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  • Ring Is Locking Core Features Behind a Subscription

    Ring Is Locking Core Features Behind a Subscription

    Just days after getting a new CEO, Ring is angering customers by locking core features behind a subscription service.

    Ring is one of the most popular home camera systems and is owned by Amazon. The company’s founder stepped aside as CEO last week, paving the way for former Microsoft and Meta exec Elizabeth (Liz) Hamren to take over.

    Less than a week later, Ring has made one of its more controversial decisions, according to Android Central:

    Starting March 29, 2023, all Ring customers will have to have a subscription in order to use the Home and Away modes in the Ring app. Additionally, new Ring Alarm customers will have to have a subscription in order to set or disable the alarm remotely, see more than 24 hours of event history, or even receive notifications from their Ring Alarm base station.

    As Android Central points out, these types of changes paint a dim picture of the future of the smart home. Rather than consumers being able to purchase, own, and truly use their smart home devices, it seems companies are hell-bent on locking them into a quagmire of perpetual subscriptions for even the most basic features.

  • Shopify Evolving Into World’s First Retail Operating System

    Shopify Evolving Into World’s First Retail Operating System

    “Shopify is evolving into the world’s first retail operating system,” says Shopify COO Harley Finkelstein. “We think the future of retail is retail everywhere. A brand that’s going to be successful in 5, 10 or 15 years from now needs to sell across any platform and across any channel where they have customers. The idea is that it all feeds back in one centralized back-office, the retail operating system, which is Shopify.”

    Harley Finkelstein, COO of Shopify, discusses how COVID has dramatically sped up the timeline for commerce moving online and has also moved Shopify closer to its goal of becoming the world’s first retail operating system:

    Shopify Evolving Into World’s First Retail Operating System

    Most people assume that Shopify is an ecommerce provider. We have more than a million stores on Shopify. If you were to aggregate our stores in the US we’d be the second-largest online retailer in America. Of course, we’re not a retailer but we’re a platform. But we now have these great economies of scale that we’re using to level the playing field for entrepreneurs and small businesses. That being said, what really Shopify is evolving into is the world’s first retail operating system. 

    What we’re trying to figure out is what do brands and entrepreneurs and retailers need, not just now but in the future? We think the future of retail is retail everywhere. A brand that’s going to be successful in 5, 10 or 15 years from now needs to sell across any platform and across any channel where they have customers. This idea of enabling Shopify merchants to very easily push their products to the Amazon Marketplace or the eBay marketplace or now the Walmart marketplace, that gives them access to a new set of consumers. The idea is that it all feeds back in one centralized back-office, the retail operating system, which is Shopify. 

    Then we’ve gone ahead and asked what else can we do for these merchants? Can we do capital? We’ve now given out about a billion dollars worth of cash advances and loans to small businesses. We’re doing fulfillment and we’re doing shipping. We’re increasing the scope and the relationship that we have with the million stores on Shopify. This is allowing them to become category leaders.

    COVID Speeds Up The Ecommerce Revolution

    From our view, it seems like the commerce world that would have existed in the year 2030 has really been pulled into the year 2020 (as a result of the COVID crisis). We’ve seen ecommerce as a percent of total retail go from 15 percent to 25 percent in the last three months. That’s the same growth rate that we’ve seen over the last 10 years. What really has emerged here is sort of this tale of two retail worlds. On one side you have these resilient retailers that are doing great, they’re pivoting, and they’re expanding their businesses. On the other side, you have these resistant retailers who have not made it. In many ways, it’s probably the most exciting time for retail in a very long time. 

    We talk a lot about these direct to consumer brands that are becoming category leaders. The Allbirds and the Gymsharks who started on Shopify when they were very small and have grown to become the incumbents in their industry. Every 25 seconds a brand new entrepreneur makes his or her (products) for sale on Shopify. We talk a lot about those new startups, those new DTC brands. But actually, what we’re also seeing on Shopify are companies like Lindt Chocolate or Heinz ketchup or Chipotle. They are signing up for Shopify and basically from like five days from contract to launch they are completely changing their businesses. 

