Tracking friends using Instagram? 😧

Helloooo! 🌞

This is our 100th edition of Going Solo. 🥹

Have you noticed how quickly time passes when you do what brings you joy? We believe many creators resonate with this — even when times get tough.

So, today's edition of Going Solo is a tribute to creators and their boundless creativity. 🎉

Let's go through 👇

• Friday advice: Meryl Streep on Asking

• Short interview: Matt and Nat

• News that caught our eye: Instagram's 'Friend Map' could track friends' locations

Meryl Streep on Asking

Do you ever find yourself hesitating to ask for what you truly want? Whether it's negotiating for a better deal, or simply taking a day off to recharge, there's often a nagging voice inside questioning whether you deserve it.

Meryl Streep's wise words remind us of the power in asserting our desires with confidence and clarity. 👇🏻

A Quick Chat with Matt and Nat

We spoke with Matt and Nat, a part-time, non-remote travel couple documenting their breathtaking journeys across the globe and inspiring others to pursue their dreams.

Thousand Faces Club: Why do you call yourselves part-time travellers?

Natalie: Just like many others, we love traveling so much and wanted to make it a real priority. We have non-remote jobs, so we're not digital nomads in different countries every month. We have to come back to our home in Nashville to do that work. Therefore, it's part-time, and we want to inspire others to know that you don't have to quit and sell everything if you want to travel the world. You can do it on your days off and during your PTO weeks.

Thousand Faces Club: Do you think your content influences and helps people more than full-time travel creators, considering that most folks have a full-time job?

Matt: I think so, 100%. When we started, we had in mind that the audience consuming our content are not full-time travelers or nomads. The fact is, there are a lot of people who love their job but feel tied to their office. They may think they need two weeks to take a trip. However, that's not necessary. You can go on micro-adventures, take long weekends, or just go on weekend trips. I believe the fact that we are part-time encourages and allows us to help people in those situations to travel more, travel better, and experience things.

Thousand Faces Club: Can you give us a breakdown of your revenue streams?

Matt: It’s content creation so it varies wildly.👇🏻

Thousand Faces Club: Could you share your thumbnail creation process for your videos?

Natalie: Matt handles our thumbnails, and he's excellent at photography. He's improved and refined our thumbnail process over time.

Matt: Photography has always been a passion of mine. I have my own artistic preferences, but I also consider what works best for thumbnails. I aim to be objective, keeping in mind that the thumbnail should encourage clicks. This skill has developed a lot in the past year. Getting the perfect thumbnail shot used to be stressful; we had to take multiple pictures throughout the day, ensuring good lighting and framing. With the advancements in AI, however, it's become much easier. I can now take a picture of the scene and plug us in later.

If you found this interesting, watch the full interview here 👇🏻

Instagram's 'Friend Map' could track friends' locations

Instagram is working on a new feature called "Friend Map," kinda like Snapchat's Live Location. 📍

With this feature, you can see where your friends are in real-time, but it's optional, so you can choose whether or not to use it. It's still in the early stages and not available for testing yet.

This was spotted by tech whiz Alessandro Paluzzi 👇🏻

If you decide to use it, you can share your location with your followers, your close friends, or keep it private. Plus, there's a setting called "Ghost Mode" that hides your last location.

🔥 What Else Is Brewing?

• TikTok begins removing Universal music publishing songs, expanding royalty battle

• YouTube expands access to its ‘Create’ mobile video editing app

• Meta revamps its 'Creator Bonus' program, offering more incentives for top talent.

• Lucy Guo's Passes secures $40M to empower content creators.

That’s it for this week! We’ll be back with more stories next Friday. 👋🏼 

Check out our new stuff on YouTube and Instagram. 

Was this newsletter sent to you by someone? Subscribe here & never miss an update.

Thousand Faces Club is an initiative by Phyllo. Phyllo is the universal API for creator data. Sign up for free!