If there is one thing we can all agree on, it is that 2020 was a strange year. There’s no reason to go into the details; we all experienced it together. The good, the bad, the different — it was all there in 2020.

Perhaps you accomplished something truly big in 2020. Maybe you wrote the novel you always hoped to write. Maybe you read the book you always planned on reading. Maybe you started the project you had been putting off for years.

Or maybe you became overwhelmed by 2020. Perhaps the weight of the year suffocated the plans you originally set on January 1, 2020. Maybe you felt like you were drowning under the burdens of life and couldn’t escape. …

Recently, I have been pondering an odd thought: what kind of story am I living?

The reason I say that the thought is “odd” is because we tend not to think of our lives as stories. We’re living non-fiction lives — which, interestingly enough, is something that we try to escape from. We watch television and movies, we scroll through social media, we daydream about the way that things could be. Some people turn to alcohol or drugs to escape from the realities that surround them.

So, if we’re trying to escape our non-fiction lives, what do I mean by story? …

Even large, successful companies can make marketing errors.

In 2013, as movements against sexual harassment were gaining traction and spreading around the globe, Ford found themselves in hot water. The automative company — well-known for their advertisements involving trucks, sedans, and sports cars — committed an unforgivable breach.

To celebrate the release of the Ford Figo in India, a creative advertising team released a cartoon advertisement on Ford’s behalf.

The content was as bizarre as it is terrible: a drawing of three bound and gagged women in the trunk of the car.

It seems hard to believe that such an advertisement would be released, right? …

Until his death in 2011, Steve Jobs’ tenacity, business acumen, and corporate ruthlessness earned the admiration of many competitors. Jobs was lauded for transforming Apple from a struggling company to a global powerhouse, and the CEO’s business tactics are still studied in textbooks and taught in classrooms around the world.

What is often forgotten, however, is that Jobs’ rise to success was anything but typical. After co-founding Apple with Steve Wozniak, a series of marketing failures led to Jobs resigning from the company he had once created.

What were those marketing failures? Let’s take a look:

Marketing Failures

In January of 1983, Apple released Lisa — the first-ever computer with a graphical user interface. By the standards of the time, Lisa was a technological marvel. It was unlike anything the public had ever seen before. …

Medium now offers shortform publishing.

Back in October of 2020, in an effort to publish more content and experiment with Medium, I decided to conduct a “Short Article Experiment.” And…

I have a beef with Medium.

Let me be clear: Medium has been very good to me. Since I started writing regularly on the platform in January of 2020, I have been able to build a moderate following on Medium and earn a substantial amount of revenue.

For eight months, I was part of Medium’s “7.1% group” — the 7.1% of writers on Medium who earned over $100 each month.

In my best month, I earned nearly $1,500. That was primarily from writing one viral article, but I had a few other popular articles that helped too.

Then, beginning in September and continuing through the early fall, I began to slide out of the 7.1% bracket. My earnings diminished almost immediately — dropping 50% in September and 50% again in October. Now, as we near mid-November, my revenue is on pace to drop another 50% during this month. …

In his 2014 commencement address to the graduates of the University of Texas at Austin, Admiral William H. McRaven said this:

“Tonight there are almost 8,000 students graduating from UT. That great paragon of analytical rigor, Ask.Com, says that the average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime. That’s a lot of folks. …

First there was TikTok.

Then, during what appeared to be an impending ban on TikTok, Instagram unleashed Reels — a direct competitor to TikTok’s scrollable video feed.

Today, Snapchat jumped into the fray by releasing Spotlight, a feature on the company’s app where users can vertically scroll through videos.

Let’s dive into the new social media product:

What is Spotlight?

According to Snapchat, Spotlight will showcase “The best of Snapchat.” Each day, the top videos by users will be shown on Spotlight.

It sounds like TikTok, but there are a few differences. As TechCrunch explains,

…on TikTok, only users with public profiles can have their videos hit the “For You” feed. Spotlight, meanwhile, can feature Snaps from users with both private or public accounts. These Snaps can be sent to Spotlight directly or posted to ‘Our Story.’ The company says the Snaps from the private accounts will be featured in an unattributed fashion — that is, no name will be attached to the content. There will also be no way to comment on these Snaps or message the creator, Snapchat explains. …