The Tech Landscape #200 š„³
Facebook goes audio, Twitter and Snapchat go Android, and Search goes kawaii: this is issue 200 of The Tech Landscape, a weekly collection of news about consumer digital technology. Stories are selected by me, Peter Gasston, with a little insight and opinion where appropriate.
200 issues! Yes, 200ādespite what it says in the footer!
Iāve been running this newsletter for over four years in this iteration, but a bit longer in total; it started at the company I used to work at, where I sent a staff-only email which collected all the links that people might have missed from the company Slack. When some people left the company they asked if I could continue to send them the email, and after a few issues I decided to make it public.
The earlier emails were largely about voice assistants, messaging services, social media, and AR and VR, but the criteria for inclusion has always been āwhatever I find interestingā. So as my interests have changed, so have the subjects I cover. I recently put together a list of trends/categories/topics Iām available to talk about (for work), which does an adequate job of covering some of my current interests:
- Niche social / the movement from big social to interests and communities
- Social ecommerce / experiential direct-to-consumer selling (especially through social platforms)
- Livestreamed shopping / a subset of social ecommerce involving live video
- Creator economy / tools for creators to earn money directly from their fandoms
- Audio social / products like Clubhouse and features like Twitter Spaces
- Social+ / a social element enhancing a core mechanic, eg Fortnite (gaming) and TikTok (video)
- The Metaverse / collective social experiences in online spaces, eg virtual concerts in Fortnite
- Avatars / how fashion and entertainment brands support our identity in virtual spaces
- AR retail / virtual try-ons and product previews
- AR identity / beauty and fashion brands experimenting with digital-only products
- AR-enhanced locations / enhancing maps and physical spaces with digital experiences
- Synthetic media / using AI to generate realistic images, video, and audio
Thereās a lot there.
Anyway, 200 issues. Wow. Itās a commitment. Iād love to grow the readership, so if you want to give me a commemorative gift, the best thing you could do is tell your friends / colleagues / social network about it.
Right, letās get on with this weekās newsletter. Hope youāre well!
Audio Social
Facebook announced its entry to the āaudio socialā arena with a suite of tools. These include a new short audio format, Soundbites, and an app for creating them; podcast discovery and playback directly in the Feed; and Live Audio Rooms for broadcasting to groups in Facebook and Messenger. This latter is obviously āinfluencedā by Clubhouse, but the community and friend groups of Facebook and Messenger make is good for discovery of interest-based discovery, something that Clubhouse struggles with.
about.fb.com/news/2021/04/bringing-social-audio-experiences-to-facebook/
Twitter has opened the test of Spaces, its social audio feature, to all Android users. This focus on Android over iOS is interesting for two reasons: because many of the Spaces Iāve seen so far have come from outside the US, and because Clubhouse has failed to launch an Android app yet.
androidpolice.com/2021/04/25/you-can-now-host-twitters-clubhouse-style-chatrooms-on-the-android-app/
Reddit announced Reddit Talk, its own audio social / Clubhouse competitor. The feature is in testing, so for now only community moderators can start the audio chats; otherwise, itās just like Clubhouse.
reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/mu3f0x/lets_talk_get_a_sneak_preview_of_reddit_talk_and/
XR (AR & VR)
Googleās latest batch of 3D/AR models in Search is of iconic Japanese characters. These include Pac-Man, Hello Kitty, and Ultraman. These are fun, but I still have no idea how these help Googleās broader smartphone strategy.
blog.google/around-the-globe/google-asia/japanese-characters-ar/
Facebookās Oculus upgraded its avatars to be more customisable and emotive. Itās also planning to make them available to developers of different VR gamesāthis portable identity is a key tenet of the āmetaverseā concept, and something that Bitmoji already offers.
oculus.com/blog/new-day-new-you-avatars-are-more-expressive-and-customizable-starting-today/
Samsung released an AR app exclusively for its Galaxy phones. AR Canvas lets users add 2D and 3D graphics to their physical location for other app users to discover.
us.community.samsung.com/t5/Samsung-Apps-and-Services/OFFICIAL-Introducing-Samsung-AR-Canvas/td-p/1811089
Everything Else
Apple held its latest product announcement event. Among the new and updated core hardware line (iMac, iPad, purple iPhone, etc) it also announced AirTags, small electronic tags which can be precisely located using the UWB and AR in iPhones, and subscriptions for podcasts.
theverge.com/2021/4/20/22384756/apple-spring-loaded-event-recap-biggest-announcements-airtag-ipad-pro-imac
Hardware
Shopify and Pinterest expanded their partnership to 27 new countries, including the UK. It means Shopify businesses can more easily make their catalogues available on Pinterest, and use retargeting on their ads to reach more customers.
newsroom.pinterest.com/en/post/pinterest-and-shopify-expand-partnership-to-boost-social-commerce-globally
eCommerce
Facebook will offer more options to improve the quality of the Feed. These include asking people what they thought of certain content, making it easier to hide posts, and offering more content around interests. Despite what some people would have you believe, an algorithmic timeline is much more pleasant than a purely chronological one.
about.fb.com/news/2021/04/incorporating-more-feedback-into-news-feed-ranking/
Social
Facebook is testing ads in Reels in a handful of countries. Ads can be up to 30s long and skipped like any other content. Just like on TikTok. Facebook is also testing sticker ads in Storiesācontent creators can choose to include the stickers from brands, and will earn a revenue cut from them.
reuters.com/technology/facebook-begins-testing-ads-instagram-reels-2021-04-22/
Social
Twitter added the option to share and view images in 4K quality. Iām not sure that 4K really adds anything on mobile screens, but maybe thatās just because my eyes are old and its all a blur anyway.
twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1384945690304995330
Social
UNIQLO is teaming up with Nintendo for an Animal Crossing online/offline collection. There will be a physical range of clothing and apparel, and an in-game UNIQLO Island with digital apparel to wear.
hypebeast.com/2021/4/animal-crossing-new-horizons-uniqlo-ut-collection-release
Gaming
Google released the latest developer preview of Android 12. Among the changes it adds better support for camera effects, and a rich haptic vibration engine. The official announcement of Android 12 will happen at I/O in May.
android-developers.googleblog.com/2021/04/android-12-developer-preview-3.html
Operating Systems
Google Meet is gaining a redesigned UI to enable custom layouts. You can also disable the view of your own face, for when you have one of those days.
blog.google/products/meet/design-updates-video-backgrounds/
Messaging
Pinterest revealed the Content Claiming Portal, giving media creators control over how their content is shared. When ownership is proved, the creator can choose to allow sharing only when a website link is included, or to block it entirely.
newsroom.pinterest.com/en/post/introducing-the-content-claiming-portal-a-new-tool-to-help-creators-claim-their-content-and
Content
Voice game developer Volley acquired fellow game studio, Voxion. TBH I hadnāt heard of either of these, but they make some of the most popular games for voice assistants. Itās a further sign that the voice developer market is consolidating.
voicebot.ai/2021/04/22/voice-game-developer-volley-acquires-gaming-studio-voxion/
Assistants & Voice
Stat of the Week
Snapchat reported 22% user growth over the same period last year. And for the first time the number of users of Snapchat on Android surpassed those on iOS for the first time, indicating that much of the growth is coming from beyond North America.
theverge.com/2021/4/22/22398237/snapchat-android-app-ios-earnings
Thanks for reading to the end! If youāve found this newsletter valuable, why not buy me a coffee? I appreciate every single one. Alternatively, perhaps you could consider telling a friend or colleague about this newsletter instead? Thatās just as valuable to me, honestly.