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☆ Elon Musk says he will create 'alternative' smartphone if Twitter is kicked out of the Apple App Store
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk is willing to build his own smartphone if Twitter gets kicked out of Apple's App Store. With Musk's changes to Twitter's content moderation, it could land outside Apple's rules. Musk wrote in a Friday tweet he would "make an alternative phone" to compete with Apple's iPhone if the tech giant ends up blocking Twitter from its powerful App Store. In a potentially bad sign for Twitter, Phil Schiller, a longtime Apple marketing executive who leads its App Store, last week deleted his Twitter account. Schiller's move came after Musk complained on Twitter about Apple's fees, saying they're effectively "a hidden 30% tax on the internet."

☆ A Twitter employee had to stop IVF treatment after being laid off by Elon Musk, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Twitter employee says she had to stop IVF treatment after being laid off by Elon Musk. She told Wired she was promised that health cover would continue for a year after a takeover. According to the report, some other Twitter employees managed to use their benefits to pay for a cycle of IVF treatment. The woman told Wired: "It's a heartbreaking thing to be honest ... to be that close to having a child then being told that it's gone." Twitter staff were offered a severance package of up to three months depending on their location.

☆ How micro influencers get paid partnerships, from templates for reaching out to top brands to collaborate with
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Micro influencers are landing lucrative paid partnerships with brands by pitching themselves. Several micro influencers on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shared the templates they use. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyThe creator economy has grown so much that there are now different tiers — nano influencers, micro influencers, macro influencers, and more. Insider recently spoke with 21 micro influencers, who broke down the top brands they work with. Insider spoke with 15 micro influencers who have all pitched brands and landed paid collaborations using unique templates and documents.

☆ Elon Musk hires fake Twitter quitter. Is Ligma next?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk invited the two hoaxsters to Twitter HQ last week. Twitter has seen mass layoffs, resignations and many other changes since Musk took over. Elon Musk took a liking to two men who fooled members of the press into thinking they were laid-off Twitter engineers. Daniel Francis is now listed internally as a member of Twitter staff and is available on internal Slack channels, according to images seen by Insider. "Welcoming back Ligma & Johnson!"

☆ Kobe Bryant's daughter Natalia, 19, seeks restraining order against alleged stalker
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Marlene Lenthang | Marlene Lenthang Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Natalia Bryant, the daughter of the late basketball legend Kobe Bryant, has filed a request for a restraining order against an alleged stalker in Los Angeles, court records show. The 19-year-old University of Southern California student filed for a civil harassment restraining order on Monday against Dwayne Cortez Toliver Kemp, 32, of Sun Valley, California. The filing states that Kemp allegedly started to harass her on social media in 2020 when she was just 17-years-old and he was 30. "Thankful For Him Birthing You, Hopefully We Can Birth Him… ‘Kobe,’” he wrote, the filing said. Vanessa Bryant and Kobe Bryant with daughters Natalia Bryant and Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant, right, at a 2018 premiere in Los Angeles.

☆ Elon Musk tells remaining Twitter employees no more layoffs 'planned' and HQ will not move to Texas
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk held another meeting with Twitter employees. Musk gave remaining Twitter employees tidbits of good news during an all-hands meeting on Monday at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters, according to two people present. One employee who made it through Musk's layoffs and a spate of firings of perceived critics said Musk's comments were met with "some relief." Musk also said during the meeting he "does not intend" to move Twitter's headquarters to Texas from San Francisco. Twitter employees were also told that part of their future compensation plans under Musk will include stock grants and be offered and paid out as they are with employees at SpaceX.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's mom once wrote an essay about fixing problems rather than assigning blame when 'something goes terribly wrong'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Sam Bankman-Fried's mother, a Stanford law professor, once wrote an article titled "Beyond Blame." Barbara Fried asked what would happen if the focus was on fixing problems and not assigning blame. Her son Sam Bankman-Fried co-founded FTX, which last week filed for bankruptcy. She has written pieces for the Boston Review, a quarterly political and literary magazine, arguing that attributing "personal blame" in times of crisis had "ruined criminal justice and economic policy," suggesting it was "time to move past blame." "The next time something goes terribly wrong, suppose that instead of immediately asking who is to blame, we were to ask: How can we fix this problem?"

☆ Twitter could slowly break under Elon Musk as technical glitches pile up. Insiders lay out how it will happen.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sites like Twitter do not simply go dark in the face of issues that cannot be fixed quickly – or at all. Still, a sudden, catastrophic failure for Twitter is "unlikely," said a former Twitter executive with knowledge of its technical systems. Another likely scenario is that Twitter won't see a single major failure, but small issues or glitches will build up, the former executive said. One current Twitter engineer said Thursday he and other remaining colleagues realized they now "have to maintain Twitter and learn everything." Are you a Twitter employee or someone else with insight to share?

