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☆ With Musk’s X banned in Brazil, its users carve out new digital homes
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-05 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Brazil's X users, left casting about for a new platform, mostly started washing up on Threads and Bluesky. Everyone hadn't been on X; Brazil's social masses are primarily on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook . So as X went dark in this highly online country of 213 million, its users started migrating. Meta declined to provide specifics on Brazilian users. Bluesky gained 2.6 million users since last week, 85% from Brazil, the company said Wednesday, boosting its total to over 8 million.

Persons: Elon Musk, Jair Bolsonaro, Mauro Pimentel, Elon Musk's, X, Alexandre de Moraes, Shauna Wright, de Moraes, hadn't, Meta's Instagram, Wright, didn't, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, Cris Faga, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Tatiane Queiroz, Bluesky, Jefferson Nascimento, Nascimento, Egerton Neto, —, Jay Graber, Ton Molina Organizations: AFP, Getty, Brazilian, Facebook, Twitter, Associated Press, Meta, Federal Supreme Court, Elon, Nurphoto Locations: Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, San Francisco, Bluesky, Brazilian, Mato Grosso, Sao Paulo, Recife

☆ How an edtech startup used AI tools like Midjourney and HeyGen to boost its ad performance by 40%
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-04 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Pavlovsky said the use of AI tools has made a profound difference to the company's marketing performance. AdvertisementHeadway joins a growing number of marketers looking to harness AI tools, in part to reduce their advertising costs. Headway is using AI tools like HeyGen, Rask, and MidjourneyFounded in Ukraine in 2019, Headway operates a portfolio of educational apps that combined have been downloaded by more than 110 million users worldwide. Its flagship app, Headway, offers 15-minute summaries of popular nonfiction books, as well as challenges and daily micro-learning sessions. All of Headway's user-generated-content video ads are now produced using some element of AI technology, such as for subtitles or voiceovers, the company said.

Persons: —, OpenAI, Anton Pavlovsky, Pavlovsky, Klarna, Mona Lisa, Leonardo, Marie Antoinette, it's Organizations: Service, Business, Gartner, Midjourney, Facebook, Google, UGC, YouTube Locations: Ukrainian, Silicon, Ukraine, Ukraine's, Kyiv

☆ Turns out being a venture capitalist can be really hard and some VCs want out
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-09 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In today's big story, turns out being a venture capitalist can be really hard, and some VCs want out . The big storyWe were promised big returnsiStock; Rebecca Zisser/InsiderFor venture capitalists, when the going gets tough, the tough get going…toward the exits. Some VC workers are reconsidering their future as the industry goes through a rough patch, writes Business Insider's Sri Muppidi. The ink was barely dry on a deal before startups were raising another round, doubling their VCs' investment (on paper) along the way. One Bay Area partner told Sri junior investors need to meet dozens of companies a week.

Persons: —, Rebecca Zisser, It's, That's, VCs, dobi, Goldman Sachs, duMond, Chip Somodevilla, Alyssa Powell, Jamie Dimon, we're, Jamie, David Zalubowski, Chelsea Jia Feng, Meta's Instagram, Grzegorz Wajda, Elon Musk, Musk's X, he's, Grimes, Sam Altman, Kamala Harris, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, Amanda Yen Organizations: Service, Business, VCs, Tiger Global, Area, JPMorgan, YouTube, Dell, Getty, Elon, Federation, Global Alliance, Responsible Media, UK Prime, Democratic, Trump, Disney Locations: Patagonia, Dimon, Anaheim , California, North Carolina, Virginia, New York, London

☆ Sextortion is fastest-growing crime targeting minors in North America – and social media companies can do more to stop it, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

NCRI, a nonprofit, found cybercriminals used the social apps Instagram, Snapchat and Wizz to find and connect with their marks. And social media platforms should include a distinct category to report sextortion — as Snapchat did in early 2023. Parents and educators should "combat the belief that photos sent on Snapchat disappear, which can create a false sense of security," the NCRI study recommends. The NCRI study also strongly criticized Wizz, concluding: "Sextortion on Wizz is pervasive and dangerous. Apple's App Store and Google Play can also help, the NCRI study suggested, by carefully monitoring complaints about sextortion associated with social media apps, and enforcing their existing policies.

