I was on vacation at the Jersey Shore when my friend Lauren texted me to check out an episode of Armchair Expert (especially 1:13:00-1:20:00). I rarely listen to podcasts and only vaguely knew of Brian Chesky - Airbnb’s CEO and the episode’s guest. I set up the audio in the outside shower and was shocked at what I’d stumbled into. They didn’t know it, but they were talking about Weave.
Of course, the conversation didn’t lay out Weave’s exact algorithms, but it covered our goals in far more detail than I thought possible. Actually, more detail than I had even noticed myself. Let’s walk through the main points of the discussion. I’ve added time markers if you want to listen for yourself.
People I care about share things they care about (1:13:00)
Chesky talked about the perils of social media and the need for a platform that:
Enforces real identities - There’s a place for some anonymity. But it’s hard to hate people up close and it’s hard when they’re using their real name and identity.
Lets me hear people I care about sharing things they care about - Chesky wants to see his best friends with their children in a life moment.
Encourages deeper relationships - Chesky noted this requires smaller circles, real identity, real connections, where people can be really candid with one another.
His suggestions were product development gold. This is roughly how Weave already works (we use aliases to derisk controversial conversations and determine which friends trust each other enough for more intimacy). More importantly, it frames Weave better - the point is not being able to speak openly because you want a turn on the soapbox (but no problem with that either!). The deeper issue: candor is a basic requirement of moving past superficial friendships.
A better product without changing the code? Love it! And we set to work revamping how we talk about Weave.
Play with friends and watch television (1:15:00)
The next part of the interview was where the slow burn kicked in. I didn’t understand exactly what Chesky was speaking about. Then we confronted influencers, a poorly considered area of Weave, the other day and it all came together.
He said, “When I was a kid, we watched television, we played with friends and eventually those things converged. Social media is the convergence of hang out with friends and watch television in one media platform. And maybe, in some ways, those should actually be different. Maybe being careful about conflating those two things is a big insight.”
He’s talking about influencers. Celebrities. Social media’s version of TV.
Because I personally prefer hanging out with friends to TV, I mistakenly skewed the whole platform against influencers. Happily, we blundered into the influencer problem while this podcast was still in the back of my head and it all came together. Sometimes, you want to hang back and watch TV. And influencers need to reach their TV audience. The truth is influencers need followers - and followers need influencers.
The good news is that there is a way to do both without the confusion of today’s social media. People can watch TV and have deeper friendships. Even celebrities.
Will AI replace us? (1:16:00)
“The biggest risk that everyone’s worried about is that AI will replace us, but I think the bigger risk is that AI becomes us.”
Like many people, I’m worried that AI may be an existential risk for humans. But since I feel powerless to affect that conversation, I’m currently more concerned about how it applies to social media.
We prototyped personas (what Meta just released as “characters”) six months ago, but decided the technology is just not in place to make it useful yet. We are about to see many AI concepts embedded in social media - and I believe they will bore us.
Ironically, AI does have a place in making us more human, but not with today’s platforms. So for the moment, the bigger concerns are using AI behind the scenes well and preventing AI from ruining the social experience.
Why does Chesky know so much about social media?
Curiosity made me dig deeper after hearing the podcast. It turns out Airbnb views its future as a physical social network. This explains why Chesky has thought through the topic so carefully.
Chesky believes that the industry has pivoted away from social networks (hanging out with friends) into social media (hanging out with friends). I would go further - the industry has accidentally shredded the social network. Airbnb can help combat our new loneliness - and I wish them all the luck in the world. We need to start acting less artificial if we’re ever going to handle the AI challenge.
Frankly, Chesky is the deepest thinker on social media I’ve run into - probably because he’s not wedded to today’s successful answers. I now see where Airbnb is going and I believe they will succeed. They better - the world needs it.
The big takeaway
Those seven minutes will significantly impact Weave and therefore, me. But my experience with the internet’s firehose of fantastic information also demonstrates a bigger lesson. We can’t find it all, even by surfing the net and listening to podcasts 24 hours a day. We need something more to succeed.
We need friends.