Month: July 2018

If you’re a gig economy worker, you’ve probably settled into the reality that insurance and benefits aren’t going to be available to you. Well, not unless on-demand companies make the switch from 1099 independent contractors to W-2 employees. While that’s not changing — yet — Square’s on-demand food delivery service, Caviar, is now offering insurance protection to all of its couriers.

“We think this is a positive first step for independent contractor benefits that still gives couriers the flexibility and freedom to earn – and be covered – on their own schedule,” Caviar wrote in a blog post.

This occupational accident insurance will ensure that couriers are covered in the event any accidents happen while they’re making deliveries for Caviar. This insurance, which comes at no cost to the couriers, activates the second a courier accepts an order Caviar and ends the second its complete.

“We’ve wanted to offer a policy like this for a while,” the blog post states.

This new insurance is in part thanks to OneBeacon, an insurance company Square partnered with to create a type of insurance that is unique to gig economy workers. Caviar’s Occupational Accident insurance entails coverage up to $1 million per accident, $100,000 accidental death benefit and survivor’s benefits for dependents, and both temporary and continuous disability at 50 percent of the courier’s average weekly earnings.

“We’re including this in our standard offering because we feel that providing insurance to protect couriers while they’re actively delivering with Caviar is the right thing to do,” the blog post states.

The president’s latest Twitter target is Twitter itself. This morning, Trump took to the platform to call out the alleged “shadow banning” of Republican users. It’s the latest in long standing conservative and right-wing complaints regarding perceived unfair treatment at the hands of social media platforms.

This latest round stems, in part, from a recent Vice story highlighting Twitter’s removal of certain users — including Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel — from autofill search results.

“The notion that social media companies would suppress certain political points of view should concern every American,” McDaniel told Vice. “Twitter owes the public answers to what’s really going on.”

“We are aware that some accounts are not automatically populating in our search box and shipping a change to address this,” the company wrote in response. “I’d emphasize that our technology is based on account *behavior* not the content of Tweets.”

The company didn’t specify, however, why the change appears to be disproportionately impacting Republicans, though it it did reference a recent blog post highlighting recent policy changes.

“One important issue we’ve been working to address is what some might refer to as ‘trolls,’ ” it wrote. “To put this in context, fewer than one percent of accounts make up the majority of accounts reported for abuse, but a lot of what’s reported does not violate our rules. While still a small overall number, these accounts have a disproportionately large – and negative – impact on people’s experience on Twitter.”

In a tweet this morning, Trump promised further examination of the issue. “Twitter ‘SHADOW BANNING’ prominent Republicans,” he wrote. “Not good. We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints.”

He didn’t spell out a course of action. That’s never really been his Twitter M.O. The site long served as a platform for his own venting/flame fanning, rather than outlining specific strategy. Congress has put various social media platforms in the hot seat of late, however, most notably Facebook, which found Mark Zuckerberg sitting through House and Senate hearings.

Twitter product lead Kayvon Beykpour took to the platform in an attempt to further break down Twitter policy. “To be clear, our behavioral ranking doesn’t make judgements based on political views or the substance of tweets,” he wrote. “Some accounts weren’t being auto-suggested even when people were searching for their specific name. Our usage of the behavior signals within search was causing this to happen & making search results seem inaccurate. We’re making a change today that will improve this.”

CEO Jack Dorsey echoed the comments, writing, “It suffices to say we have a lot more work to do to earn people’s trust on how we work.”

In what could be the biggest one-day drop of all time, Facebook shares opened at $174.89, down 19.6 percent compared to yesterday’s closing price of $217.50 (NASDAQ:FB).

When it comes to market capitalization, Facebook was worth $629.6 billion yesterday. The company is now worth $506.2. In other words, Facebook has lost $123.4 billion in value overnight.

Today’s performance isn’t due to yet another data misuse or election interfering scandal. The company has reported disappointing earnings. For the first time, Facebook’s growth is staling.

There are barely more people checking Facebook every day compared to previous quarter. Even worse, Facebook’s user base shrank in Europe. Facebook is still growing, but it’s clear that GDPR combined with a saturated market aren’t helping the company.

That’s why Facebook is trying to change the narrative. For the first time, the company shared a new “family of apps audience” metric. There are 2.5 billion people using at lease one of the company’s app — Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp.

It’s clear that Facebook thinks Instagram and ephemeral stories represent the future of the company. But this is going to be a question mark in the coming months as it’s unclear if Instagram can generate as much money as Facebook’s main app.

