iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

On Tasteland this week, @mikerugnetta.com joined us to talk about late-stage platformism, the rise of the agentic web, that the attention economy is a zero-sum game, how Hentai explains platforms, and heading to the library to avoid AI slop. Full episode on all pod platforms! pod.link/1760333416/

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Reposted by Francis Zierer

Lex Roman @lexroman.com · 15/07/2025

What’s a creator journalist? Liz is featured in today’s Creator Spotlight talking about how creator journalism differs from traditional newsrooms www.creatorspotlight.com/p/liz-kelly-... @lizkellynelson.com

🔴 Your audience wants to pay you

How one former media executive is teaching creators to think like founders, not freelancers

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Reposted by Francis Zierer

Liz Kelly Nelson @lizkellynelson.com · 15/07/2025

So fun to talk to @fzierer.bsky.social about my favorite topic!

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Full episode on YouTube here or on any pod platform, just search for The Creator Spotlight Podcast!

youtube.com

How to Make a Living as a Creator in 2025

YouTube video by Creator Spotlight

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

People ARE paying independent, creator-model journalists for their work. @lizkellynelson.com is one of a network of leaders helping journalists make the jump from traditional newsrooms to starting up their own publications through her essential newsletter, Project C. An essential episode today.

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Today on Tasteland, @colenowicki.com joins @princessdaisy.bsky.social and I to talk about the state of the skate industry, Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico (and the pitfalls of happinessmaxxing), the smell of skateboarding, and religion being big in skateboarding. www.tasteland.fyi/ep-46-state-...

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

I forgot about this part of our conversation! If you do end up moving on, you've created such a rich body of work in the project, though. You're thorough!

Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Edith Birthday to you indeed, Eric

Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

I'm so glad to hear it! Always my hope with this kind of piece, and I'm never *exactly* sure how it'll land among the readers. Pleased to give you something to chew on.

Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Love to hear it! Thanks for reading, glad you enjoyed it :)

s. e. smith @sesmith.lol · 18/04/2025

Reposted by Francis Zierer

A good read for my fellow synesthesic freaks, as a person who often thinks of things that aren't smells in terms of smells, loved this from @fzierer.bsky.social!

Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

That incubator sounds fantastic; you're learning from the best in the biz.

Lex Roman @lexroman.com · 16/04/2025

Reposted by Francis Zierer

Growth hacks like me are killing what’s good about the internet. @fzierer.bsky.social has the antidote in his piece for Dirt on “brand sillage.” dirt.fyi/article/2025...

Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

How could I pass up the opportunity to introduce Amanda (2025) to Amanda (2018)??

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Amanda McLoughlin (they/she) @amandamc.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Fantastic interview with @fzierer.bsky.social for @beehiiv.com! Never before has an interviewer quoted one of my vlogs back at me 🫶🏻

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

“[What qualifies someone] to run a digital media company or be a digital media creator is making digital media.” — @amandamc.bsky.social on The Creator Spotlight Podcast today. What Amanda, Eric, and co. are doing at Multitude is a blueprint for sustainable creator-first media businesses. Listen!

youtube.com

How to Make a Living as a Creator — from a podcasting expert

YouTube video by Creator Spotlight

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

Today in TASTELAND, Colin Nagy joins @princessdaisy.bsky.social and I to discuss laundering credibility, who gets to decide what we remember, how cultural mores get baked into LLMs, fact-check literacy, "irrational hospitality," and more

Ep. 37: In defense of hospitality ft. Colin Nagy

This week Daisy and Francis talk to travel and hospitality writer, Colin Nagy. Colin is also the co-creator of the newsletter 'Why is this interesting?' Colin: http…

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

There's only one piece of advice that matters imo: post, analyze, tweak, repeat

Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Today on Tasteland, Trey Taylor joins @princessdaisy.bsky.social and I to discuss his new fragrance brand Serviette, how he taught himself to make perfume, the art of selling a lifestyle, perception vs. perception vis-à-vis taste, Kelly green, and more. Listen —

Ep. 34: Fragrance Rich ft. Trey Taylor

This week Daisy and Francis are joined by Trey Taylor, Gen Z consumer expert who has recently pivoted into the world of fragrances and just launched their perfume b…

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

You read that Brian Morissey piece too, I see.

Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Wow, I haven’t thought about him in years

Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Eric. An absolute blast to pod with you. Never have I had a guest so befitting of the descriptor "sparring partner." You really have a knack for talking into a mic, which sounds silly, but it's true.

Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Sworn enemy of video podcasts @ericsilver.bsky.social came on my video podcast and we talked about: 🎙️ How he teaches podcasting 🎧 Audio-only podcasts are still the future 🚫 Spotify toxicity 🤝 Building an ethical, creator-first business 🎲 Why "actual play" podcasts work so well And more : )

youtube.com

How to Make a Living as a Podcaster in 2025

YouTube video by Creator Spotlight

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

"It is so much harder to teach someone who has no imagination how to have a creative idea than to teach a creative person to learn Excel." @ericsilver.bsky.social on tomorrow's episode of The Creator Spotlight Pod. It's a good one.

nick susi @nicksusi.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Reposted by Francis Zierer

People are saying everything feels like hypergambling now. I will add - social media feels like it has become a casino not for financial but for social capital. A game where people place bets with hot takes, where bigger risks could have bigger rewards, but the house always wins.

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Reposted by Francis Zierer

Peri Strathearn @peristrathearn.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Paying subscribers to @mattbrown.bsky.social's newsletter, Extra Points, get access to a simulator game: "an edutainment product for sports students", as @fzierer.bsky.social puts it. That's a cool perk. More info: www.creatorspotlight.com/p/matt-brown...

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Had a wonderful time chatting with Matt a couple weeks ago. Read the writeup!

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Every morning, famously, Sisyphus re-jiggered his strategy to roll the stone up the hill based on first principles.

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Today on TASTELAND, our guest rugged us so I asked @princessdaisy.bsky.social to tell me 5 things she did this week or I would accept her resignation as co-host. We also spoke about media productions vs. consumption literacy, why we need more working-class media, islands and empires, and more —

There's no guest this week, which gives Daisy and Francis the chance to discuss why people hate Renoir, the simultaneously growing and eroding types of media litera…

Ep. 31: Art of the steal

Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

"For me, when you take on the label of creator, you're more saying that you're making content, obviously, and that content is being shared and owned by these platforms where you have no control over anything.” Wrote about Alicia Kennedy choosing to be a writer over being a creator, on principle.

🔴 Positive social friction

How Alicia Kennedy parlayed a Twitter following into a mailing list, and how she plans to build a new type of publication-education business on that foundation

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Reposted by Francis Zierer

Liz Kelly Nelson @lizkellynelson.com · 17/02/2025

The news ecosystem is evolving. The lines between journalism, content creation and AI-generated news are blurring. A new framework is needed to better define these shifts. This piece maps the spectrum – from “Trad News” to emerging creator models. Take a look: 🔗 projectc.beehiiv.com/p/from-trad-...

projectc.beehiiv.com

From 'Trad News' to AI: The evolving journalism landscape

A visual breakdown of how and where news is produced in 2025

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

If there's one nice thing here, it's so many people communicating so much love on all his posts and videos about it. An outpouring of supports.

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

3 weeks ago I interviewed @kofie.bsky.social for Creator Spotlight. 2 days before the podcast's publication, he and a couple of colleagues were laid off. 3/4 of my most recent interviews have been laid off by Vox in the last few years. So I scrapped my planned profile and wrote about it!

🔴 Social media presence as career insurance

ft. Kofie Yeboah, a beloved sports and gaming content creator publishing long-form YouTube videos, TikToks, and all manner of other content

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Today on Tasteland, @princessdaisy.bsky.social and I chat with Jad Esber about inverting the internet's personal data model to favor individual users over companies, "data gravity," how taste aggregation apps do and don't contribute to social relationships, and more —

Ep. 29: Shelf life ft. Jad Esber

Daisy and Francis are joined by Jad Esber, founder and CEO of Koodos Labs, a product and research company focused on the next generation of the internet. Koodos Lab…

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Damn, dude. Sorry to see it. I trust that good, new things will be coming down the pipe.

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Francis Zierer @fzierer.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

You will not survive a month lost in the wilderness without knowledge of bushcraft, either pre-existing or gained by sheer force of will to survive. Neither will you thrive long-term in the creator economy without knowledge of entrepreneurialism. My latest: