🤔 Wiser! #95: This Week In Tech

☕️ Wiser! #95: Meta Connect | Starbucks' NFTs | BeReal | EU Crypto Regs | TikTok

w/Wiser! #95 - Sunday 16th October

This is the LinkedIn edition of Wiser!

Welcome to this round-up of the week's top tech stories in the Sunday edition of the Wiser! Newsletter.

Email subscribers got a longer, fuller version delivered straight to their inbox early on Friday morning. They've already got a three-day head start on you.

To read the full-colour, longer version of this week's Wiser!, go here. And, if you leave your email address on the site, you'll be the first to get it every Friday morning.

On to business...here's what caught my eye this week in the world of tech:

• Meta Connect, Facebook's annual show and tell. What did it tell us about what's happening and what's next with, arguably, the worst business decision ever?
• Starbucks has the world's largest loyalty program that drives 50% of its revenues. Now they're expanding it into NFTs - what does that mean and why should you care?
• I look at how brands are using (exploiting) the new kid on the social media block, BeReal. Ads are banned on the platform but that's not stopping ingenious brands finding ways to sell and promote.
• Where's the US when it comes to regulating the crypto markets? Meanwhile, over in Europe, the EU takes the lead (again) on taming the wild west of crypto.
• And TikTok annouce they're opening up fulfilment warehouses in the US. Having seen off Facebook, are they about to eat Amazon's lunch?

Plus: The first of four drops for my big project "Brand Strategies For The Metaverse" is out and details the use-cases of 54 major consumer brands alphabetically listed from A to F.

🦧 This drop also includes 25 famous celebs who have jumped onto the NFT bandwagon. More details below.

Plus Plus: the latest episode from the Big Tech Little Tech podcast takes on eCommerce and the growing trend in social commerce and the rise of Chinese online shopping app Shein.

Plus Plus Plus: As always, there's a ton of news headlines from across tech, some tips and tricks, and other stories, content, and stuff I think you'll find interesting and of value.

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w/BigTech

What Did We Learn From Meta's Virtual Reality Show And Tell?

Meta Connect is Facebook's annual event dedicated to the company’s latest releases in Augmented and Virtual Reality. Except they're not Facebook anymore, they're Meta Platforms.

We're a year on from Mark Zuckerberg's strategic misstep to point the world's largest social network in a different direction. One that will likely cost $65-70 billion by latest estimates.

To put this into context, this will outstrip the combined investment developing the iPhone, Android operating system and Electric Vehicles.

The point of Meta Connect is to summarise the company’s progress on the Metaverse side of its business and gave a sneak peek at where its platforms are heading.

The Good News: Meta made some promising announcements across its most important VR use cases - Social, Gaming, Fitness and Workplace.

They also announced the Meta Quest Pro - their first Mixed Reality headset. Combining virtual reality with some augmented reality features, the Quest Pro will retail for a stonking $1500.

That's about 3 x the price of a standard Quest 2 VR headset. It'll be interesting to track consumer take in the run up to Christmas.

Not All Good News: Meta Facebook shares fell around 5% after the event, suggesting a less than impressed response from the markets. The issue for Zuckerberg is that no matter how he dresses it up, the investment spend on building his version of the Metaverse is unprecedented in the tech space.

To add insult to injury, Meta Connect came a day after Casey Newton, writing in the must-read Platformer, detailed Mark Zuckerberg's struggles to get his own employees to buy in to the Metaverse.

• Only 58% of Meta employees said they understood the company’s Metaverse strategy.
• Meta leadership recently complained to managers that employees aren’t using the company’s Horizon VR platform enough.

For an expanded report on the whys and wherefore of Meta Connect, read this...

w/NFTs

☕️ Starbucks Expand Loyalty Program To NFTs

Customer Loyalty: Starbucks’ reward program is arguably the most successful loyalty program in the world, with nearly 60 million rewards customers globally.

The loyalty program drives approximately 50% of all Starbucks revenue through incentivising repeat business, upselling, and customer personalisation.

Starbucks are now taking it one stage further with Starbucks Odyssey - the retail brand’s new blockchain-based NFT reward program. Starbuck's explain it as:

"...the opportunity to earn and purchase digital collectible assets (NFTs) that will unlock access to new benefits and immersive coffee experiences."

Why Are They Doing This? It makes sense for Starbucks to join other consumer brands and test out the nascent technologies in the emerging world of Web3, NFTs, blockchain and the Metaverse.

Afterall, Starbucks’ largest customer segment is the Millennials, followed closely by Gen Z. (And remember, Gen A start turning 13 next year.)

Here’s The Thing: The appeal, understanding and acceptance of NFTS is much greater amongst the younger demographics.

To find out exactly how Starbucks Odyssey will work and offer much greater rewards and incentives using NFTs, read this...

p.s. did you know that Starbucks spent $90k buying starbucks.eth? That's in the article too.👇

w/Metaverse

Brand Strategies For The Metaverse

🤔 Did you know that Nike sold more than $185 million of NFTs in 2021?