Measuring Facebook’s losses

$123,400,000,000 is a big number. It’s hard to grasp how much it represents given the scale of big tech companies. As TechCrunch’s Jon Russell pointed out, bitcoin’s entire market capitalization is currently $141 billion. So it’s like nearly all bitcoins disappeared overnight.

Who would have thought Facebook could be more volatile than bitcoin?

Even if you compare it to significant tech companies, this is a huge loss. For instance, Netflix is worth $158 billion right now. Twitter’s market cap is only $33 billion. It’s like Facebook shaved off TK Twitters in market cap overnight. And I’m not even talking about Snap, which is only worth $17 billion.

Changing Facebook’s business model

Most people have been focused on Facebook’s losses for now. It’s a staggering event. But it’s now time to look at Facebook’s business model and understand what’s happening.

Facebook is an incredible success story. It became a massive business in just a few years. But the company has a dangerous business model. Thousands of employees are looking for ways to collect more data. Business teams can then sell expensive ads because they’re perfectly targeted.

And the best way to optimize those efficient ads is by making addictive products. If you spend more time looking at stories, you’re going to be exposed to more ads.

That’s why Facebook optimizes for engagement. You get outraged, you become sad, you like and you share. And Facebook makes money.

This year is a turning point for Facebook. People will look back at this moment as an inflection point in the company’s trajectory. But it’s still unclear if Facebook has the answer to its structural issues.

In what could be the biggest one-day drop of all time, Facebook shares opened at $174.89, down 19.6 percent compared to yesterday’s closing price of $217.50 (NASDAQ:FB).

When it comes to market capitalization, Facebook was worth $629.6 billion yesterday. The company is now worth $506.2. In other words, Facebook has lost $123.4 billion in value overnight.

Today’s performance isn’t due to yet another data misuse or election interfering scandal. The company has reported disappointing earnings. For the first time, Facebook’s growth is staling.

There are barely more people checking Facebook every day compared to previous quarter. Even worse, Facebook’s user base shrank in Europe. Facebook is still growing, but it’s clear that GDPR combined with a saturated market aren’t helping the company.

That’s why Facebook is trying to change the narrative. For the first time, the company shared a new “family of apps audience” metric. There are 2.5 billion people using at lease one of the company’s app — Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp.

It’s clear that Facebook thinks Instagram and ephemeral stories represent the future of the company. But this is going to be a question mark in the coming months as it’s unclear if Instagram can generate as much money as Facebook’s main app.

Measuring Facebook’s losses

$123,400,000,000 is a big number. It’s hard to grasp how much it represents given the scale of big tech companies. As TechCrunch’s Jon Russell pointed out, bitcoin’s entire market capitalization is currently $141 billion. So it’s like nearly all bitcoins disappeared overnight.

Who would have thought Facebook could be more volatile than bitcoin?

Even if you compare it to significant tech companies, this is a huge loss. For instance, Netflix is worth $158 billion right now. Twitter’s market cap is only $33 billion. It’s like Facebook shaved off TK Twitters in market cap overnight. And I’m not even talking about Snap, which is only worth $17 billion.

Changing Facebook’s business model

Most people have been focused on Facebook’s losses for now. It’s a staggering event. But it’s now time to look at Facebook’s business model and understand what’s happening.

Facebook is an incredible success story. It became a massive business in just a few years. But the company has a dangerous business model. Thousands of employees are looking for ways to collect more data. Business teams can then sell expensive ads because they’re perfectly targeted.

And the best way to optimize those efficient ads is by making addictive products. If you spend more time looking at stories, you’re going to be exposed to more ads.

That’s why Facebook optimizes for engagement. You get outraged, you become sad, you like and you share. And Facebook makes money.

This year is a turning point for Facebook. People will look back at this moment as an inflection point in the company’s trajectory. But it’s still unclear if Facebook has the answer to its structural issues.

Amazon today announced Alexa Cast to allow for better music control on Alexa devices. Users will be able to more easily transition from listening to through the Amazon Music app to listening to Amazon Music on an Alexa device. This is a much-needed function for Amazon’s core services.

Before Alexa Cast, it can be messy switching between listening to Amazon Music on different devices. The service does not have the same sort of controls found on other services like Spotify . It sounds like Amazon is finally building out features that will turn Amazon Music into a legit music service and Alexa Cast is a good step forward.

The service is available starting today. Users need to update their iOS and Android app to access the feature. Just like with Spotify Connect or Apple AirPlay users will need to tap on the Alexa Cast icon and select the device they want to playback the streaming music.

It’s unclear from the initial announcement if Amazon will bring this functionality to other apps or let developers use it.

