TikTok can get people to spend money in the app, but can they get people to shop?

users sent over $250 million in digital gifts to live-streamers in the app in Q3 alone

I’m still skeptical that The Clock App can pull off an everything app style ecomm takeover in the US (maybe anywhere in the west). Trust and ingrained behavior remain the sticking points for me.

TikTok could overtake Temu, but I think Amazon is safe (at least without the help of antitrust regulation).

So Walmart won Black Friday ads, right?

Refer-a-friend programs can make relationships feel like transactions, which isn’t ideal. Transparency might be the answer:

disclosing the referrer reward in the invitation message—a not yet widely adopted method—can promote referring by making the referring action seem more compatible with communal norms and reducing the experienced psychological barrier. They also document the potential of disclosing the referrer reward on increasing acceptance, conversion, and sales.

Routine is a core tenant of cult brands, this tip from [Arvid](Accessibility for Profit — The Bootstrapped Founder 261 https://www.newsblur.com/newsletters/story/9131573:c3dcaa) is the ritual dream:

Lean into anything that people want to do (and should be doing) daily. Embrace their willingness to create a habit and serve them ways to make it easier.

How many companies have been built on this premise?

I am pro blogging (obviously) in part because I think building a brand on someone else’s platform is a fool’s errand.

The big selling point of having a website or blog is that you own it. You aren’t beholden to any algorithmic whims, just your own.

But for as much as you can roll-your-own to truly control your web presence, you still have to renew your domain regularly. Which feels like a philosophical pretzel problem.

If your website is your digital home, should domain fees be thought of as rent or property taxes?

Especially interested in what @manton, author of Indie Microblogging thinks.