Persons: cybercriminals, Wizz, Paul Raffile, Alex Goldenberg, TikTok, Scribd, sextortion, Snapchat, Goldenberg, screenshotted, General Raúl Torrez, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, — Kevin Collier, Ben Goggin Organizations: Yahoo, Network, Research, FBI, Yahoo Boys, NBC News, CNBC, NBC, Secret Service, Facebook, YouTube, Meta, gov, National Center for Locations: North America, Australia, West Africa, Michigan, Wizz, New Mexico, U.S

☆ Invite-only Lapse wants to rival Instagram. It's about to raise a lot of cash to do just that.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Lapse, a buzzy social media app that wants to rival Instagram, is set to raise fresh funding, Business Insider understands. Based on the number of shares allocated, the company has raised approximately £24.48 million, $31 million. One London-based source familiar with the deal said Lapse was set to secure around $30 million. A look at the Lapse app. It aims to help satisfy the demand for more authenticity on social media.

Persons: Instagram, Jacob Andreou, Ben, Dan Silvertown, Plural's Ian Hogarth, Dmitry Tokarev Organizations: Business, Meta, Greylock Ventures, Facebook, Companies, Octopus Ventures, Redbus Ventures Locations: London

☆ More than 15% of teens say they're on YouTube or TikTok ‘almost constantly’
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-11 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

About 17% of the 63% of respondents who said they use TikTok indicated they access the short-video service "almost constantly," the report noted. Teenage boys, on the other hand, were more likely to use video game-centric messaging and social apps such as Discord and Twitch. Regarding race and ethnicity, the survey found that about 80% of Black teenagers use TikTok, compared to 70% of Hispanic teens and 57% of white teens. Hispanic teens are also more likely to use the Meta-owned WhatsApp messaging service than Black or white teens, the report noted. The Pew Research survey was based on the responses of nearly 1,500 13- to 17-year-olds between Sept. 26, 2023, and Oct. 23, 2023.

Persons: TikTok, Snapchat, Meta's Organizations: Pew Research Center, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, U.S, Pew Research Locations: U.S

Accounts on Threads were also established for the first lady and second gentleman as well as for the White House itself. White House officials repeatedly rebuked Musk for what they called "anti-semitic rhetoric" on X over the last week. Several major advertisers including Apple and Disney subsequently paused their spending on X. Musk defended himself on Sunday, without apologizing or rescinding his statements. The White House said in a statement to CNBC that the launch of the new Threads accounts "has been in process for several weeks." Here's what Biden said in his first post on Threads:"Folks, it's President Biden.

Persons: Joe Biden, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Kamala Harris, Elon Musk's, Musk, Adam Mosseri, Biden, it's, hasn't Organizations: Economic Cooperation, Elon, Defamation League, White House, Apple, Disney, Twitter, CNBC, America Locations: Asia, San Francisco , California, U.S, White, America, China

☆ 'Community' is the latest trend that creator-economy startups and platforms are betting big on: 'Creators are the new priests'
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

From product updates to startup rebrands, community has been at the forefront of press releases these past several months. Kajabi, a popular online course platform, recently announced that its creators had earned more than $6 billion using its platform. "We need a bit of everything," Amsellem said, adding that online communities and social platforms "are not going to solve loneliness" by themselves. For instance, Lennon's community on Kajabi hosts about 3,000 members — roughly the size of a small town in the US. Across all of Kajabi, the platform hosts more than 32,000 communities and over 2 million community members, per the company.

