Trump, Rogan, Ronaldo, YouTube and the world we live in

Two thoughts on the influence of (1) personality and (2) technology on our world in 2024. (Hint: if we don't embrace this fully, we're dust.)

Oct 30, 2024

Two thoughts on the influence on our world in 2024 of:

Personality and,
Technology

(Hint: if we don't embrace this fully, we're dust.)

Personality, Part 1: Cristiano's Instagram

Cristiano Ronaldo has MORE THAN TWICE the number of Instagram followers (642 million) than all 20 Premier League clubs combined (289 million).

He has almost the same follower count as ALL 23 CLUBS WHO HAVE EVER WON THE EUROPEAN CUP/CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, COMBINED (689 million).

Personality, Part 2: Trump & Rogan

Trump was the first US president elected because of the size of his public persona.

Joe Rogan posted an interview with him on YouTube on Friday, Oct 26th. That video quickly got tens of millions of views.

It could help tip the election Trump's way. On October 9th (three weeks ago), all the odds-makers made the US election a toss of a coin. Now, they estimate Trump has a 70% chance of winning.

Like it or not, in our world, personality wins.

If you have a personality, you have to show it.

If you don't have a personality, you have to get one.

This is not about ego.

This is about being relevant.

This is about being able to achieve what you'd like to achieve.

This is about survival.

2. Technology

YouTube has throttled / censored / shadow-banned that Trump/Rogan interview.

It got 39 million views on YouTube in the first 2-3 days.

It's still at 39 million views.

The video's still on YouTube.

But try searching for it there. You won't find it. You'll need the direct link.

You might think "Fair play YouTube."

You might think "F*** you YouTube!"

But it doesn't matter what you think. What matters is that this is happening, and this sh*t matters.

The venture capital investor Marc Andreessen wrote in 2011 that "software is eating the world".

Software – and the people who build it, and run it, and profit from it – has eaten it all, but it's "Bottomless Pete", and it can't be satisfied.

Software – and the people who build it, and run it, and profit from it – has changed EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING.

So what does all this mean for you?

It means this:

If you're not leveraging personality, and you're not leveraging technology, it literally DOES NOT MATTER what you want to achieve.

Because you won't be able to achieve it.

Thanks for reading.

Till next time.