#is6621

Snapchat first launched in 2011 as a real-time picture chatting app and has since experienced rapid growth, making it one of the most widely used social media platforms in the world. Snapchat has 360 million active users with three billion photos and videos generated everyday. Although Snapchat’s photo and video messages disappear after a few seconds, and stories expire after 24 hours, the company has proven over the past 9 years that it is not disappearing any time soon. One of the main reasons Snapchat resonated with younger audiences was rooted in concerns of their social media history getting them in trouble in their professional lives or future endeavors. People loved the simplicity of the concept and the exclusivity that came with sending private photos. 

Founder Spiegel said that “Snapchat changed the perception of deleting something as bad.” The app essentially tried to model virtual conversations in the same ephemeral way that they are in real life. 

Since its inception, Snapchat has evolved significantly over the years with the introduction of various features such as stories, bitmojis, snap map, augmented reality filters, and visual search functions. At its annual partner summit in June, Snapchat announced the release of additional visual search features to identify cars, plants, dog breeds, solve math problems, songs, and even products by scanning images via its camera function. Most recently, Snapchat has added the capacity to scan food and wine labels and display specific information on the products. This setting is not necessarily revolutionary, given that other food and wine specific applications already offer similar functions to show nutritional information, price rating/reviews, and tasting notes. The information on food-related labels is provided through nutrition app Yuka and the wine-labels go through the third-party app Vivino.

It was a strategically advantageous move on Snapchat’s end to partner with other applications that already specialize in food and wine and can offer accurate details and advice. This is reminiscent of their previously-established partnerships with Shazam to distinguish songs and with Amazon to look up common products. In terms of the food and wine third party apps, this is mutually beneficial. It gives brands exposure and gives Snapchat access to a range of scan options, based on credible databases, which enables users to scan a range of products to gain supplemental insight and data. This eliminates the research-intensive process Snapchat would have to undertake to collect this data. To this extent, they only have to focus on perfecting their visual search technology to ensure that its scanning and image-recognition capabilities are accurate via an easy-to-use interface. On the same note, this is an interesting way for brands to market themselves in a digitally-savvy way and simultaneously reach an extremely wide audience.   

Visual search and augmented reality will continue to evolve, raising the question as to what the next stage for this technology holds. Some may project that the next logical progression would be incorporating the camera feature into glasses. However, I personally feel this is unlikely given the historical failures of so many brands to bring this goal to fruition in past years. They are very expensive and not widely adopted. Nonetheless, Snapchat seems to have a strong grasp on the complexities of image-recognition technology and seamlessly blends this with user’s daily tendencies and actions. It’s fair to assume for the most part, a majority of users perceive Snapchat as such a silly, goofy app to put filters on our faces and record comical videos of our friends. Despite this, they are a leader in social media and emerging tech and have successfully anticipated and navigated changing consumer needs to establish their presence as a social media giant today. In fact, Snapchat’s revenue reportedly increased 52% this year to $678.8 million, which is the fastest growth it has seen in three years. This is likely largely due to the increase in user screen time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the company also credited the strength of its AR experiences as a critical source of revenue, “as brands sought to engage customers who were less likely to shop at retail stores because of safety concerns”. I believe that the trends and habits ingrained in consumers during quarantine will not entirely stick in the post-COVID era, but will certainly translate into their decision-making and behaviors. This means that brand marketing via Snapchat could be a very useful tool for brands to implement.

I think the incorporation of these new features is an attempt for Snapchat to remain relevant in today’s constantly evolving digital and social media landscape. For example, competing platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have released updates that seek to position them as not only a place to bolster social connections, but also function as online marketplaces of sorts. Although I think it's a stretch to conclude that people will begin shopping via Snapchat, it definitely offers interesting ways for users to engage with image recognition. This definitely aligns with Snapchat’s broader goal to add more utility to the app aside from just sharing intimate moments of one’s life and communicating quickly with friends and family. 

https://www.thestreet.com/technology/history-of-snapchat 

https://medium.com/ipg-media-lab/fast-forward-what-we-learned-from-the-snap-partner-summit-2020-bf769165fc81

