What Is The Current State Of The Global Creator Economy? This New Study Reveals It All

 A new study is shedding light on the current state of the creator economy around the globe. And after surveying around 9000 different creators, some facts are definitely worth a glance.

Just when you thought content creators only wanted to be famous influencers, here comes a new study to prove that theory wrong. Today, many are aligning themselves in a manner where they’re looked upon as business owners.

Today’s current state of the economy has made us realize one thing. More than 50% of firms in the US are planning to terminate jobs because they simply can’t pull through with this much recession. Even the tech industry has hit rock bottom in this regard.

But despite these facts, you’ll be intrigued to learn that there are still more and more content creators arising in the market. A total of 165 million people globally identify themselves as creators, over the last two years.

In America alone, we’re seeing the uprising of 35 million creators ever since the COVID-19 pandemic began, as proven by Adobe’s data.

Around 9000 creators underwent a recent survey in May and the sample size comprised mostly online creators hailing from Gen z. These came under the 16 to 24-year age bracket. And whatever estimates were released had to do with the sample size of the survey at hand.

We saw the firm enter into a partnership alongside Edelman Data and Intelligence for this particular study that arose across nearly 9 different nations. From Span and Japan to the US and Brazil, the list is quite long.

A creator was defined as a person above the 18-year age group that indulges in creative activities like writing, graphic designing, photography, and more. All of their posts are updated on a daily basis across an online platform.

On the other hand, the report highlighted the difference that stood out between an influencer and a creator. The former is the name given to creators that have a fan base greater than 5000 people across their social media platforms. Moreover, they earn money from whatever content that’s regularly posted.

Some important highlights of the Adobe report included how creators of today are more fond of being entrepreneurs as compared to attaining that influencer status. Yes, brands and their associated affiliate marketing definitely comprise a huge part of the income that creators get but nearly half of these people don’t want wish to be an influencer.

That’s just not what their end target is. There is more interest in having a business that they can call their own. And interestingly, nearly 17% of these people already have one that they’re focusing on.

So many creators want to follow the path taken by moguls in the world of social media. Common names like Emma Chamberlain and Jackie Aina were included. These women, one whose business is coffee and the other whose goods include candles, have great things going for them.

Other than that, the report spoke about how much revenue was being generated by creators. Yes, they work hard and stats prove that it’s definitely paying off for them. As far as figures are concerned, influencers make around $4700 while creators can attain up to $3000 each month.

For their work schedule, well, it’s around 15 hours a week for influencers while creators worked just 9 hours. And the money would be allotted on an hourly basis. Other than that, they’re combining their full-time job with this social media gig so the money is plenty.

Adobe also showed how the majority of creators were actually millennials but Gen Z did have a minority representation. And lastly, many creators found their job to be mentally pleasing and a break from hectic work life.

MFA is Powerless Against This Vicious New Hacking Tool

 Countless security protocols have been put into place in order to stave off potential cyberattacks, but in spite of the fact that this is the case hackers, malicious actors and cybercriminals only keep upping the ante. This has resulted in a cyber arms race, with cybersecurity professionals often playing catchup with the aforementioned malicious actors once all has been said and is now out of the way.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a brand new hacking tool has just been noted which might topple the current cybersecurity infrastructure that so many rely on to keep themselves safe online. This tool is called EvilProxy, and it can potentially steal authentication tokens used for MFA on websites with all things having been considered and taken into account.

The most concerning thing about this hacking tool is how easy it is to use because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up turning inexperienced newbie hackers into seasoned professionals who can pose a major threat. A cybersecurity research firm by the name of Resecurity is first discovered this hacking tool which was going by the name of Moloch at that time. They found it widely available on the dark web as PaaS platform which stands for Phishing as a Service.

This hacking tool can significantly improve the efficacy of phishing attacks. It works by taking you to a legitimate login page, one that would not contain any of the red flags that may have made users aware that their information is about to be stolen. The hacking tool then redirects the information that is put in, and that can result in even the most cautious of users having their log in data end up in the wrong hands.

Cybercrime is turning into an industry in its own right, and cybersecurity researchers will have to figure out a way to get ahead of the curve. Until that happens, the risks that are found on the internet will continue to multiply and become more pronounced.

What Country Has the Fastest Internet?

