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☆ Instagram's new app, Threads, launched early. Creators explain how it stacks up against Twitter, their favorite features, and what's missing.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Sydney Bradley | Amanda Perelli | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Instagram's new app, Threads, launched Wednesday, a day earlier than expected. Many creators and celebrities gained early access to the new text-based app this week. Insider spoke with five sources who were granted early access to Threads, including one who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The new Instagram Threads app was briefly accessible from desktop on Wednesday. Screengrab/Threads; Insider/Sydney BradleyAt Meta this week, staffers were busy recruiting influencers and celebrities to join the app via early access.

Persons: —, Lauren Godwin, Godwin, Avori Henderson, Lonnie Marts, Elon Musk, Roberto Nickson, Nickson, Sydney Bradley, Meta, Connor Franta, Gary Vaynerchuk —, Gary Vee —, Henderson, Adam Mosseri, Mosseri, Bluesky, We're, it's Organizations: Twitter, Meta, Sydney, ActivityPub Locations: influencers

☆ Read the leaked 'early access' guide Meta sent select influencers to test Threads, its new Twitter rival app
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Amanda Perelli | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Instagram's new text-based app, Threads, is now available for pre-order in the US App Store. The company invited some influencers to test out the app ahead of its official July 6 launch. Read the exact 4-page onboarding guide Meta sent select creators, which was shared with Insider. Meta employees are hard at work onboarding creators and other public figures to its new text-based app, Threads, ahead of its official release later this week. Three influencer industry professionals told Insider that they received an early-access email from Meta this week inviting them to test Threads.

Persons: Meta, Instagram, Connor Franta, Gary Vaynerchuk —, Gary Vee —, Oprah Organizations: Meta, Twitter

☆ A former Instagram product manager explains why he's 'skeptical' the company can successfully launch a new standalone app, as it preps its Twitter rival
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Insider spoke with a former Instagram product manager to better understand the platform's decisions. IGTV, which launched in 2018 with its own separate app, was sunset in 2022 and its app is now defunct. But Instagram's ethos was its own downfall when it came to rolling out the IGTV product and separate app. The only other alternative, then, is adding a Twitter-like feed to the main Instagram app. "It's almost this predetermined life cycle of a social consumer app," Wei said, adding that Facebook has already gone though this phase.

Persons: Instagram, Eric Wei —, —, Wei, didn't, Oprah, Kevin Systrom, IGTV, We've, Adam Mosseri, Instagram's, Mary Organizations: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Meta Locations: Instagram

☆ Twitter outage: Thousands of users encounter 'rate limit exceeded' error message
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Thousands of Twitter users across several countries were unable to access the social media site, or faced difficulty and delays, Saturday. Users, including CNN journalists, flagged that their feeds weren’t loading and that they were met with an error message saying, “Sorry, you are rate limited. Most of the reported problems Saturday were on the website, at 44%, followed by 39% of problems reported on the app. Twitter users faced similar wide-ranging service disruptions in March, one of the largest outages since Elon Musk took over. More than 8,000 users reported disruptions in that instance.

Persons: ”, Elon Musk, Musk, Linda Yaccarino Organizations: New, New York CNN, CNN, Twitter, Elon Locations: New York

☆ Job interviews are getting longer — here’s why it could be a red flag
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Experts that CNBC Make It spoke to said they've observed a "significant increase" in the number of job seekers facing an extended interview process over the past year. That makes a total of 9 interviews, for a job that 32-year-old Ayomi Samaraweera said she did not eventually get. But the growing phenomenon of lengthy interviews reflects the highly competitive nature of the current job market, he added. "That's why recruiters are haphazardly adding steps to the interview process and it's a terrible candidate experience." "How a company presents itself during the interview process is very telling about the company culture as a whole," she added.

Persons: they've, That's, Samaraweera, Steven Leitch, Josh Bersin, Jim Sykes, Leitch, Richard Lambert, Amy Zimmerman, Monica Revuelta Organizations: CNBC, Josh Bersin Company, AMS, Jim Sykes Global

☆ A former Instagram product manager breaks down the company's 2 key characteristics and how they could help or hurt its Twitter competitor
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Insider spoke with a former Instagram product manager to better understand the platform's decisions. But Eric Wei — a former Instagram product manager from 2017 to 2019, and cofounder of creator fintech startup Karat — has spent years decoding it. But Instagram's ethos was its own downfall when it came to rolling out the IGTV product and separate app. The only other alternative, then, is adding a Twitter-like feed to the main Instagram app. "It's almost this predetermined life cycle of a social consumer app," Wei said, adding that Facebook has already gone though this phase.

