The Best Instagram Formats, The Meaning Matrix, and Welcome To the Post-Naive Internet

👋🏼 Hello

As we mentioned a few weeks ago, we’ve added a lick of paint to our looooong running Friday Newsletter. We want to make it more interactive, so let’s dive in!

🔔 We’re looking for people to test a video format for a client - if you’d like to help out get in touch and we’ll send you the details. We’d also love suggestions for our new weekly poll ⬇️⬇️⬇️ - if there’s something you’d like to ask our newsletter audience in next week’s poll, drop me an email!

📕 The Short Story

Kikk Media/Arts Festival In Belgium (2-day Festival)

Welcome to the Post-Naive Internet Era (5-min read)

Electronic Music From The PDP-1 (10-min read/listen)

Everything Is Television (8-min read)

The Best Instagram Formats For Any Account Size (5-min read)

Paul Thomas Anderson Narrates Screen Tests for Phantom Thread (9-min watch)

The Working Class Hero Of Bletchley Park (10-min read)

The Meaning Matrix (3-min read)

Why 1440 Is Evolving Into a Destination For Explainers (5-min read)

Amazing Improv Music on NYC Streets (3-min watch)

📣 Migrant Workers’ Remittances Are Worth 6x More Than All Global Aid (3-min read and interactive data viz gallery) 📣

📚 The Long Story

KIKK Media/Arts Festival In Belgium (2-day Festival)
Next week I’m in Belgium to do a talk at the KIKK media/arts festival. I’ve not been before, but the line-up looks great. I’m talking about 5 reasons to be optimistic about the future of attention. If you’re at KIKK, come and say hi! If not, they’ll post the talks to YouTube, so I’ll share mine here once it’s posted.

Welcome to the Post-Naive Internet Era (5-min read)
This brilliant post from Mozilla Foundation’s new online zine Nothing Personal is very strongly related to my talk at KIKK next week. It maps out a new network of projects that aren’t trying to return to a pre-social media web, but starting to build in the cracks forming in the post-social web. Preach!

Electronic Music From The PDP-1 (5-min read/listen)
A lot of people have shared this video of PDP-1, one of the world’s first commercial computers, being programmed to play Boards of Canada’s Olson via punch tape. Sometimes old tech is just as magical as new tech.

Everything Is Television (8-min read)
Derek Thompson’s post about why social media isn’t social anymore, but just consuming video, is insightful if a little over-reaching. But it includes references to Neil Postman, Robert Puttnam and Walter Ong, so it hits the venn diagram of my media theory interests right in the middle.

The Best Instagram Formats For Any Account Size (5-min read)
Something very practical and useful that Anjali posted in the Storythings’ Slack. Great data on how Reels, Carousels and Images drive engagement depending on the size of your Instagram following.

Paul Thomas Anderson Narrates Screen Tests for Phantom Thread (9-min watch)
With his new film One Battle After Another looking like it’s going to win all the Oscars, I loved this video of PTA talking about what he was trying to achieve with screen tests for his earlier film Phantom Thread. Come for the nerdy insights about camera lenses and film stock, stay for the hilarious food fights at the end between Lesley Manville and Daniel Day-Lewis.

The Working Class Hero Of Bletchley Park (10-min read)
I’ve read a lot about the Code Breakers at Bletchley Park, and visited the excellent museum there a few times. But although I’d heard about Tommy Flowers’ story, I didn’t realise how long he kept his secrets about building the first computer. I’m glad he got recognition before he passed. (BTW - google Bletchley Park for a very cute Google Easter Egg)

The Meaning Matrix (3-min read)
I just saw this in Ash Mann’s newsletter as I was writing the newsletter, and had to bump a couple of other stories to include it. It’s such a simple framework, but actually quite profound. Try to spend more of your time in Quadrant Four!

Why 1440 Is Evolving Into a Destination For Explainers (5-min read)
I love the 1440 newsletter, and really liked their thinking about how to respond to the challenges of LLM search. Their answer - double down on what they do best - explaining the world to their readers in simple and shareable ways.

Amazing Improv Music on NYC Streets (3-min watch)
This was linked to from The Meaning Matrix above, and I absolutely fell in love with it. Ari is a musician who walks the streets of NYC with a ridiculous rig of keyboards, speakers, samplers and cameras, inviting passers-by to improvise songs around his beats. This clip is a lovely example of his creativity and generosity - the bit where the flute guy comes in is insane!

📣 Migrant Workers’ Remittances Are Worth 6x More Than All Global Aid (3-min read and interactive data viz gallery) 📣
I’ve been doing a few talks recently about the work we do on Storyfinding versus Storytelling. This is an example we use a lot from when we first started working with ADP, and were digging into stories about remittances. At a time when governments are persecuting migrant workers, it’s really important to remember the vital contribution they make not just for their families, but for the global economy.

💌 Humans of LinkedIn

Yes, there are actual humans on LinkedIn posting interesting and thoughtful links, not just humblebrags or self-promo videos. This week, I loved this link from our friend (and expert CMO) Graham Wylie about why restaurants love solo diners. It’s just a fantastic, human, piece of writing. Here’s why Graham loved it:

“As someone who travels a lot for work and often eats alone as a result, I love the sentiment of this piece”

READ ‘THE SOLO DINER’ →

I hope you like the new look. If you have any feedback, hit reply and let us know!

Have a fantastic weekend - Matt, Anjali, Hugh, and the team.