 Access to high speed internet is essential because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up helping people to stay fully connected with one another. However, some countries have managed to create vastly superior internet infrastructure, and this has allowed their citizens to enjoy a higher standard of living than might have been the case otherwise.

Cable.co.uk recently put out some data that revealed which country has the fastest speed of all. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Taiwan is the winner in this race with an average broadband speed of over 135 Mbps, or 135.88 to be precise. Taiwan is about twelve Mbps faster than the second country on this list, namely Japan. Japan’s average internet speed hovers at around the 122 Mbps mark, and several other countries are close at its heels.

One thing that many might notice about this list is that East Asian countries feature rather prominently with all things having been considered and taken into account. Singapore comes in fifth, with its 116 Mbps average speeds being quite close to those of other high speed internet countries. In spite of the fact that this is the case, the US and France surpass Singapore, with internet speeds of 118 and 120 Mbps respectively.

Unsurprisingly, a number of European countries have seen massive improvements in average internet speeds over the past few years. Spain, the Netherlands as well as Romania all have impressive internet speeds of 115.6, 113.98 and 112.39 Mbps respectively. Canada is somewhat short of its neighboring country, but this northern nation also has excellent speeds of around 106.8 on average.

Rounding out the top ten list is Hong Kong where the average speed is just above 100 Mbps, and that just goes to show that North America, Europe and East Asia are the world leaders when it comes to internet speeds. These are the parts of the world with the highest levels of human development, and their excellent internet speeds definitely have a role to play in that.

H/T: Statista.

WhatsApp is moving Communities to iOS and is bringing back another long lost feature

 Launched in 2009 the Whatsapp blew up and has been gaining users ever since. It was only very recently that the app was bought by the tech giant and parent company of Facebook, Meta.

When we hear the word communities, the thing that comes to mind is a group of living organisms living together right, but now there is a digital version of it as well. Do you know how we create groups on WhatsApp, well WhatsApp’s new feature is just a bit more extended version of that?

Presenting to you, Communities. What is that? Well, it is a new WhatsApp feature that will let users create huge groups that are related to a specific topic. This feature has not started rolling out yet but has become available to some fortunate people on the Android Beta version of the app and has started coming to iOS beta users as well.

According to a screenshot posted by WABetainfo to check if this feature has been made available for you, you just need to see if your camera option has been replaced with another one that looks like the image of 3 people standing side by side.

In this raw version, you can add up to 10 groups when you create a community; later, however, you will be able to add as many as 50 groups in one community. All these other groups are known as subgroups and members have the choice to see which subgroup they join based solely on their interests. Admins can also set the community to be read only by turning on the only admins can send messages option.

Now, moving on, whenever the need arouses for us to check older messages from a specific date often have to keep scrolling and scrolling until we reach it, which is quite a tedious task unless we remember the particular message or its contents to put into the search box.

Well not anymore, with this feature whenever users would want to search for a message from a specific date all they would have to do is to go to the search bar, and right above the keyboard they would see a small calendar option. This option will have a rolling ball that will allow users to set the date and month from which they want to see the messages. And voilà there you have it.

8 Out of 10 Websites Will Leak Your Search Data to Google According to This Study

 Cybersecurity is a top priority these days, and much of the focus in this arena goes towards mitigating the attempts of malicious actors to hack into user accounts and the like. In spite of the fact that this is the case, major websites are also contributing to the leaking of sensitive user information to online advertisers such as Google. Security experts at Norton Labs recently conducted a study that revealed that about 80% of top websites leak search terms to Google and other similar platforms.

These websites all possess a search bar because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing users to navigate their pages more efficiently. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that they often send the search terms that users put in to Google for the purposes of earning commissions through third party tracking which has become difficult through applications these days.

A lot of these websites claim that they inform users that their search data will be sold to advertising platforms, but this information is usually contained in the user policy which most people don’t end up reading. 81.3% of the search results that Norton researchers used ended up being referred to third parties, which might make it difficult for users to maintain control over their personal data.

Additionally, the user policies don’t specify what kind of data they will be sharing with third parties. They often use generic terms that will understate the sheer extent of data sharing that is occurring. This leads to a confusing system that the vast majority of users will face a lot of difficulties in parsing.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for the average internet user to maintain an appreciable amount of privacy in their digital lives, and websites that are collaborating with Google and other third parties are making matters worse. Users need to start blocking third party tracking from their browsers or consider switching to more privacy friendly browsers and search engines.

