Digital Buzz: Snapchat on Super Bowl LVIII, Threads Algorithm, Apple Vision Pro Bros

Speaker 1: 0:15

Welcome to the Mindful Bytes podcast presented by Killer B Studios. Open your minds as we dive into conversations about the world of tech and the art behind using it purposefully.

Speaker 2: 0:31

Hey everybody, welcome to this week's digital buzz. Let me, let's go ahead and jump into. I would, I'm gonna call this our social chatter section here of digital buzz. We're gonna talk about Snapchat because you know, I'm sure you saw their Super Bowl commercial. Did you see their Super Bowl commercial? Actually, did not. What you didn't see, the Super Bowl commercial. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1: 0:51

No.

Speaker 3: 0:52

I didn't.

Speaker 2: 0:53

All right, so I will have to share that with you so you can check it out, and we'll share it on our Discord. I'll even put a link to it in the show notes here so you guys can check it out. But we'll go back to that in just a second, because I know you brought up Snapchat last week, so I want to definitely talk about what their commercial is about. You're gonna find it very interesting. But before we go into that, let's talk about some insights that was given about Threads algorithm. So some of the things that I was reading on Threads was you know they released some tips on their algorithm. Here's some of the things that they said.

Speaker 2: 1:22

Number one was engagement signals, which is like their likes, your replies, you know, and your followers. They said this is crucial the more engagement your post receives, the more likely it's gonna be seen by others, which that's something we've seen across all social media. So no surprise User activity. Now this one they were talking about the algorithm considers how many posts you've seen in your feed and how long it's been since you were last active on Threads Profile interactions how often your user clicks on your author's profile. The next one here, number four, which was very interesting was this was cross-platform activity, so they're talking about. So they were saying that, although it's not really impactful, but the it's not as impactful, but the number of times you viewed the author's profile on Instagram may influence what you see on Threads.

Speaker 3: 2:10

Interesting.

Speaker 2: 2:12

Yeah, that's not kind of that's. I never heard of cross-platform activity yet, so I'm curious about how that works with Facebook and Instagram as well. And then Threads, and the last thing was about customizing your feed. It says you can. You know, it's just kind of like tick-talking stuff you can influence your Threads experience by hiding posts. But here's what I wrote down, Okay. So to me, this was what my overall takeaway was to the secrets of the Threads algorithm.

Speaker 2: 2:35

It comes down to how much attention you're going to give their apps or apps Cause I mean, if you're talking about like, you know how many likes, replies, follows, how and how many posts you've seen in your feed and how long it's been since you were last active on Threads and how many times are you viewing Instagrams that that person's Instagram profile or their profile on Threads can all have effect on the algorithm. I wrote that down. I was like, okay, as we're talking about being becoming more aware of what we're doing with our time when it comes to our business, work and also just overall our personal life on these digital platforms, I wrote down well, the secret comes down to how much attention we're willing to give the app, and I think that's something we always have to be aware of. So it's like we can get so caught up in trying to do more and reach more, but it's like how much more attention. That that's what's for sales our attention. They want our attention.

Speaker 3: 3:25

What are your thoughts on that? So to me, honestly, it sounds like their algorithm is the early Instagram algorithm, because that was like how often you are posting was like such a big deal on like Instagram and that sort of thing. So it sounds like that's what they're using as their base and I'm thinking that it will probably be tweaked as it continues to grow, but right now they're still. I feel like it grew in popularity right from the jump, but then after that it was like oops, I forgot I even have a thread it threads account. So now I feel like this is a way for them to get people to kind of come back to it. But also, now everyone is used to the word algorithm, so then throwing out that threads has an algorithm.

Speaker 2: 4:29

So no doubt they're seeing a decline in how many people were actually using the app now. So they're like, hey, if you use the app, the more you're on it, the more you scroll down the feed, the more you're going to benefit from the algorithm. Again, it's attention, it's our attention, that they want. So the things that you're doing, are they taking you closer to the goal that you're aiming towards, whether it's in your business or your personal life, or is it becoming more of a distraction and taking you away from it? Those are questions we really got to, really got to be aware of and asking ourselves. So another thing that just came out, which I just saw this this morning Instagram stickers on if you and we've all seen the Instagram stickers, but they're now making it where you can do the cutout stickers on videos and make Jeff's and stuff. So so keep your eye out for that update rolling out. They just have like a little icon where, right by the cutout and you can actually choose an option for doing a video and you can drop yourself out of that video and make an animated Jeff from it. So that's, that's kind of a cool little feature. So let's talk about Snapchat for a sec. They had a commercial which I thought was very interesting. Again, I'm definitely going to share this with you and we'll put a link to it in the show notes, if you guys have not seen that commercial on the Super Bowl. But they started off about start off with likes, like you want more likes, and it says three, 10. It's like show all these different pictures that people are taking to get more likes, more likes, and then it just says more friends, more follows, and it kept saying and then also sorry about more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, all across the whole screen. Then it drew a line through more and their whole commercial was turning to the point of less likes equals more likes. Less less friends equals more friends are less likes, equals more love. And they said less social media, more Snapchat. So this is very interesting. I'm going to read this to you Now, let me, you can check it out later. This is I'm going to read this from their website, because they had a website that came up. At the end it said more Snapchatcom. So this is very interesting. And what? Since we're talking about threads and stuff here, I'm going to write from the website. So I'm going to read this to you guys.

