Connecting the dots #70
Life after search
I am sceptical about new hype technologies. Metaverse is a financial black hole (mainly for Meta), NFTs have lost 95% of their value, and Web3 needs like 5 years to have a usable infrastructure. But Open AI, in collaboration with Microsoft, can quickly change how we use search engines, and the Google search bar will suddenly be an ineffective tool that does not show answers but ads.
Search ads make up almost half of the global spending in the online space. We should start thinking about what life will look like after search advertising.
Marketing and media
#1 Out of respect for your intellect, we will not recap the Superbowl commercials. However, a fantastic article about the Superbowl came out, showing what you could get for that money in the marketing world.
#2 Benedict Evans published his annual review of technology trends called The New Gatekeepers. As usual, there are many fascinating charts about all sorts of things. Great!
#3 The number of searches for “real amateur homemade” grew by 310% in the US in 2022 and by 179% worldwide. You can find these and other numbers in our popular Pornhub report.
#4 Matt Klein has been doing The META Trending Trend report for a few years now, and it’s a work of art. I recommend reading the introductory text as well. I haven’t read a better-described reality in a long time.
#5 Interesting read about the “junkification” of Amazon – as a marketplace and platform model, it has served the role of degrading the customer experience over time. This is why curation is important in today’s overflowing age.
#6 Do you know which are the most daring agencies in our “industry”? Contagious reports them in its Contagious Pioneers 2023.
Life
#1 Mushrooms are still the most popular drug in pop culture. They made it so far that Australia recognised them, along with MDMA, as a medicine. You go, mushrooms!
#2 A beautiful project that shows the weird and unexpected things you can find on Street View.
#3 Do you know what’s more important to your health than your life partner? Friends. Researchers found a correlation between health and maintaining friendships. Having good friendships is just as important as going to bed early and eating healthy.
#4 This site keeps track of all possible media carriers that no longer exist. There are surprisingly many of them, and they are interesting.
#5 Do you know which foods are the least harmful to the planet? Salmon or trout? Soy or cow?
With love,
P.