🙃 Instagram’s crazy week

Plus: The European AC gold rush, Twitter university, weekend reads, and more. [View Online]( [The Hustle] This week, The Hustle Daily Show hit 1m downloads. Huge thanks to everyone listening, and if you haven’t checked it out yet — give it a listen today! In today’s email: - Instagram’s rough week, explained. - Chart: Europe wants AC. - Weekend reads for your Friday kalimotxo. - Around the web: Twitter university, paper masterpieces, “prairie madness,” and more interesting internet finds. 🎧 On the go? [Listen to today’s 10-minute podcast]( to hear Zack and Juliet discuss Rite Aid’s refusal, Comcast’s stagnant business, and Airbnb’s impact on the housing and rental markets. The big idea [Instagram’s logo]( Instagram’s rough week, explained Someone recently told me they stopped using Instagram and, instead, scroll through Airbnb for fun. Others are doing that, too. Not the Airbnb thing, but the spending-less-time-on-Instagram thing. For many, the preferred destination is TikTok. So to combat the trend, Instagram’s been making increasingly blatant moves to TikTok-ify itself. This week… … new updates gave rise to an angry mob which [included]( Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian. - By [bringing]( algorithm-driven recommendations to feeds, funny clips from a random 15-year-old in Nebraska could theoretically outperform Kim K’s yacht pics. Hence the uproar. In response, Instagram head Adam Mosseri, quite literally [looking like a Minion](, said that the updates need work but video is still the focus. To make matters worse, all this was followed by Meta [posting]( its first-ever quarter of declining sales Wednesday. Then yesterday… … in an [interview]( with tech reporter Casey Newton, Mosseri said Instagram will walk back these changes so the company can design a better experience around them. But while his update may have eased the tension, Meta still finds itself in a pickle. - On one end, it’s squeezed by TikTok in terms of engagement and ad dollars. On the other, it’s [working toward]( the Metaverse, and a strong Instagram is necessary to fund its virtual future. (Apple, in the meantime, is [finalizing]( its own VR headset.) For the time being, Mosseri has put out the fires. Perhaps now he can figure out why my friend is more interested in scrolling Airbnb than Instagram. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Instagram%E2%80%99s+rough+week%2C+explained%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F07292022-Instagram%3Futm_campaign%3DInstagram%26utm_content%3D07292022-Instagram%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( SNIPPETS After the bell: Apple stock [jumped]( in extended trading after the company beat estimates for sales and profits. CEO Tim Cook expects to accelerate revenue in Q4 despite “pockets of softness,” which sounds like something you’d find in an actual apple. Trending down: US GDP [dropped]( 0.9% in Q2, marking the second straight quarter in decline. While it doesn’t officially mark a recession, two consecutive negative quarters has long been considered an unofficial sign of one. Who’s got Spirit? JetBlue, that’s who. The airline [agreed]( to purchase Spirit Airlines for $3.8B in a move that will make it the fifth-largest domestic airline by market share. Flatlined: Comcast’s broadband business [remained]( flat between April and June, making it the first time since 2008 the company has not added 100k+ subscribers in a quarter. Peacock subscribers remained flat at 13m as well. Trademark filings revealed TikTok might be working on a music streaming service to take on Spotify and Apple Music. The app,  which has become a platform for music discovery, released SoundOn, its own distribution platform for artists, in March. Banned: Rite Aid [joined]( the list of pharmacies that will not fill ADHD prescriptions from telehealth startups Cerebral and Done. Walgreens and CVS have already adopted similar policies. Ask The Hustle: A while back, we invited you to slide into our DMs, and ~300 of you wrote in with questions. Now, we’re here with some nuggets. First up: How do you grow a [social media following]( without buying followers? Chart [residential homes with AC in Europe vs the US]( Selina Lee AC sales are heating up in Europe About 91% of US homes have air conditioning. But in Europe, it’s far less common. Why? The climate: It’s neither as hot nor as humid in many parts of Europe as it is in many parts of the US. - The UK is often dreary and damp — much like Seattle, where