Double Tap, Kidfluencers & Elon Musk
5 in 5 - Brave & Heart HeartBeat #173 ❤️
This week we’ve been educating ourselves by learning about what makes Elon Musk tick, and why it shouldn’t be our problem, the technology behind the Apple watch double tap, which is much more interesting than the people presenting the Apple keynote, and finding out what the word “kidfluencer” means.
Plus, are our cars spying on us? (yes). And, should we be sliding into employers DMs? (maybe).
Let's get into it.
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#1 - Elon Musk & “The Danger Of Unchecked Corporate Leaders”
There’s a new biography out about Elon Musk, and it’s all everyone is talking about right now. From his mean dad to his many children, and his involvement in the war in Ukraine, we’re learning a lot.
This article from this week’s Guardian brings all the drama together through our three areas of interest – people, digital, and strategy – and using Musk as an example of the danger of “unchecked corporate leaders”. If you read our edition on the McKinsey graduate who left the company after realising she was becoming one of those unbearably entitled business travellers we see abusing staff in the airport – Musk is that, left unchecked, times a million.
The subtitle sets the tone for the rest of the article. It reads: “When rich people convince themselves that they’re rich because they’re smart – instead of lucky and ruthless – they misapply their talents to areas beyond their expertise.”
The author points out that for all of his crowing about the value of free speech, he will happily deny it to his workers, critics, and anyone else when the whim takes him. “Whim” being the operative word here, as the author argues that there is no “theory of Musk”. For all his big ideals, he is pretty much just playing to his own ego.
In our opinion, aside from the obvious obsession with wanting to make us all live on Mars (and the absolute belief that that is best for everyone, despite nobody wanting to go) Musk’s misadventures with Twitter prove this point perfectly.
We learn that he didn’t have a high opinion of Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, saying Twitter needs a “fire breathing dragon” in his place.
However, after having took Twitter from him, and finally getting the chance to prove he was right… it turned out he was wrong. So very, very wrong. Most people not in Musks echo chamber unanimously agree that Twitter has been “destroyed” since he took over.
Don’t worry though, we doubt he’ll notice, and unlike the McKinsey grad, we doubt he’ll ever have that moment of realisation. Until then, let’s just hope he never gets the power to shuttle us all into space buses and send us to Mars.
#2 - Apple vs. Europe
Apple held their famous keynote conference last week, and while it was, let’s be honest, NOWHERE near as exciting as the unveiling of the headset of the century, it did make headlines, perhaps not for the reasons Apple would have liked.
For one thing, Europe, and France in particular, decided to get a bit petty. As if the announcement that the lightning cable is dead wasn’t enough – the EU have been fighting it for literal years – France decided to wait until the Keynote was actually taking place to announce that the iPhone 12 was being discontinued in France due to unacceptable levels of radiation. Messy behaviour from France.
The keynote has also been criticised for being “too slick” and not natural enough. After watching plenty of people making fun of the robotic, news anchor in space hand movements that the extended team make while giving their little speeches – we see it.
As always, the undeniable stage presence of Steve Jobs is missing, and Tim Cook will, unfortunately, never match up. Can you imagine a feature film about Tim Cook starring Michael Fassbender? No, us neither.
Awkward atmosphere and Europe drama aside, what do we think of the double tap? The double tap, for anyone living under a rock, and android users, is the new way that Apple want us to use the apple watch. The double tap will allow you to take photos, snooze an alarm, pick up phone calls, etc, by simply tapping your fingers together and not touching the watch at all. Not hands free, exactly, but almost.
It's pretty cool, we can’t deny it, and the description of the tech behind it - It works by detecting the unique signature of movements and changes in your blood flow - is pure science fiction. Sign us up.
#3 - Are “Kidfluencers” The New Chimney Sweeps?
First of all, what’s a Kidfluencer? Basically, a child, some of them are literally toddlers, who feature in content online that generates income – in the most extreme cases, up to $20 million per year.
Posting cute videos of your kids online is normal right, people love doing that sort of stuff? Maybe, but in an age where social media is increasingly becoming one of the top forms of paid employment, when does innocent sharing become child labour?
