The text inbox; Dead internet; Blue hyperlinks

💡Think

I’m not sure if it’s just my network, but over the past few weeks and months the concept of digital art, NFTs, blockchain networks and a lot of other things I don’t understand have become more and more popular.

It’s really hard to keep up with the niche circles of the tech industry, and I’m sure a lot of it is driven by not wanting to miss out, but as far as I can tell, there are a lot of people making a lot of money through things that…don’t really exist.

It’s this hyperreal commerce world that would make for a brilliant Adam Curtis documentary, but at the same time is seemingly here to stay and I’m sure we’re going to hear a lot more about how we can and should be joining digital communities more and more over the coming years.

Are you a part of any of these communities? Would love to learn more.

📷 Look

Turnpike Lane, London – From my Instagram

📖 Read

❶ Text messages are becoming the new email inbox

Have you also been receiving a lot more text messages recently, mostly from companies? The fact is that marketers are looking at the last place of digital solace – our text messages – and are hammering us with information, promotions, and…spam. This article explains just why and how companies are capitalising on this new marketing concept. It’s a shame, because when you follow the metrics – 99% open rate – it’s hard to argue with.

Read this article

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❷ The internet ‘died’ five years ago

This is definitely on the lighter side of stuff that I normally share, but fun for a Sunday afternoon. Apparently, the internet is now so full of bots and/or trolls, that it’s almost impossible to work out what content is real and what is computer generated. Do you ever see a tweet with an incredible amount of likes and wonder why? Probably a bot. This is all grounded in something called “dead internet theory”, which is definitely something closer to conspiracy theory than fact, but brilliantly mad nonetheless.

Read this article

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❸ Why are hyperlinks blue?

Although people style their links to match their brand these days, you do still sometimes come across a beautifully un-styled blue hyperlink on the internet and be thrown back to a time when websites were mostly…gross. So why blue? Where did it start? Our good friends at Mozilla have just the long read for you to learn why.

Read this article

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Bonus round

• A personal blog from Justin Jackson about how “cynicism kills progress”

• A fun photo series (and book) of “shop cats in China”. Yep, cats in shops…in China

🎧 Listen

Billion dollar communities

As mentioned in the intro, people are making a lot of money (or at least setting the groundwork) to make a lot of money in online communities. These are also called DAOs, which is something I’m very new to as well. This podcast is basically a primer on all things in this space. It’s a bit serious, but the guest shares tonnes of knowledge.

Listen to this podcast (40 minutes)
Spotify – Apple Podcasts

🙌 Share

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🙏 Thanks

Have a great week,
Luis Ouriach
@disco_lu

Founding member special shoutouts:

Kevin Fernandez (@kvnfz) Karl Barker George Sumpster