Influencers are now being sued for breaching sponsorship contracts

Luka Sabbat - a 21 year old influencer has been sued by a PR firm representing Snapchat for not completing his contractual obligations. The obligations include reporting on analytics from his campaigns and adhering to social media posting schedules.

The read is a necessary one as we head into 2019: https://www.theringer.com/tech/2018/12/17/18141386/luka-sabbat-influencer-snapchat

Key Takeaway

The lawsuit (and it's not the only one) marks an important milestone in the new world of marketing. Influencers are no longer periphery channels that brands are adding to their planning. They're being recognized as high impact providers of brand awareness, but more importantly, trust and relevance, and when they don't deliver, it's being noticed, both financially and legally.

Alfonso Ribeiro, Chance the Rapper and others sue Fortnite for using their dance moves

Fortnite - the world's most popular video game at the moment (and some would argue, social network) is in legal trouble with some B and C list celebrities this week for animating their dance moves without permission. Alfonso Ribeiro, AKA Carlton from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has had his famous dance move (from 'It's not Unusual' by Tom Jones) animated into the game and now wants payment for its usage.

Until now - Alfonso has not copyrighted the move, and wants Epic to stop using it while he arranges for legal instruments to be put in place so he can profit.

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/dec/17/fresh-prince-actor-sues-fortnite-for-use-carlton-dance

Key Takeaway

Animated dance moves have historically been more of an homage to pop cultural phenoms, whether in World of Warcraft or other popular games, but with video games now becoming communications channels for younger millenials, it's being treated no differently than how we treat music or movies.

Lawsuits aside - this is a big signal that video games are no longer a fringe medium and can have the same commercial marketing impact as any other form of media.

Snapchat's users and financials plummet is being blamed on its CEOs decision to ignore user data

Analysts have been downgrading Snapchat as its user base exits the platform at rapid rates. According to a Wall Street Journal article this week, the main culprit is CEO Evan Spiegel's approach to platform improvements in which he's been called "imperious". Specifically citing an example in which he drove design decisions forward that ran counter to what users had asked for, or what analytics was showing the design team.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/evan-spiegels-imperious-style-made-snapchat-a-successuntil-users-fled-11545588892

Key Takeaway

Roughly a decade ago, Facebook was famous for doing exactly the same thing as Snapchat. They'd change the platform up against the wishes of its users, but in the end, everyone accepted those changes and moved on with their lives.

Today, we have too much choice for Snapchat or anyone else to gamble the way that Facebook did. Your friends are reachable in too many different places for that gambit to work anymore.

For Snapchat or any company today - if you choose to ignore the data, you're not going to last very long.