Speaker 2: 6:20

The promise of social media started out great. It was a place where we could connect with people and share bits of our lives, a place where we could be part of something bigger than ourselves, where we could feel supported and love. But something in the adolescence of social media, things began to fill to fill off. Friends became people who felt more like strangers. Moments became more curated, sharing became more contrived. Social media felt like an in a clinic version of our lives rather than a source of genuine connection, and this made us feel less connected, less open and less comfortable expressing ourselves.

Speaker 2: 6:53

So there's a lot to read and I'm not going to read the whole thing, but they're basically embracing that shift of being more personal, really focusing on a connection and not worried about more likes, like they actually highlight that they don't. That's not about the feet isn't ran by likes or shares or or followers. It's all about that personal connection. Less friends equals more friends like. Okay, you might not have as many people following you on yours what's considered friends, but those are really your friends that you're connected with. So very interested to to hear your thoughts on this, because I know you were talking about Snapchat last week and actually even said Snapchat is not social media. This is a statement they wrote in their page. Snapchat is not social media. It was never intended to be social media. In fact, it was built as an antidote to social media. So what are your thoughts about that?

Speaker 3: 7:46

Yeah, I mean, I think that they're definitely, you know, in 2024. We've just been hearing about how people are ready for, you know, the actual close personal connection, versus being just a number on social media to brands or people or whatever. So they definitely are capitalizing on that because, it's true, I never would have said like Snapchat is like a social media platform, it's like an instant messenger, almost with you know sending pictures and things like that, but they actually, in my opinion, were the first ones to really get people to use filters.

Speaker 3: 8:31

That's where I first used like funny filters and things like that. But the thing that I actually liked which you know, we don't I don't personally know a lot of brands that have used Snapchat, as you know a business, but the businesses that use it they're more like you know celebrities and things like that. The message that comes to you it feels personal. Like you, I get a notification from you know a celebrity, like I would from Brian. So to me it's like chatting with an actual brand or brand, versus like seeing a brand's post. I'm getting a personal message from the brand, so that's where it feels very different.

Speaker 2: 9:24

I was always kind of like looking at, like no, I know, if you do a message, you can. You know it deletes within like what 24 hours or something like that. If you send like a message and they did approach that in their in their more Snapchat page it says conversation on Snapchat are designed to delete by default. Because that's just how conversations are in real life. We can express ourselves with our close friends in the same way we would if we were just hanging out together. Now this Snapchat ideal for businesses? And, if so, what type of businesses might consider using this platform and really start looking into it and saying is this the right platform? Is there a way for us to use it? How much do you know about the spotlight feed, the public stories and the maps?

Speaker 3: 10:06

I think I know a decent amount of the maps and the stories, but not the spotlight thing.

Speaker 2: 10:13

Okay, so from what I could tell from here, it sounds like there's spotlights or morphoite creators. That's for creators to spotlight, but the public stories is supposed to be more intended for media companies. That's putting news and stuff out there like that. Is that how you see it?

Speaker 3: 10:28

Yeah, definitely, they do have a discover feed as well.

Speaker 2: 10:32

Yeah, it looks very interesting. I like the idea that the spotlight is more for creators and that the public stories is supposed to be more for media. Companies like to be pushing out news and updates or stuff that's happening in the local area, like these concerts and stuff. I like that. And then the maps I was looking at today and I saw this right when I opened up the map. It had a spot that I could click on. It had all these restaurants all around me and the restaurants all had people's Snapchat messages at that restaurant.

Speaker 2: 11:03

So it's interesting, even like restaurants and local locations. They could have like a Snapchat thing going on where people are posting their Snapchats and tagging, I guess, where they're at, and it would highlight what they're doing at the store so they could have some real fun interaction and entertaining things with their local location.

Speaker 3: 11:21

Yeah, the location thing is pretty cool and Snapchat is like one of the things where, like my teenage niece and nephew, like they actually interact with, like my mom on there and me, because, again, it's like not something where they're doing these public posts, it's sending pictures and messages to, like you know, individuals, so that's something where they don't have to get a fake Instagram account or whatever.

Speaker 2: 11:53

If businesses are going to use it, we need to really try to adapt it in a way that aligns with what the platform is about. You know it's about those connections don't make if it turns into a big social media marketing thing and it's very obvious that audience is going to see it and they're not even going to want to have anything to do with you. So you got to really be creative with it. So I think we'll definitely see more of that this year. I just thought it was interesting, though. I saw the commercial during the Super Bowl and you just brought it up last week during our last digital pause, so keep your eye on it. I thought it was.