Persons: Instagram, Eric Wei —, —, Wei, didn't, Oprah, Kevin Systrom, IGTV, We've, Adam Mosseri, Instagram's, Mary Organizations: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Meta Locations: Instagram

☆ Gen-Z is taking courses on how to send an email and what to wear in the office, according to a WSJ report
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Some companies and colleges are offering new grads training on how to work in person, WSJ reported. The courses can cover everything from office chitchat to work attire and meal-time etiquette. Some experts say Gen-Z is lacking in soft skills due to virtual classes and remote internships. Some companies and universities have already begun offering training to help Generation-Z employees adapt to the office, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. Since, the company has begun requiring its workers to come into the office for at least three days a week.

Persons: chitchat, Sandy Torchia, PwC, Proviti, Scott Redfearn, Marla McGraw, Spokespeople, Helen Hughes, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg Organizations: Wall Street, KPMG, Journal, Deloitte, Financial Times, Millennials, Michigan State, Proviti, MSU, Miami University, Leeds University Business School, BBC

☆ Meta employees are split on RTO. Some found loopholes to working in-person while others hope for 'a better experience' in office.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

During the pandemic, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he envisioned remote work sticking around for good. After recent layoffs, however, he changed his tune, saying remote workers were less productive. Apple, Amazon, and Snap are just a few others that have said workers must return to the office, causing consternation among some of their employees. Several current employees spoke to Insider about the reversal of Meta's remote work policy. As companies become anxious about slowing growth and a tighter economic climate, layoffs and eliminating remote work are strategies executives are implementing to try and boost productivity.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, We're, Marc Benioff, Meta's, there's Organizations: Meta, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Google Locations: San Francisco

Over 50 cryptocurrencies worth over $100 billion in total and making up about 10% of the overall market, are now viewed by the SEC watchdog as securities, according to CCData. Among major players, for example, solana , polygon and cardano have sunk between 23% and 32%. Bitcoin and ether weren't named in the SEC's lawsuit, nor were stablecoins such as tether and USC Coin. By contrast, bitcoin investors who have held their coins for more than five months appeared relatively calm and accounted for just 1.9% of deposit volume. Investment products tracking altcoins have seen positive - albeit small - net inflows this year, in contrast to bitcoin and ether, Coinshares data showed on Monday.

Persons: Vetle Lunde, Ryan Rasmussen, solana, Lucas Kiely, Alex Thorn, Noelle Acheson, James Butterfield, Lisa Mattackal, Medha Singh, Pravin Organizations: U.S, SEC, K33 Research, solana, Securities, Bitwise Asset Management, Reuters Global Markets, Cardano Foundation, Solana Foundation, Reuters, Polygon Labs, Reuters Graphics Reuters, USC, BTC, ETH, Firmwide Research, Galaxy Digital, Pravin Char, Thomson Locations: cardano, altcoins, Bengaluru

So what's hot in fintech right now? One area fintech companies are getting excited by is an improvement to online checkout tools. Callan Carvey, global head of operations at Cleo, said the firm's AI connects to a customer's bank account to get a better understanding of their financial behavior. "A job that typically would take around one or two weeks can now be completed in 30 minutes, right. Several fintech executives CNBC interviewed spoke of how they're not interested in launching products tailored to crypto as the demand from their customers isn't there.

Persons: MacKenzie Sigalos, hasn't, they've, Starling, Richard Davies, Davies, Niklas Guske, —, B2C fintechs, David Singleton, Guske, dazzled, Cleo, Callan Carvey, Carvey, Teo Blidarus, Taktile's, Hiroki Takeuchi, Takeuchi, Changpeng Zhao, they're, Jack Zhang, Zhang, Prajit Nanu, cryptocurrencies, Banks, Nanu Organizations: Bank, fintechs, CNBC, Business, Allica Bank, B2B, Tiger, Schroders Capital, Atom Bank, Schroders, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, U.S, cryptocurrencies Locations: Amsterdam, MacKenzie Sigalos AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, British, Atomico, U.S

☆ I was an English major in college and now I lead a data analytics team. Here are 3 ways I became a 'numbers person.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Navah Maynard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

AVERAGE - Calculates the average of a set of values that are manually input or from a cell range. MEDIAN - Calculates the median of a set of values that are manually input or from a cell range. SUMIF - Calculates the total value from a cell range only including the values that match the conditional logic that you set. COUNTIF - Counts the numbers of cells from a cell range only if it meets the criteria that you set. FILTER - Returns only the rows of a cell range that meets the criteria that you set.

