Together with
Poppin’ tags. It’s officially Prime Day, Future Party people, and that can mean only one thing: Amazon is about to make a whole lot of money. If there was ever a time to buy that thing you’ve wanted, today (and tomorrow) is the day. So fill that cart and treat yo’ self. Remember, you can always return it once the dopamine wears off and the buyer’s remorse kicks in. Well, maybe.
In other news… creators fly the coop, TikTok takes on the music charts, and high school gets a little more blue collar.
Top Trends
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SOCIAL MEDIA
Threads rolls up creators
The Future. With 100 million users and counting, creators are jumping to Threads to capitalize on the engagement gold rush. That doesn’t mean some creators don’t have trepidation about spending so much time on the platform — the possibility of Threads becoming another flash-in-the-pan like Clubhouse or ByteDance’s Lemon8 may just put the digital creator economy through yet another hype bubble.
Insta, cont.
Threads is presenting creators with some new (to Instagram) ways of influencing their followers and their own anxiety.
Since users can import their Insta profile to Threads, creators are able to keep their followers and their verification check marks, making for an easy transition.
That’s allowing creators who primarily work in photos or images to give text-based content a try, without having to rebuild their brand.
And since Threads is obviously brand-new, early posters may get the benefit of first-mover status, raking in a flood of new followers.
But some creators say Thread’s lack of monetization tools may suck up their followers’ Insta time, which could impact revenue. Some have already seen a drop in engagement.
Nonetheless, Haley Kalil, who has 1.7 million followers on Instagram, dubbed Threads: “Gen Z’s takeover of Twitter.”
We’re sure new Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino won’t like that quote floating out there as she tries to woo back advertisers.
MUSIC
On repeat // Illustration by Kate Walker
TikTok wants to repeat Billboard’s success
The Future. TikTok is testing a feature that shows users two charts on music trending on the platform: “Hot 50” and “Viral.” It’s yet another move by TikTok — in addition to rolling out TikTok Music in Brazil and Indonesia, signing artists directly to exclusive deals, and acquiring distribution service SoundOn — that shows the company may see music discovery, streaming, and possibly remixing for user-generated content as the next evolution of the popular platform.
Endless chart
TikTok wants to get in the chart rotation.
The “Hot 50” and “Viral” charts exist as a button on top of the song's sound page, which lets users immediately see where it ranks.
There’s also a link to a “TikTok Music Charts” page where users can browse both charts and even select which songs they want to use in a video.
But since this is TikTok we’re talking about, the songs are only available in small clips or sped-up versions.
According to Insider, current chart-toppers on the US Hot 50 chart include “Get Off The Wall” by Philly Goats, “Collide” by Justine Skye, and “Peaches & Eggplants” by Young Nudy (featuring 21 Savage).
If the charts move beyond the small-batch testing, expect them to be the lists every artist will want to be on.
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EDUCATION
Courtesy of CannonDesign
A Tampa high school preps kids for the future
The Future. The Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation (KRAI) near Tampa, Florida is giving teenagers the opportunity to have a different kind of high school experience — one that’s essentially a trade school to create a pipeline to landing a skilled blue-collar job. Considering how hard it’s become for students with higher-education degrees to land their desired careers, KRAI may create a blueprint for an alternative form of schooling that focuses on the practical.
Testing ground
For the 30 to 40% of high schoolers not planning on attending a four-year university, KRAI wants to give them the tools they need to land one of the 30 million well-paying jobs that don’t require a degree.
KRAI teaches crafts and trades such as engineering, robotics, welding, cyber security, biomedical science, and patient care, per Fast Company.
It focuses on making learning interdisciplinary, like learning how to design a bridge in engineering and learning about the history of bridges in social studies.
It’s also highly collaborative, such as assigning projects where electrical engineering and robotics students work together to solve problems.
Michael Kmak, the VP of CannonDesign (the firm that designed KRAI), says the Pasco County School District in Tampa took into account student, parent, and community needs when deciding how it wanted to organize the school and its curriculum — so everyone feels heard.
With its first year wrapped up, it’s possible the school’s students can’t wait for summer to be over.
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Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
Media, Music, & Entertainment
Christopher Nolan says Oppenheimer doesn’t contain any shots fully created using CGI — a wild feat considering the subject matter. Read more → collider
Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s final animated film, the mysterious How Do You Live?, will be Studio Ghibli’s first IMAX release. Read more → engadget
Travis Scott is launching his latest album, Utopia, with a live-streamed performance at Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza. Read more → hypebeast
Fashion & E-Commerce
On the heels of its namesake founder stepping down, Tom Ford will put on its first Peter Hawkings-designed runway show during Milan Fashion Week this September. Read more → bof
ELEGOO’s 3D printers can now be used to create sneakers and other fashion accessories. Read more → hypebeast
Snapchat is finally linking up with Linktree so users can list all the other places people can follow them outside of Snapchat. Read more → techcrunch
Tech, Web3, & AI
Massachusetts is mulling a law that would make it illegal for firms to buy or sell location data collected from users’ mobile devices. Read more → wsj
The EU is calling for international cooperation in how to change the course of geoengineering, using technology to alter the weather. Read more → theverge
Instagram head Adam Mosseri says the company isn’t interested in pushing politics or hard news content on Threads, opting to leave those topics for Twitter. Read more → deadline
Creator Economy
Snap is luring back creators with Snap Stars — a new monetization feature that shares the revenue from ads that play between posts. Read more → wsj
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is calling for an FDA investigation into Logan Paul and KSI’s PRIME energy drink for packing a little too much energy for kids. Read more → forbes
Jack Sweeney, the college student behind the banned Twitter account that tracked Elon Musk’s private jet, has popped up on Threads to troll Mark Zuckerberg and the whereabouts of his private plane. Read more → theverge
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell
Editing by Nick Comney, Copy by Kait Cunniff
Publishing by Darline Salazar