Month: September 2020

The neighborhood-focused social network leans on local human moderators as well as AI, she explained at WIRED’s virtual W25 conference.

As U.S. consumers sheltered in place between April and July, they not only used their smart speakers more–they heard more ads on them. And get this: They liked it. That’s according to a new survey from Adobe, which looked into how consumers engaged with their smart speakers during quarantine. Compared to the same period in…

For Latinx Heritage Month, also known as Hispanic Heritage Month, Spotify is declaring Latinx music, podcasts and culture as art by using literal art. The music streaming service has unveiled Lo Nuestro de Arte (which translates to Ours Is Art), a digital and outdoor campaign that spotlights musicians and podcasters through colorful art pieces that…

Food giant Mars announced its Uncle Ben’s brand will change its name to Ben’s Original, which “[signals] the brand’s ambition to create a more inclusive future.” The rebrand will also include removing the image of Uncle Ben from packaging to “create more equitable iconography.” A spokesperson said the brand is “still in the process of…

Key Insight: Packaged-food brands have an opportunity to keep momentum going during the holiday season, when cooking, baking and family meals occur more frequently. With plenty of people sticking around the house this summer, General Mills reported another solid quarter. Net sales for the maker of Cheerios, Pillsbury and Progresso climbed 9% to $4.4 billion…

After years of double-digit percentage growth, U.S. content marketing revenues are expected to decline 6.8% due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according to PQ Media.

Key Insight: The platform was an early hit, but as the landscape evolved, even the companies it sought to emulate had to revamp their business models. After five years, it’s the end of the line for Great Big Story, CNN’s digital video attempt at wooing the same urban millennials who had once flocked to BuzzFeed,…

Instagram is doubling the fun that people can have with its Reels TikTok clone feature, doubling the maximum length of videos to 30 seconds from 15. The Facebook-owned photo- and video-sharing network said people creating Reels can extend the timer to 10 seconds. They can also trim and delete any clip, smoothing the editing process….

Facebook removed two separate networks for violating its policy against coordinated inauthentic behavior, with one originating in China and the other in the Philippines. Head of security policy Nathaniel Gleicher wrote in a Newsroom post, “In each case, the people behind this activity coordinated with one another and used fake accounts as a central part…