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How To Archive Yourself In the Digital Age

This article helped me consider the value of discarding that archive so I can move beyond the past version of myself that it commemorates. No doubt it is easier to become a better person when your past self isn’t just a resurfaced tweet away.

What Boxed Mac & Cheese Can Teach You About Disruption and How One Brand Quietly Embraces Its Racist Name | Non-Obvious Insights #222

This week’s stories include the reimagining of some racist logos from the past, the emerging field of digital nutrition, the dangers of Facebook Groups and what the popularity of boxed mac & cheese can teach us about disruption today and what it may mean for our long-term future. For longtime readers of this email, I … Read more

Why Do Critics Hate Movies That Real People Love?

The Queen-inspired film Bohemian Rhapsody film was poorly rated by critics, yet became a big box office hit. Earlier this year, the same thing happened to Hugh Jackman’s The Greatest Show musical film about the life of PT Barnum. Why are critics so out of touch with what real people like? And why do we love the … Read more

How To Cure Your Social Media Addiction

This was a week filled with more social media stupidity than usual. In a single day I read two disturbing stories that got me thinking about the dangers of our social media addiction. In one, an excited baseball fan posted a picture of his World Series ticket (with the bar code visible) only to an observant thief … Read more

Why Facebook Rating Your Trustworthiness Is Good News

facebook trustworthiness

The Washington Post story this week revealing the “previously unreported ratings system” used by Facebook to rate the trustworthiness of users on a scale of zero to 1 has all the usual components of an outrage-worthy announcement. How dare Facebook think they can rate all of us? What if they abuse this system or someone hacks it? … Read more

Why Netflix Uses Taste Communities Instead of Demographics

netflix

Last week Netflix announced that they would be stopping their long standing policy of asking customers to vote on early pilots for programs to see if they have enough critical mass and audience to continue. In the same week, at a television industry event a Netflix executive shared that Netflix finds demographics to be useless … Read more

5 Dangerously Futuristic Features Facebook Is Quietly Testing

Facebook-digital-wellbeing

Facebook is fond of running experiments, even though in the past this hasn’t gone so well. Yet these missteps haven’t stopped them from trying. Over the past several weeks, there has been reports of several new innovative features that they are testing which may soon have a significant impact on your online life and behavior. … Read more

The Swiss Town That Banned Travelers Posting Photos On Social Media

How do you get attention for a sleepy little Swiss ski resort town that few people have ever heard of? Ban photos and promise to fine tourists for sharing them online. That’s the genius strategy behind this move from the town of Bergün, but the explanation of why is even better. “We don’t want to … Read more

Brazilian Publisher Offers On-Demand Clever Captions For Your Selfies

Sometimes it is hard to pick the perfect caption for your selfie, but Brazilian publisher Leya has a solution to help … and introduce you to some of their newest authors in the process. The brand launched a chatbot that will ask you about your photo and then suggest a quote from one of their … Read more

Apple Imagines Destroying The World At WWDC 

During its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) this past week described by one media outlet as a “parody of itself,” Apple launched a video intended to show developers how much the world needs them and the apps they build. The video, unfortunately, ended up illustrating just how much havoc Apple could wreak if it chose to … Read more

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Rohit is the author of 9 books on trends, the future of business, building a more human brand with storytelling and how to create a more diverse and inclusive world.

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