🤔 Or that Alfa Romeo are recording the ownership, performance and provenance of the new Tonale SUV on blockchain technology?

🤔 Or that premium brands like Dior and Dolce&Gabanna, and consumer brands like Honda, Walmart and Pizza Hut, have all opened up in the Metaverse?

Here’s The Thing? Consumer brands, from adidas to Zara, from airlines to even a zoo, are dipping their toes into emerging technologies for one reason only — they’re learning what works, and what doesn’t.

“Their success with these emerging technologies and trends give us clues about what to expect from tomorrow’s digital world.” Rick Huckstep, Oct 2022

Their Goals Are Simple

• build deeper loyalty with existing customers,
• seek out brand new customers and built the next generation of revenue streams,
• find better ways of working and enhance their current operations.

Brand Strategies For The Metaverse

I’ve built a collection of every use-case for over 250 consumer brands in a database in Notion. This tells you all you need to know about what’s happening and what’s coming next in emerging technology and innovation.

To buy access to the database, go to my page on Gumroad.

BUT FIRST: Brand Strategies For The Metaverse is being released in four drops. The first drop has brands listed alphabetically from A to F — that’s 56 consumer brands and a specially category for celebrities that lists 29 famous names.

50% DISCOUNT: Until all four drops are released, you can buy lifetime access to the database for half price. Use this discount code “Brand50” at checkout and the price will be cut in half.

HURRAY: This 50% discount offer wont last long. All four drops will be complete before the end of November 2022.

REMEMBER: To use “Brand50” at the checkout and CLICK THIS BUTTON.👇

w/Podcast

🎙 Big Tech Little Tech Ep #11

In the latest episode, Shaun and I discuss the state of online sales and eCommerce (which accounts for around 1/5th of all retail sales). We discuss the future for online shopping, social commerce and the rise of Shein (the Chinese fast fashion app on steroids), and how Gen Z behaviour may affect retail habits.

Also, Shaun shares online shopping fraud statistics, Siri turns 11, why young people love watching Netflix with subtitles, and a quiz about the original names of the world’s most familiar companies (which Shaun sprung on me and I failed miserably at! The gauntlet has been thrown down!)

🎙️Find Big Tech Little Tech on all major Podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Anchor | Google Podcasts

If you use Instagram, watch this outtake as I record the pod with Shaun (my kids liked it).

w/SocialMedia

They're Not Supposed To Do It on BeReal!

Brands are finding novel and creative ways to use BeReal to sell and promote products. Here's the thing: BeReal has banned advertising on its platform.

If you're unfamiliar with BeReal, check out this article I wrote about BeReal a couple of weeks ago for Wiser! subscribers.

BeReal is the latest social media app that is grabbing the headlines. Mainly because it is the first app to knock TikTok off the number 1 downloaded app chart.

However, that has not stopped consumer brands from using the app's features to find new ways to engage with customers and promote their products.

• Take American fast-food chain Chipolte. In May, a Chipotle employee snapped a simple BeReal of a fork and a reusable promo code for free food available to the first 100 users. Within 30 minutes, all promo codes had been claimed, and Chipotle made more than 2,000 ‘friends’.
• Or beauty brand e.l.f. Cosmetics. They took advantage of BeReal's USP of community and connections by giving the first 150 users who sent a friend request a promo code for a free skincare kit.
• More recently, Tourism Fiji became the first national tourism body in the world to join BeReal. Without it being an overt advertisement for the holiday isle, Tourism Fiji are sharing images of the ‘real’ Fiji by uploading one unedited photo each day when it was their time to "BeReal."

To find out more about what's happening on BeReal and why it's one to watch, continue reading here.

p.s. As I was putting this week's Wiser! to bed, I got my 2 minute warning from BeReal. Here's my BeReal from my office at home... (the river is the border between Spain and Portugal.)

w/Web3

European Union Passes Key Stage In Landmark Crypto Regulations

Crypto Law: The European Council has passed a landmark crypto regulation dubbed MiCA ("Markets in Crypto Assets") to the European Parliament. If approved, the bill will be in effect as of 2024.

Here are the main takeaways (please forgive me for the jargon):

• Stablecoins will be tightly controlled and will have to be backed 100% on a one to one basis with a secure asset, like the USD.
• New rules on trading platforms and exchanges will force them to complete a settlement transactions within 24 hours.
• MiCA will oversee all crypto assets not currently regulated by existing financial services legislation, such as NFTs.

So What? The point is not what these new regs are, they're not controversial and largely to be expected as the crypto space matures.

The point is that yet again it is Europe, not the USA, that is taking the lead on regulations in the tech economy (that is, outside of the influence of China's tech economy).