    This resiliency isn’t simply in the hands of just the smallest of brands. Big companies are also beginning to think a lot more about how to stay resilient in this time. They’re moving well beyond ecommerce or thinking about offline commerce now. They’re thinking about how do they sell across social media? How do they sell across different marketplaces? So no, I don’t think it’s too late (to enter ecommerce) but I do think they have to rethink their strategies.

    Shopify Evolving Into World’s First Retail Operating System Says Shopify COO Harley Finkelstein
  • Twitter Blue Is Now Available in More Than 20 Countries

    Twitter Blue Is Now Available in More Than 20 Countries

    Twitter Blue has undergone a major expansion, with the service now available in more than 20 European countries.

    Twitter Blue is the social media platform’s service that provides a number of major features not available to free users. Those features include the ability to edit tweets, post 60-minute videos, and post up to 4,000 character tweets.

    According to TechCrunch, the company has expanded the service to 20+ countries, including “Netherlands, Poland, Ireland, Belgium, Sweden, Romania, Czech Republic, Finland, Denmark, Greece, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Slovakia, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Croatia, Luxembourg, Malta, and Cyprus.”

    The expansion is a clear effort to help the platform convert users to paid accounts. Since Twitter started charging $8/mo for the service, it hasn’t exactly been a hit, with reports indicating it has less than 300,000 subscribers.

  • Florida Could Require Registration for Bloggers Writing About Elected Officials

    Florida Could Require Registration for Bloggers Writing About Elected Officials

    Florida is raising eyebrows with a bill that would require anyone blogging about the state’s elected officials to register or face fines.

    According to NBC affiliate WFLA, Florida Senator Jason Brodeur has proposed a new bill that would force bloggers writing about the “the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature” to register with the state and file monthly reports if they receive compensation for what they write.

    The bill goes on to say that the bill “does not include the website of a newspaper or other similar publication,” but reading the bill’s text leaves tremendous room for interpretation and does not definitively rule out any type of news coverage.

    What’s more, the bill doesn’t even limit its scope to bloggers within the state of Florida:

    “Blogger” means any person as defined in s. 1.01(3) that submits a blog post to a blog which is subsequently published.

    “Blog post” is an individual webpage on a blog which contains an article, a story, or a series of stories.

    The bill then outlines a schedule of monthly reports bloggers would be subject to:

    If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that post, the blogger must register with the appropriate office, as identified in paragraph (1)(f), within 5 days after the first post by the blogger which mentions an elected state officer.

    Upon registering with the appropriate office, a blogger must file monthly reports on the 10th day following the end of each calendar month from the time a blog post is added to the blog, except that, if the 10th day following the end of a calendar month occurs on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the report must be filed on the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.

    Failure to comply would lead to some hefty fines:

    A fine of $25 per day per report for each day late, not to exceed $2,500 per report.

    It seems that Senator Brodeur may need a primer on the First Amendment and how it applies to bloggers, as well as all news coverage in general. In the meantime, it’s highly unlikely such a law — if the bill even passes — would ever survive a legal challenge.

  • Move Over Subscription Economy, Usage-Based Billing Is Here

    Move Over Subscription Economy, Usage-Based Billing Is Here

    Subscription pricing models may be an unforeseen casualty of the economic downturn, paving the way for usage-based billing.

    Subscription pricing models have permeated everything from cloud services to mobile apps and are a far cry from the early days of computing and the internet. For those old enough to remember, software was sold — often in a box — for a one-time fee for that major version of the software. When a major new version was released, users could usually pay a cheaper upgrade fee to move to the latest and greatest.

    With the rise of the internet, however, subscription models quickly dominated the market and all but supplanted the one-time fee model. Thanks to the economic downturn, however, Business Insider makes the case that subscription pricing may be on the verge of going the way of its predecessor.