This Influencer Ran a Crypto Scam to Educate Consumers

 Crypto investments have been on the rise as of late, and that has resulted in a huge uptick in the number of scams that try to use them to trick people with all things having been considered and taken into account. An influencer by the name of FatMan Terra recently came under fire for trying to run a crypto scam of his own, but with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that the purpose of this scam was not to defraud people.

Rather, this scam was meant to educate consumers about the pitfalls of investing in crypto schemes that they have not yet done the requisite due diligence for. According to FatMan Terra, he recently saw a scam being run by a Twitter account under the name of Lady of Crypto. He used this as an opportunity to run a similar kind of scam, and this revealed just how little research people do before investing their money into the scams.

Just two hours after announcing his investment scheme, prior to revealing that it was not actually legitimate, the influencer managed to acquire around 5.45 bitcoin worth of investments from Twitter and Discord. These investments totaled around $100,000, and the speed at which the money came in showed that people are too gullible when investing in this space.

The basic premise of the argument that FatMan Terra was trying to make is that nobody is going to give you free money. Anyone that is claiming that they can do so is lying because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making it easier for them to defraud people.

In spite of the fact that this is the case, some are criticizing the influencer for attempting to take money in the first place. It remains to be seen whether this was an awareness campaign or a scam attempt gone awry, but the information that it has made clear is hard to dispute. Crypto scams are rife online, and consumers should be wary of them.

Amazon and Instagram Face Off For the Title of Most Popular Ad Environment

 Different social media platforms and digital platforms can offer their own unique benefits to brands who are placing ads on their servers. TikTok has seen a huge increase in terms of user receptiveness to ads, but in spite of the fact that this is the case the success of this platform has been eclipsed by that of Amazon with all things having been considered and taken into account. Amazon is relatively new to the digital ad game, but that hasn’t stopped them from overtaking TikTok for the top spot.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that marketers tend to tell a different story as far as their preferred ad channels are concerned. The most popular platform for marketers turned out to be Instagram, although TikTok has seen tremendous growth to bring it into fourth place just behind YouTube and Google, as highlighted by Kantar.

This information comes from a series of surveys conducted across 29 markets which asked questions of over 18,000 consumers. It also involved surveys of 400 major brands which represent 90% of the digital ad spend that will be seen throughout 2022.

Surprisingly, Spotify has been making a name for itself as a great resource for digital ads as well. The music streaming platform has a very receptive audience, and that makes it an excellent option for marketers because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up bringing more eyes to their marketing campaigns.

Video based ads are the most preferred marketing channel for professionals in the industry, so it is rather surprising that Amazon managed to supplant TikTok and reach the highest position on this list. Interestingly, the platforms that have the highest level of user receptiveness are not automatically popular among marketers. That suggests that marketing professionals have a different metric for gauging the various platforms that they are placing ads on. Instagram might be the most user friendly digital ad channel for marketers to use, especially since it prioritizes video clips and images to such a great extent.

What’s the Best Fast Charger on the Market? Here’s What We Found

 Most major smartphone companies including Apple and Samsung have stopped including charges in their product packaging because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up reducing electronic waste and helping them improve profit margins. This has created a new problem for consumers to solve, namely that of figuring out which fast charger they should buy. The folks over at Engadget recently ran a series of tests to uncover the best product of all.

The first thing to discuss about these tests is the methodology that was used to conduct them, and with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that these tests involved draining the battery until only ten percent of the power was remaining. The devices were then plugged into a fast charging brick, and the increments in battery life every ten minutes was then recorded.

Power strips and extension cords were not used since they might have distorted the test results. Instead, the researchers plugged the charges directly into a 120 volt power outlet with all things having been considered and taken into account. One thing that was noted in this research was that the battery charged slower when it was still in the 10 to 20 percent range. The charging speed then increases until the 80% mark is reached, after which it slows down to reduce the chances of overcharging and damaging the battery.