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/snapchat-adds-new-barcode-scanning-capacity-for-selected-products-providin/587596/

https://wersm.com/you-can-now-scan-food-and-wine-labels-on-snapchat/

https://www.engadget.com/snapchat-scan-food-and-wine-labels-130019011.html

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/snapchat-adds-new-barcode-scanning-capacity-for-selected-products-providin/587596/

https://www.mobilemarketer.com/news/snap-revenue-surges-52-as-direct-response-ar-ad-offerings-pay-out-during/587423/

We all hear that we should walk instead of drive when we can, turn off the lights, take shorter showers, and recycle when possible. However, the negative impact that the fashion industry (especially the fast fashion industry) has on our environment is only recently being highlighted. BUT, most people are still very unaware of this. We seem to have taken for granted that we can buy clothes that have been made cheaply and quickly at low prices. We seem to want to keep up with the ever-changing fashion trends, and stores want to produce and supply for that demand. But at what cost?

The growth of the multi-trillion dollar apparel industry has in more recent years been ‘fed’ by fast fashion. What used to take several months for a garment to reach a customer from the designer now takes sometimes just a couple of weeks. Even more, the number of fashion seasons has gone from two a year (spring/summer and autumn/winter) to as many as 50-100 microseasons. These fast-changing trends and low prices have therefore meant that people can and do consume more. In fact, “according to McKinsey & Company, the average consumer in 2014 purchased 60% more clothing compared to 2000, but each garment is kept half as long”.

With the loss in quality of garments, consumers have lost the ability to repair their clothes - the reduction in the cost of clothes has actually made it cheaper to buy a pair of socks than to darn them! This has resulted, paradoxically, in increased expenditure on lower-quality clothes. And although people think that they spend less money overall by buying from fast fashion stores instead of more expensive, higher-quality brands, it is actually the opposite. Not only have our over-indulgent buying habits caused us to become lazier, more demanding and have made us spend more overall on lower-quality clothes, but they have also contributed enormously to climate change and the deterioration of the health of our planet.

Serious water use and pollution take place during clothing production. “The world uses 5 trillion litres of water each year for fabric dyeing alone, enough to fill 2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools”. And according to the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, “textile production produces 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas every year”, and the UN has estimated that “10% of total global emissions come from the fashion industry”. Unfortunately, the trend of buying and disposing is likely to continue. Consumers are now so used to that level of consumption that it would be so difficult for the microseason-shopper to stop, let alone reduce, their destructive buying habits.

People think that throwing away their clothes in the bin will have no effect; however, “disposed clothes also contribute to greenhouse gases as they sit in landfills”. Additionally, “only 15% of clothing is recycled or donated. Synthetic fibres, which make up at least 60% of our clothes, are non-biodegradable and sit in landfills for hundreds of years” and they also release microplastics into the water system when washing them.

There are some things that we can do; however, to help with this enormous issue on our hands. One thing we can do is to simply stop buying fast fashion. Another one is to just try and re-wear what we already have. I bet so many of us have so many clothes that are hidden somewhere in our closets and if we went through our closets every now and then, we’d definitely find some hidden gems that that we completely forgot about! We really don’t need to buy a new item for every occasion or every season, let alone microseason. Another thing we can do is commit to only buying clothes made of non-synthetic or sustainable materials like cotton, bamboo, hemp etc. Or, many companies are now making their clothing, or parts of their clothing lines, out of recycled plastic from the ocean or water bottles. One other way is thrifting, which I’m sure many of us are aware of because of how much cheaper it is. But not as many are aware of how much better clothes second-hand is for the environment. Buying second-hand gives clothes new life that they would not have been given and it creates less demand for creating new clothes, which no matter how sustainably made, producing something will always have some kind of impact on the planet.

