#AskGaryVee Episode 132: Is Snapchat Discover like a billboard?

- On this episode we talk video email, Facebook notes and Eeyore employees. Yeah, that Winnie the Pooh-- (hip hop music) You ask questions and I answer them. This is The #AskGaryVee Show Hey everybody, this is Gary Vay-ner-chuk and this is episode 132 of the #AskGaryVee Show. So I really enjoy the random tweets and Instagram comments, Facebook comments of people missing the show. That makes me happy. Obviously, I'm in the midst of some vacation time it's kind of a working week vacation, spending it with my family but in the office today. I will be back in the office next Wednesday night. Are we taping on Thursday of next week? So we'll get one more in. So it's gonna be a little sporadic here. The heart is going to grow very fond as we are in a little bit of a hiatus as I take family time. I do feel itchy fingers. Itchy fingers? fingers to possibly have some of you guys come and visit me out east. One, I think we may have to actually work on the book a little bit and do that day. And then maybe you can schlep along and we can bang out an episode on location. But for the most part I appreciate the momentum, I'm really excited as we get back into full swing. We will be very focused on football talk on the show. Get ready for it. And those things. The other thing that really excites me, India is that I see you have your shirt. Which really is cool. - You don't have yours? - No, I took it with me-- - Okay. - and my dad stole mine. - He stole it? - No, I gave it to him but it sounded to cooler to say he stole, so. India. Oh, and by the way, real quick. Some of you have been posting photos of your wearing it. (fingers snap) Which I like. Which is a lot of fun. Keep posting them, we will keep showing them Vayner nation in their show shirts throughout the episodes over the next 10 or 15 episodes. So India, Let's. Get into. The sh-- - Sho-- - Show. (laughs) All right, let's do it. - [India] Okay, first question's from B. Lloyd. - [India] Who is a lady. - B. Lloyd (laughs) B. Lloyd. - [Voiceover] B. Lloyd asks, "How do you and Eeyore employees? "The ones that always sound like

"they're whining and pessimistic. " (laughs) - We fire them. (laughs) Because energy is something I value tremendously and no question, if you are dragging down the team, that is a heavily-- Not having the smarts to do the work is actually viewed as a better option that being Eeyore and woe is me. Look, we are 550 deep now, I'm positive, as people are watching this from VaynerMedia, saying yeah but, "Ricky is really Eeyore. " You say you'd fire him, why has Ricky been moping for six months? I'm sure there's a couple people sneaking through with woe is me but the truth is I heard a story this weekend from my mom, we had an employee that was friends with-- My mom's friends with his mom and she told me a story that the doorman, and the doormen say that they know who the VaynerMedia employees are versus not just by the pep in their step when they go into the building and they're happy and always smiling. I think we have a pretty good atmosphere here and so I'm... I'm very, very affected by the atmosphere and the energy of my own company and since I'm the CEO I try to create an environment that allows me to most do my thing. And I think companies are disproportionally affected by the top five to ten people in a company. It's stunning, if you even look at the Apples and Nintendos and Budweisers, I mean it's incredible how a small group of people really dictate the outcome. And of course everybody's an impact but for me, if I'm not in a good mood because somebody's moping, well then I (laughs), that's a problem. There's a negative ROI there. You know, the truth is, we try to understand what makes them unhappy. Now, again, moping is different than being and introvert or quiet. You can be quiet and focused on your thing. That's very different and I wanna make sure, make a big point here that I actually stunningly over-value quiet, focused. I always worry that people at VaynerMedia don't realize if they're an introvert or quiet or focused or headphones on, never really interacting. We have such a culture of intermingling that, I would even argue that I value them, not more, that's not fair. I just value them for what they are. I don't try to change people for what they are. And you could bring enormous value to this company by never saying a word or you can yell, like Gabe, 24/7 and bring value. All of it in between really matters for me. And so, let's make sure that as you're watching this, if your auditing your 5, 10, 15, 500 person company that you're not digging through and misjudging moping and just quiet. Or quiet and focused. Or introverted. Those are tremendously valuable things. That's how they concentrate and get their job done. Moping is Debbie Downner. I think it's more Debbie, whaa, you know like Debbie Downer like this sucks. Try to walk around here for more than 20 days in a row saying this company sucks. Try. That's not gonna fly. Being focused, maybe not being the most social flower and going to every happy hour and high fiving everybody when you walk through here, that's more than fine. That should be acceptable. That is acceptable at the highest levels. But saying this sucks. The client sucks. This work sucks. This sucks, this sucks. Just doesn't work, it's too much of a downer. So, how do we deal with it? We try to cut it out. It's cancer. Straight up cancer. Cut the cancer. This is cancer. (tongue clicks) - [India] It's your finger? - I hope it's not. (laughs) - [India] Glenn. - [India] It's the Snapchat-- - Glenn. (laughs) Ask it. - [Voiceover] Glenn asks, "Is the Snapchat Discover kind of like Billboards? "There for everyone to see

