Instagram, Snapchat, & Ordinary Astronauts

Happy Sunday!

This week, we’ve got essays on Instagram, Snapchat, recommendation algorithms, and the mindset of elite endurance athletes.

Two big things to pay attention to:

Every's Talent Collective

Last week we launched Every's Talent Collective, and the response was amazing. Our community now has 80+ job seekers from top companies like Google, Uber, and Meta.

If you're looking to hire and want access to talent from the Every community you should click here.

Ordinary Astronauts Episodes 2 & 3

Last week Dan and Nathan launched new podcast: Ordinary Astronauts. The response has been fantastic, and episodes 2 & 3 are now live:

• Nathan interviews Logan Bartlett about how Cartoon Avatars blew up
• Dan and Nathan discuss Instagram, the productivity backlash, and psychological growth

Let’s dive in! 

Instagram’s Existential Bet

Nathan Baschez / Divinations

In case you missed it, Instagram has been rolling out some product changes in its ongoing quest to top TikTok, and the whole thing has set off a controversy with Kylie Jenner.

Needless to say, all of this is Nathan’s idea of a good time. So this week on Divinations, he’s weighing in: is Reels even working? Why or why not? And is this some weird, counter-intuitive genius strategy, or will the whole thing blow up in their face? 

Read.

Snapchat’s Probably Screwed

Evan Armstrong / Napkin Math

Over in Snapchat’s neck of the social media woods, things aren’t looking so hot. Their stock is down 87% over the past year, cash flow is negative $147M in Q2, and the company straight up refused to give guidance for Q3. Yikes. 

The way Evan sees it, what’s happening here isn’t a mystery; it’s a combination of poor execution and a fundamental misunderstanding of how the digital advertising market works. So this week, using the company’s most recent investor presentation as a guide, Evan’s going in, unpacking how Snapchat’s product and growth have evolved, and what their role in the ads market actually is. 

Read.

You Grow From Your Edges

Dan Shipper / Superorganizers

In Standing at the Edge, Zen priest Joan Halifax has two big ideas. The first is that things we usually pursue because we think they're good, like altruism or empathy, can when pursued to their extreme tip our psychology over the edge from health into sickness..The second is that we grow the most when we fall over the edge.

In this week's Superorganizers Dan explores these ideas and why they are relevant for operators and founders in tech.

Read.

The Ultramarathon Mindset

Courtney Dauwalter won a 240-mile ultramarathon through the desert in 2017. In this article, researcher Lewis Kallow unpacks the mindset that Courtney used in order to perform at her peak through the pain and exhaustion caused by the extreme conditions of the race. He discusses the science behind the tactics she used, and how you can apply it to your own life and business.

Read.

The End of Social Media

Michael Mignano / Every

Michael Mignano, co-founder of Anchor and Head of Talk at Spotify, believes that algorithmic feeds (like the one that drives TikTok’s “For You” page) are going to largely replace traditional friend graphs across all social networks.

In this piece he unpacks why, and what he believes comes next.

Read.

🎧 OA Episode 3: Instagram's Existential Bet

Dan and Nathan discuss Instagram's recent shift towards becoming more like TikTok, the growing meme that advanced note-taking setups are "mid", and why psychologically, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. (1h 22 min)

Listen.

ICYMI: Nathan interviews Logan Bartlett on episode #2 of OA.

🎧Building a Better Internet

Joey Debruin & Sari Azout / Tokens, But How? 

Sari and Joey interview Every's very own Li Jin this week. In this episode they discuss building a more fair internet—and how web3 and ownership can help do that.

Listen.

That’s all for this week!