Strands of Genius: Profanity Saves Instagram Forgotten App, Zoom Scavenger Hunt, Dance Ninjas with Fancy Coats
Guest curated by Jason Keath
This year we’re aiming to highlight 50 creative thinkers that have inspired us, by giving them the opportunity to guest curate this newsletter, Strands of Genius. Faris and Rosie met Jason when they were all living in NYC, and have stayed in touch ever since.
:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, JASON KEATH ::
LOCATION: Charlotte, NC
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Social Fresh
It was the week after one of our Social Fresh conferences a few years ago when my partner, Nicole, and I decided to escape to Disney World with a few friends. On one of the last nights, Rosie and Faris joined us in an all out assault on Epcot to “Drink Around the World.” We started with strong margaritas in Mexico. 10 countries later we had a very blurry dinner in Japan and MAY have stopped in at the UK pub before calling it a night. It’s very easy to miss IRL adventures like those today.
We’ve been forced to accept many challenges this year, like most of you. Our next social media conference is a couple weeks away, and we continue to learn a ton about how to make a virtual event more valuable. We’ve learned a lot about how to optimize networking and how reimagine the things you just can’t replicate. The biggest lesson is that people still crave these group experiences. We still need to learn, connect, and get ideas. Together.
Our next social media conference is Dec. 8-10, all virtual. Check it out to connect with like minded marketers =)
Editor’s Note (Rosie): We’ve known Jason and his partner Nicole since our NYC days, and they’ve always impressed us with what they put out into the world — whether it’s words of encouragement for friends or the Social Fresh events they curate and host. When people ask us about which events we’re impressed with, Social Fresh is always on the tip of my tongue — I could go on and on about why we loved it so much, but the biggest difference that I can put my finger on is how Jason and his team coach and work with the presenters. It means that the content is always ACE, and you’re left feeling as if the conference organizers cared about the presentations themselves and not having presenters with fancy titles. (Imagine that!) We’re very thankful to count Jason as a friend, and thrilled to have him back as a guest curator.
:: THE LINKS ::
HOW PROFANITY IS SAVING INSTAGRAM’S FORGOTTEN APP
Instagram launched a direct message app called Threads in late 2019 as an extension of its “close friends” feature. The app never did that well, but recently one of its features has been going viral on TikTok. The feature automatically adds well-designed subtitles to your video as you talk. And, it turns out these subtitles replace any profanity with random $#!%^ symbols. Now teenagers can’t stop posting these bleeped out Thread videos to TikTok. In turn, the Threads app is getting a big boost in downloads from a very important demographic. We see this with Snapchat filters a lot as well, where one specific feature or AR lens goes viral and millions of app downloads follow. (Casey Newton)
A ZOOM SCAVENGER HUNT, JUST TO FEEL ALIVE
We’re all still living that Zoom life. Adding a game to your Zoom call has been one of the more successful additions for virtual events. We did our first Zoom scavenger during a training event back in June and it was the most fun I’ve had on Zoom since the pandemic began. All you need is a list of weird things for everyone on the call to find in their home. You can have a lot of fun with the items. Make guests find something expired in their pantry or a piece of clothing they’ve never worn. Everyone gets 60 seconds to find each oddity. Chaos ensues. Pro-tip: Enlist someone to help keep score and come up with some fun prizes. Click the link for more ideas (and bonus - that post also links to holiday scavenger hunt suggestions!). (Life Between Weekends)
ICE-DODGING DANCE NINJAS SAVE WORLD WITH FANCY COATS
I love advertising as art. I don’t care if we can show ROI to the damn client, this Burberry video is beautiful. I just want to know what the pitch was for this. Probably something like… ice-dodging dance ninjas save the world through the power of their fancy coats. (Burberry)
Looking for more from Jason Keath? Those enrolled in The School of Stolen Genius will receive a deep dive from him in their inbox shortly! You can access all our expert interviews for SOSG here.
:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::
:: Game :: Risk, I get a little too serious
:: City :: I ❤️ NYC
:: Book :: Name of the Wind
:: Podcast :: Make Me Smart
:: Album :: The Doors
:: WHISKEY WEEKEND ::
Faris and Jason at a past Whiskey Weekend, attempting to strike a serious pose.
Social Fresh is where the world’s top social media marketers go to get inspired.
Inspiration is essential to education. It is the sunlight that drives our branches to reach out further than we thought possible. It drives us to grow. To do something new.
Attend Social Fresh Conference 2020 virtually, from December 8-10!
Tuesday opens the conference with a live Workshop with Founder and CEO Jason Keath (you know, the guy behind this edition of Strands). Wednesday kicks off with presentations, panel discussions, and live networking sessions. Thursday continues with more presentations and panel discussions, along with networking.
When this whole pandemic thing is over, we're definitely all going back to Epcot. I think if we plan it right Rosie and Faris, we can make it all the way from Mexico to Canada. It’s important to have goals. (R&F: Here’s to in-person hangs in 2020!)
Until then, I would love to meet you and the awesome people in the Genius Steals family. Say hello on Twitter, or connect on LinkedIn.
Jason Keath
jason@socialfresh.com
Strands of Genius is currently read by 12,000 subscribers. Support us by sponsoring an issue, becoming a member of The School of Stolen Genius or encouraging friends or colleagues to subscribe.
It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)