The US seems incapable of grasping the nettle, reaching a consensus and taking affirmative action. Instead, you see partisan divisions arguing the toss between conservative and liberal positions while the Internet is being governed by a set of American rules established in the last century.

Continue reading...

w/SocialCommerce

TikTok Is Building An eCommerce Ecosystem

TikTok is about to step onto Amazon’s turf in the USA.

The social media app is pushing further into social commerce by building warehouse fulfilment centres in the United States. Social commerce is where retail and attention come together and the likes of Charli D'Amelio promotes Dunkin' Donuts on TikTok.

• Or, as my friend Robin Kiera has shown, you can sell insurance on TikTok.

Here's The Thing: TikTok has ambitions to create a global e-commerce supply chain system.

They're building product fulfilment centres, just like Amazon has, to bring TikTok-marketed products right to their customer's doorstep. If the system takes off in the US, it would give China a legitimate competitor to Amazon in the it's back yard. This comes only a few years after Amazon shuttered its own business in China due to local competition.

Continue reading...

Interesting Headlines

• Google is partnering with crypto exchange Coinbase to let cloud customers pay in crypto starting next year Source: The Verge
• Google is also launching passkey betas on Chrome and Android to remove the pasky irritation and security weakness that is "passwords". Expect rollouts to start early next year. Source: ArsTechnica
• TikTok parent ByteDance is planning a music-streaming expansion to challenge Spotify. Source: WSJ
• The perceived USP of crypto is that it is decentralised, i.e, its operation is not in the control of a single, central authority. However, new research from Morgan Stanley found that following the Ethereum "merge" to proof-of-stake, around 60% of its validators are managed by only four companies. Source: Coindesk
• The SEC is probing Bored Ape creator Yuga Labs over unregistered offerings. Source: Coindesk
• Microsoft has formed a new team to target the ‘Industrial Metaverse’. The idea is for the new team to help customers create immersive software interfaces for operating the industrial control systems behind electrical power plants, industrial robotics and transportation networks. Source: The Information
• PayPal said it never intended to fine users $2.5k for each misinformation violation on their platform and said it was a mistake in its new user policy. Source: Bloomberg
• President Biden signed an executive order to implement new framework to protect data transfers between US and EU. A European Court had undone the previous framework in 2020. The new Privacy Shield seeks to address European concerns of surveillance by US intelligence agencies. Source: CNBC
• The latest on Elon and Twitter is they're heading for an October 28th close. The trial was delayed to let it happen, saving Elon from a deposition at a time he's tweeting about solving all the major conflicts in the world. Source: Bloomberg

Interesting Numbers

• $7 Billion: According to the WSJ, TikTok parent ByteDance had a $7.1 billion operating loss last year on $61.7 billion global revenue. Source: WSJ
• $1 Billion: Is how much Amazon are investing in a European EV van and truck fleet. Source: Reuters
• $11 Million: The Artwork or the NFT? That's the choice UK artist Damien Hirst gave art owners who had bought his work. When c$11 million worth of NFT owners chose to hang onto the digital assets, Hirst set fire to the real art, destroying it forever, except for in the Metaverse! Source: BBC

Just Interesting

• I was recently approached by a Ukrainian tech firm that wanted to translate one of my articles into Ukrainian. I'm sure they did it just to increase their backlinks. If you can read Ukranian, this is the translated article about "The changing face of mobility and its impact on insurance." The original in English is here.
• Listen to this podcast if you're curious and interested in the way misinformation grows and spreads across Social Media. Renée DiResta is a technical research manager who has specialised in the study of misinformation and its effects. It's a fascinating discussion on what's been going on over the past decade. Listen on Spotify.

🚀 Everyone's Going to Space: Businessman Dennis Tito, the world's first-ever space tourist, has announced that he's going around the Moon with Elon Musk's SpaceX.

🌔 Meanwhile, Tom Cruise is going one better and is set to become the first civilian to do a spacewalk. We already knew that daredevil actor Cruise would be flying to the International Space Station on a SpaceX rocket to film a movie, but now it’s being reported that Cruise will also be the first civilian to float in space attached only to a tether.

💇🏻♂️ Talking of Elon (kinda), Mr Musk has launched a new fragrance called 'Burnt Hair' at $100 a pop. It sold 10,000 bottles in a few hours to make a $1 million! If only I had hair to burn!!!!

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w/Productivity

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w/About Wiser!

Wiser! is a weekly newsletter that makes sense of what's happening and what's coming next in the tech economy. From disruptive technologies, like blockchain, crypto and artificial intelligence, to emerging trends, like Web3 and the Metaverse. Plus there's a big focus on BigTech and the impact of social media.

The purpose of Wiser! is simple, to help you stay interesting, informed and one step ahead of your competition. Using easy and engaging language, I make sense of it all so that you don't have too.

Wiser! is funded from a combination of Premium subscriptions, adverts, affiliate links and tips.

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