The Hype Cycle, Vol. 1

Weekly musings on culture, media and more.

Three Things Trending.

Some topics I’ve seen percolate this week - with my own 🔥 (or 🥶) takes:

Apple vs. The US DOJ

This is a fascinating case. The opening of the lawsuit reads like a rant from someone who’s got family members using Android devices. Beyond the soapbox-standing though, there are some interesting arguments laid out… I agree with Ben Thompson that this would have been avoidable if Apple had not been so hard-headed with its App Store policies.

MY TAKE: This will drag on for years, eventually resulting in Apple paying some big fines, making changes in the margins but ultimately maintaining its ecosystem because consumers (mostly) like it.

Starbucks Shuts Down Odyssey

Well, well, well… we have our first big brand foray into web3 to be sunset. I have to say… I am both surprised and also unsurprised. On the one hand, I figured Starbucks would continue to invest even if this were a loss-leader opportunity for them. On the other hand, clearly people weren’t participating. I admit, I was a beta member and I participated for about a month… and then just went back to the Starbucks app.

MY TAKE: we’re still in the “trough of disillusionment” with blockchain-based marketing. That means mainstream adoption is coming, just further out… and I think in late 2025/early 2026 we’ll see that happen.

Threads Goes Into the Fediverse

Last week Meta rolled out the beta for Threads content being able to be shared across other federated apps like Mastodon. This means users have more control over their data. Say you’re a content creator making a living off Threads - if you want to leave Threads and go to Mastodon, now you can and you’ll keep the audience you’ve built up. I’m going to dive into this more once I’ve tested it out myself.

MY TAKE: I think the marketing industry overall is underestimating what this means. The ability to port data - content and audience - from one platform to another could be a sea change. Social teams should be experimenting with this now. We’re still in the education phase, this is the opportunity to experiment and learn. It’ll pay off later.

Two Good Resources.

I found a couple of recent 📖🎧📺 I found to be particularly good:

The Book of Five Rings: it’s written by an actual samurai from feudal times in Japan. The book details Miyamoto Musashi’s philosophy and training for combat/martial arts, but it’s easily applicable to business strategy. The translation to English makes it a tougher read, but I took away some really good lessons. It’s short, you can crush it in a week.

Boss Class 4 by The Economist: This is a nice podcast series. Fair warning - you’ll need a subscription to The Economist. I think it’s worth it, the insights provided are meaty and not the usual top-line fare you get elsewhere. This episode, “Inside the Yellow Line” is all about how to form and run teams. I’ll dive into this topic myself shortly.

One Great Quote.

I leave with you some words of wisdom:

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”

-Henry David Thoreau

Until next time…