London-based production studio KODE Media has signed director Liz Unna for commercial representation in the U.K. Growing up between Santa Fe and Brussels, and now based in London, Unna began her career in the creative services department of Discovery Channel. She then moved to Channel 4 as creative director of FilmFour, and subsequently of More4 when it launched. Here, she oversaw all of its on-air identity and scooped up several D&AD awards along the way. Over the course of her career, Unna has directed commercials and short films for numerous clients across the globe, including Samsung, American Airlines, M&S, Age UK, the NSPCC, Google, Dove, Microsoft and Volkswagen. She recently partnered with UK Dementia Research Institute, to focus on raising awareness around how women are disproportionately impacted by dementia. The two campaign films spotlight women who experience dementia by focusing on their most cherished memory, resonating with audiences on a profound level and leaving a lasting impact. Her work on the “Unquiet Film Series” for The Times and Sunday Times saw Unna win two D&AD pencils, several British Arrows and two Cannes Lions. Her work for Age UK, featuring actors Miriam Margolyes and James Bolam, has also been awarded at Cannes Lions….
Growth Brings Growing Pains–and Bots–To Bluesky
Bluesky has seen its user base soar since the U.S. presidential election, boosted by people seeking refuge from Elon Musk's X, which they view as increasingly leaning too far to the right given its owner's support of President-elect Donald Trump, or wanting an alternative to Meta's Threads and its algorithms.
The platform grew out of the company then known as Twitter, championed by its former CEO Jack Dorsey. Its decentralized approach to social networking was eventually intended to replace Twitter's core mechanic. That's unlikely now that the two companies have parted ways. But Bluesky's growth trajectory — with a user base that has more than doubled since October — could make it a serious competitor to other social platforms.
But with growth comes growing pains. It's not just human users who've been flocking to Bluesky but also bots, including those designed to create partisan division or direct users to junk websites.
The skyrocketing user base — now surpassing 25 million — is the biggest test yet for a relatively young platform that has branded itself as a social media alternative free of the problems plaguing its competitors. According to research firm Similarweb, Bluesky added 7.6 million monthly active app users on iOS and Android in November, an increase of 295.4% since October. It also saw 56.2 million desktop and mobile web visits, in the same period, up 189% from October.
Besides the U.S. elections, Bluesky also got a boost when X was briefly banned in Brazil.
"They got this spike in attention, they've crossed the threshold where it is now worth it for people to flood the platform with spam," said Laura Edelson, an assistant professor of computer science at Northeastern University and a member of Issue One's... Read More