🦣 WTF is Mastodon?

Plus: WFH hacks, a portmanteau generator, Meta’s headcount, and more. [View Online]( [The Hustle] We’re off tomorrow for Veterans Day and will catch you back here Monday. To our readers who’ve served — thank you for your service. In today’s email: - Mastodon: Twitter’s decentralized rival. - Chart: Meta’s headcount. - Booze-free beer: It’s taking off. - Around the web: A wordplay generator, how to manage rock stars, the truth about the smiling sun, and more cool internet finds. 🎧 On the go? [Listen to today’s 10-minute podcast]( to hear Juliet and Jacob discuss Meta’s mistake, chip (not the snack) factories, IPAs without the hangover, and more. The big idea [Mastodon]( Twitter users are flocking to Mastodon… but WTF is it? Unless you’ve been living under a Tesla-sized rock, you know that things on Twitter lately have been… tumultuous. Since Elon Musk’s takeover, nearly 1m users — many of them protesting the new leadership — have [deactivated]( their accounts, and ~500k accounts have been suspended because of new moderation policies. But, the show content must go on, and defectors have identified a new platform to unleash their hot takes: [Mastodon](. - Taking the name of an extinct [mammal]( (and heavy metal [band](), the decentralized platform was founded in 2016 by German software developer [Eugen Rochko](. - Rochko [reported]( that Mastodon surpassed 1m users this month, with 489k joining since Musk’s Twitter takeover. “Decentralized” is Web3’s biggest buzzword… … and means that Mastodon lets users create their [own versions]( of its server, rather than being bound to a central one. - Servers are hosted by individuals or organizations who can set their own content moderation rules. - The platform’s source code is [public](, so users can contribute, fix bugs, and add new features. Some analysts [believe]( Twitter should pursue a similar strategy. Mastodon shares some similarities with Twitter The app uses hashtags, replies, and [“boosting”]( (like retweeting), and can be accessed via phone app or web browser. Unlike Twitter, Mastodon is a nonprofit and has no ads (#omg). Despite its benefits, decentralization has challenges of its own: - Mastodon has no control over its users and can’t moderate content like traditional social media platforms. So, is the little blue bird the next animal to go extinct? Only time will tell. [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=Twitter+users+are+flocking+to+Mastodon%E2%80%A6+but+WTF+is+it%3F%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F11102022-Mastodon%3Futm_campaign%3DMastodon%26utm_content%3D11102022-Mastodon%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]( TRENDING [eyeball wearing a hat] Sheesh: On a 2.5-hour YouTube stream, “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli [told]( disgraced Terra CEO (and alleged fugitive) Do Kwon that “jail’s not that bad.” SNIPPETS Cry…pto: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s net worth dropped [94%]( in a day after Binance [walked away]( from a deal to buy the rival exchange. Meanwhile, crypto prices continue to fall. TSMC may build [another]( ~$12B advanced chip factory in Arizona. Read our [previous coverage]( on why that would be such a big deal. Bikes, now rugs? Peloton founder and former CEO John Foley is launching [Ernesta](, a D2C rug brand named after Ernest Hemingway and Bob Nesta Marley. Redfin is laying off [862]( people as it shutters its home-flipping business, citing a lack of sales. YouTube Music and Premium added [30m]( subscribers in one year, bringing the total to 80m across both platforms. Boo: Gmail has [decided]( you’re stuck with its new design and can’t go back to the OG interface. Amazon Clinic? The company published — then quickly [removed]( — a YouTube video about “Amazon Clinic,” a telehealth offering. WFH hacks: We all know that working from home has big perks (lookin’ at you, pajama pants), but it can also bring its own unique challenges. Fear not: The Hustle has [the solutions](. Chart [Meta's headcount over time]( Singdhi Sokpo [Tweet this Image]( The big bet Big Tech got wrong Yesterday, Mark Zuckerberg announced the largest layoffs in Meta’s history. In a [letter]( to employees, he mentioned a now familiar admission of guilt among tech CEOs — incorrectly predicting that a pandemic surge in