    In place of subscriptions, usage-based billing is the new hot thing in the software market. Rather than a flat monthly rate, usage-based billing only charges customers for what they actually use. As Insider points out, this is not uncommon among cloud providers but is poised to spread out to other areas of the industry.

    The model could be a viable and appealing option for much wider use, especially as businesses are looking to rein in expenses wherever possible.

    “If you think about the evolution of business models, it’s always trended more and more towards being more friendly to the customer,” Rishi Jaluria, an RBC software analyst, told Insider. “It is very likely, in my opinion, that there will be more companies that are either on a consumption model or offer a consumption element to the model.”

    Jaluria’s views are shared even by those entrenched in the subscription model approach.

    “The best companies are saying, ‘We want to have a mix of models that really accommodates all our different customers,’” said Tien Tzuo, CEO of Zuora, a subscription-billing-management company. “Different customers might want different things as well.”

  • Microsoft Edge Is Receiving a Major PDF Upgrade

    Microsoft Edge Is Receiving a Major PDF Upgrade

    Microsoft Edge is getting a major upgrade, incorporating Adobe Acrobat PDF capabilities — with one major catch.

    Microsoft Edge has a PDF viewer built in, but it is fairly basic, in terms of the features it offers. Microsoft and Adobe have announced an agreement to bring Acrobat PDF capabilities to Edge, with many of them remaining free, as Microsoft explains in a blog post:

    Together, the two companies are updating the PDF experience and value users have come to expect in Microsoft Edge by powering the built-in PDF reader with the Adobe Acrobat PDF engine. This will give users a unique PDF experience that includes higher fidelity for more accurate colors and graphics, improved performance, strong security for PDF handling, and greater accessibility—including better text selection and read-aloud narration. These capabilities will continue to be free of cost.

    The catch, however, is that more advanced features will require a subscription:

    Users who want more advanced digital document features—such as the ability to edit text and images, convert PDFs to other file formats, and combine files—can purchase an Acrobat subscription that enables access to these features anywhere, including directly inside Microsoft Edge via a browser extension. Microsoft Edge users with existing Adobe Acrobat subscriptions can use the Acrobat extension inside Edge at no extra cost.

    Executives from both companies emphasized the productivity gains the collaboration will make possible.

    “Bringing Adobe and Microsoft closer together is good for productivity and good for customers,” said Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President, Modern Work & Business Applications at Microsoft. “Adobe’s PDF technology in Microsoft Edge means users will have fast and secure access to critical digital document capabilities.”

    “PDF is essential for modern business, accelerating productivity in a world where automation and collaboration are more critical than ever,” said Ashley Still, SVP and GM, Adobe. “By bringing the global standard in PDF experience to Microsoft Edge and the billion-plus Windows users worldwide, Adobe and Microsoft are using our joint heritage and expertise in productivity to take an important step forward in making modern, secure, and connected work and life a reality.”

  • Microsoft Moving Teams Features Behind Teams Premium Subscription

    Microsoft Moving Teams Features Behind Teams Premium Subscription

    Microsoft is making a major change to Teams, moving some features behind its Teams Premium subscription service.

    Teams is the leading corporate messaging platform, eclipsing its main rival Slack by a wide margin. Microsoft has leveraged the popularity of its Microsoft 365 office suite and largely made Teams available for free.

    According to a note to its partners, however, some of Teams features — including some if its more popular ones — will now require a Teams Premium subscription. The following features are impacted:

    • Live caption translation
    • Intelligent recording markers to identify when individual joined or left
    • Organization meeting branding and organization Together mode
    • Virtual appointment text reminders
    • Virtual appointment dashboard for scheduling features, queues, and analytics

    Microsoft does offer a 30-day trial of Teams Premium to help organizations decide if the features are worth upgrading.

    Partners can start sharing the news with their customers to start enrolling tenants in the preview as a trial through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center by searching for Teams Premium in the catalog. Once enrolled and activated, tenant admins receive a limited number of 30-day trial licenses that they can assign to users in their organization.

