Each week, we sift through a ton of content and then debate it ad nauseam at FEVO HQ. And since good content, like the mind, is a terrible thing to waste, we are also sharing it here with you, our fans, in the form of this weekly blog post on e-commerce, media and life on the internet.

Pew Research: Teens, Social Media and Technology 2022  

As will come as a surprise to absolutely no one, TikTok is all the rage with teens these days. According to a new report from Pew Research, 67% of teens have used the platform, with 16% indicating they use it almost constantly. Perhaps more surprising is that 95% of teens have used YouTube, demonstrating the enduring ubiquity and reach of the OG video-sharing platform. Facebook, though, is old news. Usage has plummeted from 71% in the 2014-2015 survey to 32% today. It’s “giving boomer,” as the teens might say. There are a ton of good insights and data in this study with regard to how the next generation of shoppers consumes social media.

Dan Runcie: How Cash App Leveraged Celebrities For Major Growth

Dan Runcie, the founder of Trapital, a newsletter about the business of hip-hop, outlines the playbook Cash App used to vault itself into the mainstream consciousness. TL;DR: They partnered with rappers to give away millions of dollars to new users, which in turn led to incredibly low user-acquisition costs and, even more importantly, cultural cachet.

Nir and Far: Here’s How Amazon’s Alexa Hooks You

Yes, this post is about Amazon and Alexa, but we’re sharing it because of how applicable these lessons are across any habit-forming technology. The article explains how Alexa and other similarly powerful technologies like Facebook, iPhones, etc., use a “hook,” aka any experience “designed to connect the user’s problem with the company’s product with enough frequency to form a habit.” Basically this means that if you can deliver a product that solves a user’s problems (even if they don’t realize they even have those problems!), you will be able to keep them coming back forever.  
‍

More Links We Love

• A handy primer on how to better utilize Google search (Chris Hladczuk)

• This infographic nicely summarizes the payment ecosystem and most of the players involved (@Mallik70)

• A thorough history of Apple Ads from the 1970s to present day (Web Designer Depot)

• Zapier’s SEO strategy is impressive, robust and most importantly, effective (Harvey Hodd)

• The origin story behind Costco’s beloved Kirkland Signature (CNN)

• Why is the metaverse so ugly? (Forbes)

‍