Block19 Backlash
Backlash Shuts Down Lego Gun Mod Kit Sales
Episode 356 – July 17, 2021
Topics:
- Improv Everywhere Dances In The Streets
- Seller Ratings In Search
- Twitter NFTs
- Kindle Vella Serialized Stories
- Targeted Tweets
- Reel Ads
- Clever Welcome Email
- Facebook’s Bulletin Courts Creators
- Amateur Athlete Influencers
- Cuban Spaces
- Porno DiGiorno
- You’re Fired Bot
- Lego Glock
- Packaging Email
- Clubhouse Demographics
During episode 356, BL and David discuss the backlash over Culper Precision’s Lego kit for a Glock handgun; Improv Everywhere’s New York city dance party; Google’s test of seller ratings in search; Twitter’s Non-Fungible Tokens; Amazon’s Kindle Vella serialized fiction platform; Twitter’s testing of new conversational features; Instagram’s Reel advertising; BusinessInsider’s clever welcome email; Facebook launching it’s Substack clone, Bulletin; the advent of the college athlete influencer; This Week in Cuba Twitter Space; DiGiorno’s crowdsourced slogan; an Amazon contractor gets fired by bot; emails on packaging; Clubhouse demographics;…and much, much more.
Share on Linkedin Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on Messenger Share on Reddit Share on Skype Share on WhatsApp Share on EmailBest Practices
Dancing In The Streets
In a brilliant, only-in-New York event, Improv Everywhere generated a dance party in collaboration with the Museum of the City of New York’s new exhibition New York, New Music: 1980-1986.
eCommerce Store Ratings In Organic Search
Google is testing the inclusion of seller ratings in organic search, a feature which was previously displayed only in paid search.
- Google Tests Seller Ratings in Organic Search
- Check your seller ratings: https://www.google.com/shopping/ratings/account/lookup?q=www.example.com
— Brodie Clark (@brodieseo) June 26, 2021
Twitter NFTs
Twitter posted, “140 free NFTs for 140 of you, besties,” nodding to Twitter’s initial 140 character limit. But you can’t buy them. Yet.
— Twitter (@Twitter) June 30, 2021
Amazon Serialized Fiction
The Amazon Kindle Vella is a new serialized fiction platform.
Conversational Twitter Features
Twitter is working on a new option which would enable users to share their tweets with selected audiences, as opposed to all of their followers with every tweet. The idea is that this would help users get more out of their Twitter experience, and avoid them having to create separate accounts for different audiences and interests.
- Twitter is Testing New Audience Controls on Tweets, Making it Easier to Engage Around Various Topics
— A Designer (@a_dsgnr) July 1, 2021
Instagram’s Reels Get Ads
The ads will be full screen and vertical, and appear in between individual posts.
Best Subscription Welcome Email Ever!
A thank you for subscribing email from Insider introduces you to some top reporters and links to their scoops.
Facebook Launches Substack Clone
The social network has partnered with a few well-known individuals to help Bulletin hit the ground running.
Here Come The Amateur Athlete Influencers
College athletes can now monetize their social media.
This Week In Cuba
Young Cubans are slipping past one of the world’s strictest censorship regimes to tune into “This Week in Cuba.”
Worst Practices
DiGiorno Goes Great With Porno
On July 14, DiGiorno took to Twitter to solicit a new slogan. What could go wrong!?
Screw the slogan. Launch a new cologne instead. Call it DiGior. Make it smell like pizza. Get sued by the French. Sell a ton more pizza from all the free press.— David Berkowitz (@dberkowitz) July 15, 2021
Give us a new slogan.— DiGiorno (@DiGiorno) July 15, 2021
— Steven Frost (@MetaMortis) July 15, 2021
Fired By Bot
Stephen Normandin spent almost four years racing around Phoenix delivering packages as a contract driver for Amazon.com Inc.
Unbelievable: Gun Kit Makes Glock Look Like A Toy
Culper Precision’s custom design for a Glock handgun arrived at a time when gun violence is soaring and little is being done to keep lethal weapons out of the hands of children, who wind up shooting themselves or others.
- ‘SUPER FUN’: A gun covered in Legos to look like a toy sets off a furor
- Sales Of Lego-Covered Gun Halted
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 8, 2021
Hotmail On Packaging?
Smiles
Shiny New Stuff
B.L.’s Finds
- Percentage Calculator – Calculates percentage 3 different ways. Yay! Using a simple and clean interface, this site lets you calculate percentages three ways: – What is x% of a number? – x is what % of y? – What is the % change between x and y?
- YouTube Shorts – Video editor is now available worldwide. Make sure you have the latest version of the YouTube Mobile app, then tap the Create icon.
You can use music, original audio from other videos, and record your own video (up to 60 seconds). And you can add multiple video clips. Learn how to create a Short.
David’s Finds
- MediaManipulation.org – The Media Manipulation Casebook is a digital research platform linking together theory, methods, and practice for mapping media manipulation and disinformation campaigns. This resource is intended for researchers, journalists, technologists, policymakers, educators, and civil society organizers who want to learn about detecting, documenting, describing, and debunking misinformation.
- QuoteInvestigator.com
Politics
Pro Tips
B.L.’s Pro Tips
YouTube has begun using machine learning to provide titles and time stamps on videos to create “chapters” which point to the topics within videos – like we do on our channel.
David’s Pro Tips
Meltwater’s Webinar Marketing
- Peloton giveaway:
- Tweet or post on LinkedIn that you’ll be attending
- Include Meltwater handle, event hashtag & link to the registration page
- Attend to discover the winner
- Identifying ‘Real Opens’ Is Key to Adapting to Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection
- How to Create a Reliable Opens Audience for Non-Apple Mail Users