  • Apple Has Paid App Store Developers $320 Billion Since 2008

    Apple Has Paid App Store Developers $320 Billion Since 2008

    Apple has released a report on the App Store, revealing the company has paid developers $320 billion.

    Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services, penned a blog post revealing a number of insights into the App Store. First launched in 2008, the App Store is the primary way to distribute software on iOS and iPadOS.

    According to Cue, the App Store sees some 650 million visitors in 175 regions per week. What’s more, the App Store helps drive some “900 million paid subscriptions across Apple services.” Most impressive, Cue says developers have been paid $320 billion over the life of the App Store.

    Credit: Apple

    “It’s remarkable how much great content is at our fingertips; that’s a testament to the extraordinary work of creators worldwide. Never before have we enjoyed instant access to more cinematic original series, more engaging films, more global music, more creative apps, more essential journalism, and more immersive games and sports — no matter where you are, across all your favorite devices,” Cue writes.

    The executive says there’s still much more still to come.

    “And believe me: There’s much more to come,” Cue adds. “Moments to anticipate, enjoy, and reflect upon. Moments that will have us jumping up with excitement or at the edge of our seats, or that make us want to get up and dance. Moments that can create lasting memories and bring us closer to one another.”

  • BMW Brings Its Feature Subscription Service to the US

    BMW Brings Its Feature Subscription Service to the US

    BMW is bringing an unpopular service to the US, locking features behind a subscription fee despite vehicles already being equipped with them.

    Automakers have been looking for ways to make even more money off of their customers and subscription services have — unfortunately — been the option of choice. While a subscription is understandable for a service that requires ongoing maintenance and updates, such as mapping software and satellite radio, automakers are beginning to charge subscriptions to unlock hardware features that are already built into the vehicle.

    According to Motor Authority, BMW is bringing the business model to the US after first rolling it out overseas. Remote engine start is one such example of a subscription feature, costing users $10 per month for access. A one-year subscription costs $105, three years $250, and lifetime access costs $300.

    While its nice that BMW is offering a lifetime option, it’s only a good deal if the company doesn’t also charge for the feature upfront. Charging for the feature upfront and then charging a monthly fee smacks of nothing but an unmitigated attempt to nickel-and-dime customers.

    New Jersey lawmakers seem to agree, introducing a bill that would make subscription services illegal for anything that isn’t a true ongoing service. In other words, charging a fee simply to unlock existing features would not be allowed.

    Assemblymen Paul Moriarty and Joe Danielsen outline their goals:

    This bill prohibits a motor vehicle dealer or manufacturer of motor vehicles sold in this State from offering to a consumer a subscription service for any motor vehicle feature that utilizes components and hardware already installed on the motor vehicle at the time of the vehicle’s purchase or lease; and would function after activation without ongoing expense to the dealer, manufacturer, or third-party service provider. The provisions of this bill do not apply to any third-party service provider that offers features such as satellite radio or in-car Wi-Fi.

    Hopefully more jurisdictions pass similar legislation and prevent automakers from preying on their customers.

  • Amazon Prime Is the Top US Streaming Service

    Amazon Prime Is the Top US Streaming Service

    Amazon Prime has pulled off a major win against Netflix, supplanting it as the top streaming service in the US.

    The latest research comes from Parks Associates, and shows Amazon Prime taking the top spot in the US for the first time in 2022. In previous years, Prime consistently took second place.

    Nonetheless, despite Prime’s move up, Parks Associates believes Netflix is well-positioned to regain the top stop.

    “Streaming services are introducing new content, services, and partnerships that are changing how consumers interact with video,” said Jennifer Kent, VP, Research, Parks Associates. “Netflix’s ad-supported plan gives the company a way to win back subscribers who left over high subscription prices. It also gives Netflix a path to creating unique accounts for those who have been content to share passwords with friends and family in the past. It’s an exciting time to track these services, with lots of disruption and change.”

    Credit: Parks Associates
  • Want Faster Acceleration in Your Mercedes? That Will Cost $1,200 Annually.