One company that is making thrifting/second-hand shopping easier than ever is thredUP. It’s the largest online consignment and thrift store that has made it easier than ever to sell and buy second-hand clothing, jewellery, purses, shoes and accessories online. They sell and take items from brands like Lulu lemon, Gap and Zara to Diane Von Furstenberg and Michael Kors, all up to 90% off their retail price. They also have over 35,000 different brands to choose from. With regards to sustainability, on their website they state:

“It matters that we throw 26 billion pounds of clothing into global landfill every year. It matters that fashion will drain a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050. It matters that a single T-shirt takes 700 gallons of water to produce. The choices we make matter. To our planet. To our kids.”

thredUP is on a mission to “inspire a new generation of shoppers to think second-hand first”. thredUP has actually “redistributed 65 million garments to date”. That’s a staggering statistic!!!

I chose to focus part of my blog post this week on thredUP because I see is as the future of what digital businesses and technologies should and will be like. Without the internet and technology, this concept would obviously not be able to exist, so I see thredUP as ahead of their time and a beacon of hope for using technology for creating positive change. We must all obviously initially change our mind-sets and spending/consumption habits and get over the scepticism towards second-hand purchasing. Why buy something new when it already exists, and you can buy it for a fraction of the price!? Once we get over this hump and change our perspective, it really will open a whole new world when it comes to feeding our desire for more in one of the most sustainable ways possible in a modern world.

Sources:

https://www.wri.org/blog/2017/07/apparel-industrys-environmental-impact-6-graphics

https://www.thredup.com/

What’s Assembly Bill 5? It is a bill that California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into legislation Wednesday, September 18th, 2019 and is effective Jan 1, 2020. In short, the bill redefined the rights of independent contractors so that they can have the same state rights as employees. These rights include, state minimum wages and benefits. This would change Lyft, Uber, Door Dash, and potentially Air BnB’s business models. Uber, Lyft, and Door Dash have banned together to fight Assembly Bill 5 with $90 Million and a ballot-measure. All and all who knows how it is going to work out. All I can picture is the debate room on this one…

Just kidding, I use all these apps and have a lot to say about what will happen if we roll back time.

Round 1: Door Dash vs. Regular Delivery Guy

The thought of losing door dash makes me think....

Sure, seeing the status of your delivery is great and having all the food in a centralized location is great. But is it really that convenient? Googling sushi restaurants in Boston and logging on their website is pretty simple. Almost always, they allow you to save your card on file, place and order online, and call you when they show up. If you don’t like that option, you can just call your order for delivery which is simple too. Besides I still can’t get over that one time I looked up how many chicken wings I was supposed to receive and realized the Door Dash driver at my food! It would be a lot less likely with an employee that represents the restaurant. All you need to see below is 1 in 4 folks!

https://nypost.com/2019/07/29/more-than-1-in-4-delivery-drivers-eat-your-food-order-study/

1 point goes to assembly bill here!

Round 2: Ride Share Apps vs. Taxi’s

Ride share apps vs. Taxi Companies

I will feel more like Daenerys without her dragons if Ride sharing goes away…

Look, this just doesn’t make sense. Every Uber and Lyft driver I talk too is doing it because they love the flexibility and being their own boss, A.K.A. a subcontractor! Secondly, do you know how many people go out of their way to Uber places when they are drinking so that they don’t have to drive drunk? 34% decrease in drunk driving convictions from 2015-2017 in Georgia. 

https://www.rstreet.org/2018/11/08/the-uber-effect-on-drunk-driving/

Pretty much everyone Mr. Governor, since Uber and Lyft came out you would have to be a psycho to get behind a wheel while drinking. Lastly, shared rides must be better for the environment. If we go back to Taxi’s we will have the same highly controlled, concentrated, smelly, inefficient, and expensive Taxi transportation service. Please don’t. Here is a potential solution, change the tax laws to give the drivers breaks for their work saving lives and the earth.

1 huge point goes to Share Rides here!

Hotels vs. Air BnB

No No no no no no no no.

Okay first off, what many people don’t understand is that Hotel’s like Marriott or Hyatt typically don’t own the property they just manage it. They do a very nice job at all their hotels and I appreciate them in the market. However, for us young broke consumer’s their prices are not realistic. So, what is option 2 in the hotel industry. Low budget hotels like red roof inn, holiday inn, or Double Tree. In Boston, these will typically run you between $99-$200 a night for a 1 bed room. Meanwhile, $109 a night gets me this on Air BnB.

