Category: Data-Labor-Technology Stories

Efforts to curb fake accounts, Russian bots and hate speech had a significant impact on the follower counts of conservatives and “alt-right” figures like Michael Flynn, Jr. and white nationalist
Richard Spencer.

Branded video content produced by traditional TV companies actually outpaced the field, with year-over-year engagement growth of 79%, according to research from Sharablee, which tracks content on
social media for publishers and marketers. The research defines “engagement” as a share, a comment or a reaction (i.e. a Facebook “Like”) from consumers.

Jessie Diggins made history in Pyeongchang earlier this week when she, along with team sprint freestyle partner Kikkan Randall, won the first Olympic gold medal for the U.S. in cross-country skiing. Diggins’ come-from-behind win inspired some truly epic announcing and also led to her selection as the U.S. flag bearer for Sunday’s closing ceremony. Fans…

While virtual reality is still fairly new in terms of overall adoption–with just a few million people buying headsets in 2017–several companies in both the hardware and content sectors have made 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, a platform to show how the technology is evolving. Leading up to the opening ceremony, Jaunt VR…

You may wonder, how is it that innovative brands like Microsoft, Netflix, HBO and GE stay ahead of the competition? A lot surely goes into answering that question, but search consultancy VentureFuel claims to be a small sliver in the pie. Launched four years ago, VentureFuel actively vets hundreds of global startups daily and then…

KFC went through a highly publicized, somewhat bizarre crisis in the U.K. this week: The fast food joint known for its fried chicken ran out of chicken. Now, KFC is apologizing with a creative stunt: rearranging its name to spell “FCK.” The shortage stemmed from “operational issues” with new delivery provider DHL, forcing most of…

Niantic launched a Legendary Week event in Pokemon Go, allowing players to battle and capture three Legendary Pokemon in Raid Battles from now until March 5. The event will give players the chance to battle returning Legendary Pokemon Kyogre and Groudon, as well as Rayquaza, which joined the game in early February. When the event…

Captain Obvious is ready for his close-up. One question at a time, though. Hotels.com and agency CP+B’s latest fun digital stunt for the brand’s goofy character features Captain Obvious gunning to become the newest host of HQ Trivia. HQ rose to prominence over the last few months, drawing millions of people twice a day for…

Mobile’s influence on shopping behavior has been on the rise since the advent of the smartphone, but recent data indicates consumers are becoming more comfortable finalizing transactions on their phones. In fact, Forrester’s 2018 Retail Best Practices: Mobile Web study found smartphones will be used in over one-third–or more than $1 trillion–of total U.S. retail…

Twitter announced a new feature aimed at ensuring that businesses can respond to direct messages during periods of high volume. Developer advocate Jon Cipriano introduced adaptive rate limits in a blog post, saying that the feature allows accounts to send up to five DMs via the Twitter application-programming interface over a 24-hour period in response…