j’s notes

Link

Those who don’t remember the web before platforms, tend to believe that for 10 years web users stared at their monitors in anticipation. Actually they were made to believe it. First by Web 2.

Link

ChatGPT kicked off the AI chatbot race. Meta is determined to win it. To that end: the Meta AI assistant, introduced last September, is now being integrated into the search box of Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger. It’s also going to start appearing directly in the main Facebook feed.

Link

No matter who you are, how skilled you may be, or how much knowledge you possess, excessive activity will inevitably lead to a return to the average. This phenomenon is observable every day on the Internet.

Link

So you want to be an artist. Do you have to start a TikTok? When Rachael Kay Albers was shopping around her book proposal, the editors at a Big Five publishing house loved the idea. The problem came from the marketing department, which had an issue: She didn’t have a big enough following.

Link

Have you read through all 201 pages of Forerunner’s 2024 trend report? It’s a report that bucks all ideas that long-form content doesn’t work or isn’t good –– and that content needs to be gated to be effective.

Link

Gmail revolutionized email with fast search and a whole gigabyte of storage. But where’s it headed next?

Link

Large grocery retailers took advantage of supply chain disruptions to beat out smaller rivals and protect their profits during the pandemic, according to a report released by the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday.

Link

Whether it’s resumes or reports, budgets or broadsides, I’m pretty regularly sent working documents from a wide range of people, and over the years I’ve noticed some consistent patterns that lead those documents to be less effective than they should be. Even very smart, capable communicators routinely send important documents that distract from, or even undermine, their goals.

This isn’t too surprising; we almost never actually teach people how to use the ordinary tools of business communication in more effective ways. So, I’m gathering some advice that I regularly share with people, in hopes that this helps you get your messages across more effectively. All of this is advice that should apply regardless of whether you’re using tools like Google Docs (uh… Workspace?), Microsoft Office (or 365 or something?) or whatever else.

Link