There have been more than 30 monthly digest posts now. A small milestone that I’m quite proud of, as it takes discipline to write up a blog post every month. But it’s a good way to give all the things we see & read every day a second thought. Sitting down and synthesizing thought-provoking content in a series of paragraphs allows me to improve my writing & communication skills. And to build a community!

The favorite article liked here is from September 2016, which makes it slightly outdated for this December 2017 digest. I had not noticed Meetup’s branding change until this month, and have only picked up this article because I’m in the middle of a branding project, and was keen to learn more about community-based brand design. This article was a great read about why design change is necessary. What’s new about Meetup, though, is that it was acquired by WeWork recently: “an opportunity to sell a [Meetup’s members] on its services” as Wired wrote.

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Another great article about branding… and what a fascinating brand to redesign. Richard Turley, executive creative director of content & design for Wieden+Kennedy, worked on energizing this iconic entertainment brand: “The challenge was to reposition Formula 1 as a forward-facing entertainment brand, which works across a multitude of channels” he wrote on W+K’s blog. Learn more about the context & content of this work (sorry this is a paywalled article).

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“Look at Instacart or Uber, on the surface both great businesses,” angel investor Matt Ward writes, “dig deeper and you reveal weak foundations. Let me explain.” He explains that the lack of customer/user loyalty/stickiness on both sides of these platforms is a major problem because it makes them heavily dependent on acquisition (the danger is churn, because if no one leaves, there is no problem). I already shared a similar article in March this year. Ward then compares the situation to that of Airbnb (“[its] network is international and thus nearly untouchable“) and explains why pricing power is one of the best ways to retain users & revenue.

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Chamath Palihapitiya is provocative and he knows it. He who was Facebook’s VP for user growth, said he feels “tremendous guilt” about the success of the platform he helped to build, as “[the network has] created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works.” The phrase I use in my tweet is another punchline of his “View From The Top” talk at Stanford, which – I must admit – is very interesting and entertaining to watch. It’s good food for thought. But, as Palihapitiya himself explained on Facebook, he still loves & admires Facebook.

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Every corporate social media account has its many fans – dozens, thousands or millions – and its few super-fans. These people will like, retweet & share everything you post and often contribute to discussions in a very constructive manner. They simply love what you do and show it. Instead of considering them as single digits of massive following or engagement metrics, I believe it is good to explicitly recognize and publicly reward them. Burger King France did it in a big way, as this article explains: “Burger King [is] putting a bow on 2017 [by] wrapping up a whole restaurant and giving it (well, sort of) to its biggest Facebook fan.“

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I finished reading Reinvening You last month, and thought it was worth jolting down a couple of lines about the book. As many American management books you can purchase in airport shops, its title promises you to find happiness, success and purpose in both work and life, which tends to turn me off quite a bit. But, while it is indeed quite an easy read (no complicated concepts, a lot of anecdotes and personal experience) it also contains lots of useful tips for professionals, even if you are not trying to reinvent yourself. Don’t be scared to reach out to people you admire, foster professional relationships, use the skills that make you unique, persist in showing your strengths… sometimes simple truths are good to remember.

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HAPPY 2018 TO YOU ALL!