Hey, welcome to the last edition in 2020. I won’t comment here on how this year was and how the next one might be (you heard enough of this already). Instead, I want to say thanks to you for reading my newsletter. I hope that my newsletter sparked an idea/project/thought which you wouldn’t have had otherwise. Stay healthy, and have a safe ride into 2021. Rolf
🧠 Hand-Picked Content
Viral Tweets & Shady Advertising (Article, 5min)
The first reply to a viral tweet is a prime spot for promotion. Why not make it a business to sell that first spot (I asked that question on Twitter)? Turns out a company is doing this already. More
Open DMs in Slack (Article, 5min)
Slack added a feature that allows anyone to send you direct messages in Slack without being part of your organization. You could, for example, add a “message me on Slack” link on your Twitter profile. After launch, this feature got heavily criticized. I will try it out, it sounds useful to me. More
How To Run an Instagram Account (Blog, 10min)
Are you running an Instagram account and noticing low engagement in recent months? This article might help you to understand why that is so. More
Mr Beast vs Seth Godin (Blog, 3min)
Mr. Beast figured out how YouTube works, his videos are basically about giving away money for nonsense activities. Watching these reminded me of this Seth Godin post, which is a great reminder of how social media works. More
Blog More Often in 2021? (Blog post, 10min)
Is your new year’s resolution to get back into the blogging game? Check this article to get useful tips on how to create a system that helps you to blog throughout the year, not just for the first couple of months. More
Rethink How You Read Books (Article, 10min)
While I think this is an interesting concept, I will stick to my own: I read interesting novels when they arrive at my bedside. More
🛠️ Tools & Apps & Services
Create Images Based on Links
Remix by Buffer is an app that you can use to create and customize images for social media. Lena took the app for a quick spin. More
SEO Site Checker
Sitechecker is a suite of tools for analyzing all things SEO about your website. I started using the tool recently. (Example Report) More
Pattern Generator
Need a background image for your next slide deck or website? Apply your brand’s colors and start playing around with this tool. You can download JPG, PNG, SVG. More
Whats possible with Carrd?
Are you thinking about creating a new personal website? Carrd is a very popular tool, and this site shares 52 websites made with the page builder. More
10 Misconceptions in UX Design
I had fun playing this UX quiz (I scored 10 correct answers 🙂 ). More
Design background patterns for your next project
Haikei is a simple browser app for doing that. Download SVG or PNG. More
📣 Fresh van Root
For the fun of it
Browse the 2019 edition of this newsletter. More
Still open: 30 Second Newsletter Feedback
🔗 One More Link
Create Deepfake Videos
Avatarify is a fun app (iOS only) Is a popular app to do that. More
Movie Recommendations
Horror Movie Recommendations, to be specific. More
Book Recommendation
Human Kind by Rutger Bregman was my favorite book of 2020. It might help you to rewire your brain in regards to how you think that humans are. More