Persons: Jack Conte, Conte, Patreon, Kajabi, Teri Yu, Eli Valentin, Fourthwall, Valentin, chatbots, Yu, Hugo Amsellem —, —, Patreon's Conte, There's, Rob Lennon, Lennon, aren't, Amsellem, it's, BI's Marta Biino, YouTubers KSI, Logan, Cenat Organizations: Business, X, Vibely Locations: Kajabi, Silicon Valley, London

☆ Meta's Instagram and Facebook are growing faster than TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

During the third quarter, the Facebook app's daily active users grew by 1.5% and monthly active users grew by 1.8%, according to data from Apptopia. Instagram's daily users grew by 1.5% and monthly users grew by 1.6%. In its quarterly report , Meta said Facebook's total number of daily users, including web users, grew by 5%, while monthly users grew by 3%. There is one metric where TikTok still has Facebook and Instagram beat: how long the average user spends on the app. Instagram's average user spends 58 minutes a day on the app, while the average Facebook user spends about 45 minutes.

Persons: TikTok, Mark Zuckerberg, China's Bytedance, Evercore, Meta, Instagram, Adam Mosseri, Zuckerberg, Kali Hays Organizations: Meta, Facebook, Evercore, Twitter Locations: Apptopia, Instagram, SensorTower, TikTok, khays@insider.com, @hayskali

☆ Jim Cramer names six stocks worth looking to buy if there's a major sell-off
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Julie Coleman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

CNBC's Jim Cramer on Thursday said investors should be looking for damaged stocks, not damaged companies, in the event of a major sell-off. Cramer listed the names of six stocks that are worth looking at to buy on the way down:Microsoft : Cramer said the tech giant delivered a great quarter, seeing positive results from its cloud business, Azure. WM : WM, formerly known as Waste Management, saw a boost in gross margins from its use of automation, Cramer said. Meta : Cramer praised Facebook parent Meta's most recent quarter but pointed out the stock is currently trading at a low price-to-earnings multiple. "There will be other stocks that will be worth buying into the eventual crescendo of selling," Cramer said.

Persons: CNBC's Jim Cramer, Cramer, Meta's Instagram Organizations: Microsoft, Activision, WM, Waste Management, Reality Labs, Procter & Gamble, General, GE Locations: Israel

Oct 3 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms (META.O) is looking to introduce ad-free subscription plans for Instagram and Facebook users in Europe, two people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The proposal is an attempt by Meta to comply with European Union regulations that threaten to curb its ability to personalize ads for users without their consent and hurt its major revenue source. Offering a choice between a free, ad-supported plan and a paid subscription might lead to users opting for the former, helping Meta comply with regulations without affecting its ad business. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File photo Acquire Licensing RightsIn comparison, Netflix (NFLX.O) charges 7.99 euros for a basic subscription plan, while Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) YouTube Premium costs about 12 euros and Spotify's (SPOT.N) Premium service is priced at about 11 euros. Meta was fined 390 million euros earlier this year by Ireland's Data Privacy Commissioner, and told it cannot use the so-called "contract" as a legal basis to send users ads based on their online activity.

Persons: Apple's, Dado Ruvic, Meta, Supantha Mukherjee, Akash Sriram, Jyoti Narayan, Sonia Cheema, Arun Koyyur Organizations: Instagram, Meta, Union, Reuters, REUTERS, Netflix, YouTube, Ireland's, EU, Protection, European, Thomson Locations: Europe, Stockholm, Bengaluru

☆ Meta wants to charge European users $14 to access ad-free Instagram, Facebook: Report
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The proposal, which would cost users around $14 a month on mobile devices and as much as $17 on a desktop, is Meta's attempt to navigate strict privacy rules in the European Union. Meta has spoken with digital-competition regulators in Brussels, privacy regulators in Ireland and other EU privacy regulators about its proposal, according to the report. It is not clear whether regulators believe Meta's proposal is a sufficient workaround, according to the report, and they may ask the company to propose a cheaper offering. Since the privacy rules do not apply to the U.S., it is unlikely that Meta would introduce SNA there. But in February, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a paid verification subscription service called Meta Verified.

