by Were you on MySpace, reader? I wasn’t. I’m Diamond Naga Siu, and I was barely human when I was growing up. But I hid on platforms like YikYak, Stumbleupon, Clubhouse, when they were still a thing.
Now, it may be Truth Social’s turn to fade away. With Trump all but back on all social media platforms, there is little that makes his site special. But it never really took off in the first place. Truth Social just became available on Android in October. And since launching in February 2022, it has only about 2 million active users, and studies show that number is declining.
But there’s no need to worry if you’re a Truth Socialite aficionado. The site probably won’t suddenly burn. It will likely slowly die out, going down the same painful path that Twitter and Facebook currently seem to be on.
On that cheery note, let’s dive into today’s technology (before it all crashes, too).
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1. Trump’s return to social media seals the fate of Truth Social. After the Capitol uprising, former President Donald Trump was banned from a number of social media platforms. A little over two years later, the sites have nearly all reversed their decisions. That takes away from Truth Social’s one selling point: access to Trump.
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Meta announced Wednesday that Trump would regain access to his Instagram and Facebook accounts within weeks. The company said it did not want to “get in the way of open, public and democratic debate”.
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Trump is contractually obligated to post to Truth Social before publishing the same post to another site for six hours. But there are two big and unknown Trump cards at stake right now: whether he will renew this deal (which seems increasingly unlikely) and whether he will also post on his other social media platforms once the ban is lifted.
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My colleague Beatrice Nolan looks into the future of Truth Social and what it means for Trump supporters.
Walk the tightrope of social media here.
In other news:
2. Ketamine is marketed as a wonder drug for depression, but for some people it actually makes things worse. The prevailing wisdom was that it was not addictive, and clinics around the country even marketed it as a mental health wonder drug. But people who use ketamine share a different story. Read more here.
3. These are the 15 best streaming TV shows of 2022. Stranger Things and Wednesday are among the most watched shows, based on total minutes watched in the United States. Check out the others here.
4. At least two Google couples have been fired together. “Two out of 12,000 [laid off] Googlers looked at each other in disbelief,” wrote a husband in a LinkedIn post. Read his account here. Meanwhile, another wife and husband — with a four-month-old baby — told Insider they too are been fired together.
5. This biotech CEO says he reduced his biological age by 5 years. Bryan Johnson’s goal is to have the body of an 18 year old. And early results show that he may actually be on his way to unlocking the age-reversal secret. Check out this rigorous medical program here.
6. Goodbye to subscriptions and hello to usage-based pricing. With a possible market crash on the horizon, the way we pay for things could change. The crash of ’08 brought subscriptions, and an imminent crash could lead to pay-per-use. Anticipate your pay curve here.
7. This CEO sued MLK in a firing announcement. There aren’t many great ways to lay off 7% of your company. But suing MLK might be one of the worst. Read the jarring email here.
8. Amazon employees are already using ChatGPT to code. Although employees were told not to use it for work, one Amazon created a workgroup to test the chatbot’s capabilities. They found that he is adept at answering customer questions and writing cloud training materials. Read more about the test here.
Frippery:
9. This is why people believe in conspiracy theories. By some measures, more than half of Americans believe in at least one conspiracy theory, even if it defies science or logic. Social scientists are starting to understand why: Overconfidence. Take a deep dive into how our brains work here.
10. This is what it’s like to work on a cruise ship. Alessandro Menegazzi is the general manager of a $450 million cruise ship. He compares it to traveling the world on a “five-star floating hotel”. All aboard to go behind the scenes with Alessandro at work.
Latest people move in technology:
Curated by Diamond Naga Siu in San Diego. (Comments or suggestions? Email [email protected] or tweet @diamondnagasiu) By Matt Weinberger (tweet @gamoide) in San Francisco and Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.
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