only [44%]( of US households are equipped with AC. (Conversely, in Greece, where summers get toasty, [99%]( of households do have AC.) They don’t like it: Cranking the AC can be seen as [wasteful](, and some Italians think it’s bad for your health. But that could all change given recent heave waves Amid record-breaking heat and wildfires across Europe, portable AC sales in Britain spiked 2.4k% in a week, [per]( The Washington Post. An International Energy Agency estimate sees AC units across the EU more than doubling from 110m in 2019 to 275m by 2050. Of course, more energy use… … leads to more emissions, leads to more climate woes. But Paul Hockenos, a Berlin-based author who covers renewable energy, suggests some more planet-friendly solutions, [including](: - Energy-efficient units - Passive cooling (opening windows at night, drawing shades by day - Geothermal cooling (which moves heat into the ground) - Switching to clean energy Then there’s [this guy]( who’s proposing Naked Day. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=AC+sales+are+heating+up+in+Europe%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F07292022-AC-sales-Europe%3Futm_campaign%3DInstagram%26utm_content%3D07292022-AC-sales-Europe%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( Recs [Weekend Reads] Welcome to Weekend Reads… … Recs to pair with your Friday chocolate milk. Or Saturday IPA. Or Sunday [kalimotxo](. ICYMI - Mark spoke to economists and real estate agents across the US to understand why a hot housing market [isn’t actually good]( for most agents. - Jacob wrote about TikTokers getting huge overnight and whether that’s [a good thing](. - Starting a new business is exciting. Figuring out the differences between LLCs, LPs, C-Corps, and S-Corps? Not so much. Learn to [pick the right business structure]( for your startup on The Hustle blog. Spot the fake - Saudi Arabia wants to build a [106-mile-long building](. - John Deere is partnering with Meta on an immersive lawn mowing [experience](. - A chess-playing robot [broke a kid’s finger]( during a match last week. - Scientists are using dead spiders as [robotic grippers]( ‘cause of course they are. TRENDS How to make a business out of Trends We’d like you to launch a thriving business off our content. Pick up best practices from the pros. Maybe hone the shit out of some baller entrepreneurial skills. But ideally the first. So [we wrote about it](. A couple Trendsters running with our ideas: - Our air conditioning Flare led Sudhir to the lucrative opportunity of “heat pumps,” which are 2-3x more efficient than modern AC units — with low market penetration in the US. [One Circle]( launches soon. - Our February 2020 digital privacy report pushed Taylor to start [Eden Data](, a cybersecurity outfit catering to startups. Their team of ten already does $300k MRR. Read [the meta Trends article]( for dozens more success stories and the three steps to start executing. [First week is $1 →]( AROUND THE WEB 🔔 On this day: In 1981, nearly 1B people tuned in to [watch]( the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. 👂 That’s interesting: What’s “[prairie madness](” and how did it affect 19th-century American settlers? 🧠Useful: Check out [this collection]( of the best newsletters, threads, and Twitter follows on a variety of topics, including productivity, finance, and more. 🎨 Art: Lucy Jean Green makes incredible artworks out of paper, like [this one](. 🐶 Aww: And now, a [true maestro](. Shower Thoughts - “Finger whistling must’ve really lost popularity in the past couple of years.” [SOURCE SOURCE]( - “Happy Birthday is the only song that’s more endearing when sung out of key, and more obnoxious when sung in key.” [SOURCE SOURCE]( - “Champagne is the most wasted alcohol.“ [SOURCE SOURCE]( - “When you buy a bell pepper you also buy the potential for unlimited free bell peppers.” [SOURCE SOURCE]( - “Ideally, purchasing a smoke alarm is a total waste of money.” [SOURCE SOURCE](  [via Reddit]( SHARE THE HUSTLE Hey. Stop keeping us a secret. Refer just 3 people and we’ll start to send some goodies as a thank you. [all prizes]( Spread the news. Help us grow 🌱 [Share The Hustle 🤠→]( Or copy this custom referral link: [ Your referral count: 0 How did you like today’s email? Today's email was brought to you by [Jacob Cohen](, [Juliet Bennett Rylah](, and [Rob Litterst](. Editing by: Mark “Kalimotxo Sommelier” Dent. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. 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