Five devices were included as parts of this study, namely the iPhone 13 and M1 Max Macbook Pro from Apple, the Galaxy S22 Ultra from Samsung, the 2017 launch model of the Nintendo Switch as well as the latest model of the Dell XPS 13. Without further ado, here are the best performing fast charges based on all of these tests.

1. Anker 711 Nano II

This 30 watt charger falls comfortably into the category of most popular chargers, and it is the best option by far for smaller devices. It fully charged the iPhone 13 in as little as ninety minutes, and it only needed an hour or so to fully charge the Galaxy S22 Ultra. While this model failed to quickly charge the laptops, in spite of the fact that this is the case it still outperformed Apple’s own 20 watt charging brick once all has been said and is now out of the way.

2. Anker 715 Nano II

Anker has been making a lot of waves by offering products that balance affordability and quality, which makes it unsurprising that both the top spots are occupied by charges from this brand. The 715 Nano II is a 65 watt charger so it is far better suited to charging laptops than its 20 watt counterpart. Anker’s charger is particularly effective at charging the Galaxy device, perhaps as a result of it communicating effectively with the device in question.

3. Razer USB-C 130 Watt

Sometimes you need a high power charger, and this product from Razer would be your best bet based on the tests that were conducted. The Razer provided the fastest charging out of all of the 100 watt products that were tested, although its high power did not provide an appreciable or noticeable increase in the charging speeds for the MacBook Pro.

Conclusion

And there you have it! These chargers represent the cream of the crop in the current market, and it is interesting to see companies outside of the Apple-Samsung duopoly performing so well. An interesting thing to note here is that Apple is the winner in the 140 watt category, but all other categories saw unique brands like Anker giving a good showing that confirms the worth of their products.

Facebook’s New Internal Document Says Its Engineers Have ‘Zero Clue’ Where Users’ Data Goes

 During the early start of 2022, we came across a new internal document by Meta’s Facebook speaking about a few concerns that engineers had. And one striking statement had to do with how so many engineers working for the firm had no idea where users’ data went.

Similarly, they were very vocal about how they didn’t know what Facebook was doing with the information either and that really sounded alarm bells for many around the world.

The information was made public after a court hearing was carried out in March of 2022, where two engineers confirmed the news mentioned in the leaked document. They also added how discovering the answers to such questions could really take a lot of teamwork because it’s not a simple task.

The tone observed was very bold and blunt, with the men adding how they would be surprised if anyone could break down that question and figure out what the right answer to it was. There was also a special mention of how data usually gets collected via the app’s subsystems as reported by media outlet The Intercept.

This particular hearing became part of a long lawsuit where Facebook was requested to provide an array of internal documents to better explain its case and answer these questions. See, the whole goal had to do with figuring out where exactly personal data was going and if subsystems were involved, how long, and for what purposes was this data stored.

But the engineers who took part in March’s hearing deeply struggled with the questions. It was a shocker for plenty as basic facts weren’t put out in the open because no one had an answer. How is Facebook employing such an open culture in terms of both software and its development systems?

Thankfully, there was some mention of the SDK being involved and its backend but that’s about it. Questions were raised about a possible data diagram and if it did indeed exist. On that note, one of the engineers did comment on how Facebook employs some of the most bizarre tactics in the world of engineering culture. There aren’t too many artifacts produced and you’ll usually see the code serving as a document.

But all in all, what we could understand is that the entire episode is quite terrifying and not one that many users would want to hear about a leading app in our daily lives.

On the other hand, we did hear about Meta’s spokesperson adding some details linked to how its systems are very sophisticated and intricately designed. They claim to be adding state-of-the-art privacy features that keep users’ data safe while highlighting different mechanisms for data control across the platform.

But as far as privacy experts are concerned, they are definitely not convinced by the types of responses received. In fact, such reports are rather damning and beyond shocking.

To have billions of data belonging to Facebook users get absorbed into a system that no one knows about is just plain worrying. And the concept of a drop of ink falling into a lake is the perfect way to picture it.

TikTok Adds More Data To Its Insights Tool So Users Can Filter Options That Best Suit Them

 TikTok is adding more data notes to its very productive Insights Tool. The company says the decision has been taken so users can better filter out options that suit them.

The tool was first introduced with the motive to put several different types of snapshots on display. This includes integral notes on what’s happening in the market around the globe. Therefore, users can filter down any type of specific information for their targeted campaigns.

