Keep scrolling for the D’Amelio family’s new business venture.
Lemon8, a ByteDance-owned app, is gaining popularity in the United States amid talk of a potential TikTok ban.
After debuting in 2020, Lemon8 recently reached #10 on the Top Charts of the US App Store.
The app is described as a hybrid of TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest.
With a "Following" and "For You Page," the app's interface is similar to TikTok. The difference, however, is that Lemon8 prioritises images rather than short-form videos, where users can save these posts to their profile.
Over the last week, Lemon8 has been gaining traction among US TikTok creators, with many urging their followers to download the app.
Read more about Lemon8 from author and venture capitalist Olivia Moore via Twitter.
A new piece by Nathan Grayson for The Washington Post breaks down the evolution of Twitch and how the platform has gone astray in recent years.
With over 30 million daily active users, Twitch is arguably the most successful live-streaming app. But Twitch has recently fallen on hard times, laying off over 400 employees this month.
Grayson suggests several factors that have led to Twitch's decline — most of which stem from the company prioritising profit over the creator and user experience (surprise, surprise)…
Twitch viewership has remained relatively steady over the years, even as big-name streamers left the platform. With Twitch's audience largely unaffected by these shifts, the company has started offering popular creators "less lucrative contracts."
As management seeks to cut costs, employees claim that Twitch executives have become "unsympathetic to the needs of creators," especially when it comes to burnout.
They have also pushed for advertisement on the platform, something that "streamers are uniquely opposed to."
"Many streamers fear that if a viewer comes to a new channel and immediately hits an ad, they might just leave. Ads can also interrupt a broadcast's biggest live moments, such as when a streamer completes a run of a difficult game or hits a big subscriber milestone," Grayson writes.
Amazon, Twitch's parent company, has also placed some of the platform's most popular features in maintenance mode. Because of this, these functions are no longer a priority for "major innovation or overhauls," despite requests by users for updates.
Read the full story via The Washington Post.
The viral Pope In A Coat was actually AI
BuzzFeed's Chris Stokel-Walker interviews Pablo Xavier — the creator of the AI-generated image of Pope Francis wearing a puffer jacket. The piece explores the story behind the picture and what this viral moment means for artificial intelligence and misinformation online.
Pablo generated the image using the AI program MidJourney.
"I try to do funny stuff or trippy art — psychedelic stuff. It just dawned on me: I should do the Pope ... 'The Pope in Balenciaga puffy coat, Moncler, walking the streets of Rome, Paris,' stuff like that," he reflects.
He shared three AI-generated images of Pope Francis on Facebook and Reddit. The post expressed "no ill will toward" Christianity; however, he was banned from Reddit hours after posting.
Many internet users believed the image was legitimate, using it to "criticise the Catholic Church for lavish spending."
Because of this, Pablo hopes that laws will be introduced to regulate misinformation associated with AI-generated content.
"As far as using it for regular images, if you want to do a Vincent van Gogh, I feel that kind of stuff is fine... using it for public figures, that might be the line," he says.
Read the full interview via BuzzFeed.
JoJo Siwa has stirred up drama with her exes on social media
JoJo Siwa has been called out by ex-girlfriend Katie Mills for labelling her and Avery Cyrus as "clout-chasers" and "love bombers."
JoJo and Katie started dating back in December 2021. And by September 2022, JoJo and Avery were dating. The two split just three months later.
Earlier this week, JoJo posted a TikTok titled "Me trying to find love…" in which she pretends to duck from "red flags" that pop up on the screen. The red flags include clout-chasing, love bombing, and exes.
Katie stitched the TikTok and addressed the alleged cross-over between herself and Avery in JoJo’s love life.
"You hold a lot of power, you and your platform. How can you tell someone that you love them and then ghost them the next day and then post all over the internet that we're clout-chasers and love bombers? I don't get it," Katie says. "You sent me and Avery through hell for months and gave us no explanation why. You know we weren't love bombers or clout chasers."
She went on to say that all the social media harassment Katie and Avery have both received since their split with JoJo was "starting to die", but now JoJo has resurrected that hate with this video.
Read the full story via Centennial Beauty.
The D'Amelios are building a shoe brand
TikTok's royal family is set to drop D'Amelio Footwear under the newly-established company, D'Amelio Brands.
The D'Amelios started teasing the shoe brand's launch in January 2023.
In a recent interview with FootwearNews, Marc D'Amelio explained (loose term here) why footwear was the perfect starting point for D'Amelio Brands.
"This product category was something as a family, with the power of all three incredible women in my family, we would be able to launch in a good way...It just made sense to us. They all love footwear," he notes.
Set to release in June, the first drop of women's shoes will include seven styles.
Follow along with the launch via Instagram.
The Rise & Fall Of FaZe Clan: How Going Public Collapsed The World's Most Famous Gaming Collective
This week's infinite scroll podcast breaks down the recent downfall of FaZe Clan, one of the world's most famous esports and gaming creator collectives. We first dive into FaZe's background as a company - who they are, what they do, and their financial history - before getting into the horrible economic situation they've found themselves in after going public six months ago.
Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.