This one isn’t really about employees getting paid either. Yes, a lot of budget hotel chains will close if they have not already because of Air BnB. However, the employees have the transferrable skills to work at the upper end Hotel Brands too.

1 more point goes to gig economy.

For a lot of millennials and gen z’ers, Instagram is used as a platform to showcase cool experiences, family photos, and personal mementos from their daily lives. Depending on the user this could mean posting inspirational quotes to live by, reposting funny videos, or simply posting a pic from a night out with friends. As social media trends continue to shift however, Instagram is no longer being seen as just an app used to publish pictures. Companies, brands, and individuals are utilizing the platform to boost recognition and sales through visual engagement with the end consumer. This strategy spans across several industries, but I believe the food industry has experienced the greatest impact both in a social and business sense.

Have you ever been out to eat at a restaurant, about to take your first bite of an amazing looking meal placed in front of you, when all of the sudden your friend chimes in with a persistent, “Wait! I HAVE to take a picture first!”. Well, if you haven’t ever been in this situation in your life, then you have somehow managed to avoid the overwhelming trend to share your food on social media, congratulations! As the ‘phone eats first’ movement has become increasingly more popular, the landscape of content, as well as the variety of active users on Instagram have changed. “Smartphones have become participants in the meal”, and this shift has established foodstagrams, food bloggers, and restaurant accounts, in their pivotal roles in the decision-making process of consumers (Restaurant Manifesto). Regardless of taste, people are drawn in by the aesthetics of their meal, influenced not only on by the food itself but by the plating and atmosphere surrounding the dish. While this sudden influx may not appear to do anything but make you hungry from scrolling through your Instagram feed, many users take advantage of these resources when making important decisions about food.

One of the most painstaking decisions we’re forced to make on a daily basis is deciding what to eat and where to eat it. Often times, when looking for a new restaurant to try, similar menus and reviews online appear to morph into each other, leaving the most indecisive consumer left to squander on their own. Instagram, however, gives users the ability to see the restaurant and their food options, without even stepping a foot in the door. Along the same line of reasoning, once customers decide on the restaurant, the ability to see their food before they even order it can eliminate the common panic when deciding between two equally delicious-sounding options at a restaurant. Although other platforms utilize customer-taken photos and reviews, enables their users to share their food experiences through a more personalized approach.

Why does this matter to restaurant owners? Not only does Instagram have the power to influence where the consumer may choose to buy a meal, it also has produced changes in whatconsumers want to eat and the atmosphereof where they’d like to eat it. Restaurant owners are taking note of these shifts in consumerism, adjusting their menu items to include sensations such as the “freakshake” and “selfieccino” (BBC). But it doesn’t stop there, restaurant owners have begun making other business decisions with Instagram in mind, citing the benefits to their bottom line. Details as simple as the wallpaper and countertops drastically impact a restaurant’s social media presence by creating those “Instagrammable moments” in which patrons can interact. Making these changes seem drastic to certain business owners, but the results are in the pudding. Samantha Wasser, successful co-founder of the restaurant by Chloe, concluded that a strong Instagram presence can lead to higher check averages because consumers want “to try everything they had seen before” (Fundera). When it comes down to it, Instagram is another tool restaurant owners can use to bring customers into the door, and with millennials dining out 20% more than their generational predecessors, it is imperative to capture this part of the market.

So, while some people fail to see the value Instagram brings to the restaurant and food industry, in the end the old saying,

people eat with their eyes,

still rings true, and Instagram is enabling business owners and consumers to utilize it for their own benefit.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-42012732

https://spoonuniversity.com/lifestyle/how-social-media-has-changedthe-way-we-think-about-food

http://www.restaurantmanifesto.com/phone-eats-first/

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/02/click-plate-how-instagram-changing-way-we-eat-food

After reading the Forbes article “What 10 Social Media Professionals Say Should Be Your Top Priority Right Now” it is abundantly clear that social media is currently amongst the best ways to market to and understand your consumers. This 21st-century phenomenon is forcing marketers and advertisers to integrate social media as a vital part of their business strategies. Neal Schaffer even suggests that the power and influence of a brand will pale in comparison to “social media algorithms”.