As can be witnessed through this particular approach, TikTok Insights is allowing the new data to be downloaded for cards and in presentations or for any other use.

Users can narrow down the data in a number of different ways. This includes TikTok providing a lot of options for filtering purposes and they can better gauge what’s happening around the global markets of today.

For instance, if you’d like to know integral trends in the UK during the holiday season among users of the app, you can easily find out now. In the same way, the platform says it’s ideal when you wish to publish a new marketing approach.

Now, there are more insights than ever included so finding out what’s trending in the current market is key for planning purposes.

It’s definitely not perfect as the information can’t be customized to a point that you’d probably want it to be. However, the platform can be used to see what behaviors are being followed to guide users to the best marketing approach across the app.

TikTok is adding the details to the platform outlined as Creative Center. And we feel the more insights provided, the better and easier it will be to market on the app.

This Latest EU Legislation Might Make Android Phones Last Longer

 Planned obsolescence has been a common feature among most products because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making the product break down in a fixed timeline thereby forcing consumers to purchase a replacement. This trend can be seen in the world of smartphones as well, with many smartphone manufacturers ceasing to provide long term support in the form of updates and security patches.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that the EU is starting to draft legislation that might change all of this. This legislation will mandate that smartphone companies provide consistent feature updates for a minimum of three years, and security patches for a minimum of five years with all things having been considered and taken into account.

This can help consumers get a lot more usage out of their smartphones than might have been the case otherwise, since they would no longer have to replace their phones every few years just to gain access to updates once again. There is another major advantage of this legislation as well, namely that it will allow e-waste to be reduced considerably once all has been said and is now out of the way.

Most consumers don’t want to buy a phone for the sake of it, and they are usually driven by necessity. This results in an unnecessary increase in the amount of electronic waste that is produced, and this legislation can be an important first step towards fixing the matter once and for all.

This legislation can make it so that consumers can use their smartphones for at least half a decade as long as they take good care of it, and it will be interesting to see if it has the positive impact that so many are saying it will. While it might cut into the profit margins of smartphone manufacturers, in spite of the fact that this is the case they can still keep their sales up by innovating instead of designing their products to become obsolete too quickly.

Apple Has Just Announced The New iPhone 14 Series With Some Innovative Features

 The moment that many iPhone enthusiasts have been waiting for all year long has finally arrived. Tech giant Apple unveiled the new iPhone 14 and iPhone14 Pro with some innovative features worth a glance. And we’re outlining some of the major ones for you below.

For starters, users can expect a new emergency SOS through satellite communication technology. What does this mean? Well, users will get the chance to send signals for help, no matter where they may be located.

This includes even the most remote places of them all and when you’re struggling with mobile data signals too. To make this type of scenario work, Apple has put together a mix of technologies. In turn, this removes the need for heavy forms of hardware so that communication becomes possible, thanks to a satellite located right above your head.

The feature comes with all new devices and is free of cost for the next two years. We’ll be seeing a launch take place soon in November across both the US and Canada.

Apple says the new technology is fabulous at sending out texts at a fast pace under emergency conditions. The company has worked with an array of experts to create a list of emergency questions that gets active with the click of a button. So getting help faster than ever has never been easier.

Secondly, Apple has included a new photonic engine into the iPhone 14. This means users can attain the best camera performance under low lighting conditions. In case you didn’t already know, computational photography is the rage these days.

Apple’s new Deep Fusion technology allows you to take better images with your iPhone, thanks to a new processing stack. This has been dubbed a photonic engine and it’s designed to make the most of even the poorest low light conditions.

This phone camera can be seen taking a total of 9 shots and one that’s of long exposure. The system then assesses which of these shots are perfect and it creates a combo by compositing them together in terms of sharpness. While it sounds like a simple collage, it’s far from just that.

Apple confirmed the news stating how the Deep Fusion gets active as soon as the phone sensors detect poor lighting. Therefore, users get the chance to click images in the best hues and with better details.

The leading iPhone maker promises that this new ultra-wide camera and the new selfie camera are guaranteed to perform better than before when users were faced with poor lighting. It’s all thanks to the state-of-the-art technology being incorporated.