Persons: Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg Organizations: Wall Street, European Union, Meta, CNBC Locations: Brussels, Ireland, U.S

☆ Meta's Instagram to bring branded content tools to Threads - Axios
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 11 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms's (META.O) Instagram is planning to bring its branded content tools to Threads, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing a source familiar with the matter. Such tools will help marketers collaborate with influencers on paid partnerships on the social media platform while advertising is unavailable. Instagram allows users to port their accounts, credentials and followers to Threads, giving the text-based social media platform access to the photo-sharing platform's more-than-2 billion-strong user base. Several companies have already started making accounts on Threads to post content organically, despite a lack of advertising on the platform. However, the lack of hashtags and keyword search functions on Threads could limit the platform's appeal to advertisers.

Persons: Instagram, Axios, influencers, Elon, Mark Zuckerberg, Mrinmay Dey, Akash Sriram, Savio D'Souza Organizations: Meta, Facebook, Twitter, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Twitter traffic is 'tanking' as Meta's Threads hits 100 million users
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In this photo illustration, the Threads logo by META is displayed on a smartphone with Twitter logo in the background. User traffic on Twitter has slowed since the launch of Meta 's text-based platform Threads, which has already surpassed 100 million sign-ups since its debut last week. "Threads reached 100 million sign ups over the weekend. The company said Twitter's web traffic is down 11% compared with the same days in 2022. Threads reached the 100 million milestone even faster than OpenAI's generative chatbot ChatGPT, which surpassed 100 million monthly users in two months.

Persons: Adam Mosseri, Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter, Matthew Prince, Similarweb, Mosseri, Elon Musk, Alex Spiro, Zuckerberg Organizations: Meta, Twitter Locations: U.S, Europe

☆ Meta's Twitter rival Threads explodes to 50 million sign-ups one day after launch
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In this photo illustration, the Threads logo by META is displayed on a smartphone with Twitter logo in the background. Meta's new Twitter competitor Threads has exploded in growth in its first full day since its public debut Wednesday night, fueled by Instagram's already massive userbase. The booming growth is helped along by the fact that Threads is tied to an existing social network, Meta's Instagram. "No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee," Meta's communications director, Andy Stone, wrote on Threads in response to the letter. WATCH: Meta's Threads is not Twitter killer, but will pose real threat to Twitter's growth: Analyst

Persons: Jasmine Enberg, Elon Musk, Alex Spiro, Andy Stone, That's, aren't, Enberg, It's, Axios Organizations: Meta, Insider Intelligence, Twitter, Facebook, Republican, White Locations: Europe, Instagram

☆ EU's Breton demands Meta act against online content targeting children
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, June 8 (Reuters) - EU industry chief Thierry Breton will meet Meta Platforms (META.O) Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on June 23 and demand that he act immediately to tackle content targeting children, as Meta's voluntary child protection code seemed not to be working. Social media platforms such as Meta's Instagram, ByteDance's TikTok, Snap's (SNAP.N) Snapchat and Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) YouTube have stirred concerns among regulators and users over content targeted at young children. "#Meta’s voluntary code on child protection seems not to work," Breton said in a Twitter post. Breton said Meta would also have to demonstrate the measures it plans to take to comply with European Union online content rules known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) after Aug. 25 or face heavy sanctions. The DSA bans certain types of targeted advertisements on online platforms such as those meant for children or when they use special categories of personal data, such as ethnicity, political views and sexual orientation.

Persons: Thierry Breton, Mark Zuckerberg, ByteDance's, Breton, Meta, Foo Yun Chee, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: Meta, YouTube, EU, Reuters, Meta's, European Union, Digital Services, DSA, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Menlo Park, California

☆ Chinese apps remain hugely popular in the U.S. despite efforts to ban TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +15 min

But while TikTok has been the one in the spotlight, other Chinese apps that present similar issues are also experiencing massive popularity in the U.S. Gorman said as the U.S. considers the threat posed by TikTok, it will also need to develop a framework for how to evaluate the relative risk of Chinese apps. But in the meantime, U.S. consumers continue to turn to Chinese apps. "And then of course, there's the early growth of Lemon8, which suggests that the appetite for Chinese apps in the U.S. is still growing." And some say the most effective long-term solution for curbing the use of Chinese apps may be fostering an environment for robust alternatives to grow.

