KPIs aren't everything
Also: Amazon Prime math, AI dumbing us down, and remembering a narrative nonfiction GOAT
I received my first "KPI-driven AI-generated pitch" this week. It was weird. Have heard about these yet?
Earlier this year, editors and reporters at various media publications began getting a very different type of pitch in their inbox: One that insulted them.
“You care more about Tesla than a cancer killing thousands," some WSJ reporters and other business reporters received in their inboxes. “This isn’t a future problem. It’s happening right now. But you wouldn’t know, because you’ve been covering crap that doesn’t matter. Do better.”
The email was, technically, a pitch for a German biotech firm that creates colorectal cancer tests.
But the PR agency representing them used AI-generated emails designed to push recipients' emotional buttons on purpose in order to get the click.
Here's a WSJ story from last month that talked about it, along with other ways PR firms are adopting AI. (And the end of the day, I guess the biotech firm was still covered? 😬)
One plausible theory is that the anger-inducing pitches get opened, and in larger PR firms, opened emails are often a key performance indicator (KPI). But it feels kinda hollow when we only do that, yes?
Takeaway: Sometimes we chase the KPI instead of chasing the thing that's being measured by the KPI.
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I'm thinking about this as my book launch shifts into second gear in about two weeks. I've laid low for most of spring as we finished the copyedit and typeset (“Let's switch out “Beyoncé“ for “Robyn“ here!” -- actual note I wrote to a department of editors at HarperCollins). I also focused on nesting and resting.
In July, I'll start platform building again. I've been researching how I want to create and edit video, reintroduce my courses and programs, connect, and hold some space for my own writing craft.
I have KPIs for this book launch. (Y'all know me -- I have muthafuckin' spreadsheets galore for this ramp-up. An entire Airtable base, actually.)
But I have to remember what actions the KPIs are measuring. I am measuring my efforts more than my numbers. I am measuring my learning and growth, and not just my read time or watch time.
I feel of two minds on KPIs and goals right now. I want to create them, but also with nuance, so as not to revert back to bad hustle habits.
Would love to know what you think of all this.
In memoriam
William langeweische, 1955-2025
One of my writing heroes passed away. A former pilot and longtime international correspondent for Vanity Fair, Langeweische was kind of a writer-rockstar for journalists and creative writers. His genre, narrative nonfiction, infuses history and/or journalism with storytelling techniques, particularly horror and suspense. It's no small feat to make history thrilling.
Part of his lore for me was that his career as a correspondent was itself iconic and picturesque. In the nineties, he'd mail his stories from around the world to magazines like The Atlantic's New York offices, probably while wearing a weathered leather bomber and aviators, which -- I'll just say it -- is really hot! But a romantic hot, a fanboy hot, rather than a sexual hot.
Here's a blurb from Nieman Storyboard.
Here's an obituary from The Atlantic. Title: "Master of the White-Knuckle Narrative."
Here are his Atlantic archives.
Here are his Vanity Fair archives.
And here are three of my fave Vanity Fair stories of his. He covered geopolitics and adventurism a lot, but these happened to all be about mass disasters. (Sorry, having a dark phase! 😇)
Warning: Not for the squeamish.
The 10-Minute Mecca Stampede That Made History
A haunting play-by-play of the 2015 Hajj stampede, in which 2,400 pilgrims died in a span of about ten minutes because of a crowd crush. Examines the history of the region's challenges with safety and its tense global politics.
How a Cargo Ship Accidentally Sailed Into a Hurricane
The 33 crew of the El Faro cargo ship died when they drove into the eye wall of a Category 3 hurricane in October 2015. Examines how communication breakdowns and military inefficiency were factors.
A private jet crashed into a Boeing 737 at 37,000 feet over the Amazon rainforest in September 2006. The 154 Boeing passengers died, the seven jet passengers survived.
Los Angeles immigration recos
Here are the sources I am following to keep up on the ICE raids in Los Angeles.