Speaker 3: 12:23

I thought it was really cool what TikTok did for the Super Bowl. So they had a tailgate it was called the TikTok tailgate, where you could only watch it on TikTok, and they had Gwen Stefani, like she performed, and even on the stage it said TikTok tailgate. They were encouraging you to like talk to people in the chat, which people are doing in the way that like she even engaged with TikTok viewers, like when she was talking, you know, at concerts, where they're like thanks so much, you know, columbus, for coming, like she was saying TikTok users. I just thought it was like really cool and also something to think about when people are going live for an audience, to think about talking directly to that audience.

Speaker 3: 13:21

There was like almost 2 million people watching live on TikTok yeah, so they use the NFL's account, and I just thought that TikTok did a really good job of capitalizing on getting people to actually use their app during the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2: 13:40

So that's very interesting because I wonder if it's as much as a TikTok as it was the NFL, because you said it was on the NFL's account, right?

Speaker 3: 13:46

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 13:47

Because there's something else that we noticed during the. We're watching it on TV. We're just old people. We don't watch it on TikTok. We were watching it on that square thing called. It used to be called a tube. Now it's just like a, I guess a flat screen.

Speaker 3: 14:01

TV.

Speaker 2: 14:02

Well, one of the things that I noticed is they gave a shout out to the Nickelodeon thing. I don't know if you noticed that, but they had a Nickelodeon version of the Super Bowl where the kids were watching the Super Bowl but all the like the announcers were like SpongeBob and stuff like that. So I'm like, yeah, genius ways to to get your medium like you're what you're doing, like it's NFL, and they're like, hey, they're getting kids to buy into it at a young age and enjoy the game because they have the people hosting it or narrating it or the characters that they love this is genius.

Speaker 3: 14:33

It is, yeah, and, like you know, they know that TikTok is a good way to get you know those teens and younger generation as well. So, yeah, that was. I thought that was really cool. But, yeah, it probably was led by the NFL, but I don't think another platform could have done it the way that TikTok did it.

Speaker 2: 14:57

It's very interesting to be thinking about that because there's so many new things that is going to be possible with even AI and audio. I mean, imagine, like I know, we work with some broadcasters and I don't want to get too rabbit-trolled on that, but we work with broadcasters. Could you imagine trying to get a younger generation to tune in by? I don't know if somebody like Nick Lodi, instead of your DJ actually being the one talking, but the DJ's voice would be turned into SpongeBob or Squidward or you know something like that, and they're hearing that character doing the DJ and I don't know. That's like. That's a cool idea.

Speaker 3: 15:27

Yeah, no, I think that would be really cool. Yeah, I think that would be really cool.

Speaker 2: 15:31

The other thing, olivia, that I was going to talk about real quick before we wrap up this session is the Apple Vision Pro. This is our tech talk section here, and I know we got off last week and I was like, oh man, I meant to talk about the Apple Vision Pro because everybody's talking about it, and so I wanted to kind of mention that we have not ordered one yet. You know, I started looking into it because we were going to buy one. You know, we have the Meta Pros, we have the Quest 3s, we have the Quest 2s, and I was waiting for the big reveal and they launched it and I watched the videos about it and there was just nothing that was going. Oh yeah, you definitely need to buy that for $3,500. I just can't wrap my mind around that price. So I'm like, yes, I'll go test it, but to buy it, like the things that they were showing, like one of the biggest things, which really doesn't make it worth for me. Again, this is for me. It doesn't make it worth $3,500 for me, as a use case was can I use it as a computer without having to connect it to a computer? Like, can I do my Mac work on the headset without actually having to have a Mac. They still showed it where you have to connect it to a Mac, which my Meta Pros do that. So it just wasn't really making sense for that dollar amount. There's a lot that's got to be proven.

Speaker 2: 16:41

I think to be worth $3,500. And I'm a huge Apple fan. I mean everything I have is Apple's. You know my son he's gotten, he's been researching now, all the Google Glasses. Do you remember Google Glasses? Yeah, he's like Dad, did you know they had Google Glasses? I'm like, oh yeah, I remember that. I remember those days DeanNet did a report on it because they actually called them back then because people were making like all these crazy videos with them and stuff. They called them Glassholes.

Speaker 3: 17:05

Oh, my God.

Speaker 2: 17:08

Have you seen all the crazy videos of like the Vision Pro now, like where people are, like walking down the street with them on and stuff which yeah, I saw someone like driving with them on. Which you can't do. Any of that Like no, that stuff works, I know, I know I've seen that was showing that, but they said they're calling it now Like. These are like, this is like the new Glassholes. They're calling them Vision Bros, vision Bros, vision.

Speaker 3: 17:30

Bros yeah.

Speaker 2: 17:32

They're just walking around and doing everything. But they said that's going to phase out. But I think that there's got to be a. There's a lot to be. There's a lot that Apple has to prove to make that worth 3,500 bucks. I'm just, that's just a huge huge chunk of change with with what the MetaPros can do With that.

Speaker 2: 17:47

I think we're going to wrap it up, olivia. Thanks for joining me for the digital buzz and we will see you guys next week. If you want to join us, live right here on Discord. You can be in the audience. Go check out our Discord. You can go there by going to patreoncom forward slash killer B marketing or click the link in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 18:03

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