Meanwhile, another notable feature worth a mention is linked to a 48MP sensor located in the Pro version of the device. This series can utilize the mixing of pixels for merging data together on the image sensor. And what you get in the end is a mega ‘super pixel’ that really enhances low-lighting conditions.

Thankfully, there is no button or toggling option to flip this on. It gets activated automatically in different lighting situations.

Last but not least, the new iPhone series has some great news for users in the US. Now, iPhones come with supported eSIMs and while we agree that the devices have been providing support for such SIMS in the past, we’re seeing the new iPhone provide support related to physical SIMs in America. So what does that mean?

Well, users in the US will have devices without any slot for their SIMs. This is definitely in line with news from the past that spoke about Apple moving forward with eSIMs.

The whole concept linked to eSIMs has to do with making connections with cellular networks without the real need for physical SIMs to be added to your device. It’s convenient and allows users to have multiple profiles on one device. Also, it’s more secure and wards off theft incidents as it can’t be stolen.

But there are a few drawbacks linked to electronic sims. For example, you can’t make changes to your SIM card with ease. And that’s quite troublesome when you’re traveling. When it comes to travelers, it’s not simple to purchase local sims in the nation they’ve traveled to.

For now, the change is restricted to the US. But we’re not quite sure if other markets will be seeing any similar types of changes occur too.

Brazil Suspends Sales For iPhones Without Power Brink While Issuing Apple Fine Worth Millions

 Just days before the exclusive iPhone 14 launch event, Brazil is taking strict action against Apple. The country’s Justice Ministry was seen issuing a statement that claims to suspend all iPhone sales without a power brink.
Additionally, the government has also sent a mega $2.3 million fine to the iPhone maker as published in the country’s Federal Register today.
As mentioned in Brazil’s leading news outlet G1 Globo, the government explained how it was canceling the registration of iPhones in the market with a suspension for all iPhone device sales too. This will take place with immediate effect, the statement went on to read.

No matter what generation or even model of device is present, if they don’t have the power brink, they won’t be up for sale.

Brazilian government officials further mentioned how it will not be applying the daily fine if the company chooses not to suspend iPhone sales without power brinks immediately. It will only come into play if and when the leading iPhone producer fails to follow guidelines in the future.

As it is, we saw in October how the country’s Justice Ministry mentioned to both tech giants Apple and Samsung that they failed to be clear about why such a decision to remove power brinks was made in the first place from their smartphone series.

And when no adequate reply was provided, the government decided that it was high time for the country’s consumer protection regulator to begin administrative proceedings against both firms.

But we’d like to mention how Samsung has been very keen on listening to Brazilian government officials and that’s why its latest series of folding smartphone devices do entail a power brink as confirmed by the company.

Apple did once mention that the majority of households encase more than one iPhone and for that reason, having several power brinks of the same kind just does not make sense. And for a healthier and safe environment, having power brinks added to the latest iPhones wouldn’t be beneficial.

But despite knowing this fact very clearly, so many governments around the globe are still filing lawsuits and issuing fines against the Cupertino fine as to why no power brink is being provided with iPhone sales.

A recent comment from Apple has been made on the subject in question. They will definitely appeal the decision brought on by the Brazilian government because they feel removing the power brink from its iPhone box would definitely decrease the carbon footprint on planet earth.

Apple issued a long statement where it justified its behavior in detail. It added how much it cares for the planet and since its power adapters comprise its greatest use of materials such as plastic and metals like zinc, getting rid of them could help reduce carbon emissions comprising nearly 2 million metric tonnes.

And they said it was equivalent to eliminating more than 500,000 vehicles from the road annually.

With millions of power adapters being used around the globe, Apple says it hopes to play its role in combating the environmental crisis that we’re currently facing.

Instagram Takes A Step Back And Potentially Abandons Its In-Stream Shopping Program

 While the concept linked to eCommerce seemed to be a mighty endeavor and one that would generate revenue for many apps, the results have proved otherwise.
What we saw during the pandemic times was a major jump that had many users resorting to apps to shop online. After all, you couldn’t go out and you needed some form of activity to keep yourselves busy.

A lot of western apps tried to copy Fetch and hoped its success would pave way for a similar route on their platforms too. But it doesn’t seem to be working for Facebook, TikTok, and now Instagram too.