    Want Faster Acceleration in Your Mercedes? That Will Cost $1,200 Annually.

    Mercedes is the latest automaker to jump on the most deplorable trend in the industry, charging $1,200 annually for faster acceleration.

    Automakers looking for ways to nickel and dime their customers have turned to subscriptions as their method of choice, locking access to existing features unless customers pay the subscription price. Mercedes is the latest to adopt this practice, with plans to charge $1,200 for customers that want faster acceleration.

    Mercedes EQ electric vehicles (EVs) will come with reduced horsepower and torque, which will be increased if customers pony up the extra cash annually. The overall performance of the vehicle will increase as well.

    “Fine tuning of the electric motors increases the maximum motor output (kW) of your Mercedes-EQ by 20 to 24%, depending on the original output from factory,” Mercedes explains on its website. “The torque is also increased, enabling your vehicle to accelerate noticeably faster and more powerfully. This shortens the time it takes to accelerate from 0 to 60 MPH by around 0.8 to 0.9 seconds. This additional output is available in all DYNAMIC SELECT drive programs.”

    Mercedes’ move follows similar ones by other automakers. For example, BMW announced plans to charge $18 per month to unlock the heated seats already present in the vehicle.

    The problem has become so bad that New Jersey lawmakers have introduced a bill that would ban automakers from charging a subscription for features that are already built into a vehicle.

    As we have stated before, it is completely understandable to charge a subscription fee for services that require ongoing updates, such as GPS mapping services. It is certainly understandable to charge for other subscription services, such as satellite radio.

    On the other hand, it is nothing but unmitigated greed and absurdity to charge customers to use features that are already included in the vehicle and that do not cost the automaker anything. If a user purchases a vehicle with a certain set of features, ALL of those features should be available and unlocked.

  • Higher Prices Driving Verizon Customers Away

    Higher Prices Driving Verizon Customers Away

    Verizon has the dubious distinction of being the only one of the top three wireless carriers to be losing customers.

    Verizon announced its third-quarter results, with the company reporting a net loss of 189,000 postpaid phone subscribers. The company said it was “due to elevated churn partially as a result of recent pricing actions”

    According to CNET, Verizon posted similar subscriber losses in the second quarter, to the tune of 215,000. Those loses were similarly the result of increased prices, from raising the price of legacy plans to increasing administrative fees.

    The losses put Verizon in an interesting position, as it appears to be the only one of the top three carriers losing subscribers. AT&T gained 708,000 subscribers during this most recent quarter and T-Mobile has similarly continued its growth streak unabated.

    Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg painted the subscriber losses as part of Verizon’s attempt to increase profits and operational performance.

    “We took a number of actions in the third quarter that helped drive improved operational and financial performance, but we know there’s still more work to be done,” said Vestberg. “The pricing actions we took earlier this year, as well as our new cost savings program, show that we are being deliberate and strategic in our decisions to strengthen our business. At the same time, we are focused on executing our 5G strategy, as we are covering every major market and accelerating our C-Band network build. We are on track to reach 200 million POPs within first-quarter 2023.”

  • Vonage to Pay $100 Million in FTC Settlement

    Vonage to Pay $100 Million in FTC Settlement

    Vonage has agreed to a $100 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission for making it difficult for customers to cancel service.

    Vonage was one of the early VOIP providers and continues to be a significant force in the industry. Unfortunately, according to the FTC, Vonage made it nearly impossible for customers to cancel service with the company:

    Who can forget the eerie admonition about Hotel California: “You can check out any time you like. But you can never leave.” It’s a feeling that may have been echoed by people who attempted to cancel their service with internet phone provider Vonage. In a $100 million settlement, the FTC alleges that Vonage thwarted the efforts of consumers and small businesses who to tried to cancel their service. It’s the latest action in the FTC’s ongoing battle against illegal hurdles, detours, roadblocks, and ruses often called “dark patterns.”