Why is this happening? Samantha Kelly and I would agree that consumers have become fed up with conventional forms because they make them feel dehumanized. In 2017, over 180 billion US dollars was spent on advertising and this is a trend that spans back decades(https://www.statista.com/statistics/236958/advertising-spending-in-the-us/) . All of the money put towards advertisements is meant to sway or manipulate consumers into liking, buying, or talking about their product. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent on people like you and me. I would rather buy/ support products on my own volition than being subliminally swindled by a marketers tricks. People do not want to feel like pieces of meat, they want to feel like human being and would much rather trust the brands they are supporting than experiencing buyers remorse every time a purchase is made.  

With so little faith in traditional means of advertising, marketers have pinpointed a very vulnerable part of modern life: social media. So much content is being consumed on a daily basis across facebook, twitter, snapchat, and Instagram just to name the big ones. People are actually going to these sources for their daily dose of news and pop-culture which could have never been foreseen 15 years ago when myspace was still a thing. This will have widespread repercussions for journalism and entertainment, but for advertisers and brands is a new, potential source of revenue.  

As consumers, we have come to crave “real experiences” with brands instead of just feeling taken advantage of. With all the data, money, and technology these being companies have its easy for consumers to feel like small little pawns in a much greater scheme that is benefitting the corporate fat-cats (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dangingiss/2018/07/16/what-10-social-media-professionals-say-should-be-your-top-priority-right-now/#22ac5ce631d2). Advertisers and marketers have been forced to look to a new means of getting through to the modern consumer. Last year in my marketing class we looked at an interesting marketing campaign made by Procter and Gamble during the most previous winter Olympics(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdQrwBVRzEg) . 

The entire commercial was about the importance of mom’s in Olympic athletes lives. It was a very sentimental and uplifting ad, but when looked at more closely has absolutely nothing to do with Procter & Gamble or any of their products. They moved the focus away from themselves and instead designed an advertisement that is a quick enjoyable 30 seconds for a consumer. The commercial curried favor from many of my classmates, but as a consumer, I always have my guard up and took objection to Procter and Gamble's marketing ploy. The commercial ends with the words, “ Procter & Gamble, a proud sponsor of moms”. While some consumers saw this ad as a more emotional, or “real experience” than most commercials, I saw it as a massive company using the hard work of moms to manipulate viewers into appreciating their brand more. They spoke nothing of supporting moms through initiatives or aiding athletes with financially struggling families. They are taking something beautiful and using it for their profit which deters me as a consumer. Where Procter and Gamble made their mistake, as I see it, was that they were running a campaign, instead of making an ongoing effort((https://www.forbes.com/sites/dangingiss/2018/07/16/what-10-social-media-professionals-say-should-be-your-top-priority-right-now/#22ac5ce631d2).  Neal Schaeffer sees this as a critical error to be made in modern marketing. He says brands can gain the trust of consumers in the social media sphere by showing a consistent commitment to their consumers and cause, not just running a campaign every time the Olympics rolls around. They need to actually engrain themselves within these social communities where trust and information are shared between brands and consumers peacefully. In this way, they will not only better understand their consumers, but be in a place where they could be more understood as brands.

Recently, my night time routine consists of playing Among Us with my roommates for at least 2 hours. After that, I get ready for bed and fall asleep trying to build a 5-star island on Animal Crossing. Admittedly, my grades suffered, but this got me thinking: what makes these games so addicting?

According to 2018 data from the Pew Research Center, Facebook captures only 50% of U.S. teens, and Twitter on captures around 32%. That being said, younger users seem to be more interesting in sharing content over trading in personal information and political arguments. The Pew Research Center also found that 85% of teens were predominately active on YouTube, and 75% were active Instagram users. As if we can’t talk enough about TikTok, the platform has nearly 16 million users aged 16-24 in the U.S.

