Fired on a Zoom Call | JOMO for 6th Dec

In today’s JOMO: That sinking feeling, the Tik Tok Algo and George Clooney

*New*: We are rolling out JOMO cards from today so that you can.. er.. share them forward? Like post them on social and Twitter and WA statuses you know? Tell us what you think about them: your encouragement is directly proportional to how long they will last 

🗞In the news

SoftBank shares fall as value of portfolio companies plummets - FT

SoftBank Group shares fell 8 per cent on Monday, their seventh consecutive day of losses, as mounting problems at its portfolio companies Didi Chuxing and Arm revived concerns over the Japanese technology conglomerate’s business model.As of Monday morning, SoftBank was trading at more than a 50 per cent discount to its October 1 NAV.

That sinking feeling

New York CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call 

The CEO of New York-based online mortgage lender Better.com has sacked a total of 900 employees with immediate effect during a now-viral Zoom call

The part when he says: ‘if you are on this call, you are getting fired’, is really yikes. The Zoom call video

🤩New products, features, launches 

DoorDash launches ‘ultra-fast’ delivery in NYC, with couriers who are actual employees - Verge

DashMart workers will be part of what the company calls DashCorps, considered full- and part-time employees — instead of independent contractors — and many will be eligible for benefits. DashCorps workers will have set schedules and be paid $15 per hour, plus tips, the company said.

🎨Design, Research, UX

Duolingo interprets 2021, with TikTok and Squid Game inspiring users to learn new languages - Verge

More than two-thirds of users Duolingo surveyed said a “cultural event” might inspire them to try to pick up a new language, with 29 percent saying TikTok videos in other languages served as motivation. Among those who were inspired by a streaming show to learn a new language, 37 percent started lessons in Spanish after watching Money Heist; 28 percent decided to learn Korean after watching Squid Game, and 20 percent took up French after watching Emily in Paris.

And here I am stuck on Lesson 1 German 😭

🤔Interesting read

How TikTok Reads Your Mind - NYT

It has chosen to optimize for two closely related metrics in the stream of videos it serves: “retention” and “time spent.” The app wants to keep you there as long as possible. “This system means that watch time is key. The algorithm tries to get people addicted rather than giving them what they really want,”

Not really sure what is so *revealing* in this story: almost every algorithmic feed is this. Or maybe the NYT realised this today

The 2021 NFT Market Explained

Users have spent $26.9B+ on NFTs in 2021 so far, most transactions are under $10,000, and CryptoPunks is the most popular collection with $3B sales

To be read with a wholesome spoon of salt

Twitter Has a New CEO; What About a New Business Model? - Stratechery

There is a reason that Twitter’s userbase is only a fraction of Instagram’s, and it’s not a lack of awareness; the reality is that most people are visual, and Twitter is textual. Which, of course, is exactly why Twitter’s most fervent users can’t really imagine going anywhere else.

Mandatory reading from Ben Thompson from last week, ICYMI.

Three steps to the future - Benedict Evans

The most exciting themes in technology today are transformative visions for 2025 or 2030: crypto, web3, VR, metaverse… and then everything else. Meanwhile, hundreds of start-ups take ideas from the last decade and deploy them over and over in one industry after another. And trying to keep up, the old economy faces waves of disruption from ideas we first talked about in the 1990s.

To be consumed, slowly, throughout the week: total 94 slides

📊Poll for the day

If you were to get fired, got forbid, which medium would you prefer

Zoom call 

Phone call

Email

Face to face

Reminds me of George Clooney’s Up in the Air ‘Fire me’ scene

Curated from:

Morning Brew, Verge, Techcrunch, Techmeme, CNBC, Hacker News, Product Hunt and more