    The FTC goes on to say that Vonage blocked all means of cancelling, save one, and then put roadblocks up to make that one means as hard to use as possible:

    Vonage made it easy to sign up for its services, but blocked all but one method for cancellation. Vonage offered people a variety of ways to sign up – including through its website or by calling a toll-free number. But starting in 2017, Vonage gave people one way – and only one way – to cancel: by speaking to a live “retention agent” on the phone. When people asked to cancel via email or web chat, the FTC says Vonage was unyielding, telling customers that the company “will not accept cancellation via email, fax, SMS or other electronic methods.”

    The settlement, the largest of its kind over canceling services, sends a clear signal that companies that make it hard for customers to cancel do so at their own peril.

  • New Jersey Bill Would Ban Automotive Feature Subscriptions

    New Jersey Bill Would Ban Automotive Feature Subscriptions

    New Jersey lawmakers are taking aim at automakers that charge customers a subscription to unlock features.

    Feature subscriptions have become an increasingly popular tactic among automakers looking to nickel and dime their customers. New Jersey lawmakers are looking to ban the practice with a bill that has been introduced by Assemblymen Paul Moriarty and Joe Danielsen.

    Read more: Want to Use Your BMW’s Heated Seats? That Will Cost $18 Per Month.

    The bill specifically targets subscriptions to activate hardware that is already installed:

    This bill prohibits a motor vehicle dealer or manufacturer of motor vehicles sold in this State from offering to a consumer a subscription service for any motor vehicle feature that utilizes components and hardware already installed on the motor vehicle at the time of the vehicle’s purchase or lease; and would function after activation without ongoing expense to the dealer, manufacturer, or third-party service provider. The provisions of this bill do not apply to any third-party service provider that offers features such as satellite radio or in-car Wi-Fi.

    BMW is one of the worst offenders, charging users in some countries as much as $18 per month to have heated seats. To be clear, the cars ship with heated seats, but BMW charges customers the subscription for the “privilege” of accessing a feature they have already paid for.

    Hopefully, the bill will pass and inspire similar efforts throughout the US, sending a clear message to automakers to stop trying to rip off their customers.

  • Netflix Is Back! Company Reports Subscriber Growth Once Again

    Netflix Is Back! Company Reports Subscriber Growth Once Again

    Netflix is one again reporting subscriber growth, putting investors at ease after the company reported a slump last quarter.

    Netflix has long been the darling of the streaming industry, with strong subscriber growth quarter after quarter. In its previous quarterly report, however, the company reported its first subscriber loss in nearly a decade.

    The company has once again returned to growth in its latest quarter, adding 2.4 million new subscribers, far more than the 1 million the company was projecting.

    “After a challenging first half, we believe we’re on a path to reaccelerate growth,” the company wrote in its letter to shareholders. “The key is pleasing members. It’s why we’ve always focused on winning the competition for viewing every day. When our series and movies excite our members, they tell their friends, and then more people watch, join and stay with us.”

  • YouTube Introduces Handles to Make It Easier to Find Creators & Channels

    YouTube Introduces Handles to Make It Easier to Find Creators & Channels

    YouTube is making it easier to find channels and creators with unique handles that will identify them.

    YouTube is the leading video platform, but finding creators can sometimes be a challenge. The platform wants to address that by giving creators unique handles that will identify them and their channel:

    When a creator chooses their handle, we’ll also create a matching URL (ex: youtube.com/@handle) so creators can easily direct people to their content when they’re not on YouTube. If a channel already has a personalized URL, there’s no need to update links: they’ll automatically be redirected to the new, handle-based URL to create a better, more unified presence for creators on YouTube.

    The new handles will make it easier for users to mention creators in comments and help improve visibility. YouTube will begin rolling out the new feature over the next month:

    Over the next month, we will notify creators when they can choose a handle for their channel. In most cases, if a channel already has a personalized URL, that will automatically become their default handle, or they can opt to change the handle for their channel as soon as the notification in YouTube Studio comes through. Because handles must be unique and every channel on YouTube will have one, we’re rolling them out gradually. The timing of when a creator will get access to the handles selection process depends on a number of factors, including overall YouTube presence, subscriber count and whether the channel is active or inactive.

