DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

The reason this news pioneer is closingBuzzFeed’s decision to shut its news division — an innovator in digital journalism that published both prizewinning investigations and listicles designed to get clicks — drew many bittersweet tributes online. But its closure is the latest reminder that digital media start-ups, which deep-pocketed investors once valued at astronomical sums, are facing headwinds. With even tech giants struggling to navigate hurdles like a declining advertising market, smaller companies are facing potentially existential crises. BuzzFeed and its peers have also suffered from the same drop-off in online ads that is forcing sharp job cuts at Alphabet, Meta and others. BuzzFeed used one to list on the Nasdaq in late 2021 — and ended up raising just $16 million, far short of the $250 million it could have collected.

☆ Ukraine’s Social Media Stars Rethink How They Wield Their Influence
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Matthew Mpoke Bigg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When the Ukrainian social media influencer Anna Tsukur started building her business as a fitness guru several years ago, she made choices to maximize her appeal — focus on women, shoot in inspiring locations like Bali and, above all, speak in Russian. After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, she decided that as an influencer, her first task should be to try to influence people about the war, appealing to her Russian followers to protest their country’s actions. The result: a stream of insults from Russians insisting Ukraine was at fault. Then she decided to ignore her own business model. “I felt from my heart,” she said, “that it was the right thing to do to show that I support my people, Ukraine.”

☆ Tucker Carlson raged against Trump in private. But in interview with the former president he took a very different tone
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Carlson made no effort to press the disgraced president on any of the issues that an actual news anchor would. Carlson’s refusal to disclose to his viewers his true opinions of Trump reflect the grip the former president still exerts over the Republican Party. Even Carlson, the most popular MAGA Media figure whom most of the GOP fears, thinks it is necessary to kiss the ring of Trump. Carlson, himself, confided in a producer after the 2020 election, “We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. On Tuesday night, as Carlson bowed before Trump at Mar-a-Lago, he demonstrated exactly that.

☆ Cheddar News has seen so many exits that managers have asked staffers to delay scheduled vacations, while promising that reinforcements are on the way
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Cheddar News has lost more than 10 newsroom staffers since the start of 2023, sources told Insider. As of March, Cheddar appears to have plans to hire at least five news-related roles, according to Altice's jobs portal. a former Cheddar producer said. The two executives are said to have denied speculation that Altice has any plans to combine Cheddar and News 12. Sources previously told Insider that, throughout 2022, the Cheddar newsroom had contracted by roughly a third.

☆ Tommy Fury defeats Jake Paul in Saudi showdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Tonight I made my own legacy, I made my own legacy," Fury said, finally stepping out of the shadow of his illustrious boxing family. "All the way through these two and a half years, I had a dream, a vision, and no-one believed me. A short left hand downed Fury in the eighth and final round to shift the momentum in Paul's favour to set up a grandstand finish in which both men chased a knockout punch that never materialised. "All respect to Tommy, he won, don't judge me by my wins, judge me by my losses. I'll come back, I thought I deserve that rematch, it was a great fight, a close fight," Paul said in the ring as his boxing record slipped to six wins and one loss.

☆ Ex-Bon Appétit editor Marissa Ross says the wine world ruined her. Now she's back and ready to give it hell.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Anna Silman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +40 min

Her rise was tied to a period of reinvention for the wine world during which natural wine conquered millennial taste buds and became ubiquitous on menus across the US. Marissa Ross, Bon Appétit's wine editor from 2016 to 2020, often posted pictures of herself chugging straight from the bottle — a technique she called "The Ross test." "Natural wine," a nebulous term that generally refers to wine made with minimal intervention and without additives like sulfites, was tentatively entering the American wine world. Many in the wine world took the idea that you didn't have to be educated to know about wine as a personal insult. When she first told BA that she planned to cover only natural wines, Ross said, Rapoport called to try to change her mind.

☆ 6 ways shopping sites trick you into buying more
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Avery Hartmans | Danni Santana | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Online retailers use psychological tricks and tools to get consumers to make purchases. But we're shopping online now more than ever before, and these subtle nudges are starting to feel more widespread. Buy online, pick up in storeBuy online, pick up instore was all the rage during the pandemic. So much of how we shop and make purchase decisions is subconscious, he said, and while you may rationally know that scarcity is a marketing tactic, your subconscious doesn't. Tips for avoiding retailers' marketing tricksJust being aware of these marketing tactics isn't enough to protect you from them, Goldberg said.

☆ Read the pitch deck that helped short-form video media company Our Future get acquired by Morning Brew
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Marta Biino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In January, business newsletter Morning Brew acquired digital-media startup Our Future. Our Future is a short-form video media brand that covers business news, focused on a Gen-Z audience. Business newsletter Morning Brew acquired short-form video media startup Our Future in January for an undisclosed sum. At the same time, Morning Brew and a publicly-traded media company began showing interest in an acquisition. The cofounders were in talks for about a year, until they signed the deal with Morning Brew in early 2023.