☆ 5 apps to help you find new people you (and your dog) actually want to meet
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Jen Glantz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But for those resolving to make new friends in 2023, there's help from some new apps and platforms designed to help connect those living near each other with similar interests. The platform, which is free, allows users to create a profile and connect with age-verified people with similar interests living nearby. When you download the app, you're able to chat with other neighbors on the app. Users can download the app, then create a profile for themselves and their dog. 222Perhaps one of the most unique new apps brands itself neither as a dating app nor as a friend-making service.

☆ Elon Musk posts pictures with engineers as they leave a Twitter 'code review' at 1:30 a.m.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk posted pictures with engineers at Twitter's San Francisco offices early on Saturday. The billionaire emailed engineers on Friday to ask for help from those who can "write software." "Just leaving Twitter HQ code review," the billionaire wrote in a Saturday tweet at about 1:30 a.m. PT. In a series of emails sent about 24 hours earlier, Musk asked to meet with "anyone who actually writes software" on Friday afternoon. Musk told employees to decide by Thursday afternoon whether to sign up for his "extremely hardcore" version of "Twitter 2.0" or resign.

Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX’s 30-year-old founder, became the face of the company and, to some, crypto at large. The first red flagsNot long after Bankman-Fried started FTX, crypto began to boom. Venture capital money flooded into all things blockchain and crypto, and crypto platforms moved to attract customers beyond the technologists and blockchain evangelists that once fueled its rise. These digital tokens use blockchain technology, in which computers contribute to a shared ledger that can be used to track digital assets. Graeme Sloan / Sipa USA via APThe Wall Street Journal and CNBC, also citing anonymous sources, reported that Alameda had used FTX funds for trading.

☆ FTX employees were claiming expenses through online chat and random managers used emojis to approve them, new CEO says in bankruptcy filings
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

FTX employees claimed expenses through chat messages, its new CEO said. Random managers would then approve the official claims by using personalized emojis, John Ray added. In his damning report, Ray said FTX failed to keep communication, hiring, and financial records. New CEO John Ray said FTX employees submitted payment requests to a "disparate group of supervisors," who would approve expenses "by responding with personalized emojis," FTX's Thursday bankruptcy filing shows. Ray said FTX "never had board meetings" and that the exchange used employees' personal names to purchase real estate in the Bahamas with corporate funds.

☆ Twitter loses payroll department, other financial employees as part of mass resignation under Elon Musk
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk's ultimatum for Twitter workers did not go to plan. The loss of payroll and other financial department employees happened as part of a mass resignation of Twitter workers who refused to sign up for Musk's proposed "Twitter 2.0." As the deadline passed, less than 50% of Twitter's employees had signed up for Musk's Twitter 2.0, as Insider reported. By the end of Thursday, Twitter was down several hundred more employees and an internal Slack channel was "flooded" with the salute emoji, used by Twitter workers to say goodbye to colleagues. Combined with Thursday's resignations, two workers estimated there are likely fewer than 2,000 employees left at the company.

☆ How a Meta employee is using Instagram to help tech workers network and get jobs in the midst of massive layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Last week, Meta laid off more than 11,000 employees. Fana Yohannes, a current Meta employee, took to Instagram to help those who've recently lost jobs. As Meta laid off more than 11,000 employees last week, one staffer took on an extra task: helping colleagues who lost their jobs. Fana Yohannes, a communications lead at Instagram, is behind the mentorship and networking Instagram account Here2Help. "I had been checking in with a lot of my former colleagues and friends who were at Twitter," Yohannes said.

☆ A Lizzo fan made a TikTok video asking to borrow a dress for a red carpet event. The plea worked.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Morgan Sung | Morgan Sung Is A Trends Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

As part of the honor, Marie, whose pronouns are they/she, was invited to attend Out Magazine’s gala in New York. Although the majority of American women wear sizes 14 or above, Marie said, many stores stock only sizes 12 and under. “Apparently the dress that I love from the Emmys this year was in shambles because everyone kept stepping on Lizzo’s train,” Marie said. “So she [the manager] said, ‘But we found one that’s really similar.’"Marie said Lizzo's manager offered them the magenta tulle gown that was custom-made for Lizzo’s 2019 American Music Awards performance. “You can send me a paper bag and say Lizzo wore this at a photo shoot and I would have worn it on the red carpet at that point,” Marie said.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried says filing for bankruptcy at FTX was his 'biggest' mistake and the people now running the company are 'trying to burn it all to the ground out of shame'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Sam Bankman-Fried has said his "biggest single " mistake at FTX was filing for bankruptcy. Bankman-Fried said those now in charge of the company were "trying to burn it all to the ground." "You know what was maybe my single biggest fuckup?" Bankman-Fried suggested to Vox that "everything would be ~70% fixed right now" if FTX hadn't filed for bankruptcy. FTX has been accused of misusing customer funds to prop up another company owned by Bankman-Fried, the trading firm Alameda Research.

More than 10,000 Google employees could be set to receive bad performance reviews. More than 10,000 Google employees could be in line for low performance reviews, potentially giving the company an excuse to trim its headcount. Google introduced a new performance review tool earlier this year, named GRAD, which changes how employees are rated on their work. Under the new system, 6% of employees could receive a bad rating, up from 2% in the previous rating system. These low scores could give the company cause to put employees on performance review plans, before showing them the door.

