Truth Social, The Metaverse & Wordle’s Worldwide Impact with Ben Wiggins, Felina Tan & Jennifer Campbell - Episode 13
Episode 13 of Disconnected marks the start of an engaging, entertaining, and deeply insightful new co-host format with some new and familiar faces.
Returning to the podcast from past episodes are Ben Wiggins (E3) and Felina Tan (E12), and joining us to complete the lineup is MD of The Giles Agency, Jen Campbell.
We kick off with a look at Donald Trump’s imminent social media venture, Truth Social, an upcoming government campaign against end-to-end encryption, owning virtual land next to Snoop Dogg in the Metaverse, and answering Jen’s burning question on the game played globally by millions: How do you Wordle…?
This episode of Disconnected covers:
The huge imminent impact of Donald Trump’s new platform, Truth Social
Ins & outs of the government’s new campaign opposing end-to-end encryption
The Metaverse, and how we could see real life economic principles translate into the virtual world
Bad science, fake news, and whether it should be censored online
Kicking the addiction to our smartphones
Wordle: a game borne from marital commitment that’s permeating current culture
Episode Highlights:
“My view on Truth Social is that we're in for an entertaining ride. I think on Twitter & Facebook we’ve all missed Trump's very opinionated voice - not missed in a positive sense, missed in the laughable, embarrassing sense. So I don't know what you guys think about Truth Social, but I'm ready to see what it's like.” - 4:30 - Felina Tan
“There was a time when media was limited to a few channels & you could peer over that ‘garden fence’. If you're leaning right, you could flick to the TV station that had leaning left news and see what the other side was thinking, and there could be a dialogue. This time last year, the banning of Trump from Facebook, Twitter etc potentially pushed his supporters to the fringes, and that's dangerous.” - 7:00 - Jag Sharma
“My view is that end to end encryption & privacy is actually safer for children and all of us. The irony is that without end to end encryption, your conversations and messages would be more easily hacked. So the conversations of a child or a teenager could be scooped. Also, end to end encryption isn't just about messenger apps, it's more than that.” - 16:25 - Jag Sharma
“Do you think we can trust the government to give both sides of the story on end to end encryption? It feels like they settled on a creative approach which grabs your attention? It doesn't feel like you're gonna get both sides of the story. Will people read up about it and understand what it is? Or take that headline in a 30 second advert on a Saturday night and presume that it's the evil of all evils? I'm not sure.” - 18:15 - Ben Wiggins
“I think the metaverse could be super interesting. I think it's not made for us, I think it's made for a generation below us. As it evolves, they will be the ones who get the most out of it, in the way that we got the most out of Facebook when it first launched and you could poke people and that's how you made friends.” - 28:05 - Jen Campbell
“The cynic in me thinks that if you follow the money, you're going to end up in the Metaverse where it's just constantly being bombarded with ads and commercial messages and that kind of stuff. That's where I'm probably the most cynical and the purist in me wonders how far we have to go on this digital journey of not interacting physically?” - 35:05 - Ben Wiggins
“It is cheeky, that element of making virtual land quite scarce. I think it’s a little bit unfair, it creates the same inequities that we have in the real world, but that don't need to exist in the virtual world.” - 42:45 - Jag Sharma
“Do you guys think that bad science should be censored on social media? I personally think not, because of freedom of speech, but also because it sheds light on people needing education. I think that's a bigger issue here, that a lot of people are not getting that level of education and that sensibility that they need, and it might not be their own fault. It might just be because of accessibility, that they don't have access to that.” - 50:40 - Felina Tan
“Now you need your smartphone for QR codes to show your vaccine to get into restaurants. It got me thinking what a world without a smartphone would look like. I came to the conclusion that I'm completely addicted to it. I get up, do Wordle, read the news, run with Spotify and Nike Run, buy dinner, do internet banking - all on my phone. So I’m interested to see how much time you guys spend on your phone per day and whether you would willingly give up your smartphone for even just a trial period.” - 1:01:00 - Ben Wiggins
“This guy made Wordle for his wife, who likes word games. How nice is that? Every day you get a new word to guess, so to your point about being addicted, you can't just keep playing and playing and playing. You can only do it once a day, which I think is great.” - 1:10:00 - Jen Campbell
Links & references:
Ben Wiggins:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bewiggins/
Felina Tan:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/felinagabrielletan/
Jen Campbell:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-m-campbell/
Jag Sharma:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jagsharma
https://www.instagram.com/jagsharma/
Positive Influencers:
Joanne Molinaro – Chicago, USA - @thekoreanvegan
Ex-partner at law firm, now content creator and cookbook author
Writes and tells stories about hard hitting topics – identity and fitting in growing Asian in a western culture, family ideologies, divorce, showing up for yourself, etc.
Content is unique – cinematic reels of vegan Korean food being cooked voiced over with her meaningful, compelling stories.
Rianne Meijer – Amsterdam, Netherlands - @riannemeijer
Shares unfiltered and unedited photos of herself alongside enhanced versions to explain that not everything on social media is realistic. Huge sense of humour, relatable in many ways. That perfect shot, that perfect angle, that great Instagram lifestyle, she cuts through them with reality.
https://www.demilked.com/instagram-vs-reality-rianne-meijer/
Jenn Im – Los Angeles, USA - @imjennim
Veteran influencer, has been in the scene since YouTube first became a vlogger hub. Seen her evolve as an individual with the times. From starting out with unique fashion videos to her proposal then her wedding, and her pregnancy journey, Jenn bares all. She got married to Ben who used to be in a band called Young Guns. Their son Lennon was born a few months ago but this was what Ben said in April 2020 in an interview with The Guardian:
“I’m terrified for when we have kids, because this world is becoming more competitive. There’s a constant pressure to maintain your social media. I hate the fact that people think you’ve disappeared off the planet if you don’t post. I find the opposite is true: real life starts when the camera switches off.”
Mona Chalabi – NYC, USA - @monachalabi
Amazing data journalist and writer. She produces illustrations on data and statistics, which explains the frequent use of figures in her cartoons. In addition, she deals extensively with the issue of women through her cartoons. Politics as well, pay gap, racial divide. Has worked with BBC, National Geographic, Channel 4 and VICE.
Pablo Rochat – Atlanta, USA - @pablo.rochat
Creative director and owner of his own studio. highly sought-after Art Directors in the tech world. His focus on endless fun and riffing in his work combines with a genius for understanding how humans interact with the physical world to create playful works of public art that have made him a hit on social media. In 2019, he launched one of the simplest and yet most effective viral pranks of the year by printing out photorealistic Airpod stickers and placing them on sidewalks,
subways, and stairs all around SF.
Articles
New social media platform, Truth Social
https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/06/donald-trump-truth-social-app-launch
UK Gov campaign against privacy of your messages
The father of PlayStation doesn't like the metaverse
Social Media & NFTs
https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/06/5-nft-trends-that-will-bring-social-media-audiences-into-web3/
$450k for the virtual land next to Snoop Dogg's NFT house
Should bad science be censored
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60036861.amp
The people deciding to ditch their smartphones
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60067032
Wordle getting lots of love on Twitter
https://adage.com/article/marketing-news-strategy/wordle-getting-brand-love-twitter/2393041