Yes, Instagram is the latest application to join the bandwagon in terms of taking one step in a backward direction in terms of its in-stream shopping program. The company says they’re reassessing their approach and hope to come back stronger. But in all reality, it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that they’ve potentially abandoned the program.

A recent report by The Information shed light on how Instagram was scaling back in a drastic manner from all of its shopping features. The firm mentioned this to its employees last week on Tuesday.

There is now a greater shift from the world of eCommerce to one that’s related to advertising directly. Moreover, we see how this sudden retreat by Meta is actually proving to many that it’s no longer interested in long-term ordeals. Instead, it wants to focus more on creating a better form of its business linked to short-form videos.

Hence, soon you’ll see the currently available Shop Tab on the app soon disappear as the app plans on making a move to adopt more simple and less specific versions of its product display.

Definitely, this is a huge shift away from the routine eCommerce that we are accustomed to seeing. There was certainly one point in time when Meta wanted to make the most of such revenue-inclined tools and more emphasis on different types of product development.

But as Meta has seen over time, the demand just does not seem to be over there. No matter how much they try, it’s not easy to replicate trends taking place in Chinese markets.

We believe Meta, out of all others, would be the ones to know this the best as they once tried something similar with messaging. Remember in 2016 when Meta gave in to the idea of turning its Messenger into a platform that encompasses everything? Well, it didn’t get the success that WeChat came with, despite it being deemed an essential tool for Chinese users.

Meta hoped that with the introduction of bots in Messenger, it would be able to get firms to have their own chatbots across the platform. But no one really cared about that.

Meta was seen adding its Shop tab to the Explore element in July 2020 and by November, it was on Instagram too. During that time, eCommerce was booming because global lockdowns were in full swing.

But now that the pandemic threat has eased, trends have declined and many are no longer interested. And Instagram isn’t looking at shopping as a profit-making endeavor.

Here’s When Consumers Pay More Attention to Online Ads

 The digital ad industry has grown tremendously over the past decade or so, but in spite of the fact that this is the case many consumers have started to zone out of any ads that they see online. Ignoring ads has become commonplace among a rather wide range of consumers, and Yahoo has collaborated with OMG to ascertain when they might not pay attention and in what situations they would be more likely to with all things having been considered and taken into account.

According to this research, while 53% of ads meet the minimum standards required for viewability, they weren’t able to acquire even a single second of active engagement. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that there is a big difference between an ad being viewable and it actually commanding active attention from consumers.

This research involved analyzing around 128,000 ads, and they were sorted into three different rankings. The highest ranking involved active consumption with eyes fixed on the ad in question, followed by passive attention wherein the eyes are on the screen but not focused on the ad itself, and finally non-eyes ads that make it so that users don’t pay attention to the screen at all.

Interestingly, active attention doesn’t seem to be impacted by what time of day the ad gets posted. Ads got an average of 1.6 seconds of attention regardless of time of day, and what's more is that the day of the week didn’t have a huge impact on active attention either. Passive attention is influenced somewhat by these factors, but the differences aren’t significant enough to be worthwhile.

1.6 seconds of active attention are not enough to allow marketers to get good results from their advertising campaigns. They need to aim for a minimum of 2.5 seconds of active attention because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up increasing their click through rate.

However, since changing up post timings is not going to have an appreciable effect on active engagement, what then can marketers do? One suggestion that was made is that marketers could go for shorter ads. Video based ads that are 15 seconds long or shorter facilitated a whopping 280% increase in active attention. That is a huge uptick that marketers should be cognizant of when they are planning their campaigns out.

Another factor that can be influential in this arena is that of the age of the target consumer. Active attention tends to decrease among younger users, with baby boomers giving about 2.1 seconds of active attention on average which is far higher than the 1.3 seconds that is commonplace among Gen Z respondents who are between the ages of 18 and 24.

Conversely, gender has been found to be somewhat inconsequential since active attention remains consistent regardless of the gender identity of the users being targeted. All of these things are essential for marketers to keep in mind if they want actual engagement instead of impressions. Such factors must be accounted for, otherwise digital marketing would become virtually worthless which is concerning given how expensive it has become as of late.

