Is it cake?

We’re back here again.

Remember when I complained about January being the longest month in the year? Well, February flew by and now we’re more than halfway through March.

What I’ve been up to:

Needless to say, it’s been busy! I haven’t had as much time to scroll through the timeline for you, but here’s what I’ve come across lately.

Parasocial interaction is what sends a live event experience into orbit on social media — especially when it comes to sports.

Basketball players couldn’t figure out how to grab a ball that got stuck above the backboard. A couple of quick-thinking cheerleaders saved the day. The best part of this video is the announcer. Twitter, arguably the best place to experience live events you can’t physically attend, loved it.

One thing about the internet, if you give people an opportunity to show off their humor, they will. One of those image personality tests found its way on Twitter, and according to the image, if you’re right-brained, you see a fish. If you’re left-brained, you see a mermaid. And most people learned they might be “middle-brained” because they see neither. I see a seal and a moose, but maybe that’s because I’m from Alaska.

In the early days of the pandemic (can’t believe I’m saying that), the internet was fixated on short-form videos of seemingly everyday items. Except, we all collectively let out sighs in frustration when we learned all of those things were actually cake. Now, Netflix turned that experience into an entire cooking game show. It’s another example of the tried and true method of using nostalgia to bring audiences together and I have to say — it’s genius.

🟢 Is it happening? Are we (finally) getting a “close friends” list for Twitter? Twitter Circle came up for me on the web app, days after Nima Owji leaked it. I know Twitter’s safety team has been working on ways for users to express themselves more, so this new feature isn’t surprising.

🤳 TikTok is rolling out a stories feature. I wonder how this will affect engagement on the For You Page and whether it will help creators better curate and manage communities. We’ll see!

🚫 People will always find a way to stay connected. Instagram was blocked in Russia. Subsequently, Russian users turned to Clubhouse and Instagram.

This is a hectic time for me with so many projects in the works. But I do my best to make time for anyone who reaches out.

My DMs are always open! If you’re ever looking to collaborate, send me a note.

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Until next time,

Shayne