☆ How shopping sites are using psychology to trick you into spending more — and 3 ways to avoid them
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Avery Hartmans | Danni Santana | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Online retailers use psychological tricks and tools to get consumers to make purchases. Offering incentives for adding more items to online carts like free shipping is another example of the psychological tricks a retailer can play. Buy online, pick up in storeBuy online, pick up instore was all the rage during the pandemic. So much of how we shop and make purchase decisions is subconscious, he said, and while you may rationally know that scarcity is a marketing tactic, your subconscious doesn't. Tips for avoiding retailers' marketing tricksJust being aware of these marketing tactics isn't enough to protect you from them, Goldberg said.

☆ Successful startup founder tells Elon Musk he'd pay $100 to get old Twitter back
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Nikita Bier, cofounder of social-media startup Gas, isn't a fan of Twitter's product changes. He tweeted at Elon Musk on Tuesday saying he'd pay $100 for the option to reverse the changes. Bier tweeted at Musk on Tuesday, saying: "Monetization idea: I would pay $100 to revert all product changes back what it was before you acquired Twitter." This isn't the first time Bier, whose startups have been acquired by Discord and Facebook, has tweeted at Musk about Twitter. 1 social-media app on the App Store after launching last year.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's $10 million in investment in Semafor will be held in custody until authorities decide its fate
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Sam Bankman-Fried invested $10 million in news startup Semafor, according to the New York Times. But the scale of Bankman-Fried's investment was unknown until Wednesday's New York Times report. His $10 million investment was part of an initial funding round that raised a total of $25 million. Smith also has maintained that SBF's investment didn't give him any tangible shares in Semafor thanks to its dual-class ownership. If Bankman-Fried's stake had been converted to equity, then he would have been entitled to a single-digit minority stake, according to the Financial Times.

☆ Cheddar News pushed its anchors to think and act like influencers, insiders say, with some on-air hosts hiring agencies at their own expense to boost their social-media followings
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Cheddar News was founded with the vision of taking on business news big dogs like CNBC. But the vision has been beset by staff defections, complaints of low morale, and editorial red flags. Some on-air talent felt "pressure" to act like social-media influencers, Insider's reporting showed. Sign up for our newsletter to get the news, trends and strategies that advertising and media pros want to know — delivered weekly to your inbox. An Altice spokesperson said in an emailed statement earlier this month that there were "inaccuracies" in Insider's reporting, but did not provide specifics.

☆ Davos 2023: The World Economic Forum explained
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Siddharth K | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The World Economic Forum (WEF) returns to its snowy winter residency in the Swiss Alps this week with a record attendance of business and government leaders. The WEF's roots stretch back to 1971 when its founder Klaus Schwab invited executives from European companies to the then tiny ski resort of Davos, high in the Swiss Alps. With climate change top of the agenda, chiefs of major energy companies are back after a COVID-related hiatus. Others include IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde, NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He. Climate change topped the WEF's survey of global risk and energy company executives will mix with climate activists and environment ministers at the forum.

☆ I made $163,000 in revenue in one year as a freelance writer. Here are 5 game-changers I wish I knew sooner in my career.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Dorothy Cucci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

I went back to full-time freelancing in January 2020, and last year, I made about $163,000 in revenue. Here's what I wish I knew sooner about making it as a freelance writer. Make sure that everyone in your corner knows that you're freelancing and that you're looking for work, and don't be shy about reminding them of that. I never went back to working a full-time job because I love the freedom and sense of job security freelancing gives me, especially in a dicey economy. If I were laid off from a full-time job, my entire income would get taken away all at once.

☆ Pitch Decks That Advertising Tech Startups Used to Raise Millions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Business Insider | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

Check out these pitch decks that they've used to sell their vision and raise millions from private equity and VC investors. Blocking ad fraudAdtech startup Lunio, announced a $15 million Series A funding round in September 2022. In May 2022, the software-as-a-service startup raised a $30 million Series B round, led by Insight Partners. Marketing in the metaverseAnima, an augmented-reality startup, raised a $3 million funding round from investors in Janury. He raised $50 million in Series D after closing a $34 million Series C last year, bringing its total raised to $100 million.

☆ How Much Influencers Get Paid on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Amanda Perelli | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Influencers earn money a number of ways, from sponsorships to selling merchandise. Insider has spoken with dozens of other influencers on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok about how much each of them makes from videos, sponsorships, and other revenue streams. Jehava BrownHow much influencers earn from brand dealsMany influencers rely on sponsored content — from a set of Instagram posts and Stories to a dedicated YouTube video promoting a company — to earn money. Aside from being paid directly from the platform, one of the main ways many influencers earn money on Instagram is by promoting brands through sponsored in-feed posts, Stories and Reels. Graham StephanHow influencers make money directly from YouTubeMany YouTube creators earn money off the ads that play in their videos and receive a monthly payout.

☆ Belgian social media star uses power of visuals to demystify disability
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Yves Herman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

loading"Thanks to the era of social media, we can exploit the power of images," Talbi told Reuters from her home in Belgium's capital, Brussels. In recent years she has emerged as an influential champion of the disabled, meeting politicians, attending conferences and creating social media content to promote understanding, demystify disability and squash taboos. She now has about half a million followers on social media channels. "Often we are treated like children," she told a European Day of Persons with Disabilities conference in Brussels last month, where she explained that many people post unpleasant comments and even mock her disability on social media. "I realised that these limits didn't exist in reality, that they were all in the mind."