  • YouTube Makes a Play to Poach TikTok Creators

    YouTube Makes a Play to Poach TikTok Creators

    YouTube is ponying up cash in an effort to convince TikTok creators to jump ship to its platform.

    TikTok has made countless careers, with creators capitalizing on the platform’s short-form videos to gain fame. Unfortunately, the platform is notorious for paying its creators a paltry amount, compared to competitors, less than a nickel per thousand views, according to the MIT Technology Review.

    YouTube clearly sees an opportunity and has announced plans to split revenue with creators for YouTube Shorts. Creators will receive 45%, while the record labels behind the music that is often featured in such videos will receive the remaining amount.

    “​​It’s a really big moment for creators,” Amjad Hanif, YouTube’s vice president of product management, told The Washington Post. “When we launched the partner program 15 years ago, it was the first of its kind and kicked off the creator economy. This brings all the goodness and benefits creators have felt from revenue sharing and brings it over to short form as well.”

    While the 45% revenue split is generating a ton of excitement within the creator community, YouTube has yet to reveal how much that will amount to.

  • Don’t Waste Time on YouTube’s Dislike Button; It Doesn’t Work

    Don’t Waste Time on YouTube’s Dislike Button; It Doesn’t Work

    YouTube users smashing the “Dislike” button are likely wasting their time, according to new research from Mozilla.

    YouTube, like many online platforms, provides a button for individuals to dislike content. The idea is that disliking something will fine-tune the platform’s algorithm to show the user less content of a similar nature.

    According to Mozilla, however, the “Dislike” button doesn’t really work.

    Indeed, Mozilla’s research found that people who are experiencing unwanted recommendations and turn to the platform’s user controls for assistance prevent less than half of unwanted recommendations.

    The issue is made even worse as a result of the type of content often found on YouTube.

    This is especially troubling because Mozilla’s past research shows that YouTube recommends videos that violate its very own community guidelines, like misinformation, violent content, hate speech, and spam. For example, one user in this most recent research asked YouTube to stop recommending war footage from Ukraine — but shortly after was recommended even more grisly content from the region.

    Needless to say, users don’t trust YouTube’s controls to provide them with the tailored experience they’re looking for.

    “We learned that people don’t feel YouTube’s user controls are effective tools for managing the content they see,” says Becca Ricks, Senior Researcher at Mozilla. “Our research validates these experiences — the data shows that people don’t actually have much control over the YouTube algorithm.”

    “Our study found that YouTube’s user controls have a negligible impact on preventing unwanted recommendations, leaving people at the mercy of YouTube’s recommender system,” adds Jesse McCrosky, data scientist with Mozilla. “As a result, YouTube continues to recommend videos that people have clearly signaled they do not want to see, including war footage and gruesome horror clips.”

  • Twitch’s Biggest Streamers Will Earn Less Under New Terms

    Twitch’s Biggest Streamers Will Earn Less Under New Terms

    Twitch is changing the terms of its deals with top streamers to pay them less than it has been.

    Twitch currently has a 50/50 revenue deal with the majority of its streamers, but some of the top ones earn 70%. According to a blog post by company president Dan Clancy, that is changing with Twitch updating the terms of its revenue sharing agreement.

    Under the new terms, top streamers will still earn a maximum of 70% on the first $100,000 annually. After the first $100,000, however, the revenue sharing will drop to the default “50% for Tier 1 subscriptions, 60% for Tier 2, and 70% for Tier 3 for the remainder of the 12-month period.”

    The new terms will go into effect on June 1, 2023, and will be calculated based on a 12-month period based on a streamer’s annual agreement renewal date. The $100,000 threshold will reset on the first day of every new 12-month period.

    According to Clancy, the changes will help the company shorten payout time as it works toward same-day payouts.

    “At the time of this posting, more than 22,000 of you have weighed in on UserVoice asking us to move all streamers to 70/30 and to pay streamers faster,” Clancy writes. “Let’s chat about the latter part first.