Amazon today announced Alexa Cast to allow for better music control on Alexa devices. Users will be able to more easily transition from listening to through the Amazon Music app to listening to Amazon Music on an Alexa device. This is a much-needed function for Amazon’s core services.

Before Alexa Cast, it can be messy switching between listening to Amazon Music on different devices. The service does not have the same sort of controls found on other services like Spotify . It sounds like Amazon is finally building out features that will turn Amazon Music into a legit music service and Alexa Cast is a good step forward.

The service is available starting today. Users need to update their iOS and Android app to access the feature. Just like with Spotify Connect or Apple AirPlay users will need to tap on the Alexa Cast icon and select the device they want to playback the streaming music.

It’s unclear from the initial announcement if Amazon will bring this functionality to other apps or let developers use it.

TechCrunch is coming back to Berlin to talk with the best and brightest people in tech from Europe and the rest of the world. In addition to fireside chats and panels, new startups will participate in the Startup Battlefield Europe to win the coveted cup.

Grab your ticket to Disrupt Berlin before August 1st as prices will increase after that. The conference will take place on November 29-30.

We are busy collecting some of the most awesome speakers in the world, and not least among them is Aline Sara, founder of Natakallam, the innovative startup which gave refugees hope. https://natakallam.com

In the summer of 2014 Aline had just completed her masters in International Affairs at Colombia University and was looking for an affordable way to practice her Arabic—specifically, her native Lebanese regional dialect—from New York City. It was also at that time that Syrians, fleeing the violence from the brutal civil war, were pouring into Lebanon, where today, roughly 1 out of 4 people are Syrian.

Like most Syrians outside of the country, and notably the 5 million-plus who are living in neighboring countries, Syrians in Lebanon cannot easily get work permits, making their capacity to work and sustain a livelihood incredibly difficult.

Aline thought of connecting her need to access conversational Arabic to that of displaced Syrians to access an income. Thus came to life the idea of NaTakallam, pioneering the concept of leveraging the Internet economy and refugees’ language skills to provide language services to users worldwide, who, through their engagement, help support displaced persons’ livelihoods. They are now expanding to serve other nationalities and offering translation and interpretation services.

TechCrunch is coming back to Berlin to talk with the best and brightest people in tech from Europe and the rest of the world. In addition to fireside chats and panels, new startups will participate in the Startup Battlefield Europe to win the coveted cup.

Grab your ticket to Disrupt Berlin before August 1st as prices will increase after that. The conference will take place on November 29-30.

We are busy collecting some of the most awesome speakers in the world, and not least among them is Aline Sara, founder of Natakallam, the innovative startup which gave refugees hope. https://natakallam.com

In the summer of 2014 Aline had just completed her masters in International Affairs at Colombia University and was looking for an affordable way to practice her Arabic—specifically, her native Lebanese regional dialect—from New York City. It was also at that time that Syrians, fleeing the violence from the brutal civil war, were pouring into Lebanon, where today, roughly 1 out of 4 people are Syrian.

Like most Syrians outside of the country, and notably the 5 million-plus who are living in neighboring countries, Syrians in Lebanon cannot easily get work permits, making their capacity to work and sustain a livelihood incredibly difficult.

Aline thought of connecting her need to access conversational Arabic to that of displaced Syrians to access an income. Thus came to life the idea of NaTakallam, pioneering the concept of leveraging the Internet economy and refugees’ language skills to provide language services to users worldwide, who, through their engagement, help support displaced persons’ livelihoods. They are now expanding to serve other nationalities and offering translation and interpretation services.

Snapchat hopes to boost ad spend by connecting businesses with its top independent creators, but it won’t take a cut of deals it helps arrange. Today Snap Inc launches its “Snapchat Storytellers” pilot program that will introduce brands to five of the app’s most popular content makers including Mplatco, Cyrene Q, and Shonduras. They’ll star in ads for Stories and Discover or provide creative direction to brands with their expertise gleaned from gathering audiences of millions over the past few years in exchange for cash. Top creators can often earn tens of thousands of dollars or more for deals with brands.

The program is late but a smart move for Snapchat, since it needs to educate businesses about how to make great Stories ads. These often require stylish vertical video that’s a big creative jump from the tiny photo, link, and text ads many are accustomed to, or even the pithy landscape videos they’ve learned to make for YouTube or Facebook. If creators can help brands make great looking ads that perform well, those businesses will be more likely to spend a lot more on Snapchat.

