If Gen Z is your target audience, it might be time to get back on Snapchat
+ big news from the M.T. Deco team!
quick summary ⚡️
Substack news from…us!
Snapchat has a bigger Gen Z audience than linear TV
Cultural gems for your to-read list, including why Alexis Ohanian is streaming a new series on X and the fashion world’s new favorite influencer (hint: it’s not a human)
The rise of the side hustle
a note from M.T. Deco founder Melissa
Hi friends, 🚨 a fun update 🚨 before we get to today’s issue of #ForYou…
I’m excited to share that we’re now offering a premium option of this newsletter! Tomorrow, you’ll get a preview of the first Friday edition in your inbox, and on Tuesday, we’ll send a special 💎Cultural Gems💎 before it shifts to paid.
Don’t worry; the Thursday edition as you know it isn’t changing. Here’s what free and paid subscribers can expect going forward:
Free:
Thursdays: Weekly wrap-up of digital + social trends with insights
Paid:
Tuesdays: Cultural Gems, AKA a curated list of content you should consume
Thursdays: Weekly wrap-up of digital + social trends and insights
Every other Friday: Special paid edition with exclusive content
+ other little bonuses along the way
Note the shift to paid allows us to invest more resources into the publication and continue to up-level contributions from all kinds of experts. We are so excited about this and to get into the weeds with our inner circle! But also, if you cannot afford to pay, please reach out to us at hello@mtdecoagency.com and we will offer it comped 🤍
I’ll share more tomorrow, but in the meantime, a huge thank you to everyone who has already been aboard in our journey and continues to cheer us on, you know who you are and we couldn’t do it without you.
xo, Melissa
the case for including Snapchat in your digital strategy
Kait Richmond is a writer, producer and contributor to the M.T. Deco Blog
It’s been years since Snapchat has felt like a relevant social media platform.
Once a trendy app thanks to the ephemeral nature of the content and fun filters to go with it, Snapchat has fallen out of favor since Instagram Stories and TikTok have become the preferred places to post for many in the Millennial and Gen Z audiences.
For a lot of people, though, it’s still in rotation, but in a different capacity than most of our other social accounts. [Personally, I use it to send video messages to a handful of my friends and look at what I was posting in 2015.]
So it’s been interesting to see a slew of industry headlines this month as Snap fights for relevance. Frankly, all of that was a reminder that a lot of people are still Snapchatters, even if the app doesn’t dominate our everyday digital strategy conversations.
The recent coverage bump is thanks to CEO Evan Spiegel’s recent letter to employees and the Partner Summit that followed. Snap is making a lot of changes to its platform and [Carrie Bradshaw voice] we couldn’t help but wonder…is Snapchat back?
Maybe not in a trendy way, but as the future of TikTok hangs in the balance, it’s worth getting up to speed on what’s happening with Snapchat in case you want [or need] to pivot. And the numbers make a strong supporting case:
Snapchat has 850 million MAU, putting it above X (Twitter), Pinterest, Reddit, and LinkedIn.
The app is one of the four social media platforms that have a bigger Gen Z audience than linear TV.
And it’s not just for kids: Snap says that of the 100M+ Snapchatters it reaches in the U.S., over 80% are aged 18 or older.
Here are a few of the company’s recent announcements that have people talking:
📰 Snapchat is getting its biggest redesign in years, The Verge - The app will be redesigned to have just three tabs: its popular messaging option, the camera, and a new tab that is similar to what you would see on TikTok. [Snap is betting that the new tab will be a more attractive option for creators.]
📰 Snap debuts operating system for AR glasses, Axios - This is the fifth generation of the AR glasses, and Spiegel told Axios that he thinks this device will eventually be as common as cell phones. Investing now puts Snap in a position to be a market leader, theoretically.
📰 Snapchat launches video comments and tools for creators seeking brand deals, Tech Crunch - This is a catchup to its competitors, but if Snapchat can give creators stronger tools and money, we suspect we’ll see a lot more creators using the app.