☆ Meta is rolling out a new paid verification subscription service for Instagram and Facebook users
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Visitors take photos in front of the Meta (Facebook) sign at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on December 29, 2022. Meta is rolling out a new paid verification subscription service called Meta Verified, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in an Instagram update Sunday. Meta has historically granted verification to notable users like politicians, executives, members of the press and organizations to signal their legitimacy. The company's new subscription service is similar to Twitter's revamped service called Twitter Blue, which also grants users a verification badge if they pay a monthly fee. Twitter launched its updated Twitter Blue subscription service in December after the company's new owner Elon Musk pulled and delayed the initial launch in November.

☆ Big Tech not doing enough to remove fake news, activist NGO Avaaz says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Twitter, Google's (GOOGL.O) YouTube, Meta Platform's (META.O) Facebook, Microsoft's (MSFT.O) LinkedIn and TikTok are not doing enough to remove fake news from their platforms, raising doubts about their ability to comply with new EU online content rules, activist NGO Avaaz said on Tuesday. "Overall, just 22% of disinformation content we analysed was either labelled or removed by the six major platforms," Avaaz said. It said the companies did not do enough to tackle disinformation in languages other than English. "Despite explicit platform commitments in the code to improve their services in all EU languages, our research found that in certain EU languages - Italian, German, Hungarian, Danish, Spanish and Estonian - no platform took any action against violating posts," Avaaz said. Meta, Alphabet, Twitter and Microsoft last year vowed to take a tougher line against disinformation after committing to the updated EU code.

☆ WhatsApp announces new proxy support feature to bypass internet shutdowns
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A proxy server is an intermediary between users and web services and acts as a web filter that allow netizens to circumvent restrictions and censorship. WhatsApp said proxy support on the app is now officially available for users with the latest version. Users in countries such as Iran and Syria have used virtual private network (VPN) services to navigate around internet censorship. The messaging service said, "in case these shutdowns continue, we hope this solution helps people wherever there is a need for secure and reliable communication." WhatsApp "will do anything" within its technical capacity to keep the service accessible and that it was not blocking Iranian phone numbers, the messaging service had said in September.

☆ Amazon is introducing a new TikTok-like feature that allows users to 'shop as you scroll' from a social feed of videos and photos
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon announced a social shopping feature that will feature content from influencers and brands. Users can shop from a personalized feed of photos and short videos on the Amazon Shopping app. An Amazon spokesperson told Insider the social feed is currently being rolled out to select US customers, and will be available to all users in the coming months. The continuous feed will include short-form videos and photos featuring items available for purchase directly on Amazon. The Inspire feature will only be available on the Amazon Shopping app and feature content directly from eligible brands and creators a part of its influencer program, according to its site.

BENGALURU/STOCKHOLM, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Messaging app WhatsApp was starting to come back online at 0900 GMT and the company said the issue has been fixed after users across the world reported problems earlier on Tuesday. At around 0750 GMT, outage reporting site Downdetector had shown over 68,000 users had reported problems with the app in the United Kingdom. We have fixed the issue and apologise for any inconvenience," a spokesperson for WhatsApp parent company Meta Platforms (META.O) said. The company had not sent any fresh updates as users in Asia, India and the United Kingdom started seeing some connections come back online. In the past, rival apps like Telegram, Snap or even Meta's Instagram have seen temporary spikes in users when WhatsApp has been down.

☆ Facebook said an Indian publication, The Wire, used faked documents in an investigation. Now the publication is taking the stories down. Here's a timeline of the escalating conflict.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Facebook claims a series of reports by an Indian news site, The Wire, were based on faked documents. On Tuesday, an expert The Wire used in a story denied publicly that he commented in any way to the publication. Stone responded on Twitter saying, "as it's been clear from the outset @thewire_in's stories are based on fabrications." Varadarajan wrote on Twitter that the email account The Wire uses, a protonmail.com address, had been "hacked via the hacking of a MacBook." Kumar of The Wire deactivated his Twitter account.

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