Persons: —, I've, Ben Collins, You've, It's Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Google Locations: English

☆ A TikTok Shop exec breaks down the company's vision for the product and how it's wooing brands and creators
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Marta Biino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

With Shop, TikTok wants to replicate the success of commerce on its Chinese sister app Douyin. Patrick Nommensen, TikTok GM of UK ecommerce, discussed some of the details for brands and creators. TikTok has big ambitions for shopping and has been investing heavily in it — from developing a logistics business to powering in-app purchases through TikTok Shop. Overseeing TikTok Shop has been one of Nommensen's focuses. Nommensen said TikTok has been working with some high-tier creators and celebrities on a strategic basis to spread awareness around TikTok Shop, pairing them with merchants.

Persons: TikTok, Patrick Nommensen, It's, Nommensen, Nommensen's, livestreaming, Sellers, it's Organizations: TikTok, ByteDance, Street Journal, Facebook, Insider Intelligence Locations: Asia, TikTok, Musical.ly, Spain, Brazil, Southeast Asia, China

☆ Opus uses AI to help train up deskless workers. Check out the 19-slide pitch deck it used to raise $6.8 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

New York-based Opus is using AI to train America's deskless workforce. A startup that uses AI to improve the training of non-office-based workers just raised $6.8 million in fresh funds. New York-based Opus, founded in 2020, has developed a platform that can help speed up employee onboarding for so-called deskless workers. Opus works as a mobile app, allowing employers to create training content tailored to every individual workplace. "By using AI, our content builder helps you build it faster than legacy solution," Nemeth told Insider.

Persons: onboarding, Rachael Nemeth, Nemeth, Klara Organizations: Vanderbilt University, Cable, Gutter, NextView Ventures Locations: York, New York

☆ Return-to-office mandates won’t magically improve young employees’ career development
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —CEOs and other senior leaders very often want employees in the workplace for more days than employees who can do their jobs remotely would like. Many leaders assert more in-person experiences can, among other things, provide better career development for the youngest and newest employees. The good old days may not have been that goodConsider that before the pandemic, most employees were at their workplace five days a week. But fixating on the question of “how many days should employees be in the office?” is the wrong approach, Yost said. “In general there has been a lack of intentionality of how we develop young people,” Yost said.

☆ Your co-workers don't know what to say to you at work — so they're googling it
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Jordan Hart | Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Google search data shows that people are looking up "what to talk about at work" more than they have in the past two decades. Young workers say they've found it hard to navigate small talk with their colleagues from different backgrounds. Searches yield results of conversation starters, engaging prompts, and topics to never bring up at work. And while these guides may be helpful for some, they're also showing that others are finding it hard to know what's appropriate to talk about at work. "I'm a pretty social person at parties, but I actually find it hard to talk with my co-workers," Smith said.

Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $75 million to victims of sex predator Jeffrey Epstein to settle a federal lawsuit accusing the bank of enabling and benefitting from its customer's sex trafficking of young women, sources told CNBC on Wednesday night. The bombshell deal still leaves JPMorgan Chase to defend its own would-be class action lawsuit by Epstein accusers in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, which involves similar allegations. The settlement agreement by Deutsche Bank, which will set aside $75 million for Epstein accusers, was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Deutsche Bank spokesman Dylan Riddle would not comment on the deal, but noted that his bank has spent more than 4 billion euros [$4.34 billion] to strengthen internal financial controls. "In recent years Deutsche Bank has made considerable progress in remedying a number of past issues," Riddle said.

☆ After prison, getting banking services is hard. This startup wants to change that.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Paige Hagy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

FRSH is a banking solution for the formerly incarcerated community. "We are justice-impacted and we know this is the best solution," Sam told Insider. FRSH offers banking products and services to help returning citizens — those who have been released from jails and prisons, per the US Department of Justice — establish financial stability. Sam, Daniel Feldman, and Chris Heckler, all of whom were formerly incarcerated, founded the fintech. The startup also trains caseworkers and case managers to teach financial-education courses and offer FRSH as a banking solution for returning citizens.

