
Cutting to the Chase: With growth in some areas come reductions in others. The layoffs in advertising and marketing have been staggering over the past year. The good news is that most of the ousted employees have been able to find new homes with emerging platforms and other juggernauts investing elsewhere. (Hello, RMNs!)
THE PROFESSIONAL: The Rise of LinkedIn, the Fear or TikTok, and the Fall of Twitter
So many platforms + too many platforms = time to consolidate platforms.
The Good: The Good: I worked with several incredible startups this year, and the market is ripe for disruptors, innovators, and new solutions to change the way we live and work.
The winner: Kazm is redefining how brands engage consumers - connecting all earned and owned channels and touchpoints into one loyalty and gamified membership experience. Connecting what exactly? Website, apps, ecommerce, in-store, live events, all social channels, blockchain tokens, metaverse activations, even influencer channels and partnerships. Incentivizing social proof among loyal customers is how brands will most grow in 2024. There is no other platform like it on earth.
Honorable Mention: Clayful has made a significant impact by raising $7MM to enhance its mission of providing rapid mental health support to students. This innovative platform, which connects students with mental health experts in just 60 seconds, is a testament to the power of entrepreneurial spirit in addressing critical social issues. Clayful's achievement highlights the remarkable influence of committed entrepreneurs in improving youth mental health and reshaping educational technology.
The Bad: What a disastrous disappointment and decline for Twitter, a once-great platform to which I'd posted over 50,000 times between 2008 and 2023. Yet, with Elon Musk's takeover, the decimation is now complete. The platform was renamed X earlier this year, but that is the least of its issues, and I haven't posted on Twitter / X since the end of October.
Many individuals had their own "enough" moments going back nearly a year, from Musk's alleged antisemitic comments to the restoration of hateful accounts. The advertisers have left Twitter and are flocking to Instagram… Meanwhile, 2024 may be the year where Threads surpasses Twitter. They’ve already eclipsed Twitter in downloads… and launching in Europe last week and the Fediverse will only accelerate that further.
The Ugly: TikTok is proving to be just as disastrous as Twitter, if not more so, with alarming stories emerging about TikTok's influence, suggesting that the platform may be causing more harm than good in society. While the first ban has been stayed in Montana, the engineering of Gen Z to become defenders of Hamas en masse is irrefutable. Tragic incidents, like the suicide of 13-year-old Maia Walsh and the death of Isaac Kenevan from a dangerous online challenge, point to a disturbing trend where young, impressionable users are exposed to harmful content. Even though app downloads are at an all time low, none of this is scaring advertisers away, so all good, right?
Despite TikTok's efforts to enforce community guidelines and remove inappropriate content, these cases underscore a failure in safeguarding young audiences. This growing concern highlights the need for stricter regulation and oversight of social media platforms to prevent such devastating consequences and calls into question the overall societal impact of apps like TikTok.
The Unknown: While many chased newer shinty objects in 2023 (Hello, Temu and Shein), this year also saw the fall and return of NFTs and crypto in a 12-month span that turned doubters and skeptics into believers. Either way, the instability of the initial wave of these technologies and applications may be set to turn a corner in 2024. The use cases for digital tokens continue to increase and improve while a16z crypto predicts advancements in several key areas of Web3.
Areas to watch include improved decentralization, more user-friendly crypto apps, open-source modularity, AI-powered games with guaranteed fairness, more accessible formal verification of smart contracts, ubiquitous brand NFTs, and mainstream SNARK technology for verifying computational workloads. These trends suggest a future where Web3 is more accessible, secure, and integrated into our daily lives.
THE POLITICAL: “Declaring The Causes Which Impel Them To the Separation”
This is actually the line in the Declaration of Independence where the break from dictatorship happens. And yet here we are…
While 2024 will be a pivotal year in the future history of our planet, with a pivotal presidential election less than a year away, 2023 had its fair share of craziness... But none was more impactful and frightening than the global surge in antisemitism unlike anything we've seen since the Holocaust.
The Rise: Despite facing inflation's bite and global turmoil, President Biden navigated 2023's economic rapids with a steady hand. His focus on responsible fiscal policies and pro-worker initiatives has yielded impressive results: inflation tamed, unemployment near historic lows, and consumer confidence rising. Though critics may howl, the facts paint a clear picture – Biden steered the American ship through choppy waters, delivering lower prices, record-low joblessness, and renewed economic optimism, a testament to his leadership in 2023.
The Fall: The GOP (Ghastly Old People)'s 2023 debates offered a glaring missed opportunity: a failure to unite behind a credible Trump challenger. While a diverse field of candidates emerged, none captured the momentum needed to effectively dethrone the former president. This fractured landscape allowed Trump to maintain a commanding lead, raising fears of a 2024 nomination that could alienate swing voters and jeopardize the party's broader electoral ambitions. Whether they can overcome this internal division and coalesce around a candidate who can appeal beyond Trump's base remains the GOP's defining challenge in the year ahead. And we haven’t even mentioned the looming legitimacy crisis the Supreme Court is facing.
The End: Kevin McCarthy's brief stint as House Speaker was marked by the outsized influence of a far-right faction within his slim majority. This group's rebellion underscored the power shifts in a divided House, revealing how a vocal minority can significantly impact legislative direction. This era reflects the unpredictable dynamics of political power in a closely split government... and yet his exodus feels even more pathetic than that of George Santos.
The Horror: The brutal Hamas terror attack in Israel marked a significant and distressing milestone in the year, igniting a surge in anti-Semitic activities globally. This alarming wave has swept across various spheres, from college campuses to the halls of world capitals, drastically transforming anti-Semitism from a fringe element to a more mainstream and worrying phenomenon. This shift has not only fueled new forms of divisiveness and hatred but has also served as a stark reminder of the enduring and pernicious nature of extremist ideologies. The events of the year have underlined the critical need for vigilance and concerted action against all forms of hatred and bigotry, emphasizing the importance of unity in combating these destructive forces.
The Humor: You have to laugh. Otherwise, you'll just want to cry. 2023 painted a stark picture of all kinds of division. Pew Research found 90% of Americans believe the country is more divided than just a decade ago, while a Gallup poll showed the lowest national happiness score since 2008.
This isn't just rhetoric: in Congress, bipartisan bills plummeted to a 50-year low, and ideological self-sorting in social media and news consumption reached record highs, creating echo chambers where factual disagreements morph into chasms.
This isn't just political. Trust in institutions like the media and judiciary hit historic lows, while economic inequality continues to widen the gap between haves and have-nots. The data is clear: while our differences don't have to be divisions, 2023 laid bare the growing cracks in our societal fabric, demanding a critical look at how we bridge them in the year ahead.
On that note, I wish you all the happiest and healthiest of holidays.
I'll be at CES (Vegas) and NRF (NYC) in January, so if there's an opportunity for us to connect IRL, I'd love that.
Until 2024... see you next year!