It’s been a week of illuminating conversations here at Passionfruit HQ. We sat down with leaders in the creator field like Status founder Oliver Darcy and Danial Abas; the founder and president of the Creators’ Guild of America.
We’ve also penned some deep-dives into various areas like the creator sphere, including memecoins and social media marketing. So, if you want to find yourself enriched, keep reading.
No End in Sight for TikTok Deal Chaos
On April 4, President Donald Trump confirmed that he would be delaying the TikTok “ban or sell” deadline for a second time. This is because the deal with China fell through after Trump raised the country’s tariffs to 104%.
Yet, despite it being kind of his fault, he isn’t doing much to rectify it. He told Shelby Talcott, Semafor’s White House correspondent, that he plans to “just delay” the US-China TikTok deal “until this thing [the tariffs issue] works out.”
“I guess we’ll spend five minutes to talk about TikTok [during tariff negotiations],” he said. “It wouldn’t take very long.” You can read the full article here.
The Hidden Crypto Market Behind Gen Z Slang
You might think that cryptocurrency has died, but thanks to internet slang, it’s making a comeback. Recently, memecoins have exploded in popularity, with young people all over the world investing in them. But how do you know when a memecoin is a good investment? Well, it depends. Sometimes, as shown with cryptocurrency Dogecoin, this can go really well. But other times, as seen with the ‘Hawk Tuah’ girl’s memecoin, this can end in disaster.
In this article, Taylor Lorenz dives deep into the world of “algospeak” and the competitive, slang word market, where a memecoin’s success hinges on the original word or phrase’s virility.
For the full story, click here.
Oliver Darcy: Brand Names Don’t Matter As Much As They Did
In 2024, Oliver Darcy made the bold decision to leave his position as CNN’s senior media reporter. He did this to start his own independent media company: Status. The newsletter, which has amassed nearly 80,000 subscribers, is known for its coverage of business and media news.
Things keep getting better for Darcy. He hosted his first-ever White House Correspondents’ Dinner representing Status, and in an interview with Passionfruit’s Taylor Lorenz, he covered things like tips for aspiring journalists, the current media landscape, and more.
You can check out the full article here.
In Conversation with Daniel Abas: The Man Behind the Creator’s Bill of Rights
Recently, the Creators Guild of America (CGA), released its own Rider: a legal document which establishes certain rights for creators like more creator ownership, a maximum payment window, mandatory attribution of content and the need for consent before using creators or their content to train AI.
Daniel Abas, a five-time entrepreneur, is the founder and president of the CGA, and in this interview, we discuss everything like the CGA’s core values, the most urgent issues creators are facing today, how they respond to skeptism, and where they see the creator economy in five years from now.
You can read the full interview here.
Silence, Brand: Why Are Brands Acting Like Creators?
Do you resent the way brands capitalize on viral moments? Do you cringe inside when brands pretend to be Gen Z interns? If so, this article is for you. In this feature, Passionfruit consults social media and PR managers to answer one simple question: Why are brands acting like creators these days?
As we explore the answer to the question, we look at several examples of brands doing well, and brands that are doing not-so-well. Duo Lingo, for example, is quite literally killing it with its recent campaign to kill off its iconic owl, while Wendy’s, for example, was forced to backtrack after an online spat with Katy Perry. What we know for sure is that, despite our pleas, brands won’t be going silent anytime soon. You can read the full article here.
