Of course, the month of January was overshadowed by the tragic Charlie Hebdo event(s) which killed 17 people and wounded 22 others. The New Yorker cover depicted here, which was created by Ana Juan, is just one of many artistic shows of support for the victims of the Paris attacks. I found it both beautiful and impactful, that’s why I use it to illustrate this month’s post. You can see some other great illustrations on eYeka’s blog, which shares the best entries that the community submitted to the #JeSuisCharlie contest.

Beside some stories linked to the Charlie Hebdo events, as well as the tweet that the satirical magazine issued just hours before the shooting, you will find other interesting links that I stumbled upon this pas month. There’s a dauting article about moderators of social media sites, two articles about the cosmopolitan Paris that I love, or an article about social media “written by an actual teen.” Enjoy.

“When is Paris not just Paris? When it’s a window onto Dakar, Senegal; or Morocco; or Mumbai, India; or Moscow?” That’s the question that the New York Times’ Farai Chideya asks to start his article about the French capital. “While tourists often flock to the City of Lights to see famous French sites [clustered] in the center of the city, they may miss a global metropolis that offers a sampling of many different cultures.” A great read that appeared before the Charlie Hebdo events, and which explains that living together is possible, like in any other major city in this world, and that cultural differences are a wealth to nurture, not a threat to inhibit.

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After reading this article, you will never see social media (and your Facebook or Instragram feed) the same again. A highly interesting – yet disturbing – article about the massive labor force that handles the removal of offensive material for social-networking sites. Now that everyone routinely use services like Facebook, they are potentially exposed to the Internet’s sadists, terrorists, racists, creeps, criminals, and bullies; and the industry’s growth into a multibillion-dollar business largely depends on companies’ ability to police the borders of their user-generated content. Read this article, really.

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I’m getting older, and I have to stay updated with the younger generations’ habits and thinking. It’s the first time I say that, but it’s true. Proof in point: this article “written by an actual teen” (19 years of age) about his generations’ usage of a selection of social networking sites. I asked my students at ESSCA Business School if they agreed with what was written, and except a couple of differences they agreed with all of it. Just read through it, it will take you 10 minutes, and you will have a better idea of today’s young consumers’ online behavior.

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In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the democratic impulse it gave the people of France, the French were immensely moved by the rest of the world’s response to the horror that was unraveling in the streets of Paris. But then, we found out how Fox News covered the story, and this made us a little mad! This article, by Tunisian-born Frenchman Sened Dhab, explains how Fox’s coverage was total nonsense: “Apart from the usual delinquency found in any poor part of any urban center on the planet, the tableau portrayed by Fox News and “Warzone expert” Nolan Peterson, and the deceiving name the network has coined for the occasion (“No-Go Zones”) seems like a complete fabrication of what’s really going on there,” he writes. Beyond hiw very smart article, you can read about the whole story (and Fox’s eventual appologies) on this New York Times article.

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The famous weekly newspaper, partly owned by the Financial Times and partly owned by a group of independent shareholders including many members of the Rothschild banking family of England, has launched a contest to appeal to younger audiences through videos. “Today, The Economist is looking to bring [its] content to life through a variety of short videos geared towards teenagers,” the brief says, “Filmmakers can use animation, live feeds, graphics, documentary style and more to create content that would engage a high-school student.” I hope that they will share the winning content! Waiting for the results, here’s a great recent clip of The Economist.

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When reading Percolate’s blog post “5 Lessons from BuzzFeed and Uber on Building Closed-Loop Growth Systems,” which mentions Ryan McKillan, Uber’s Head of Engineering in NYC and the person credited with creating their modern logo, I  landed on Uber’s 2011 blog post announcing their current logo (linked in this tweet). The post explains some of the reason behing the logo change, including the fact that the company “[needs] an identity that the world can understand and one that would get us out of the trademark infringement trouble that our BIG RED U was bound to get us into,” hinting to the French supermarket chain Super U. Not exactly the type of company that I would have expected to influence Uber.

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Meet eYeka’s creator of the month for December 2014: Florent Sabatier. this young filmmaker got out of B-school wanting to be a filmmaker, and hence started participating in contests (on eYeka and other websites). In the Paris office, we know him well as he is always willing to pop in to chat with us about the contests, the brands, other creators, etc… and for us it’s always a good way to meet and chat with one of our most famous creators. But he’ll explain better in the video, with that irresistible French accent, so watch it!

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An interesting article coming from one of the world’s most creative places: Los Angeles. it talks about the increasing adoption of crowdsourcing by brands, and has the advantage of (1) featuring more than one crowdsourcing platform and (2) focusing not only on the brands and platforms, but also on the creators. “Surfwear maker Quiksilver, smoothie shop Jamba Juice and the pop band One Direction are just a few of the brands looking for help on creative crowdsourcing websites such as Talenthouse and Tongal,” the article explains. “Creative crowdsourcing sites enable advertisers to generate ads flavored to specific regions or media.” No rocket science, but an interesting read for people like me… and you?

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Here’s another post about Uber, but it’s a post about the evolution of work that the company embodies rather than just about the San Francisco-based “start-up.” It explains that new technologies have the potential to chop up a broad array of traditional jobs into discrete tasks that can be assigned to people just when they’re needed (Uber driver, Instacart shopper, Airbnb host or Taskrabbit worker), with wages set by a dynamic measurement of supply and demand. It takes a rather critical stance, as for instance Robert B. Reich, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley who was the secretary of labor during the Clinton administration, says: “This on-demand economy means a work life that is unpredictable, doesn’t pay very well and is terribly insecure. [Most people] would much rather have good, well-paying, regular jobs.”