Instagram's worst (or best?) ads yet

Also: Interview with an author on his new book about the Boy Scouts' LGBTQ reckoning.

Author

Nick Wolny
June 06, 2024

In partnership with

Today I have for you an exclusive interview with an LGBTQ+ author, a hot take on a controversial Instagram experiment, news links and a really fun game recommendation for your phone.

—Nick Wolny

The reckoning of ‘Morally Straight’

Book image c/o Simon and Schuster

My friend and journalism colleague Mike De Socio debuted his new book this week, and it's a stunner.

Scouting has been one of America's most popular youth programs for decades. The Boy Scouts of America, which recently renamed itself to Scouting America, had over 2 million participants between the ages of 5 and 21 in 2018, though that’s down from 3.4 million in 1999.

In the 1970s, the BSA began establishing policies regarding who can and cannot participate in Scouting. Homosexuals weren’t allowed, with a memo that queerness conflicted with being “morally straight.”

The resulting decades-long battle led to a Supreme Court case, extensive activism, vitriol and eventually massive legal judgments against the BSA, forcing them into bankruptcy.

Mike chronicled all of this history and blended it with a thoughtful, narrative approach to produce his first book. I interviewed him back in April about it, and the profile is now live. If you enjoy reading about what makes authors tick, give this one a read over on Medium with my friend link.

Instagram is testing unskippable ads

Picture this: You're scrolling along on social media, and then everything stops and you have to watch an ad in order to continue browsing. Would you stay or would you go?

Instagram wants to find out. The company is beta-testing unskippable ads that would appear in feed. Screenshots from users experiencing the beta test show an ad break icon with a countdown timer, showing how long you have to watch the ad before you can dismiss, similar to how YouTube works.

Some consumers don't like it and have taken to platforms like X and Reddit to air out their grievances. But Instagram probably doesn’t care. The app has become a massive cash cow for Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms; earlier this year, a court filing revealed Instagram generated $32 billion in ad revenue in 2021. (In comparison, YouTube did $28.8 billion). Not bad for a photo app that Facebook snapped up for just $1 billion back in 2012, widely considered one of the best acquisitions of the 21st century.

But back to the damn ads. Maybe users won’t care, either? The Instagram feed has changed a lot recently; nearly half of a user's feed is AI-recommended content from unfollowed profiles.

If you're a mindless doomscroller, this forced video ad break might actually be good for you. Read this writeup at TechCrunch if you’re on the fence.

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Reading is fundamental

Online business industry

X tweaked its rules to formally allow adult content. The conditions are that the activity is consensual and legal, but that can be hard to prove. Some are whispering that this could be groups for Apple to remove X from the App Store. (TechCrunch)

Stop with the MLMs already. Watch out for this predatory new Instagram and TikTok scam. Nice piece from Latina money expert Jannese Torres on how to read between the lines in the online business industry. (CNET)

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Money

E*Trade considers kicking meme-stock leader Keith Gill off the platform. The meme stock trader is the mastermind behind juicing GameStop's prices. (The Wall Street Journal)

How to simplify or avoid the probate process. If you don't have a will and trust, your loved ones might have to endure probate court when you die, and no one wants that. (Rocket Lawyer)

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AI and future tech

Embattled robotaxi company Cruise will begin testing service in Dallas with human drivers in its vehicles. Some nuance here: The state of Texas controls the laws regarding AVs, not the cities. (Axios)

Elon Musk directed Nvidia to reroute $500 million in processing chips to X ahead of Tesla, likely delaying innovation efforts by several months. The move raises ethical questions regarding a CEO's ability to route resources intended for a publicly-traded company to a private one. (CNBC)

AI is imitating the dead and dying, raising new questions about grieving. Griefbots are becoming a thing now; wasn’t this a Black Mirror episode? (AP News)

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LGBTQ

Tinder is adding “pride badges.” The badges let users communicate their relationship to Pride month with things like “came out online,” “ally,” and more. (Tinder newsroom)

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ruled that the government discriminated against one of its employees when they denied him gender-affirming healthcare. The prison employee, Marc Lawrence, had been appealing for eight years regarding the incident, which originally happened in 2013. (LGBTQ Nation)

Digestif

Are you playing Coffee Golf yet?! I AM OBSESSED.

The game is free and uses haptic feedback. It has a daily game as well as a map to navigate over time -- kinda like Candy Crush. This gay knows what the wedge does now! 💁🏻‍♂️⛳️

Download Coffee Golf for free on the App Store here or the Google Play store here. It takes a moment to get used to, but once you get your bearings you'll be hooked.

Cheering you on,

—Nick

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