Now, these statistics may not seem surprising. However, what shocked me was that Video games are even more popular than any of these platforms: According to Epic Games, Fortnite attracts about 250 million players globally, and another cross-platform world, Roblox, has about 100 million users. For users under 20 years old, community is the biggest appeal, leading industry designers to expect that sharing experiences is the future of online interaction. According to Tami Bhaumik, the vice president of marketing and digital civility for Roblox Corporation, “Roblox is really the new form of social… it’s 3D immersion where people are able to play and experience things together, to work together as a team to accomplish a goal, and sometimes just to hang out with their friends online.” 

Animal Crossing, a social simulation video game, enables players to visit each other’s islands and exchange gifts. Additionally, Epic games added a “chill” game mode option called Party Royale on Fortnite, which includes a new island just for hanging out with friends. With a plethora of non-lethal weapons, like hamburgers and paintball guns, Party Royale was designed to encourage mindless nonsense, where players can chat and play soccer with friends, new and old. Epic games even introduced virtual concerts, featuring popular artists like Travis Scott and Steve Aoki. With that being said, these games are truly a social experience: both games are organized by seasons that feature special events that encourage community interaction.

Beyond socializing, video games have also been a great platform to share content. Minecraft players have the ability to trade custom-made buildings, and can travel from world to world. In Animal Crossing, users have the ability to design and share their own furniture and island details to 11 million players all over the world. These features closely mirror Gen Z’s interest in sharing content: Players have the perfect platform to express their creativity while having fun with friends. On top of that, video games somewhat eliminate the burden of adhering to viral trends and judgement.

Evidently, the video game industry has evolved into a new social force. However, will this trend last? Obviously, COVID-19 and mandated lockdowns contributed significantly to the industry boom. Video games can help alleviate the feeling of powerlessness and isolation from the pandemic. However, many experts believe that the video game boom won’t last. Games may continue to see a surge in players and engagement; however, the industry may lose momentum once the pandemic is over and people are back in school and offices (hopefully.) 

Other industry experts expect the opposite: I found that Mike Fischer from The Diffusion Group explains it well. He states, “there may be a permanent shift in media consumption patterns a s more people discover games as both a great form of entertainment as well as a way to stay in touch with friends. The impact of games as a new form of social interaction may be the long-lasting legacy of this pandemic for the industry.” With that being said, advertisers began entering the video game realm: In 2018, advertisers spent $1.5 billion putting their messages into games. Increased use now makes the medium attractive and effective. Personally, I would argue that video games will continue evolve into a social platform; however, I believe it will never replace Instagram or Twitter. At the end of the day, video games are not for everyone. It will definitely be interesting to see where the industry ends up going in the next 10 years.

Whether you love or hate them, gaming is now a portal into, rather than an escape from community. While video games are like virtual playgrounds, they are best experienced together like real-world play spaces.

Sources:

https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/02/virtual-worlds-video-games-coronavirus-social-networks-fortnite-animal-crossing/

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/23/kelly-evans-video-games-are-the-new-social-media.html

https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/25/games-already-are-social-networks/

https://www.sxsw.com/world/2020/building-not-following-creative-video-games-as-new-social-media/

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/25/opinion/sunday/video-games-anthem-fortnite.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/arts/animal-crossing-covid-coronavirus-popularity-millennials.html

I’ve recently joined the podcast bandwagon this semester: Personally, I like listening to them as background noise when I’m getting ready or doing assignments. After our discussion on content trends and how people are increasingly engaging with podcasts, I kind of felt like I fell for a marketing scheme. Am I really interested in podcasts or am I just listening to them because everyone else is?

Over the past decade, podcasts have seen a steady rise in popularity, where 75% of Americans are familiar with podcasts and more than 50% have listened to a podcast themselves. Podcasts coincide with a general increase in digital media consumption, especially on mobile devices, as well as the fact that podcasts are increasingly accessible. Covering politics to sports, companies are embracing podcasts as a way to reach an engaged audience with strategically decided content. Anya Grundmann, NPR's senior vice president of programming, states that “podcasting is more and more the way people are spending time, trying to educate themselves, trying to get smarter, trying to have companionship in a moment when people are alone.”

