āThis is pointless.ā
Have you ever felt that after keeping at something for so long ā when nothing seems to happen? Is it really pointless?
This is one of my favourite tweets ā ever. I strongly believe in the idea of consistency. What youāre looking for might just be right after the next turnā¦
But what if itās not? What if itās not the right path? What if itās the path of repetitive and fruitless endeavour? Or anything, if done enough, can be fruitful?
Well, I donāt know.
Recently, Iāve been thinking about this newsletter and my telegram channels ā mainly iXDaily; should I keep doing what Iāve been doing, or should I stop and focus my energy on something else?
It seems easy, but keeping everything running smoothly is not. If youāve done it for a while, youāll know.
I mean, I think one of the things that blow my mind about Seth Godin, besides being obviously brilliant, is his consistency in his blogging. Heās been posting [at least] one entry in his blog, every day since December 2004ā¦ Thatās over 6200 daysā¦ Thatās mind-blowing to me. Iāve been doing this weekly for two and a half years and I think Iām consistent af! Then I compare myself, and Iām like āare you fckin kidding me, dude?ā
I donāt know, maybe itās the growth. For me, itās a lot of fun when itās growing ā fast; but when the growth slows down, I tend to get anxious. Itās not like I stop believing in what I do, but Iām like āhey god, I donāt mind a sign,ā you know?
I do believe things take time tooā¦ a 40-months old newsletter with paid subscribers [thank you all], is not nothing; but I canāt stop my brain from floating the ideas like āfine! itās good and all; but couldnāt it be better?ā I mean when itās pushing for improvements, itās fine; but when itās targeting my confidenceā¦ it sucks.
āNo matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.ā ā Warren Buffett
Okay. The rant is done. Iām giving this more time and effortā¦ it should work out ā at least I hope it does.
thank you for being here and reading this.
grateful for everything ā entitled to nothing.
News
30,000 orgsā email hacked via Microsoft Exchange Server flaws [link]
Facebook under probe for āsystemicā racial bias in hiring and promotions [link]
Russian intelligence reportedly used fake news sites to spread misinformation about coronavirus vaccines [link]
Apple mixed-reality headset likely coming sometime in 2022, analyst predicts [link]
Appleās antitrust case in the UK, Squareās musical bet, and Kings of NFT [link]
Brave goes after Google, Netflix goes after TikTok, and Twitterās eCommerce bet [link]
Microsoftās new stuff, AI to rule the world, and Spotify to surpass Apple [link]
Foldable iPhone, Instagramās Live Rooms, and Volvoās EVs [link]
SolarWinds CEO goes āit wasnāt me; it was the internā and Facebookās privacy settlement [link]
š a gift for you.
Worth Your Attention
If you still donāt know about NFTs, read this, this, and this. And then this, about how Kings of Leon is releasing their new album as NFTs here.
Why do some companies become household names, while others flame out? How do certain memes go viral? And why do some social movements take off and spread, while others fizzle? The Snowball Effect on Hidden Brain last week was a fantastic episode. Itās must listen. [Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify]
Chart of the Week
Top Apps Worldwide for February 2021 by Downloads
TikTok was the most downloaded non-gaming app worldwide for February 2021 with more than 56 million installs. The countries with the largest number of TikTok installs were from Douyin in China at 18%, followed by the United States at 11%.
Read more on SensorTower.
& more stats
Average post engagement rate in 2020: Instagram at 1.16%; Facebook at 0.27%; Twitter at 0.07% [link]
Smaller independents and artists direct grew fastest in 2020 [link]
A map and visualisation of ~40m cellular base stations on earth. [link]
30 Years of US Music Sales [link]
Australian news site traffic fell 15-20% when Facebook removed them [link | link]
Tools & Apps
Scan Thing: Quickest way to capture and save anything around you [iOS]
Volt.fm: Your exciting new Spotify page
Nerdy Image Downloader: Easily downloads all images from a Pinterest board into a .zip file [Chrome/Brave Extension]
Clubhouse Toolbox: Tools to elevate your experience (with regular updates)
Spotted
Twitter is working on the toggle for whether to make a Space private or not [link]
More details on how the Instagram affiliate program will work [link | link | link]
Instagram is working on end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) chats [link]
Instagram is working on audio rooms [link]
Instagram is working on a shortcut for Video Chats in the profile [link]
Instagram is working on the "Brightness.AI" Post edit option [link]
LinkedIn is working to allow you to add pronouns to your profile [link]
š¦ Tweets of the Week
tickles & chuckles
and now weāre done for this week
What did you think of this issue?
Also, if youād let me know whatās your favourite section of the newsletter and what youād like me to write about in the first section, thatād be great.
You can either reply to this email or just comment hereĀ š