    “As you probably heard by now, we’re in the middle of rolling out the largest change to payouts in years by cutting the payout threshold in half to $50. This is an important middle step that will help streamers put money in their pockets now, while getting us closer to our goal of same day payouts and lower thresholds.”

    Clancy says the cost of delivering the service was also a factor.

    “Lastly, we have to talk about the cost of our service,” Clancy adds. “Delivering high definition, low latency, always available live video to nearly every corner of the world is expensive. Using the published rates from Amazon Web Services’ Interactive Video Service (IVS) — which is essentially Twitch video — live video costs for a 100 CCU streamer who streams 200 hours a month are more than $1000 per month. We don’t typically talk about this because, frankly, you shouldn’t have to think about it. We’d rather you focus on doing what you do best. But to fully answer the question of “why not 70/30,” ignoring the high cost of delivering the Twitch service would have meant giving you an incomplete answer. “

  • YouTube’s ‘Creator Music’ Will Let Creators Monetize Videos Containing Licensed Music

    YouTube’s ‘Creator Music’ Will Let Creators Monetize Videos Containing Licensed Music

    YouTube is eliminating a major pain point for content creators, paving the way for them to be able to monetize videos containing licensed music.

    Content creators have had to tiptoe around licensed music for years. Even something as simple as showing off video gameplay often requires creators to mute the audio to avoid running afoul of licensing issues.

    YouTube is working on a solution, dubbed Creator Music, that will allow creators to buy licensed music for use in their videos. Creators will also be able to monetize those videos. Best of all, creators will have a choice whether to pay upfront or split revenue from their videos with the artist behind the music.

    We’re introducing Creator Music, a new destination in YouTube Studio that gives YouTube creators easy access to an ever-growing catalog of music for use in their long-form videos. Creators can now buy affordable, high-quality music licenses that offer them full monetizing potential—they will keep the same revenue share they’d usually make on videos without any music.

    And for creators who don’t want to buy a license up front, they’ll be able to use songs and share revenue with the track’s artist and associated rights holders. Creator Music, currently in beta in the US and expanding to more countries in 2023, will offer a streamlined process for creators—they’ll be able to instantly see the terms for their song selection.

    The new feature will be a welcome improvement for content creators, giving them more freedom and flexibility than they have previously enjoyed.

  • Patreon Just Let Its Entire Security Team Go [Updated]

    Patreon Just Let Its Entire Security Team Go [Updated]

    Update: Story has been updated with a response from Patreon.

    Patreon may have just put a massive target on its back with the news that it has reportedly laid off its entire security team.

    Patreon is the funding platform that many content creators use to support themselves. The platform gives creators a way to build a community around the content they offer and gives fans the ability to become “patrons” of their favorite creators. Unfortunately, especially for a company that handles so much financial information, Patreon appears to have laid off its security team.

    Emily Metcalfe, Patreon Senior Security Engineer, broke the news in a LinkedIn post:

    So for better or worse, I and the rest of the Patreon Security Team are no longer with the company. As a result I’m looking for a new Security or Privacy Engineering role and would appreciate any connections, advice, or job opportunities from folks in my network.

    Ellen Satterwhite, Patreon’s Interim Head of Communications & US Policy Lead, reached out to WPN to provide some clarity on the company’s decision and reassure users that it will remain a safe and secure platform:

    As a global platform, we will always prioritize the security of our creators’ and customers’ data. As part of a strategic shift of a portion of our security program, we have parted ways with five employees. We also partner with a number of external organizations to continuously develop our security capabilities and conduct regular security assessments to ensure we meet or exceed the highest industry standards. The changes made this week will have no impact on our ability to continue providing a secure and safe platform for our creators and patrons.

    Only time will tell if Patreon’s reliance on “external organizations” will be enough to maintain the security its users rely on. Even with its external partnerships, however, it’s hard to imagine a company of Patreon’s significance letting its own internal security team go.