COVID-19 has had mixed effects on the podcast industry, as most people listen to podcasts when they are commuting or at the gym. However, the lockdown forced everyone to stay inside. Yet, U.S. weekly podcast downloads were up 20% in April 2020, where categories such as news saw a 57% increase. Unsurprisingly, mental wellness podcasts gained a surge in popularity. That being said, companies are using podcasts as an opportunity to shift quickly and follow what is trending in the market.

Spotify has successfully built out its podcast business by tapping into a growing hunger for entertainment and news. That being said, Spotify survived the pandemic as its services are provided virtually. Following social distancing restrictions, Spotify show hosts have been able to record in the comfort of their own home, contributing to more than 700,000 podcast titles available on the platform. As Spotify’s podcast business continues to grow, the amount of podcast content consumed by monthly subscribers have nearly doubled. With that being said, Spotify made huge investments, rolling out support for video podcasts and featuring renowned people like Michelle Obama and Joe Rogan.

With increasingly sophisticated data collection, Spotify is able to recommend podcasts that capitative its users around a particular mood or moment in time. Spotify highlighted some podcast trends that they’ve found throughout the pandemic. With fewer people streaming from their cars during their daily commutes and increase in working from home, more people are streaming across computer desktops, TVs, and smart speakers. There has also been an increase in cooking/housework-themed podcasts, showing that people are primarily focusing on family and domestic tasks. Self-improvement podcasts are seeing increasing popularity as well.

However, how has Spotify competed against Apple? Though Apple has long been the dominant player in podcast consumption, Spotify is rising in popularity among listeners. In fact, Spotify is "ahead” in more than 60 markets: Spotify pointed to data tracked by podcast technology firm Voxnest, showing that between January and May, Spotify's podcasts were used more frequently than Apple podcasts in countries including Canada, Germany, France, Mexico and Spain. I found that Spotify’s success in the podcast industry was driven by two major factors.

1) Spotify has been successful at capturing podcast listening.

From January 2019 to December 2019, Spotify has quickly captured podcast platform shares. Spotify is growing because it was able to solve that discovery problem for some people. That being said, Spotify is not necessarily “stealing” Apple listeners. However, Spotify is presenting their regular music listeners with interesting podcasts right in the app they’re already using every day. This leads me to the second factor.

2) Spotify is incentivized to promote podcasts that keep its users happy.

Spotify’s business model depends on people using it as a streaming service. Therefore, anything that makes someone want to stop using Spotify is obviously a bad thing. This is where data driven recommendations become so important. Spotify listeners are primarily looking for entertainment, where Comedy and Sports podcasts are the most popular categories on the platform. That being said, Spotify invested huge amounts into developing an algorithm that matches podcasts (and advertisements for those who do not pay) to certain demographics that may be interested. In fact, I launched Spotify and went to the podcasts section. The top recommendation? A daily horoscope podcast. 

Sources:

https://newsroom.spotify.com/2020-03-30/how-social-distancing-has-shifted-spotify-streaming/

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-04-27/coronavirus-podcasts-spotify-finnea

https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/29/21346339/spotify-q2-2020-earnings-podcasts-coronavirus-covid-19-consumption-recovery