☆ Exclusive: NEA and Pear VC just led a $4.5 million seed investment in Orby, the AI that has thoughts about your job performance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Stealth AI startup Orby recently closed a $4.5 million seed round led by NEA and Pear VC. The scramble into AI startups continues apace as NEA and Pear VC lead a $4.5 million seed investment into stealth startup Orby, which seeks to leverage the power of surveillance to automate away life's most tedious tasks. It identifies wasted energy and inefficiencies, repetitive tasks that can be automated and handed off to the computer. They say Orby can identify this repetition and write code to automate it. Eventually, they say, Orby may start to know your job better than you do, and find solutions you never thought of.

☆ The CEO of this edtech company says A.I. can help unlock growth in the space. Here’s how
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Christina Cheddar Berk | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

PWSC YTD mountain PowerSchool shares have fallen sharply since January, when they traded as high as $26.05. "For us, it's not a disruption from a negative perspective, it's actually phenomenal," he said, of the advancements in generative AI. Gulati expects generative AI will make it possible for PowerSchool to accelerate its goals to offer personalized learning plans. Still, PowerSchool shares are down 27% since the start of the year. Generative AI systems must be "trained" on data.

☆ 6 ways companies can attract Gen Z job seekers and how to keep them happy, according to a talent expert
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Alli Hoff Kosik | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The current hiring market is competitive, but companies can take steps to attract Gen Z job seekers. When looking for job opportunities, Gen Zers — those currently under the age of 26 — will be attentive to things that may not have been prioritized by previous generations. Talent-development expert Chelsea Williams, whose national workforce and development company Reimagine Talent works closely with many Gen Z professionals, shared six things companies need to prioritize in order to stand out to Gen Z job seekers. Connect job applicants with new Gen Z hires as much as you can during the interview and hiring process. Gen Zers want to see that you're changing things up — and you'll find stronger applicants when you do.

☆ How non-compete clauses cost Americans $300 billion a year
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Kate Sammer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The debate over the use and abuse of non-compete has come to a head, with the Federal Trade Commission proposing a new ban on non-competes. The FTC estimates that a ban on non-competes would expand career opportunities for 30 million Americans and increase wages by nearly $300 billion annually. Non-compete contracts were initially given to executive-level employees as a means to protect trade secrets. It is estimated that 18% of U.S. workers are bound by non-compete contracts. Watch the video above to learn more about the FTC's battle to ban non-compete contracts

☆ Apple and fintechs like Robinhood chase yield-hungry depositors as Fed rate hikes continue
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Last month, the iPhone maker launched its Apple Card savings account with a generous 4.15% APY in partnership with Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs . "It's really a trade-off for consumers, between safety or the appearance of safety, and yield," Laplanche told CNBC. Still, the emerging group of high-yield savings products are much more mainstream than what the crypto platforms were promoting. SoFi launched its high-yield savings account in February of last year. In its annual SEC filing, the company said that offering checking and high-yield savings accounts provided "more daily interactions with our members."

Federal worker safety inspections have alleged poor maintenance or a lack of safety training at some Tyson plants where ammonia leaks injured workers. CNN interviewed eleven current or former Tyson workers across three different plants who experienced ammonia leaks. !”A safety sign hangs on a fence at a Tyson plant in Hope, Arkansas, in March 2023. Still, some Tyson workers who lived through ammonia leaks said they wished more had been done to protect them. That means that the data doesn’t necessarily cover Tyson plants or other meat facilities that hold smaller amounts of ammonia.

☆ Facebook is shutting down its 'Paid Online Events' program that let creators and businesses earn money
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta is shuttering "Paid Online Events" that let creators and businesses monetize Facebook events. Facebook is ending its "Paid Online Events" program, a sign of the times that livestreamed virtual events are — mostly — a thing of the past. The program, launched in 2020, let creators and businesses, including educators and media publishers, earn money by charging admission to digital events on the Meta-owned platform. Facebook announced its Paid Online Events initiative in August 2020 while the COVID-19 pandemic was raging. Paid online events were part of Facebook's wider creator monetization offerings, which span ad-revenue share, subscriptions, and several bonus programs.

☆ Uber revenue beats expectations and the stock is up
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Shares of Uber popped 9% in premarket trading Tuesday after the company reported first-quarter results that beat analysts' expectations for revenue. Here's how the company did:Loss per share: 8 cent loss vs 9 cent loss expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. 8 cent loss vs 9 cent loss expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. Revenue: $8.82 billion vs. $8.72 billion expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. Uber reported a net loss of $5.9 billion for the same quarter last year.

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