Like just about everyone else who operates in the digital world, Snapchat is really leaning in on working with and supporting creators. In fact, the company has been at it for some time. The Tech Crunch story reports: “Snapchat says that over the last year, the number of creators posting publicly has more than tripled, as creators posted nearly 10 billion Snaps to their Stories. The company also says there are nearly 15 billion interactions between creators and their viewers on the app every day.”
All of this news comes at a great time for Snap, no doubt from a skilled PR team seeking to combat a slew of negative headlines [layoffs, stock price drop, privacy concerns, and local news stories about teens making threats on the app].
Plus, its reputation has always been questionable at best. Like other social media platforms, Snapchat has been the site of a lot of bullying, but it often felt worse there because bullies were emboldened by the short lifespan of the content. More recently, the company turned off a feature that let users see “friendship rankings” because of [obvious] parent concerns.
We recently said Facebook is worth considering for your digital strategy, but noted that there are caveats. All of the platforms out there can be devious, some more than others. That’s why it’s important to be familiar with what they’re up to so you can plan your presence accordingly.
The bottom line? If Facebook is worth considering, it’s for the size of the audience. If Snapchat is worth considering, it’s for the audience’s age.
for ideas on how to get started on Snapchat, visit the MTD blog
fandoms have their own language
Coined by Cynthia Gordon, an associate professor of linguistics at Georgetown University, fanilect was originally inspired by Swifties [aka, Taylor Swift’s fandom].
“In using language this way, we’re creating connections with people who share the references and who understand what’s taking place. If you’re quoting Taylor Swift, that connects us.”
So, if you’ve ever quoted a piece of media in day-to-day conversation to signal to other fans, you’ve engaged in fanilect. Here are some examples of commonly used Swiftie fanilect:
👻 I’m the problem, it’s me
🐍 Look what you made me do
🍁 This is my trying
more on fanilect from Wired
💎cultural gems💎
The cultural moments and news that caught our attention this week:
NYT TO SELL AUDIO SUBSCRIPTIONS THROUGH APPLE AND SPOTIFY, axios
We talked a couple of weeks ago about the success The New York Times has found by putting their podcasts on YouTube, so this news seems like the next logical step. Starting in October, listeners will need to pay $6/month or $50/year in order to access older episodes of the The Times’ audio content.
DESPITE SEXIST ATTACKS, THESE FEMALE JOURNALISTS HAVE BUILT MASSIVE ONLINE AUDIENCES ON THEIR OWN, reuters institute
“Journalism is more precarious than ever. That’s why some young reporters are shunning news organisations and going solo with the help of newsletters, podcasts and other news formats. “
HERE’S WHY ALEXIS OHANIAN CHOSE X TO STREAM HIS NEW REALITY SERIES THE OFFSEASON, adweek
If you were confused when you read that Alexis Ohanian is debuting a new show on X, you probably weren’t the only one. He explained his decision at a Brandweek event, saying that X allowed him to retain more creative control than the traditional streamers.
ELLIE THE ELEPHANT NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION, elle
Sports mascots are social media gold if done right. Take Ellie, the New York Liberty’s fashionable elephant who “twerks and carries a Telfar bag.” Rose Minutaglio from Elle writes: “Ellie’s pre-game drip and half-court line performances are paving the way for something every influencer dreams of: collabs. Her style has caught the attention of both celebrities and fashion brands, including New York-based label Luar, which gifted her a seafoam-green bag in honor of the Liberty’s jersey color.”
tips
Send this to a friend who’s still debating their side hustle.
It can be scary, but a lot of people are doing it: more than a third of U.S. adults are finding ways to make $$$ outside of their standard 9-5s.
“The average side hustler is bringing in $891 per month. That’s up from $810 per month in 2023, or a 10% increase altogether.” - Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate.
more from CNBC
head to the MTD blog for 3 executives who have turned their side hustles into real money makers