You know that horrible experience when you first buy a car, and then you see loads of the same one coming in the opposite direction all the time. It’s a known human cognitive bias, the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon, I know it’s false, but I am experiencing it with vertical things at the minute and I can’t work out where it is going.
It started on Saturday when I was running (donate to London For Lucie by the way!) and listening to The Vergecast. In which they were talking about all video apps being the same, just consuming each other’s ideas and increasing the length of vertical video viewable in apps. Which is interesting considering, as they point out, a service like Quibi, despite it terrible name, might not have been the worst idea ever. An idea explored in episode 1 of The Big Flop. Smartphone users really like vertical videos, and it feels much more natural.
This started a flash back to weird marketing events I have been to where people have discussed vertical video and very much switched off (I hate those type of events). I began to wonder just how much do people prefer watching vertical videos because it does make a lot of sense for many situations, but everything bar the smartphone sticks to horizontal. Of course, you can find stats all over the place, but turns out – it’s a lot.
Still seems odd to me outside of quick scrolling social media, but I’m not one to argue with the stats and considering how old I am, my opinions could just be the old guy shouting at the clouds again. It just made me think back to a few years ago when any person filming vertical video would have been chastised. Now it is not only the norm, but it is expected. This also got me questioning many things.
There’s new TV’s with vertical modes, floor stands to make yours do it, and all sorts of products pushing vertical monitors. It seems absurd at first, but when you stop and think about it, it makes a lot of sense. I’m a bit stuck with a reason on actual TVs, but websites, apps and almost any user interface I come across has the majority of its elements in a vertical stack. This got me thinking about my work, mainly being in web UI and Print design (which is nearly all vertical). I had side eyed the oddly shaped LG DualUp when it was first launched, thinking it made sense at the time – so I bought one.
It was relatively cheap in the world on monitors, and comes with a really nice ergonomic arm, so I feel like I got a good deal. However, as soon as I placed it down on my desk (well, clamped it to it) I felt conflicted. As much as the size and orientation makes sense, it just feels strange. That all went away when using it, though. The build quality, screen resolution and portrait set up means I am over the moon with it. Why on earth I didn’t pull the rigger before I will never know, maybe I have been indoctrinated by the previous landscape based world. However, now I am free!
Charles Chen discussing he’s outlook that Mastodon is Rewinding the Clock on Social Media:
On the consume side, that means that your home feed has no Algorithm (big-A “Algorithm”). This can be disorienting at first when coming from X and FB. Practically, it means that you see only what you want to see and only see it linearly. You never wonder, “why am I seeing this and how do I make it go away?”.
I am completely convinced that users both want algorithmic timelines, but they need one. There is some research to back this up from Meta, but others found the opposite, so take from that what you will. However, in my opinion, it is only tech nerds that shout the loudest because we feel as if we need to complete our timeline as if it is a video game. When, in fact, users want to follow loads of people but only be shown the good stuff from their circles.
The biggest reason users complain is when companies don’t get it right, and not many companies have managed that. No one wants a chronological feed on TikTok or Netflix, and that’s because the algorithm is complete seamless. Using your consumption data to get the right things in your face at the right time.
Granted, you could argue this is because they are not ad networks and are not bothered about showing you them. They do, however, need to keep you engaged, and watching things. So they ensure their suggestions are as good as they possibly can be. We’ve all had the odd bad experience on these platforms, but there’s no scrambling for a long list of the latest things launched.
Could you imagine if both of these platforms got it as wrong as Twitter does?
I have just realised that between last week’s update and this one I only wrote, one blog post. I am certain that some weeks have been even worse, but seeing it so easily makes me want to get my ass into gear and publish more. Perhaps you will see more before next week’s post? Don’t hold your breath!
I would rather not mention my flip phone adventures, it is for another time, so you will have to stay tuned. I will always be here and pretty much nowhere else now. Take care of yourselves, have a wonderful week.
🤙
Matt Birchler on letting the internet run out:
In a world where we all struggle with how much we use our devices (let’s be real, we mean our phones), I think it’s kinda nice to have some places that just give up and tell us, “my dude, you’ve read it all, go do something else.”
I read this and nodded along, like most posts Matt publishes because it’s easy to agree with things you know to be true. It wasn’t until a few days later when that I realised just how prevalent, and desired, the endless feed is.
The loudest voices are often ones that scream for chronological timelines, but the reality is most users don’t want that. They want to be endlessly distracted at any moment. Both companies and the majority of users would like to have a constant stream of entertainment, there’s no reason to have an end really is there. An end of the feed would mean the user leaves, opens another app and continues to mindlessly scroll. That’s not good for the bottom line now, is it?
Like Matt, I too love an app that comes to an end. Sure, it might be frustrating when I need some entertainment, but it gives me pause to think if that is really what I want to be doing. Occasionally, that answer is yes, and there’s no shortage of places to go on the internet, but more often than not the answer is no. Even a small little pause causes most people to think about what they are doing and close the app. Hitting the end of the feed doesn’t always feel like a good thing, but it always is.
I am sure he will forgive me, but I always read thingsThisWeek by Maique and like the idea of small updates of the things I have been up to. So without further fuss, here’s mine.
This week was ups and downs as usual. Filled full of some working and some days off due to bank holidays and skilfully timed annual leave. I spent a lot of it trying to relax, failing, and also trying to run a little more.
I hope you all have a great week this week, and you know where I am if you need me. 🤙