Younger consumers pay more attention to online ads, survey finds

Dive Brief:

• Attention to online ads often depends on the age of the viewer, according to a press release about the second in a series of reports on ad experience from digital ad platform RevJet. Among 18-to-44 year olds, there’s a 47% increase in attention compared to 2018, but only 7% for those 45 and older. For Facebook ads, the increase is 49% for the younger set and 25% for the older crowd. But, for YouTube ads, there’s a 38% increase over 2018 for 18-to-44 year olds, compared to an 85% increase for those 45 and older.
• Both age groups are maintaining the status quo for skipping video ads, with 2% less for each, compared to 2018. And both are more accepting of auto-play video ads, with a 43% increase in acceptance among 18-to-44 year olds and 143% increase in acceptance for those 45 and older.
• The report also found that consumers aged 45 and older are buying 38% more online products now compared to 2018, while there was only a 9% increase in online purchases by 18-to-44 year olds during the same period.

Dive Insight:

• RevJet’s findings point to a couple of positive trends for digital marketers and arrive amid new research showing that digital ad revenue topped $100 billion for the first time last year. Younger consumers paying more attention to ads is particularly noteworthy, as this group has, in the past, been shown to have a penchant for using adblockers or simply ignoring ads. Both millennials and Gen Z are big users of adblockers, according to separate research. However, when researchers take a more granular approach there are indications that Gen Z is interested in some forms of advertising, particularly out-of-home and video.

  It’s also interesting that older consumers are becoming more comfortable with shopping online. This supports other recent trends like CPG brands putting a bigger focus on direct-to-consumer offerings and a surge in shoppable digital ad formats.

  However, the report also underscores some of the ongoing challenges in digital media, in particular concern over data privacy. Eighty-six percent of both age groups combined expressed concern about digital privacy, although there’s a slight age split: 18-to-44 year olds are becoming more concerned, but those over 45 are becoming less concerned.

  Another key takeaway from the RevJet report is that marketers need to keep their digital content relevant and avoid putting the same creative in front of consumers as they move around web properties. More than 90% of those 45 and older dislikes a company that is repeating an ad or whose ads are not aligned with the viewer’s interests or situation. But, among the 18-44 set, only about 68% would feel negatively toward such an advertiser.

  Conducted online in January, the survey sampled 1,000 individuals aged 18 and older in the U.S.

Google’s Digital Wellbeing Tool Plans To Include ‘Cough And Snore Detection’ On Android Devices

 Google is certainly thinking outside the box when it comes down to offering users the best features to better their health.

We’re hearing more news about how the search engine giant’s Digital Wellbeing is planning on taking things to the next level. And that entails targeting users in their sleep with cough and snore detection.

In recent times, Digital Wellbeing has really come out on top in this regard. It was first launched in Android’s 9 Pie and since then, people simply couldn’t get enough of this incredibly useful tool. After all, what better way to steer clear of unhealthy smartphone consumption than this?

All in all, the popularity grew with the masses and today, people are in love. Although we’re sure apps like TikTok and Instagram aren’t loving the news about a tool that forbids users from scrolling unnecessarily.

Now, the feature wishes to undergrow expansion on Android by targeting users in their sleep. They claim it’s a great way to track their health and well-being.

This year in May, we heard rumors about how Google might be attaching such features but we weren’t too sure. Now, it appears they’re doing just that, thanks to a new report by 9to5Google via the app.

They were able to decipher that the company’s latest beta proved how the tech giant started working on the snore with cough detection. The plan is to make it a part of their exclusive Bedtime Mode.

The tool would function by using the in-built microphone in the device for sound detection that is made while sleeping. This way, it would gauge how much you snore and cough while fast asleep.

Digital Wellbeing is said to function simultaneously with the current system for sleep tracking from Google Clock. The tool is already designed to gauge how much users sleep through the device’s gyroscope with light sensor technology. These combine to assess if the device is kept motionless throughout the night hours.

Interestingly, the feature is already a part of so many smartwatches. For instance, the Galaxy Watch 4 could deduce how much a user snores. Nevertheless, not too many people have smartwatches today.

Many also don’t have the second generation variant for Nest Hub as well. Both of these features entail modern features for sleep tracking. We think it’s great if your phone can be the one to tell you that you snore or cough a lot.

You never know what health conditions you may be suffering from after the detection of such symptoms.