- L.A. TACO. Website, Instagram
- Los Angeles Public Press. Website, Instagram
Hot Links
What happened this week
Disclosure: I work at Ziff Davis, the parent company of CNET, Mashable, PCMag, Lifehacker, and ZDNET, and equalpride, the parent company of The Advocate and Out magazine.
Economy, money, entrepreneurship
The Senate passed the GENIUS Act, a bill focused on stablecoins. It's the first actual Congressional win for cryptocurrency in the current administration. (MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC)
Streaming outperformed cable and TV for the first time ever. The vibes have been this way for a while, but May was the first month in which total streaming beat total TV, per Nielsen ratings. (John Koblin / The New York Times) (friend link)
Morning Brew launched another newsletter, Revenue Brew, that covers sales culture and GTM strategy. Sign up here.
AI and future tech
Meta debuted their Oakley smart glasses yesterday with a $399 price point. Oakley and Ray-Ban have the same parent company. (Scott Stein / CNET)
Meta AI users confide on sex, God and Trump. Some don’t know it’s public. (Naomi Nix and Nitasha Tiku / The Washington Post) (friend link)
A new MIT study found ChatGPT may be eroding critical thinking skills. (Andrew Chow / TIME)
Related: People are losing loved ones to AI-fueled spiritual fantasies. (Miles Klee / Rolling Stone) (From last month)
AI use at work has nearly doubled in two years, a new Gallup poll found. (Ryan Pendell / Gallup)
ChatGPT's toxic personality has a dial now. The company's researchers found that certain number patterns lit up when a chatbot misbehaves. By isolating, they were then able to turn the toxicity up or down. Yay! (Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch)
Amazon expects to cut corporate jobs as it relies more on AI. This is kind of obvious, but Andy Jassy saying the quiet part out loud had ripple effects this week. (Steve Kopack / NBC News)
Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab valued at $10bn after $2bn fundraising. Reminder: She was OpenAI's CTO and then about 18 months ago became CEO for three days when the board ousted Sam Altman, only for him to come back, so she left.
- She started an AI company of her own six months ago, which has been highly secretive.
- The $2 billion initial funding round (without anyone knowing what the product is yet!) is one of the largest in Silicon Valley’s history.
- Her voting rights will outweigh all other directors. (Cristina Criddle, George Hammond, Robin Wigglesworth / Financial Times)
LGBTQ
The Supreme Court ruled states can ban gender-affirming care for youth in U.S. v. Skrmetti. (Christopher Wiggins / The Advocate)
- 5 takeaways from the Supreme Court ruling on gender-affirming care. (Trudy Ring / The Advocate)
- Opinion: After Getting The Ruling It Wanted, New York Times Publishes 6 Anti-Trans Articles. (Erin Reed / Erin In The Morning)
No Kings, Yas Queens: The best & gayest signs from the No Kings protests. (LGBTQ Nation)
Donald Trump Jr. said trans people are "the most violent" in the wake of the anti-trans Minnesota shooter, a frequent conservative misdirection strategy. (Daniel Villarreal / LGBTQ Nation)
Testosterone Therapy Is Booming. But Is It Actually Safe? (Rachel Feltman, Stephanie Pappas, Fonda Mwangi & Alex Sugiura / Scientific American's podcast)
Social media and pop culture
Trump extended the TikTok ban deadline for a third time. The action is illegal and directly contradicts the Supreme Court decision earlier this year. (Barbara Ortutay / AP News)
Facebook announced that all videos on its platform will soon be shared as Reels. (Aisha Malik / TechCrunch)
Facebook Now Supports Passkeys, and You Should Probably Use Them. (Jake Peterson / Lifehacker)
Social Media Feeds Full of Junk? How to Reset Your Algorithms. (Eric Griffith / PCMag
How Insurance Companies Use Drones to Raise Your Rates (and What to Do About It). (Jeff Somers / Lifehacker)
Here’s How Many Times You Need to Order From Amazon to Make a Prime Membership Worth It. (Meredith Dietz / Lifehacker)
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