TECH CRUNCH - TikTok is extending its Marketing Partner Program to add new content marketing partners. The expansion will allow marketers to manage their TikTok accounts without leaving their third-party content marketing platforms. The short-form video app is partnering with Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Sprinklr, Emplifi, Dash Hudson, Khoros, Brandwatch and Later for the initial launch. The launch comes as TikTok has been looking for ways to help brands better reach users on its platform.
TikTok Partners With Some Brands to Make Them Easier to Reach Users
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Twitter Agrees to Pay $150M for Breaking Privacy Promises
TECH CRUNCH - Twitter has agreed to pay $150M as part of a settlement with regulators over allegations that the social media company misrepresented the "security and privacy" of user data over several years. The FTC and Department of Justice said that between May 2013 and September 2019, Twitter asked users for personal information to secure their accounts, but then used that information to target users with ads.
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~3.6B People Use Social Media Each Month Worldwide
DIGITAL INFORMATION WORLD - Insider Intelligence study the number of people who use social media each month worldwide. On average, there are 3.6B social media users and these figures are just for one month. The report highlights how every 8 in 10 internet users came under the actual category of being an avid social network user and that just goes to show the immense popularity. The research proves how the stats are equivalent to being the slowest growth period since 2009.
by Dr Hura Anwar
See full article at Digital Information World
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Friendly Apps Raises $3M for Apps That Improve People's Well-being
TECH CRUNCH - Longtime engineer and product designer Michael Sayman has been building apps since he was a kid, landing him roles at Facebook, Google, Roblox and, most recently, Twitter, where he's often been tasked with developing products aimed at a teenage audience. Now, Sayman is looking to leverage his understanding of what users want from their apps with the launch of Friendly Apps. Friendly Apps' mission is to create a suite of apps with a different set of values that are targeted toward helping people with both their physical and mental health in new ways. The startup raised a seed round of $3M.
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ThirdEye Announces Worldwide Decentralized AR 3D Social Network for Metaverse
PR NEWSWIRE - ThirdEye, a leader in AR/AI solutions, announces the beta release of a fully decentralized AR social media network for consumers. This free decentralized platform will allow users to have control over their own user data and not owned by a central entity. Users will also be able to place virtual AR objects in the real world, upload AR data, create friend groups, have AR calls with virtual annotations among friends and a digital marketplace to buy/sell virtual goods/NFTs.
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Jack Dorsey Steps Down From Twitter's Board
TECH CRUNCH - Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey stepped down from Twitter's board of directors, a change that's effective as of the company's shareholders meeting. Dorsey had already begun to distance himself from the social media platform he co-founded, leaving Twitter's CEO role late last year to focus on Block, formerly known as Square.
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Russian Social Network, VK, Launches Alternative RuStore App Store
NEOWIN - The Russian social network firm, VK, has launched a new app store called RuStore as an alternative to the Google Play Store. The store is part of a campaign by the government for the creation of alternative services so it's not reliant on Western companies. The RuStore is available to Android users from today but due to iOS limits, it probably won't arrive on that platform. At launch, RuStore will ship with a paltry 100 applications and some of these include government services.
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Primitives Wants to Turn Crypto Wallet Into a Social Network
TECH CRUNCH - DJ Gabeau, one of Snapchat Stories' earliest engineers and founder of web3 social network Primitives, built a social network where users could connect through NFTs on the Solana blockchain, which is much more cost-efficient and inexpensive than Ethereum. The startup came out of stealth and had raised a $4M seed round. Users of the app can create their own customizable NFT-based avatars called Primojis, which resemble something like doodled sketches of emojis. Users can also collect NFTs based on "moments, which are tied to their attendance at specific events or locations." Primitives is currently in beta mode with plans to launch publicly as soon as next month.
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Snapchat Stocks Lose Billions After Its Parent Warning
REUTERS - Snapchat shares plunged ~40% and sparked a sector-wide selloff after a profit warning from the parent signaled tough times ahead for the once-booming digital ad industry. The company was on track to lose $15B in market capitalization, while shares of major online advertisers and social-media firms were set to lose a combine $200B in value from the rout. Snap shares closed at $12.79, lower than their 2017 IPO price of $17.
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These Investors Are Putting $1B Into Trump Media
NEW YORK TIMES - When former President Donald J. Trump's fledgling social media company and its merger partner announced in December that they had secured $B in additional private funds for the deal. A draft document contains the names of dozens of hedge funds and others behind the investment. The investors are mostly a mix of small to midsize hedge funds based in the US and Canada, according to the document.
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