Cats Are Cute!
😬This animation hits close to home, and it's not because of the cats & dogs...
I jumped down the rabbit hole researching this animation, which only begins to scratch the surface of social media’s impact on the news. (Definitely dive into some of the links within this post to find out more.)
It’s not looking good for the news biz, which means it’s not looking good for truth, elections and democracy.
In the latest sign (or screaming bullhorn) that Big Tech is distancing itself from news, politics and social commentary, Meta announced it was no longer going to recommend political content and social commentary on Instagram and Threads.
They’re not going to outright ban the content, but they are going out of their way to NOT promote it on the various Meta platforms. (They had already started deprioritizing news and politics on Facebook.)
In other words, the algorithm is going to do its best to hide information that is essential to a functioning democracy.
Sure, you may still be able to see political content from the people or organizations you already follow, but your bubble is going to stay your bubble — and will not include any new or different voices. (Not to mention the fact that Meta already limits the content seen by most followers, in an attempt to get content creators to “boost,” or buy, access to their followers.)
But it’s not all evil Big Tech’s fault, over the years news organizations across the United States (and the world) have bent over backwards to prop up their shaky business models by relying on social media.
That came with its own set of problems — including in many cases dumbing-down the news and turning news into catchy posts that attempted to go viral, which further undermined journalism.
From the cesspool that used to be Twitter undermining news, headlines and journalists to Meta turning away from politics and commentary, journalism is now in even more dire straits.
News organizations (and yours truly) are realizing that the only defense against the whims of Big Tech is to reach your audience directly . . . and come up with a variety of new and creative ways to support this thing called journalism.
Which is why I am SO appreciative of your support and why it really matters.
In other news, today OpenAI just released their text-to-video model, called Sora.
My jaw is still on the floor after looking through their sample videos, which look incredible — although I did spot a cat with three front legs in one video.
(Shown here waking his AI-owner with his two left front legs while his right front leg rests on the bed. I can’t wait to see the look on the woman’s face when she sees that extra cat leg!)
Soras’ videos look amazing, and there is definitely a bias towards 3D-style animation.
Don’t worry, though, I’m not going to go all-AI and give up actually drawing. It’s just an exciting new tool-on-steroids that is moving at the speed of light.
In case you missed it, here is my current take on the flood of AI.
Thanks for being here! -Mark