💎 Whether or not follower count matters, the next everything app, and Meta loses 20M users
From deepfakes to detox phones and one very controversial Instagram take, here's what's shaping social this week
💎cultural gems💎
🚙 Uber wants to be the next everything app with a new batch of features that includes being your travel agent, concierge, and personal shopper too.
🔥 Away luggage lit one of their own suitcases on fire in response to DJ John Summit lighting his Rimowa suitcase [an Away competitor] on fire after it broke.
🎶 Spotify is rolling out green "Verified by Spotify" checkmarks for artists to help listeners distinguish real human musicians from the AI-generated content.
🤖 Deepfake scam ads of Taylor Swift and Rihanna are flooding TikTok, and even though the AI impersonations are a little janky, they're still tricking users into handing over their personal info to fraudulent sites.
🧥 Palantir, the government surveillance and data giant, just dropped a $239 chore coat in the name of "re-industrializing America," and it sold out in five hours.
📱 A growing number of burnt-out smartphone users are paying $75 to swap their iPhones for flip phones for a month, and some of them are actually sticking with it.
🪆 Hill House Home is dropping a line of nap dresses inspired by classic American Girl doll outfits, and millennial moms are already losing it over the chance to match their childhood Felicity doll.
Back in February, we discussed kids content on Open Tabs, particularly the recent moves that American Girl has been making [releasing a new, modern line, releasing a novel for adults]. Here are some of the highlights:
The whole toy category is struggling. It’s not really an American Girl problem, kids are just growing out of toys faster and spending more time on screens and collectibles.
The historical angle is their secret sauce. That’s what made them different from Barbie, and when they started making modern dolls, they kind of lost the plot.
Nostalgia only goes so far. American Girl was always kind of a luxury product, so not every millennial parent has that emotional connection the way they do with Barbie.
Their in-store experience is genuinely great. The NYC store with the doll salon and doll lunch was called affordable and fun, that kind of experience is hard to replicate and worth doubling down on.
They need a content play. The world-building is already there with the books and characters, they just haven’t brought it to screens yet, and that feels like the most obvious next move.
Below the paywall…
📉 Meta lost 20 million daily users last quarter and its stock dropped 7 percent
→ The company’s response? Spend $10 billion more on AI than planned. Revenue is still surging at $56.3 billion, but Reality Labs burned through $4 billion in just three months and has already seen two rounds of layoffs. The money is flowing in, but so are the cracks.
📊 Instagram says follower counts are the most misleading metric for creators
→ Adam Mosseri’s recent take has people talking, but the full picture is more complicated. Reach and followers aren’t in competition. For brands, campaigns, and anyone building a real audience, the follow is still one of the last genuinely human signals left on the internet.
