It’s Friday, July 26. In today’s issue: Google Docs for notes; Slack for chores. Plus: recommendations for books, shows, and music from our critics.
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Platforms: The Remix
These days—to offer a twist on a familiar refrain from the tech world—humans are also eating software. As productivity tools and social networks become more and more integrated into people’s daily lives, users are reworking them for more customized purposes.
Some use cases even the most expansive-thinking product managers in Silicon Valley likely didn’t see coming.
Our staff writer Taylor Lorenz has reported deeply on the good, bad, and ugly—and it can be very ugly—faces of technology and internet culture. Today, we're going off the map and presenting you with the weird, from her latest stories:
Instagram, but for party invites
Typical use
Social network: It’s a platform for sharing photos (especially ones that make you look cooler than you are).
Alternative use
E-invites: “When teenagers are planning a big party, they’ll sometimes create a new Instagram account,” Lorenz reports, “often with a handle that includes the date of the party, like @Nov17partyy or @SarahsBdayOctober27.” The accounts are set to private, but if one follows you (or accepts your follow request), that’s how you know you’ve made the list. Party on, Wayne.