Zag To The Zig #36 :: Immigrants rule, no more Facebook ads & bye bye blockchain winter
In the Economy Room this week
Welcome to the (re-invented) streaming economy. In China, retail live streaming is a thing. Influencers + scarce products + streaming. We used to call it TeleShopping. 📺
But now, because of low-threshold production options (internet streaming) and low-threshold buying (click from your smartphone instead of calling in) this is taking over the interwebz.I had to include this report from last year. 45 percent (!!) of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children.
Facebook launches its first pay-with-WhatsApp trial in Brazil. Look at those money dynamics! No fee for the client (who gets convenience) and 4% fee (!) for the business (who gets a client who wants this convenience).
In the Ethics Corridor
At the beginning of 2020, Solitaire Tonwsend - founder of a global change agency - was full of optimism about moving business towards more sustainable goals. Then shit(s) hit the fan(s). She claims now those lofty ambitions won’t be sufficient - we need to be more ambitious and aim for different kinds of Justice.
I’ve said before that I sometimes regret showing one of my previous employers (a local government) the effectiveness of Facebook advertising. It works, but who/what are you giving your money to? So I was very intrigued by a move from apparel brand The North Face to join this campaign for brands to stop buying Facebook advertising (in July).
Provenance (a company trying to increase fair supply chain transparency with blockchain) had a nice overview of circular economy and what the key factors are.
In the Attic of Innovation
I’m a firm believer of the adage: all models are wrong, but some are useful. Frameworks help to structure my thinking. So I’ve bookmarked this baby: The Framework Bank is a collection of … frameworks.
In the Tech Basement
Clear stat. Radio news (live) vs podcast listening (on demand). Look at that age correlation!
I have quite a few architects in my close circle, so this article peeked my interest. How algorithms can make better buildings. While I can see some of the use cases work, I did wonder: how do these systems capture real human data? And how does the building react to that data? Because as anyone who’s ever done any small renovation or DIY job can attest: architecture and building isn’t a very agile business. ⚒️😖😤🤬
Quite an insightful report from the BBC’s tech correspondent, on how UK’s Corona tracing app(s) developed, or didn’t. If anything, it shows how complicated and messy these ‘projects’ can be.
Wow! Is the blockchain winter (if there ever was one) over? In this substantial survey, Deloitte learnt that 40% of companies had implemented blockchain technology - almost double from last year. (Full report here)
🚢 On that note, T-Mining, one of the blockchain start-ups I featured in my book and talks, celebrated 100 days in production of their Secure Container Release app. Congrats and thanks for sharing the learnings!
As both a speaker and someone who likes to attend a good conference, I’ve been working on and thinking about new formats. So this resonated with me: Thoughts on Virtual Conferences.
🏁 End note: 1 thing I’ll be doing this week
On the note of interesting Blockchain stories + Virtual Conferences.
I’ll be starting to put together a program for a follow-up to the Blockchain Summit I hosted 2 years ago. Together with Insightz.io, we’ll be aiming to put together quality blockchain talks, panels,… in a streamed/recorded format. If you have any suggestions on topics/speakers/…, drop me a line.