Eugene Wei: The invisible ceilings to Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter’s growth

Channels with Peter Kafka

Vox Media Podcast Network

Technology, Tv & Film, Business News, News

4.4 • 585 Ratings

🗓️ 5 July 2018

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Eugene Wei, an early Amazon employee who went on to work at Hulu, Flipboard and Oculus, talks with Recode’s Peter Kafka about “Invisible asymptotes,”a post on his personal blog that went viral. In it, Wei wrote that all companies have a ceiling to their growth, but the ones that can figure out what that ceiling is can adapt and keep growing beyond it. For example, Wei’s old employer, Amazon, recognized that customers’ aversion to paying for shipping was its ceiling, and so developed Amazon Prime to keep them coming back. He explains how Twitter has historically failed to iterate similarly, why Snap’s attempt to redesign Snapchat for a broader audience backfired, and why Facebook, which is still growing internationally, is seeing its American users get less value out of the platform over time. Plus: Why Instagram is the least toxic social network, what’s holding VR back and why "Star Wars" is like a social network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Today's show is brought to you by Airtable, the all-in-one collaboration platform.
0:05.1	The content industry is constantly evolving.
0:07.6	To keep up, you need a tool that's flexible enough to adapt to your process, but powerful
0:11.4	enough to keep everybody on the same page.
0:13.8	Airtable has been used by companies like Time Magazine, Group 9 Media, and BuzzFeed motion pictures.
0:18.9	It lets you manage your entire creative process from ideation
0:21.6	to content creation. AirTable empowers you to do your work your way. You can try it today.
0:27.4	Just head to Airtable.com slash Recode Media to receive $50 in free credits.
0:38.1	This is Recode Media with Peter Kafka.
0:40.2	That is me.
0:41.0	I am part of the Vox Media Podcast Network here at Fox Media Headquarters in New York City.
0:46.8	Normally, I spend this part of the podcast asking you to tell someone else about this
0:50.6	podcast, but here I just want to give a special shout out to Laurel Hellerstein and her students at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts, who are sharing this podcast
0:59.3	amongst themselves. Thanks, guys. I like that you listen. I also like that Eugene Way is here
1:05.1	in the studio with me. Eugene, welcome. Thank you. You've got a long, crazy bio, which is one of the reasons I want to have you here. What's the best way of describing you in this state today? Hmm. I don't want to call you the former head of Flipboard product, which is what my worry is that the podcast label is going to say, Eugene, what is the former head of product at Flipboard? You, but I want to call you a think fluencer.
1:28.2	Okay.
1:30.5	I haven't heard that's not polite.
1:31.8	Oh, no, no, people actually use it.
1:34.3	Well, the fake Jeff Jarvis account uses it.
1:38.9	Smart guy, guy who's worked at a million media companies that I'm all interested in.
1:41.9	That's better, probably better than Thinkfluencer.
1:43.2	What's paying your bill today? You said you're in New York for meetings, that implies a job or some kind of professional time? No, no, I don't have an official job right now. I'm free and footloosin whatever the saying goes right now. And trying to figure out what's next. I will fill in some of the bio-gaps. Sure, sure. You are an early employee of Amazon, somewhere in the 300 range.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Vox Media Podcast Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Vox Media Podcast Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.