📡 Crossing that line
Welcome to another Pulse!
This Pulse is coming to you from a warm sunny Manchester! It’s been another super busy week, but busy is better than boring… so all in all, pretty good!
By the way, we’re sponsoring @phractl on Instagram, so if you’re a photographer or a photography enthusiast, especially nature and landscape photography, visit their profile. If you have a photo that you think deserves to be seen, you can get it featured on phractl by filling this form.
Now, dive in and enjoy 😊
- Ben from [ perspective ix]
PS. Reply to this email with one thing you’d change about Pulse! Go on. Don’t be shy. Thank you!
📰 News
Apple Card now available to everyone in the US with 3% Uber cashback [TechCrunch]. If you’re planning on using it, make sure you opt-out of its arbitration clause [Verge]. Also, make sure you don’t store your card in leather and denim [TechCrunch]!
Disney has given customers a first look at Disney+, its new streaming service launching in November in the US, Canada, the Netherlands, and Australia [Engadget]; with UK viewers in the dark with no dates [TechRadar]!
Android is rebranding and updating its naming convention. Android Q is Android 10 [Google].
Facebook is pushing Instagram to show more ads - even back-to-back ads [TubeFilter]. A very Facebooky move!
Google, Mozilla, and Apple block Kazakhstan’s Browser Spying Tool. Browser makers announced they would block the Kazakhstan government’s root certificate, which was designed to spy on citizens’ internet usage [Vice].
🧠 Insights
Crossing that line - Credit: Martin Reisch on Unsplash
Giving a talk to three people is easy. No sweat. Giving it to 100 costs you a night’s sleep.
Sending an email to six colleagues is normal. Sending a note to a list of 400 is cause for concern.
Where, exactly, is the line?
Is an audience of 21 different from 24?
If you spend some time looking for the line, perhaps you’ll discover that there’s rarely a reason to freak out. It’s just one more than the number you’re fine with, after all.
from Seth Godin’s Blog.
📊 Statistics
How big Google's advertising business is - Credit: Statista
The Incredible Size of Google’s Advertising Business
Despite the many activities that Google’s parent company Alphabet is engaged in, the lion’s share of its revenue still stems from the core Google segment and its advertising business in particular, which has made Google the largest ad-selling company in the world by far.
As the chart illustrates, Google’s ad revenue amounted to $116.3 billion last year, surpassing total advertising expenditure in all countries except for the United States. In 2018, Google raked in 32 percent of net global digital ad revenue and 38 percent of digital U.S. ad revenue. Adweek projects that digital ad spending will surpass offline ad spending in the U.S. in 2019, bringing even more opportunities to digital ad giants Google, Facebook and also Amazon.
While digital ad sales are dominated by the two big players Google and Facebook, Amazon has recently been trying to break up the duopoly. With Google’s share at 38 percent, Facebook is earning roughly another 20 percent of U.S. digital ad market revenues. While Facebook’s ad revenue is expected to keep growing with the help of Instagram, Google’s is expected to decrease slightly in the light of the increased competition.
🔗 via Statista.
Airbnb's fastest growing markets in 2018 - Credit: Apptopia
Airbnb Shows Strong Growth in China
It’s expected that Airbnb will be publicly traded, through an IPO or direct listing, within the next two years but the hype around it is very present.
According to Apptopia, over the course of the 2018 calendar year, the fastest growing markets for Airbnb’s mobile app were China, Greece, Ukraine, Vietnam and India.
🔗 Read more on Apptopia.
Average Instagram engagement rates by follower size:
Followers Engagement
1-5k 9%
5-10k 5%
10-25k 4.5%
25-100k 3.4%
100-250k 3%
250-500k 2.8%
500-1m 2.6%
1m+ 2.4%
Per @fohrco
📱 Tools & Apps
Toast: Organise tabs into organised sessions [Chrome/Brave | Safari]
Maccy: Another lightweight open-source clipboard manager for macOS with better keyboard shortcuts (Requires macOS Mojave 10.14 or higher) [Download Link]
YourStack by Product Hunt: A new way to share your favourite products with the world. (Invitation-only at the moment; the link is an invitation)
🎧 Audio Stimulation
Hidden Brain - You 2.0: Tunnel Vision
When you’re hungry, it can be hard to think of anything other than food. When you’re desperately poor, you may constantly worry about making ends meet. When you’re lonely, you might obsess about making friends. This week, as part of our You 2.0 series, we bring you a favourite 2017 episode about the psychological phenomenon of scarcity. Researchers say this form of tunnel vision can affect our ability to see the big picture and cope with problems in our lives.
🐦 Tweets of the Week
the wrong amazon is burning
I have no responsibility to live up to what others expect of me. That's their mistake, not my failing. https://t.co/TkgTy1bpKI
A quick reminder - Credit: @davygreenberg
👆 I know, not from this week, but it’s just a reminder worth having once in a while!
🎮 Fun Stuff
Trust is very important...
😂😂😂
⚠️ WARNING ⚠️
This will make you feel old... https://t.co/7P0kC5q0lH
This is not goodbye...
This is! 👋 Just take care of yourself.