That’s critical for the public company which lost $385 million last quarter and missed its revenue estimate by $14 million when it brought in $230 million. With Facebook’s Snapchat Stories clones from Instagram and WhatsApp depressing Snap’s user growth rate to a measly 2.9 percent (its lowest rate ever), the company will have to figure out how squeeze more dollars out of each user it already has. If it can’t do that with better ad creative and performance, it will be forced to rely on annoying unskippable Stories ads which it rolled out to more businesses yesterday.

Meanwhile, if Snap extends the program to more creators, it could be a good way to help them monetize and stay loyal to the platform. YouTube has long offered ad revenue shares and Facebook’s ad breaks let creators insert commercials into their videos for a cut of money. Both are experimenting with subscription patronage and tipping options to help creators earn money. Facebook recently launched its Brand Collabs manager that offers an entire search engine of creators that brands can sort by audience demographics.

But Snapchat still doesn’t have any of these options, and its Storytellers program looks half-hearted in comparison. As the social media influencer space matures, many creators are sick of giving away their content for free, and will bring their best work to whatever network helps get them paid.

Still, Snap will take a relatively hands-off approach in terms of how deals between brands and creators are struck. It’s not going to take a cut, nor will creators get locked into exclusivity contracts with Snap or the businesses. Basically, Snap is adding the five creators that include Geeohsnap and Georgio Copter to its Creative Partners list alongside ad agencies and creative studios. If advertisers express interest in a creator, Snap will make an introduction then leave them to work out the deal.

It’s dumbfounding that Snapchat waited this long to launch this program, and it didn’t even come up with it. It was the weirdo former Vine star Shonduras that suggested Snapchat build the program during its first Creators Summit back in May.  That shows how out of touch with the creator community Snap was until now. If it can’t grow its user count quickly, it should be doing everything it can to keep creators and advertisers from straying to Facebook’s Stories platforms with a lot more users.

[Correction: Nicholas Megalis made “Gummy Money” not Shonduras.]

Snapchat hopes to boost ad spend by connecting businesses with its top independent creators, but it won’t take a cut of deals it helps arrange. Today Snap Inc launches its “Snapchat Storytellers” pilot program that will introduce brands to five of the app’s most popular content makers including Mplatco, Cyrene Q, and Shonduras. They’ll star in ads for Stories and Discover or provide creative direction to brands with their expertise gleaned from gathering audiences of millions over the past few years in exchange for cash. Top creators can often earn tens of thousands of dollars or more for deals with brands.

The program is late but a smart move for Snapchat, since it needs to educate businesses about how to make great Stories ads. These often require stylish vertical video that’s a big creative jump from the tiny photo, link, and text ads many are accustomed to, or even the pithy landscape videos they’ve learned to make for YouTube or Facebook. If creators can help brands make great looking ads that perform well, those businesses will be more likely to spend a lot more on Snapchat.

That’s critical for the public company which lost $385 million last quarter and missed its revenue estimate by $14 million when it brought in $230 million. With Facebook’s Snapchat Stories clones from Instagram and WhatsApp depressing Snap’s user growth rate to a measly 2.9 percent (its lowest rate ever), the company will have to figure out how squeeze more dollars out of each user it already has. If it can’t do that with better ad creative and performance, it will be forced to rely on annoying unskippable Stories ads which it rolled out to more businesses yesterday.

Meanwhile, if Snap extends the program to more creators, it could be a good way to help them monetize and stay loyal to the platform. YouTube has long offered ad revenue shares and Facebook’s ad breaks let creators insert commercials into their videos for a cut of money. Both are experimenting with subscription patronage and tipping options to help creators earn money. Facebook recently launched its Brand Collabs manager that offers an entire search engine of creators that brands can sort by audience demographics.

But Snapchat still doesn’t have any of these options, and its Storytellers program looks half-hearted in comparison. As the social media influencer space matures, many creators are sick of giving away their content for free, and will bring their best work to whatever network helps get them paid.

Still, Snap will take a relatively hands-off approach in terms of how deals between brands and creators are struck. It’s not going to take a cut, nor will creators get locked into exclusivity contracts with Snap or the businesses. Basically, Snap is adding the five creators that include Geeohsnap and Georgio Copter to its Creative Partners list alongside ad agencies and creative studios. If advertisers express interest in a creator, Snap will make an introduction then leave them to work out the deal.

It’s dumbfounding that Snapchat waited this long to launch this program, and it didn’t even come up with it. It was the weirdo former Vine star Shonduras that suggested Snapchat build the program during its first Creators Summit back in May.  That shows how out of touch with the creator community Snap was until now. If it can’t grow its user count quickly, it should be doing everything it can to keep creators and advertisers from straying to Facebook’s Stories platforms with a lot more users.

[Correction: Nicholas Megalis made “Gummy Money” not Shonduras.]