"but people's attention is elsewhere. " - No, I don't think, Glenn, that is the case. I actually think it's more like the Facebook newsfeed. I think it's there and it's in the front of your eye and base on the data of people clicking clearly the content there is valuable. I think the thing that you need to understand about Facebook, excuse me, Snapchat Discover is it is content, it is not ads. A billboard is an ad and you and I and Alex, let's show Alex 'cause the shirt he's wearing, just needs its own attention today. Two days in a row he wore that shirt? Alex, what the-- Oh, got it, got it. - [India] He'd never repeat a shirt. (laughs) Snapchat Discover is content. When you click that, you know, ESPN or Cosmo or the Snapchat logo you know you're about to get content. You're not gonna get ads. There'll be some ads mixed in. That's a very different value proposition than a billboard. And we've been all kind of trained to know that billboard doesn't bring me any value, it's trying to sell me something. Versus tv and print and radio, the reason we tolerate and still enjoy it is, okay, I'm gonna get something of value. I'm gonna have to suffer through being sold to which is why technology's shifting away from that is the big rub that I talk a lot about but Discover platform for me is a belief that it's there as a billboard, sure it's in your face, it's there but what is behind it, is the variable. Now if they program it correctly, Daily Mail all the people that program there, the partners, Daily Mail, Cosmo, ESPN or Snapchat itself. If they program successfully, you'll go there. A la NBC, ESPN, ABC, A& amp; E. When Walking Dead is what you program and people wanna go there, they'll go there. When Schmuck-A-Ma-Ma-Ga tv show that nobody wants to watch is there you don't go there. So the content is the variable. Knowing that there's content behind that makes it very different than a billboard. Make sense, right? - [India] Yeah. From Zoltan. - Zoltan. (bangs table) That one deserves that. That's the most, you know... - [Voiceover] Zoltan asks, "What do you think about the revamp Facebook "gave it's Notes platform?

"A Medium contender, maybe? " - Zoltan. First, I feel like Zoltan and I should try to take on the world. I feel like there's--(laughs) Let's team up. Kill the world. Truth is, I haven't dug deep. Obviously, I've been checked out for the last 48 hours with the fam and Notes kind of hit out. Obviously I got pinged by a lot of people here especially 'cause I've been pushing the longform thing. We had a little bit of a conversation. Andy mentioned that it's a link out thing. I haven't really looked yet. So the answer is, I can't fully answer this. Help me here real quick, India, 'cause I know you had a look at it. Andy mentioned that it's linked out. - When you post it, it shows up as a link. - Kind of like if you did YouTube or GaryVaynerchuk. com - Yeah, but it actually stays within Facebook. - Got it. So our point of view and why we talked about that is, when you guys see the box image and the headline, you know you're leaving the Facebook environment. That creates a friction point that the longform post does not. But I would say we'll probably even-- You know what, let's test a note today and we'll follow up on 133, 134, 135. I think Facebook has a very clear plan. Let's be the layer on top of the internet itself. So if anything works, YouTube video. Medium blog post. If anything works, let's have our version of it and that's keeping everybody in our walled garden because we'll make a lot of money if we do that. And AOL is the only other company that ever had that kind of ecosystem in the late 90's, mid-90's when people where scared-- I was scared to go to the world wide web. There was a button up there and it was like, the world wide web, forget it. I was in an AOL world, I'm like, that's spooky. I'm staying in here, it's safe. Facebook doesn't have that advantage, people are more educated, they know the web exists. But in a mobile first world, in a Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp world that's why they offered 3 billion for Snapchat. If Facebook owned Snapchat right now, they would own the entire-- Alex even got excited and he keeps it chill. I mean he said, "Pshhh. " (laughs) I don't know if you heard it. They would own the ecosystem. So they're 3/4 of the way. There is some other players but, YouTube, there's other players but... I think Facebook's plan is obvious. And I think in general, it's very interesting to watch them navigate. I think it's proper for maximizing business. It's why I'm very bullish on the company. It's why I haven't sold a single share of the stock. I bought it private before it went public, not a share. I'm a big believer in it. Video time. - TCustomz, producer. - Hey Gary Vee, Travis here. - [Gary] Travis. - I first I wanna say thanks for all you do with the #AskGaryVee Show. Most definitely will be buying the book when it releases.