☆ Check out the pitch deck Twitter's former social media chief is using to raise $1.3 million for a Twitter alternative called Spill
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A team of former Twitter employees are launching a new social platform called Spill. Spill aims to spotlight culture and compensate creators for their content, using blockchain tech. Check out the pitch deck Spill is using to help raise a $1.3 million pre-seed funding round. Spill is focusing its early community building efforts onboarding creators from communities that are often "underrecognized" on big social platforms, despite having a huge impact on their growth. Check out the 14-page pitch deck Spill is using to court potential investors below.

☆ Noodle, the Pup Who Went Viral for ‘Bones Day,’ Dies at 14
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Ginger Adams Otis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Noodle the pug, a social-media star for the “Bones” or “No Bones” videos that dictated the daily mood for his many followers, died Friday. He was 14 years old. Owner Jonathan Graziano shared the news Saturday on Noodle’s Tik Tok and other social-media pages.

“I was just so thirsty to get a BBL,” Velasco said. 7Q Spa also has positive reviews on Yelp and Google, where it averages a 4.5 star rating. The front door of 7Q Spa is side-by-side with Vitality Medical Center, which, according to California business registration documents, has the same CEO as 7Q Spa. After the surgery, Velasco said she felt great and, at first, she couldn’t feel her stitches at all. The California Medical Board revoked her license as part of the settlement, but stayed the revocation and granted her a 35-month probation.

☆ Creator Caleb Simpson calls himself this generation's 'MTV Cribs.' His main goal? To capture 'different walks of life.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Daysia Tolentino | Daysia Tolentino Is A Culture | Trends Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

But creator Caleb Simpson prefers to show a more realistic look into the lives of “everyday New Yorkers” with his popular video series featuring apartment tours. The creator, who first blew up on TikTok in 2019, had a number of successful videos prior to his apartment tour series, including pizza reviews, photography tutorials and comedic sketches. Other videos introduce viewers to more unfamiliar faces, like Tomo Delaney, who gave Simpson a tour of his soon-to-be former home. But her friend from high school, who is based in Chicago, is — and suggested Simpson tour Werle’s home. "I’m really, really excited about it."

☆ How FTX's implosion put crypto news sites like CoinDesk, The Block, and Decrypt in the spotlight as they work to fend off an ad slump and conspiracy theories about their coverage
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Reed Alexander | Steven Perlberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Crypto news sites like CoinDesk, The Block, and Decrypt have dominated coverage of the FTX implosion. Now, crypto media staffers are wondering whether more dominoes falling from FTX could further hurt the industry or cripple their ad revenues. "We cover the good, the bad and the ugly," Dan Roberts, the editor-in-chief of Decrypt, told Insider. "In general, I think these things are good for crypto media," he said. Stacy-Marie Ishmael, the managing editor for Bloomberg's crypto team, likened burgeoning crypto coverage to 1990s coverage of the Internet.

☆ The story of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX implosion put crypto news sites like CoinDesk and The Block on the map. Inside their plan to fend off an ad slump and conspiracy theories — and keep winning.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Reed Alexander | Steven Perlberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Now, crypto media staffers are wondering whether more dominoes falling from FTX could further hurt the industry or cripple their ad revenues. Crypto media kicks into overdriveRoberts said Decrypt's traffic doubled during the first week of the FTX saga. "In general, I think these things are good for crypto media," he said. Stacy-Marie Ishmael, the managing editor for Bloomberg's crypto team, likened burgeoning crypto coverage to 1990s coverage of the Internet. "It's now a situation where the crypto media has egg on their face.

☆ We're looking for rising stars in the creator economy. Here's how to nominate yourself or someone you know.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Insider is seeking nominations for this year's list of rising stars in the creator economy. Nominees must be 35 years old or younger, and work in the creator economy or influencer marketing. After a whirlwind of a year — from record-high investment into creator-focused startups to massive layoffs across the industry — the broader creator economy ecosystem continues to mature. We want to know who the rising stars — from influencers to agents to executives — of the creator economy are. Tell us why you or someone you know is on the path to becoming a leader in the creator economy.

☆ Mexico's Frida, beloved rescue dog turned national icon, dies
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MEXICO CITY, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Frida, the rescue dog who emerged as a hero and symbol of national pride after an earthquake devastated parts of Mexico in 2017, died on Tuesday of natural causes, the Mexican Navy said. Frida began her rescue work after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, where she found 12 people alive in the rubble. She also assisted rescue efforts after a landslide in Ecuador in 2017, just months before the Mexico City earthquake that saw her become a national icon. Shortly after her birth in 2009, Frida began her search and rescue training, which she finished in a record eight months, the Navy said. The Navy remembers Frida for her "independence, concentration, balanced temperament, fearlessness, curiosity," as well as her "empathy towards people."

Search resuls for: "Media Star"

25 mentions found