Well, probably around about the time that videos featuring your kids start paying your bills, as is the case for thousands of online accounts, whether that be the TikToks of the little girl who says “what would you like maam” (very funny, very cute) or family vlog channels on YouTube.
They’re not sweeping chimneys, and sure being filmed while you’re just playing with your toy kitchen set can’t really be classed as work, can it? However, in some cases, these kids are under pressure – from their parents and from the algorithm – to produce content on a regular basis, and the most concerning thing is that legally, they’re not actually entitled to any of the money earned.
A new law has just been passed in Illinois, where successful child social media stars are given the right to a percentage of the earnings they generate to be held in a trust, like child stars in California back in the day. However, the social media case is a bit more complicated – there are no contracts drawn up for specific roles, how is that amount calculated? By cuteness?
The employers themselves are also different – in this case the parents are the employers, and while many parents are loving and caring, many are not. If the child says they want to stop being on camera, then what?
There have also been a spate of arrests for child mistreatment in the YouTube family community, not to mention one channel which posted “fun” scripted videos of nerf gun wars and other games, where one child was described as having almost never left the green screen room in which videos were filmed.
As social media becomes more and more like other jobs, the conundrum of the child social media star becomes more and more problematic. Sure, we love seeing their cute exploits, but should a toddler be the main breadwinner of a family? Just ask Drew Barrymore…
#4 - Spy(ing) Cars
It turns out your car may be listening to you, as smart cars are deemed a “privacy nightmare” and “officially” declared as the worst category of products for privacy by non-profit organisation the Mozilla Foundation.
The Mozilla Foundation claims to stand up for the “health of the internet” and boy did they not like what they found when they looked into smart cars, deeming them even more problematic than mental health apps, which have previously made their “Privacy Not Included” lists.
The worst one is, hilariously, Tesla, which was flagged in every category - almost record breaking considering it’s only the second time that a product or service has hit those hight scores.
The overall scores were pretty terrible, eighty-four percent of the reviewed car brands share personal user data with service providers, data brokers, and sketchy businesses, seventy-six percent claim the right to sell that data, and fifty-six percent are willing to share user information with the government.
That data can include the health of the driver, the way they drive, where they drive, along with the basics like name, address, phone number, to photos, calendar information and data on the drivers race, genetic information and even, somehow, immigration status.
The Mozilla report was so scathing that the organisation said that the advice they usually give to customers would be so useless in the face of the “data-gobbling machines” that our cars have become, saying that it would be like “tiny drops in a massive bucket”. They’ve instead started a petition to urge car companies to stop the data collection programmes.
They probably (definitely) wont, but Mozilla hope that it’ll at least encourage others to hold car companies accountable. Good Luck.
#5 - Sliding Into Their DMs
Usually a phrase reserved for flirting via social media, it’s now entering the working world as a way to get your foot in the door at a new job.
And sometimes, believe it or not, it actually works. In comparison to older generations, the younger generation have access to different tools when it comes to job searching – and different challenges. When a job posting can get the attention of hundreds of applicants in a few short hours, differentiating yourself by reaching out and “touching” someone is described as a “smart move”.
In comparison to older generations, CEOs and top management are much more reachable than before, at least in theory – you can simply find them on LinkedIn and send a message, no secretaries standing in your way.
The phenomenon is also described as a natural result of the perceived instand gratification that comes with social media. While almost everything has gotten faster with social media, the hiring process is still pretty slow – you have to apply, you have to wait to hear back, and many people are turning to social media to try and speed it up.
Give it a go, it costs nothing to try. The worst thing that can happen is getting left on read, in comparison to being escorted out of the bosses office, that’s low stakes…
Brave & Heart over and out.
Bonus
Turn Your Phone Into Gold
Apparently, while looking for a good way to get rid of environmentally dangerous e-waste, the Royal Mint, yes, the ones who make the coins, figured out that they could turn it into gold.
Apparently 7% of the world’s gold is currently sitting in disused electronics. Time to rummage around in that junk drawer?
To find out more on how you can retain your top talent, or how we can help you with digital solutions to your business and marketing challenges, check out our case studies.