This Year Bring On The Independent Creator... 10x

I know the creator economy will continue to grow this year, but I see it growing more than any other year. With the decline of mainstream media, we're going to see even more journalists starting newsletters and podcasts, because they are tired of where media is heading.

With CBS killing an important story about the extra-judicial prison in Latin America, I see this being the straw that broke the camels back for many journalists.

It think this is going to be multiplied 10x if not more.

With the disassembling of the old-school journalism paradigm, we're going to see more subscriptions and the freemium model going strong.

Will this create more subscription fatigue? Yes, but it will also create more opportunity as well. People are going to be able subscribe to the creators/journalists they want to follow and avoid those they don't. This will possibly create an echo chamber, but could also broaden people's views if they subscribe to writers who have different opinions than they do. We'll have to wait and see.

I predict that people will support more individual creators than ever before in 2026

So in a way it's the dream we had with streaming, only I don't see a re-consolidation happening like what's happening in streaming.

What do you think? Post your thoughts below or hit reply.

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The Latest From The Entrepreneur's Enigma Podcast

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Web Jawn

2025: The year in LLMs

Simon Willison breaks down what happened in the LLM space in 2025. Some of it has the potential to transform tech forever.

Ben WerdmullerBen Werdmuller

A good run through of 2025 and LLMs.

OpenAI bets big on audio as Silicon Valley declares war on screens | TechCrunch

The form factors may differ, but the thesis is the same: audio is the interface of the future. Every space -- your home, your car, even your face -- is becoming an interface.

TechCrunchConnie Loizos

The year of audio AI? Maybe we'll all bet taking to our own Jarvis this year.

A beginner’s guide to Mastodon, the open source Twitter alternative | TechCrunch

Mastodon has almost doubled its userbase since Elon Musk took control of Twitter last month. Here’s what you need to know about the platform.

TechCrunchAmanda Silberling

A good guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse as a whole!

Review Of 2025: Highlights & Lowlights For SEO (& Wordpress)

SEO woke up to GEO and Google patents. WordPress began the year with uncertainty and ended it well placed to benefit from AI.

Search Engine JournalRoger Montti

Roger Montti does a good job summing up 2025 highs and lows in the SEO space. Worth a read.

Opinion | U.S. Virgin Islands sues Meta over child exploitation and scam ads

The U.S. Virgin Islands’ attorney general says Meta allowed its platforms to “become breeding grounds for predators who groom, solicit, and sexually exploit children.”

MS NOWJa’han Jones

Meta is pure evil. You all know that I'm not a fan. Zuckerberg only cares about the bottom line and has become even less human than he ever was.

The Case for Blogging in the Ruins

In 1751, Denis Diderot began publishing his Encyclopédie, a project that would eventually span 28 volumes and take more than two decades to complete. The French government banned it twice. The Catholic Church condemned it, Diderot’s collaborators abandoned him, his publisher secretly censored entries behind his back, and he worked

Westenberg.JA Westenberg

A good case for blogging. Especially now... in what the author calls... the Ruins.

Podcast Stats: How many podcasts are there?

Podcast industry data through the lens of Listen Notes, the best podcast search engine and database.

Listen Notes

Great source of updated stats on podcasting.

Where is Bitcoin?

Happy Birthday Bitcoin! At the risk of awakening long-dormant beasts, it looks like Bitcoin has failed for day-to-day transactions. So I’ve a simple question to ask - can you meaningfully spend any cryptocurrency in your city centre? A few months ago, my wife and I went on a 30 day Interrail holiday across Europe. 10 countries, over a dozen cities, making over a hundred payments. I looked in…

Terence Eden’s BlogTerence Eden

This is a good piece about how Bitcoin/Crypto is really not usable in the real world. Trust me Terance tried. 😁

Researchers Are Hunting America for Hidden Datacenters

The nonprofit research group Epoch AI is tracking the physical imprint of the technology that’s changing the world.

404 MediaMatthew Gault

The hunt for hidden data centers. That wasn't something I was expecting to be a thing. But with the rise of AI, I guess it tracks.

Cops Forced to Explain Why AI Generated Police Report Claimed Officer Transformed Into Frog

AI-powered software Draft One automatically generates police reports from body camera footage. It thought an officer turned into a frog.

FuturismVictor Tangermann

I had to laugh at this one. But seriously... you can't make this shit up!

AI in schools... hmmm. If done right, it could be beneficial. If it's done wrong, ugh, it could be really bad. (Gift link)

Reddit overtakes TikTok in UK thanks to search algorithms and gen Z

Platform is now Britain’s fourth most visited social media site as users seek out human-generated content

The GuardianMichael Savage

This is surprising. I mean good for Reddit, but wow.

Web Find

The Clicks BlackBerry-Like Phone Keyboard Finally Makes Sense

Or, if you just want another BlackBerry, Clicks is also making a phone.

GizmodoKyle Barr

This looks like a fun gadget. I'm not sure if we'll ever see it in the wild, but still neat.

Yann LeCun Escaped Meta: Inside the AI Meltdown

Meta’s chief AI scientist just gave an interview that undercuts the tidy narrative. What it reveals about benchmark gaming, leadership panic, and the dead end of language model scaling.

Implicator.aiMarcus Schuler

Yann LeCun is the G.O.A.T of LLMs. Also not surprised Meta is fudging numbers. Not one bit.

That's It For This Week! Keep Rocking It!

-Seth

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