Meta Swings Again & The Real Reason Why We Are Tired (& What To Do About It)

Brad Giles

Published in

Evolution Partners Newsletter

5 min readJul 10, 2023

9 July 2023 Newsletter

“The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom”
James Clear — Atomic habits

Hope you’re Thriving!

It’s been a productive week working on the new Onboarded for Managers book and being a guest on a podcast. In Australia, we also entered a new financial year; I hope yours is highly profitable!

Let’s begin.

Meta Swings Again

A couple of days ago, Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, released a new social networking app called Threads.

Of course, only recently, in April 2023, Meta went “all in” on Artificial Intelligence, and it was only in October 2021 that the company pivoted from Facebook to Meta, where they went “all in” on Augmented Reality and the Metaverse. It makes sense that they’re looking for the next S Curve of growth.

But why might growth have flatlined?

Perhaps it’s because it feels like every third thing on their platforms is an advert, or perhaps because one of their core values is Be Open, when only 18% of social media users trust them with their privacy and data.

Reflecting on Meta makes me consider the Doom Loop and the Five Stages of Decline by Jim Collins.

Anyway, back to Threads.

Facebook has a long history of copying its competitors, and every time that the new product is not ‘inside the app’ it’s failed. For example, Instagram stories, a copy of video shorts on TikTok, worked because it was integrated inside the app for users to use, whereas Poke, a stand-alone copy of Snapchat, failed.

And this is why Threads will likely fail.

Firstly, there isn’t the network effect. Users will head to Threads waiting for interesting content to populate their feed, and it will never come. And creators will upload content waiting for engagement, which won’t come.

Second is the Core Customer. While Facebook is perhaps about updates for friends and family, Instagram is perhaps more about inspirational photos. Then Twitter is perhaps more about opinions, mostly written. Finally, of course, LinkedIn is about professional social networking. Through this, we can get a sense of each platform’s core customer. Yet not with Threads. The example image from the app store asks a user to “share their point of view”, with an example person saying they found a new coffee shop.

The key? A new feature only needs to add more value to an existing user. However, a new product must add enough value to a core customer to either form it as a habit or overcome the value threshold so that the customer will pay for it.

The Real Reason Why We Are Tired & What To Do About It

Have you ever tried to fix your chronic lack of energy by getting more sleep, only to wake up still feeling exhausted? If that’s you, then here’s the secret — sleep and rest are not the same.

We’ve incorrectly framed sleep and rest to be the same thing, but in fact, sleep is one of the seven types of rest. The result is a culture of high achieving, high producing chronically tired, burned-out individuals. Many of us suffer from a rest deficit because we do not understand the power of rest.

Every activity that you do requires energy. And most of that energy is not merely physical.

You might get a solid amount of sleep, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you will be well-rested because rest is multifaceted. There are seven types of rest that we should consider, and rest should equal restoration in one of these seven areas.

Rest #1 Physical rest

First is physical rest; activities that rest and restore the body can be done passively or actively.
How to get it — passively through sleeping and napping, and yoga and massage, which is active.

Rest #2 Mental rest

Activities that give our brains and our minds some space. Getting some distance from thoughts and nagging problems.
How to get it — mindfulness practice and journaling

Rest #3 Sensory rest

Getting away from the constant visual and auditory onslaught we submit ourselves to daily.
How to get it — take short breaks from screens throughout the work day. Simply closing our eyes for a few moments, the no phone in bed rule.

Rest # 4 Emotional rest

We spend emotional energy when we are not being our truest selves.
How to get it — spend time with authentic friends, speak to someone you can be open with.

Rest #5 Creative rest

In order to be creative, we need to give our brains space to breathe. Burnout comes from continuing to push when our brain needs a break.
How to get it — take time to walk in nature, try something new, do a puzzle or spend time enjoying the arts. Transform your workspace into a place of inspiration with art and images of places you love.

Rest #6 Social rest

Some relationships revive us, whereas others can be exhausting. Sometimes we need to take time for ourselves or spend it with people who energise us.
How to get it — don’t be afraid to say no; spend time with people who give you energy.

Rest #7 Spiritual rest

Nurture your spirit by connecting with your surroundings. Feel that you’re part of something bigger than yourself.
How to get it — spend time in nature, meditative breathing, mindfulness meditation.

I’ve taken quite a lot from this different perspective, and it’s framed my dealings with CEOs and leaders in a new light.

Learn more in the 9-minute TED video below by Saundra Dalton-Smith.

Spot The Difference

As great as modern technology is, it comes with risks. Last year we had a client who had a front-line worker accidentally click on a link in an email that turned out to be fraudulent, and it locked up all their servers and accounting, with them having to pay in Bitcoin to unlock access. I can’t encourage you enough to do more to protect yourselves in this area.

I came across this image recently, which I thought I’d share with you. Unfortunately, I can’t credit it because I don’t know where it originated. But it’s an interesting lesson.