Friday Fun(d) - Rizzle Edition 🎥
Friday Gang 👋
Absolutely PACKED Friday Fun(d) for your eyes and your friends’ eyes, too. It’s been a crazy week in the world; everyone could use a light-hearted read. As always, we discuss some of the things I learned this week with a few recommendations of what I’m consuming.
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What I Learned This Week
Video is everything. From the VHS to Youtube, we want to see the person, event, story, etc. That doesn't mean audio and text are useless, but 90% of the time, video is the more effective medium. I can read about the scenes in Afghanistan all I want, but seeing the current state makes video the superior form of communication.Â
The only booming form of audio is podcasts. We go through certain portions of our days where we find ourselves occupied but possess the ability to lend attention. Whether that's work, driving, or tasks around the house, audio dominates where video can't fit the mold.
But when given the option to lend our full attention, video content wins. Thus, it's no surprise when the majority of people use video to begin building online audiences. Mass audiences form quickly on Youtube, TikTok, and IG Reels because of short, easily consumable videos.Â
Although, adult me has grown out of the entertainment gags of social media, and I've noticed others share this sentiment. There is a dire need for more quality and less clout chasing. Even still, I'm not naive enough to know the entertaining "gag" video will always draw more eyes than the informative "quality" one. Just look at the state of news media as an example. I think finding a way to mix both is the sweet spot.Â
Rizzle
I recently downloaded the app Rizzle to venture into the social media short-form video world. Rizzle is basically TikTok, but it possesses some unique verticals. The slogan of Rizzle is "Start Your Own Show," where they have created their platform around the premise of television but on social media. I really like Rizzle's platform for two reasons:
1. Discoverability
How many times have you tried to go through a user's account to find an old video? I'm often unsuccessful in this search because the user has posted hundreds/thousands of times since. Even if I am successful, it takes 10, 20, 60 minutes to find it - which we are willing to do - and, by that time, the conversation has moved on. It used to happen to me more when I was deep in social media, but it's still a weekly occurrence.Â
Rizzle created its platform to simply organize content better by "channels" and "episodes." For example, I created a channel called "MWF @ 8" and "MWF @ 8 - Friday Fun(d)." When I uploaded my first video to the Friday Fun(d) channel, it appeared as episode 1. Voila, we have an easy solution to cataloging content.
2. Short-Form Series
Short videos are not necessarily a core competency of the platform. TikTok, IG Reels, and recently launched Youtube Shorts do bite-sized video making better than Rizzle. But Rizzle has the opportunity to zag on these incumbents in an exciting fashion.
The beauty of social media video making is it allows anyone with a phone to shine. By doing this, it decentralizes the content we consume to the whole world. Rizzle's entire channel and episode mantra have me wondering if even TV series will begin to be favored by decentralization. To be honest, I struggle to make it through a 30 minute TV show at this point. Usually, there isn't enough substance to make it worthwhile. I'm in the minority momentarily, but I think Gen Z is following. Just think, would Gen Z rather:
Watch a "TV Series" of video shorts from people they insatiably consume on social media?
OR
Watch a Netflix-produced TV series with Hollywood actors of whom they don't even know?
The former, please. Social media has historically siloed its personalities. Much like when athletes want to be "more than an athlete," or Hollywood actors want to spew their political takes, it's off-putting when social media personalities stray from their brand. The truth is, we all have unique interests. Through the archaic concept of channels and episodes, Rizzle can allow social media creators to diversify their talents. All the while, followers can easily consume specific channels and ignore the rest from these creators.
What to Read 📰
Why We Failed: The American Exit From AfghanistanÂ
Bari Weiss is a fantastic political writer. A former New York Times columnist, she now writes a newsletter called Common Sense with Bari Weiss, which effectively encapsulates many American touchpoints with politics.Â
As a free American woman, she has had strong opinions about the ongoing situations in Afghanistan. Still, in this piece, she gathers excerpts from many different viewpoints on the events. Seven contributors weigh-in, with my favorite being Elliot Ackerman analogizing the 4 US presidents over the Afghan war as a 4 act play:
"But classical tragedies don't have four acts. Any dramatist know they typically play out in five…"
Sidenote: This is something I wish was easier to access on platforms. A diverse flow of opinions surrounding a topic. Twitter has tried, but it ultimately fails when you have to actually follow someone and see all of their other nefarious thoughts. Following a topic is something I care about more than the individual in these significant news cases.Â
Podcast to Listen toÂ
Kudos to an MWF @ 8 community member for turning me on to the Nice & Neat Podcast. For men, this podcast is tremendous for genuine life conversations. Can't recommend it enough.
Historical Find 📓 🎩
I recently read a biography about Ulysses S. Grant by Ron Chernow. One bizarre fact I found out was that Grant was born "Hiram Ulysses Grant." What does the "S" stand for in the famous President/General's name we all know? Absolutely nothing. As Grant enrolled at West Point, a mix-up in his documentation led to his name being on record as Ulysses S. Grant. When he went to correct it upon arrival, they said there was nothing that could be done. Immediately, he was the talk of his West Point freshman class with the name "U.S. Grant," a name he would identify as the rest of his life. Below is a General's Order from late in the Civil War showing his usual U.S. Grant signature.
Patent App of the Week
In tune with today's Friday Fun(d), I searched "TikTok" in the patent application search tab. The results were very sparse, but here is one exciting application from Cambrian Designs, Inc.:
System & Method for Analyzing Privacy Policies
A natural language processing system is adapted to locate, extract and analyze content and meaning of provisions in user data management agreements employed by digital service providers (DSPs) and related entities. The resulting analysis can be used to inform (and as part of a) data privacy protection systems that utilize personal/corporate privacy policies to engage with DSPs according to a desired set of protection parameters.
People are getting increasingly tired of having their data misused. Online transparency will only be more commonplace through solutions like this.
BONUS:
CNN's Clarissa Ward had some phenomenal reporting from Afghanistan during the Taliban takeover. I love good journalism when I see it.