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/15/media/spotify-podcasts-risk-takers/index.html

https://www.statista.com/chart/10713/podcast-listeners-in-the-united-states/

In recent years, K-pop has gained worldwide recognition. One of the unique traits of K-pop is that they always tend to be in groups. Within the industry, almost a new group debuts every week, so when I heard another girl group was making a debut I didn’t think much about it. Until I heard their concept, something unique and has never been done within the Korean Music industry, virtual members. I was always used to real people/ members being part of a K-pop group, however, in a recent announcement recently made by South Korea’s top entertainment company, SM Entertainment, they are planning to debut a new venture group that mixes humans with virtual members. Yes, virtual members that are AIs. The K-pop group “aespa”  is set to debut in the next week to turn a new page in the chapter of Kpop. The group’s name, “aespa”, is derived from the words “avatar,” “experience,” and “aspect.” It has been said that the real-life members of aespa will continue real-world promotions like other Kpop stars going on concerts and live performances. Within the virtual world, their avatars will engage with fans in new and unique ways. The concept draws inspiration from several musical performances within video games like Fortnite and Roblox. The founder of SM Entertainment, Lee Soo Man said “the avatar members have AI brains that allow for them to converse and to support the real members, even befriending them, sharing information, as well as going back and forth from one world to another.” 

We’ve seen the rise of virtual influencers and pop-stars like Lil Miquela and Japan’s Hatsune Miku. But what if real-life and virtual idols came together in one K-pop group? When I first heard this, I had mixed emotions. Not only is this a new concept to me but I was curious to see how successful it will actually be. It’s pretty common to see computer graphics and technology being utilized for music videos and virtual influencers/ pop-stars is not a totally new concept. We’ve seen artists like Travis Scott, Marshmello, and others are already exploiting their digital selves for a massive gain. The Travis Scott Fortnite concert event was one of the most-watched in-game concerts ever. However, seeing a combination of the virtual and real-world is unheard of and a bit creepy for me. 

The purpose of creating these virtual stars is to solve problems and perform actions that real pop-stars cannot achieve. Real celebrities deals with lots of scandals, but avatars won’t have that problem and fans can essentially interact with them anywhere and anytime they want. The avatars are capable of doing things you cannot directly do with your favorite celebrity. Imagine an avatar of your favorite celebrity being created and being together with him/her, next to you. Kind of creepy or uniquely attractive? This news had stirred quite a controversy across K-pop fans. They find the idea of fans “owning” their idols problematic, especially when “aespa” is made up of young women. Others also think virtual idols will only make fans, some dangerously obsessive, more far removed from reality. Fans dislike the ambiguity of mixing a fake and real world together. Many people think that this will further perpetuate “sasaeng” fan behaviors. A term widely used in Korea to describe obsessive fans who stalk or engage in behaviors that invade an idol's privacy. It is not uncommon for sasaengs fans to go through extreme measures to see their idols in Korea, which is why “aespa’s” concept it worrying many people. 

While there are many factors to be worried about, I can see how this concept can be successful. Given that virtual idols have proven to be popular and it has been done before. For example, Hatsune Miku, a character developed by computer programs and has appeared on billboards, in TV commercials, and gave sold-out concerts to fans all over the world. The main reason for Hatsune Miku's success is that at some point she stopped being looked at as a software program and started being treated as a legitimate pop star. Miku's virtual status has allowed her to easily move into forms of media often ignored by real-world idols. If done properly, this can be the case for “asepa” as well. SM Entertainment might change the future for not only K-pop but other countries. We have seen technology being gradually integrated into the music industry as a whole especially with the pandemic and more virtual events, “aespa’s” concept might not be completely bizarre. I’m curious to see the results of this launch and whether it’ll be a it a miss. Should we be expecting more artists to opt to become an avatar whether it may be in games, music or another platform entirely? 

Sources:

https://reputationtoday.in/virtual-influencers-the-next-big-thing/

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2020/10/29/k-pop-group-aespa-introduction/

https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvxxgd/aespa-kpop-music-girl-group-virtual-sm

https://kotaku.com/why-hatsune-miku-is-the-worlds-most-popular-virtual-ido-5936200#:~:text=With%20Miku's%20Vocaloid%202%20in,primed%20for%20her%20big%20break.&text=And%20because%20of%20the%20ease,covers%20of%20popular%20Japanese%20songs.

https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/aespa-ai-lee-sooman-sm-entertainment_in_5f9a4b71c5b6a4a2dc823ae6

https://www.soompi.com/article/1433733wpp/watch-sm-drops-mysterious-teaser-launches-twitter-account-for-something-called-aespa