Question for you, is you talk a lot about the use of Twitter Native Video and I can personally say I've seen a lot of really great results with engagement. It almost got my reamped about using the Twitter platform again. You foresee this type of video response funtionality being built in natively in some of the more common email clients anytime in the near future? Would this be practical for someone like you who travels a lot and who has a lot of mass email volume to go through? Would love to hear your thoughts, thanks for your time. - Travis, way to keep it tight. He like went Bone Thugs on that. (laughs) Real fast. I watched Straight Out Of Compton last night. - [Staphon] That was good. - Oh my god, I loved it. (sighs) What I think is really interesting on that is I made, (laughs) I wish Erik Kastner was here right now. Let's show Kastner's Twitter profile @kastner. K-A-S-T-N-E-R Erik was the developer that sat right next to me that helped me build up WineLibrary. com And I made a prediction to him in 2004 or five or six or seven that all email would be video in five to seven years. I'm glad we weren't doing the Ask #GaryVeeShow back then 'cause boy that highlight-- The lowlights of this show, by the way, I can't wait for the lowlights in a couple years of all my wrong things in this 'cause those are fun too. (laughs) Not really. I think the answer's no. I think that what people don't realize is most people don't want to be on camera. And this is a really interesting thing. Now, what's happening right now with everybody growing up in selfie culture and all these 15, 14, 13 year olds just owning this move. I do think that behavior's changing. And video's upside over a 15 to 30 year period, 15 to 30 years from now, 15 through 30 years from now is very high because I think we're training youngsters, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, to be more out. (phone dings) To be more in front of the camera, it's not this kind of thing anymore. I'm bullish on the concept. I do think email is ripe for a change in the next generation. I think, you know, Gmail's gotten heavy, it started off lighter. I think there's some real opportunity. I do think when you look at Slack and how people use that in companies to communicate, I think a version of texting, Twitter video and email, the Frankenstein of that, eight, nine years from now has a real shot. And then there's gonna be a technology we don't understand, like holograms. Like Princess Leia pops up in Star Wars. I'd like that even better, I'd be like, yo, I could use my hands. It'd be great. So I think a lot of technology will come and I do think there'll be change. I do think that video and email clients like Gmail and Apple mail is gonna be smaller than you think because people don't like to go that route. It actually takes longer and I think time is the biggest asset. I think people can type it quicker than click, dah-dah-dah And I think we're writing less. You know, a lot more emoji's. These guys will probably laugh right now. (laughs) My emails are tight. (laughs) They're very much in the K, LOL, Cool, Go, Yes, No I mean, I am keeping it tight. When I write two to three sentences, people are like, Whoa. I think time is the biggest variable besides people's non want to be in picture form. Think of how many people don't wanna take pictures of themselves. They don't wanna see themselves. That's a very big culture, underrated. Especially for the generation that's in the workforce now. The younger generation I think will change that over time. - Oh, Rue, Ree, Rue. I mean, I know him really well, I just-- - I know. - I interact with him a lot. I just don't know if he pronounces it Roo. - [Voiceover] Rui asks, "You don't talk much about Tumblr. "Do you think it's losing relevance? "

- Yes. You keep asking quest-- (laughs) Yes, I do think it's losing relevance. I think Tumblr lost its moment, which is tough for me 'cause I was an early investor in Tumblr. I made a lot of money when it sold to Yahoo! but it's part of a bigger company that's selling media in a traditional way even though it's Yahoo! And I think that it lost to Instagram in the mobile translation much like many people did. It is still a very high rated app in the app store, if you look in the top 100, it's usually around number 90 to 110. But I do think it's losing relevance. I think there's a lot of people that love it, it's still a very big platform but I don't say huge growth in it. I don't see it. I think it's a niche now, where a lot of creative people are doing their thing, it's a great creative outlet. A lot of people are doing their anonymous work on it. But then Snapchat came along and kinda created a world-- India, what's going on behind me? - [India] Nothing, I was just waving to-- (slaps table) - What, no, you were laughing before. - [India] No, I wasn't. - Okay, I'll have to watch that part of the show. (laughs) I think, the show. I do think Tumblr's lost its momentum and would need to have some real innovation to get going again. Yes, I don't talk about it a lot because it's not atop of mind. And it's a current show, right. Like this is gonna always follow the path of what I think is most going on. Just wanna thank everybody for watching the show. I realized over this weekend, little bit over the break of just how much this community means to me. Really enjoyed the amount of people that have jumped out of lurkerville and started commenting, it really means a lot to me. It is absolutely my oxygen, in lieu of the financial aspects. As many books as I sell of Ask Gary Vee, the time commitment doesn't work mathwise so I ask myself, what is it really? And I think it's our interaction. And I definitely Thank you so much for a lot of people that jumped out over the weekend and said, "I'm a lurker, here's my comment on the latest show. " Question of the day. What do I wanna know about? Labor Day's coming up. It's so funny these questions of the day are becoming harder because I really don't know what I want to know. They've become less self- serving from a datas perspective. Question of the day. When is your fav-- I guess, I'm going self-serving. What is your favorite football team? And what, after one preseason game, is the prediction for your team's record this year? Side note, I may change question of the day. As a matter of fact, I'm changing it. Right here on the spot, we're going improv. No more question of the day, this is it. This will be part of the-- This is 132? the quiz game one day. What episode did it go from question of the day to comment of the day. Please make your comment on the content that you just watched. You keep asking questions, I'll keep answering them. (hip hop music)