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Magazine

Adapt to survive: here’s what you need to know

IbyIMD+ Published 17 March 2021 in Magazine • 6 min read

Welcome to The Forecaster. Every quarter Howard Yu will preview business trends likely to preoccupy international executives over the coming months. Think of it asa boardroom crystal ball, in which we preview everything from how incumbent financial institutions will fare against fintech disrupters to what Beijing is upto with its leading internet platforms.

The ephemeral internet is in; algorithms are out. It’s cultural pushback.

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are there. You can hear first-hand debates by prominent tech investors such as Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. So, naturally, I was pleased when I was invited to join Clubhouse.

The fear of missing out on a new trend is very real. Even with access by invitation only, Clubhouse – the app that allows people to gather in audio chatrooms – has been downloaded eight million times and counting. Most talks are not recorded; once they’re done, they’re gone. And that’s the point.

A bit like wandering around SXSW or Davos, as you drop in and out of different virtual rooms, you hear how different communities speak. Though perhaps, lacking a third-party organizer with an agenda, Clubhouse seems to host more authentic voices.

This is not just a pushback on cultural curation or gatekeeping, this is a throwback to the simpler days of the Internet. You check into Clubhouse and just prowl until you find something interesting. As things are happening in real time, there is no fast forward or rewind; it’s the opposite of YouTube or Tiktok. All this reminds me of the rise of Snapchat The fact that the photo you send to friends will disappear in seconds is the…

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