๐ก Nothing, like on ๐?!
Welcome to to the mid-April Pulse of 2019!
Itโs been a super complicated week here, but hereโs a simple start to this issue: Thank you!
A big thanks to everyone who clicked the ๐ at the end of the last email, and all of you for not clicking ๐ - it was really encouraging! Please keep it up! ๐
Hereโs a quick recap of the week from the not-very-usual-perspective:
The first picture of a black hole, and how it was followed by sexist trolls [NBCNews]
Instagramโs new stars: Crime Scene Cleanup Specialists [DailyBeast]
Lush, the cosmetic brand is abandoning social media in favour of more direct/dark social channels. [LUSH] Will it flourish, survive, or come crawling back? Only time will tell!
- Ben from Perspective IX
๐ง Insights
Jeremy Perkins on Unsplash
What ever happened to details?
The red sole of a Louboutin shoe, or the elegant tag on a pair of Tomโs? The sweeping fenders of a Porsche 911 or the needless complications of a fancy watchโฆ
Today, a certain kind of customer is using a Muji notebook, or wearing a plain Everlane t-shirt. Is this what weโve come to? One might come to the conclusion that consumers have rejected all the effort that designers and marketers have produced in a statement that rejects design. Not so fast.
Design is the new marketing. It is the product itself, not the ads or the slogan. Design is the supply chain of Patagonia, the ethics of Purple Carrot and the customer service at Union Square Cafe. Itโs design, not advertising, that turned Apple into the most valuable luxury brand (and the most valuable company) in the world.
But design requires a point of view. The confidence to make an assertion. And the skill to turn that assertion into something that resonates with the person you seek to serve.
โฆ
But the brands that matter are voices that choose to matter. Voices that make assertions on behalf of their users. Who market with people, and for them, not to them or at them.
Read the complete piece on Seth Godinโs Blog.
๐ Statistics
The Rise of Dark Social - Credit: GlobalWebIndex
The Rise of Dark Social
Thereโs no shortage of discussion around the decline of sharing on social media. But itโs not that users are sharing less, theyโre sharing differently.
Social media feeds have become overcrowded with content, and consumers are privacy-aware more than ever.
Both these factors are contributing to the rise of a not-so-new space: Dark Social. Dark Social means private messaging apps, SMS or emails.
Based on a research by GlobalWebIndex, in UK and US, when consumers have something to share, theyโre more likely to head to dark social channels to do so (63%) rather than open social media platforms (54%). Whatโs even more revealing is that around 20% share only via these channels, with WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger the go-to services.
Read more on GlobalWebIndex.
Is Uber ready for its IPO? - Credit: Statista
Uberโs Operating Losses Piled Up to $12 Billion Since 2014
Uber filed for its highly-anticipated IPO on Thursday, providing the general public with a first glimpse of its explosive growth and piling losses.
According to the filing, Uber had 91 million monthly active users by the end of last year. Gross bookings from ridesharing trips and Uber Eats meal deliveries amounted to $49.8 billion in 2018, up from $34.4 billion in 2017 and $19.2 billion the year before that. After paying nearly $40 billion to drivers and restaurants, the companyโs actual cut is much smaller than that though, with net revenue amounting to $11.3 billion in 2018. Total costs and expenses, including direct costs of revenue as well as operating expenses, sales and marketing costs, R&D spending and general and administrative costs, amounted to $14.3 billion, however, leaving the company with an operating loss of $3 billion in 2018.
Read more on Statista.
Top Grossing iOS Categories 1Q19 - Credit: Apptopia
Top Grossing iOS Categories, Q1 2019
Entertainment apps are where consumers are easily convinced to spend their hard earned money. Apps like Netflix, Hulu, OZEE, Hotstar provide us entertainment when weโre bored or traveling. That this category sits up top is likely not surprising.
Next week, same chart but for Google Play!
Read more on Apptopia.
๐ฑ Tools & Apps
Snap Games: Play with your friends on Snapchat. (If you havenโt already, letโs try it together! Snake Squad is super cool! ๐ - sc: perspectiveix) [iOS | Android]
Emoji Clipboard: Click to copy the perfect emoji for any situation.
Do you have a favourite app? Hit reply and send it to me!
๐ฆ Tweets of the Week
I know my generation is old bc all my friends refuse to download TikTok but will happily send me TikTok videos on Instagram three weeks after Iโve already seen them ๐
To avoid that, we follow TiikkTok on Telegram ๐
The @Verge is like: #Facebook, #Instagram, and #WhatsApp are down for users around the world!
We're like: Who cares when you have #Twitter, #Snapchat, and #Telegram! ๐https://t.co/nR8cWYverh
Right?!
๐ฎ Fun Stuff
Your motivation - Credit: MrLovenstein
What motivates you? Revenge, maybe?
Revenge of the Clouds - Credit: War and Peas
This is not goodbye...
This newsletter takes up about 10 hours of my week to produce.
Yes, itโs totally free, but if you can, please consider supporting it with a $5 per month membership. If you canโt, maybe you could forward it to a friend or colleague?
Either way, Iโm still super grateful to you for letting me in your inbox every week!
Ciao!