Airchat, Coachella, and multi-chat AI bots
Scroll to the end for the full scoop this week for creators, entrepreneurs, and social-first marketers.
Happy Monday evening! We’re covering a lot this week so let’s dive in.
In this edition:
💨 WTF is Airchat anyway? A new social audio app sparking buzz in SF
🔀 Poe’s Multi-bot Chat - Quora’s AI platform introduces multi-bot chat
🎡 Coachella 2024 Trends - Highlights and trends from Coachella 2024, including major brand activations
📸 TikTok vs. Instagram - Early feedback on TikTok Notes, the IG rival
🗳 Election Season Social Media - How platforms like TikTok and 𝕏 handle political content
👂 Other Updates - Quick-hitting news and updates across platforms like Instagram and 𝕏.
✨ Sauce Snippets - The good stuff. News, memes, and trends from the internet.
As always: stay saucey 🍯
—
AI & Creator Tools
💨 What is Airchat and why does it have Silicon Valley in a chokehold?
The invite-only social audio app that “has Silicon Valley and creators buzzing” is the brainchild of none other than Naval Ravikant and Brian Norgard.
🎙 What it is: Airchat is like if voice notes were a social media feed, but paired with AI-generated transcriptions of each recording. And the transcriptions are remarkably accurate. Some people are comparing it to a mix between Twitter and Clubhouse.
🤓 Who cares? The app has garnered feverish interest among certain communities (e/acc, crypto groups, AI developers) who are doling out invite links like giveaway prizes. Why? Chronically online people like myself tend to love a shiny new app with niche community migration patterns. It also helps that a beloved founder like Naval is backing it and actively promoting it.
🔑 How to join: The good news is you no longer need to scrounge for an invite because Naval opened up the platform to everyone on Friday. You can join by downloading the app on Android or iOS here. And like most new social apps, you probably won’t need an Airchat strategy any time soon. In fact, don’t overthink it at all. I recommend keeping an experimental mindset, because who knows — maybe an audio-first app like Airchat really is the future of social this time.
🔀 Poe launches a multi-bot chat feature
The Quora-owned AI platform Poe just rolled out a new update that introduces multi-bot chat. This means you can now interact with several AI models simultaneously in a single thread.
Who this update is for: This feature simplifies the process of comparing responses and finding the best combination of models for any task, so if you're someone who regularly uses multiple AI tools when working with LLMs, this update will definitely be helpful. Example: you could use GPT-4 for deep analysis, bring in the Web Search bot to gather current information, and then involve a specialized writing bot like Claude to help write content using insights from all previous interactions.
Social News & Trends
🎡 The Coachella rundown
Brand activations, creator moments, and social trends — the big picture takeaways we care about from Coachella 2024.
Pinterest launched its first Coachella activation, the Pinterest Manifest Station, which was a space for styling and makeup touch-ups while playing into creative Gen Z search trends.
Instagram introduced "Frames," a new Story sticker in collaboration with K-Pop group Le Sserafim. Users could shake their phones to watch the image develop, mimicking a Polaroid.
YouTube served as the official streaming partner, offering a lounge at the site and free live streaming plus on-demand videos of the festival, enabling global access to the performances.
Google promoted its Pixel 8 phone at the festival, showcasing its AI-driven "Magic Editor" for photo enhancements.
Poppi was all the rage with a hyper-focused influencer strategy, collaborating with Gen Z favorite Alix Earle. Poppi flew Earle and her entourage on a private jet to Casa Poppi and showered them in a branded fairytale, resulting in a 200% sales boost during the event.
📸 TikTok Notes: Early thoughts on the IG competitor
Two lucky regions got access to the new TikTok Notes app this week: Australia and Canada. Early reviews are starting to roll in on the app that could pose some serious rivalry to Instagram — if ByteDance plays its cards right.
What people are saying about TikTok Notes…
1) not enough content for interest graph to kick in
2) Pinterest style grid bucks the platform intent
3) no one is engaging with anything yet
4) feels more like TikTok's Threads than their IG
— Matthew Stasoff on 𝕏
It feels like I'm scrolling through the results of a Google Image search without knowing what the search was.
— Kevin Parry on 𝕏
TikTok coming out with TikTok notes as an Instagram killer makes me SO happy. F*ck Instagram to hell that app is actually evil.
— Raven on 𝕏
🗳 The TL;DR – Social media & political content this election season
If you’re like me and tend to tune out everything related to politics and social media (marketing, advertising, etc.) then this is the update for you. I’m only going to do this once (unless, heavens forbid, some Cambridge Analytica sh*t goes down later this year).
By now, the longstaying platforms like Meta (Facebook, Instagram) and Google (YouTube, search) have a pretty locked-in protocol for political content. The big headlines lately have been around how TikTok and 𝕏 (formerly Twitter) are handling US politics this election season.
Here’s what you should know:
TikTok bans all political ads, including cause-based ads from non-partisan groups — though some advertisers have found ways around the rules. The platform definitely influences young voters (especially in conservative regions), and faces ongoing challenges around moderating misinformation and addressing security concerns about its Chinese ownership. Still, no political ads allowed.
Twitter (now 𝕏) sees a third of tweets from U.S. adults as political, mostly circulating within toxic echo chambers. Twitter used to ban political ads, but Musk lifted the ban in August last year. Advertising on 𝕏 isn’t what I would call safe — but it isn’t stopping political ads from running. All advertisers need to do is fill out this Google Form to be considered to run political ads. 🙃
👂 Other updates to keep tabs on:
Meta AI is now included in Instagram, which means you can search the web without leaving the app. Meta also launched a new website, meta.ai, where you can chat with a bot and create images.
Meta is developing a program called "Creator A.I." that will let Instagram influencers create AI chatbot versions of themselves to interact with fans
Threads is expected to incorporate ads in the second half of this year.
𝕏 has a new simplified process for deploying ads on the platform, using AI-powered targeting tools
Taylor Swift's new album is all over TikTok, even though other Universal Music Group artists are unavailable due to a licensing dispute. TikTok even added a special new immersive campaign experience for the new album, letting fans make videos, participate in challenges, and access exclusive artwork.
Sauce Snippets
Stray news, memes, and trends from the internet ✨
Why AI will eventually fade from view as a buzzword — just as it should
John Deere is looking for a “chief tractor officer” to launch their TikTok account
When you don’t live in the states but you work with people who do
Elon Musk recently polled users on 𝕏 about bringing back its Vine video app — is it just another tease?
Gen Zers are in their 'boycott era' with the brands they advocate and the jobs they apply for
The Zuck memes taking over the timeline