Tuesday is the start of the biggest legislative overhaul of the century
For nearly a year, congressional investigations into anti-competitive practices of Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon have been ongoing. Findings were released Tuesday, delayed over late breaking information from a whistleblower with new information about the Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram. The new information, reportedly, offers a smoking gun regarding Facebook’s agenda to thwart competition by purchasing Instagram for $1 billion. Republican Representative Ken Buck calls the proceedings one of the most bi-partisan efforts in recent history. CNBC
dis-rup-shun: Congress spent over a year building its case. Now the real work — to reshape old legislation formed to protect consumers and small businesses against the monopoly power of the railroads and mega banks, or to create new legislation which focuses on protection of consumers’ personal data — must begin. This will require intellect, innovation and thousands of hours and millions of taxpayer dollars sparring with Big Tech’s legal armies in order to erect new guardrails that keep the economic engines humming without treading on personal privacy or small business opportunity. Now that Pandora’s box has been opened, it will take the full cooperation of both parties to enact effective legislation.
TikTok is now the number two teen app
TikTok has surpassed Instagram as the second most favored app for teenagers, trailing only Snapchat. According to a Piper Sandler report, 34% of teens favored Snapchat, 29% favored TikTok and 25% favored Instagram. Usage, on the other hand, still places Instagram in first place (84%), Snapchat in second (80%), and TikTok in third (69%).
dis-rup-shun: TikTok’s brush with the Trump Executive Orders nearly impacted a very large segment of the teen population, and handed to Oracle an extremely valuable social media asset. The quick adoption of TikTok also reminds Facebook, king of social media, how quickly it can be deposed by an upstart service.
Super Nintendo World opening soon
Lifelong fans of Mario and Luigi can soon immerse themselves in Super Nintendo World theme park at Universal Studios in Osaka, next year. The park will include a Super Mario Kart ride, and Power Up bands that one wears throughout the park makes the visit a game in itself. CNET
dis-rup-shun: Super Nintendo World is evidence that companies are investing in a post-COVID normalcy, and fully expect travel and personal experiences to return to almost normal, with people spending their savings on in-person experiences with large crowds of like-minded people. Over a twenty-plus year time horizon, perhaps another six months of uncertainty and delayed openings will not impact the business plan of a venture such as Super Nintendo World.
Slack adding cross organizational capabilities
Slack, the intra-company direct messaging collaboration platform will soon enable communications between organizations. Users will be able to share a personal ID that anyone can connect to — regardless of organization. This capability will enable Slack users to receive messages from any of their contacts at any company. The Verge
dis-rup-shun: This development confirms that change is not always progress. There are currently no rules in communications. When you think your work environment borders on meltdown on occasions, with emails, phone calls, text messages, LinkedIn messages, in-Zoom chats, Slack and Teams messages coming at you at all times, many times from the same people using multiple tools at the same time, enter cross-organizational features from Slack. Not only will this feature result in a higher volume of Slack interruptions, but will inevitably lead to the scenario, so frequently seen in iMessages, that we accidentally respond to the wrong conversation with the correct, and often embarrassing, message. While Slack is in a run for its life as it competes head to head with Microsoft’s FREE Teams, with memories of monopoly road kills including Netscape Navigator and Novell Netware, this “value add” may tilt the scale for some users who simply have to unplug something if they hope to finish a task in a ten hour workday.