ecommerce would be a permanent trend, and investing heavily in headcount to meet that growth. “I got this wrong,” he wrote. He’s not the first to admit that error. - In a July [letter]( about Shopify layoffs, CEO Tobi Lutke said he’d mistakenly bet on the permanence of ecommerce demand. “I got this wrong,” he said. - Last week, in a [letter]( regarding Stripe layoffs, CEO Patrick Collison explained how, in early 2020, “the world rotated overnight towards e-commerce… The world is now shifting again.” As for Meta, investors [consider]( the layoffs a major step toward better cost management, though their concerns about competition with TikTok and Apple remain. That, and concerns about whether placing the company’s fate on the success of the metaverse was a good idea. That, too. [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=The+big+bet+Big+Tech+got+wrong%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F11102022-Meta-layoffs%3Futm_campaign%3DMastodon%26utm_content%3D11102022-Meta-layoffs%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]( TRENDS Five Big Business Ideas Sourced From Twitter After exploring way too many threads, here are our top startup ideas of the week, courtesy of Trends (and tweeters). - Remote home services: A guy named @SqueegeeGod is scaling his window-cleaning business to $10m. No cap, as the kids say. Peep his blueprint for [remote home services.]( - A no-brainer Shopify app that’s [missing]( from the ecommerce market? Securing 1% of Shopify merchants at $10/mo. would be something. - CRM migration: Demand for [software transition specialists]( is high for outfits like car dealerships, call centers, and real estate firms. Thanks to [Sam Parr]( and [Sahil Bloom](, two more are featured in the article. Explore our market signals archive and the network of 15k professionals. [Better than business school →]( No More Hangovers [Athletic Brewing beer]( Hangover-free beer is in Nonalcoholic alternatives were often shunned because, well, they didn’t taste great. That’s what [inspired]( Athletic Brewing co-founders John Walker and Bill Shufelt to brew 100+ test beers to find a process that yielded a tasty booze-free beer. Today, the company has breweries in San Diego and Milford, Connecticut, and holds 55% market share among craft NA beers. This week, Keurig Dr Pepper, which [acquired]( NA canned cocktail brand Atypique in June, invested [$50m]( for a minority stake. People are indulging less… … boosting NA beer, wine, and spirit sales. - In October 2021, NielsenIQ [reported]( a 315% YoY rise in online NA beverage sales, compared to 26% for alcohol. - New Zealand NA winery Giesen reported 454% growth in US shipments in 2022, [per]( Forbes. - DC is getting an [NA bar]( this year, while LA got its first [NA bottle shop]( in 2021. NPR [attributes]( the shift to social media trends and an increasing interest in health and wellness. NA drinks obviously don’t cause hangovers, plus they usually have fewer calories. For instance, the average IPA has [180-200 calories](; Athletic’s Run Wild IPA has 65. Athletic CEO Bill Shufelt thinks customers are also “embracing moderation.” “Even though 80% of our consumers still drink alcohol, many… have realized that alcohol no longer fits in their lives beyond one or two nights per week,” he told The Hustle. “Our nonalcoholic beers expand drinking occasions to seven nights per week.” BTW: NA beers aren’t always completely alcohol-free, but they must have [0.5% ABV]( or less to be labeled as such. [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=Hangover-free+beer+is+in%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F11102022-Athletic-Brewing%3Futm_campaign%3DMastodon%26utm_content%3D11102022-Athletic-Brewing%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]( AROUND THE WEB 🚢 On this day: In 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald [sank]( in Lake Superior. The following year, Gordon Lightfoot penned a hit song about the tragedy. 🧠That’s cool: A [portmanteau generator]( for your wordplay needs. ✨ How to: Tips for [managing]( a top performer and those who work around them. 🌞 That’s interesting: What’s behind NASA’s [smiling sun]( image. 😍 Aww: And now, a baby [springhare](. Tweet [social interactions Tweet] Follow Sara on [Twitter](. 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