☆ Elon Musk tells Twitter managers in email they will be fired if they 'falsely claim' an employee is doing exceptional work
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Musk clarified his position in emails on Thursday, including a warning to managers. Musk said he will not tolerate any managers supporting employees who are not exceptional. In back-to-back emails seen by Insider, Musk further clarified his stance around remote work amid mass confusion inside the company about how a new mandate effectively ending remote work at Twitter would be implemented. Twitter employees have worked for almost two years under a "work from anywhere" company policy allowing them to work from home full-time if they wished and in any state. Those who do not sign up, Musk said, will be considered to have resigned from the company.

☆ How to get a YouTube video editor job and how much they earn
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Marta Biino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Being a YouTube video editor can be lucrative and become a full-time job, with the right tricks. The jobs in the YouTube space range from "YouTube producer," to "thumbnail designer," or "video editor." How to become a YouTube video editorBecoming an established editor often depends on building the right connections. Rhyze explains how he sets his rates as an editorA good video editor also knows that editing for YouTube is very different than editing other forms of video entertainment. Read how much Vulpis he makes per month, and the differences between filmmaking and YouTube editingOther YouTube jobs: Thumbnail designerBeing a video editor is not the only way to build a career working "behind the scenes" of a YouTube video.

☆ Marissa Mayer says Google is concerned about the declining quality of the web
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Tom Dotan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google worries website quality is declining, according to one of the company's earliest executives. Marissa Mayer, one of Google's earliest employees and a onetime leader of its search team, said that's because Google is concerned about the declining quality of the web. She made the comments on the Freakonomics podcast in an episode that looked into whether the quality of Google search has declined. Her comments about the state of Google search come at a time when criticism of the service is rising. People have complained about the declining quality of search results and the need to include search terms like "Reddit" in a query to find answers written by humans.

☆ Go read these wild DMs between Sam Bankman-Fried and a reporter, where the FTX founder reveals what he really thinks about his firm's implosion
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency platform FTX, resigned on Friday. In an alleged DM exchange with a Vox reporter, Bankman-Fried said "fuck regulators" and that "they make everything worse." The exchange offers a window into Bankman-Fried's unfiltered views on regulators, his regrets, past statements he says he made for "PR," and what happened with the collapse of FTX. It includes eyebrow-raising quotes, like Bankman-Fried saying "fuck regulators," and that "they make everything worse." FTX, meanwhile, took to Twitter to say that Bankman-Fried doesn't speak for the company anymore since resigning from his role.

☆ A Twitter executive warned employees to use Slack 'wisely' as Elon Musk keeps looking for internal critics to fire
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Twitter CEO Elon Musk is continuing his search to fire employees who may have criticized him. An executive sent a message last night telling workers Slack messages are "company property." As CEO Elon Musk imposes a new "extremely hardcore" culture at Twitter and continues firing perceived critics, employees are being warned off using internal company tools like Slack as forums for free communication. Musk recently combed Slack and employee Twitter profiles to find those critical of him or his decisions, and he subsequently fired them, as Insider reported. Are you a Twitter employee or someone else with insight to share?

☆ Even Nicki Minaj couldn't save Amazon's bet big on a live radio service. The business is badly missing a year-end goal and recently cut half its workers.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Katherine Long | Tom Dotan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon launched the Amp live radio app earlier this year with A-list stars like Nicki Minaj. Earlier this fall, executives inside Amazon's live radio service, Amp, were dreaming about bringing on Taylor Swift as the next big name on the platform. The live radio app launched in March, touting a partnership with Minaj, who hosted a live call-in and music shows with her fans. An Amazon spokesperson said those figures were inaccurate but declined to specify how many monthly active users Amp has. "We've continued to see success since launching the product and are optimizing for product growth as we release more features."

☆ Twitter insiders are calling Elon Musk by a new nickname, Elmo. It's spreading on the platform.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter employees have taken to calling him Elmo, and it's catching on more broadly on the platform. Part of the reason for the nickname is Twitter turning into "a dictatorship" under Musk, a former employee said. Thousands of recent Tweets and comments clearly discussing Musk only mention the Muppet by name. Discussing Musk under his new nickname keeps the CEO from trending and it keeps critics out of his mentions. Are you a Twitter employee or someone else with insight to share?

☆ Elon Musk's overnight round of Twitter firings target some outspoken critics of the billionaire. 'It's free speech unless it's about him,' one former worker said.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

"It's free speech unless it's about him," one former worker said. Elon Musk's support of free speech on Twitter seems not to extend to critics working at the company. Before he offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion, Musk criticized Twitter for undermining democracy by failing to uphold "free speech principles" and not long before called himself a "free speech absolutist." Another worker fired overnight agreed, saying his own critical tweeting was "the best way to go." Are you a Twitter employee or someone else with insight to share?

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