social media news

In this column, “Just putting this out there…,” we write about the odd ways we engage with tech and the unpopular opinions we form about it. You can read the rest of the articles in this series here. Hi, my name is Yessi and, even though I should know better, I’m a complete sucker for influencer marketing. While it brings me great shame to admit this, recent research suggests I’m not alone. The industry is huge. In 2017, eMarketer reported that marketers spen

Welcome to CHEAP, our series about things that are good, but most of all, cheap. CHEAP! Board games are one of my favorite things in the world. There’s something about sitting around your cozy home or, even better, in a gorgeous pub and gaming for a few hours — especially considering how long we spend staring at screens these days. I’ve got nothing against playing video games, quite the opposite in fact, but a board game is so much more communal than everyone packed around a s

It seems that every five years, news emerges that the digital sky is falling in. Back in 2010 and 2015, rumors spread that the internet would soon run out of IP addresses. Now, the regulator of Europe’s internet domains has predicted that the region’s 1.91m remaining addressees will most likely run out before 2020. Every computer and smartphone must have an IP address to access the internet. IP is short for Internet Protocol, and like your postcode, it has to be sufficiently unique,

In recent years, a cultural movement has emerged online that takes a positive attitude toward eating disorders. So-called pro-anorexia (or, more commonly, ‘pro-ana’) organizations differ widely. Whereas the majority claim to provide a non-judgmental environment for those diagnosed with anorexia, others go further, denying that eating disorders are mental illnesses and casting them instead as ‘lifestyle choices’ that should be respected by doctors and families. As a resea

Did you know that the Finnish telecommunications company Nokia is one of the main players in the global mobile infrastructure market? It produces everything to build 5G networks – from antennas to routers and other equipment – and massively exports its products to the USA, Japan, and China. At first glance, this sounds great – it’s just more proof of Europe‘s ability to build and export high tech products. However, when taking a closer look, Nokia‘s example r

Welcome to CHEAP, our series about things that are good, but most of all, cheap. CHEAP! Of all the promises technology has made, the one I care about most is its potential to make my life as simple and carefree as possible. Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, tech has had the opposite impact. It’s generally brought along more stresses, more distractions, and more things I don’t really need in my daily life. Yet, there are some bright sparks, some examples of technology that have actua

Honey bees are under extreme pressure. Beekeepers in the US have been losing and then replacing an average of 40 percent of their honey bee colonies every year since 2010, a rate that is probably unsustainable and would be unacceptable in other kinds of husbandry. The biggest contributor to this decline is viruses spread by a parasite, Varroa Destructor. But this isn’t a natural situation. The parasite is spread by beekeeping practices, including keeping the bees in conditions that are ve

Rumor has it that Bioware is working on a new game in the venerated Mass Effect game series. This news should have me jumping for joy — but now that I’ve heard it, I’m not sure it’s such a good idea. According to the rumors, the new game is very early in development — that’d jibe with the vague hints Bioware tossed out last year that it was working on “secret stuff” with regards to ME. The original source of the rumors appears to be this

Motorola’s new Razr may be the current star of the folding phone world but Huawei has some big news too: It’s long-delay Mate X has finally gone on sale in China, and it’s already sold out. As a recap, the device features a Kirin 980 chip, 8GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and 5G connectivity, powered by a 4,500 mAh battery and super-quick 55W charging. It’s a bit disappointing the device is using the Kirin 980 instead of the newer 990 at this price, but it’s still a c

'Archie the Reindeer' is the star of McDonald's 2019 Christmas ad - a heartwarming tale of a young girl called Ellie and her imaginary friend. 
The animation opens with Ellie banging on the door of her sister Jenny's bedroom door, begging her sister to play a game of 'reindeers.' 
Uninterested in playing kiddy games with her younger sister, Jenny slams the door on her. Dejected by her sister's rejection, the wee girl runs out to the garden, where she meets Archie, an animated mini-rein

When describing Disney+ to friends and family members, I often sum up by saying it’s “basically Netflix for your inner child.” And indeed most of its feature are analogous to ones you’d find on its competing platform. But I’ve discovered one small extra unique to Disney+ that I’ve nevertheless found extremely helpful — namely, that it tells you when it intends to add new movies. I first discovered this when I was searching for the Pirates of the Ca

Marie Gulin-Merle, formerly the chief marketing officer of Calvin Klein, has resurfaced as the vice-president of global ads marketing at Google, which is currently bolstering the star talent on its marketing team.
Gulin-Merle will be responsible managing Google’s global media spend, as well as setting the vision for Google’s marketing business worldwide.
She has also been tasked with building and delivering a global marketing strategy for the company’s ads business and its

2020 will be here before we know it, and if you’re like me, that means that you’re already looking ahead to how you can improve your e-commerce business in the year to come. While there are many things you can do to improve the profitability of your e-commerce brand, such as improving your supply chain or ensuring that your website is accessible for disabled users, few things will prove more important than properly implementing data analytics. With quality data analytics and busines

Everyone is entitled to their own facts. That’s not an opinion. At least, according to a new quantum mechanics study. What we view as objective reality – the idea that what we can observe, measure, and prove is real and those things we cannot are theoretical or imaginary – is actually a subjective reality that we either unravel, create, or dis-obfuscate by the simple act of observation. A smarter way of putting it can be found in the aforementioned study, “Experimental t

Procurement is a two-way street that is not closed off to negotiation – agencies just have to get better at understanding contracts and payment models in order to be taken seriously at the final hour, says R3 Worldwide’s Melissa Lea.
The managing director encouraged attendees of The Drum’s Agency Acceleration Day to nix the belief that procurement is “the evil empire” in the business relationship and upskill on basic business matters in order to speak the same

A few weeks ago, rumors and images of a supposed Huawei MatePad Pro started to hit the web. As you can probably guess by the name, it’s the company’s take on an iPad Pro competitor. At the time we didn’t have a firm release date, but now it seems the tablet will arrive as soon as this month: Huawei CEO Richard Yu made a Weibo post teasing a MatePad even for November 25. At a glance, it’d be easy to mistake the tablet for an iPad Pro. Granted, there are only so

Xbox revealed at today’s X019 show that it was adding several new games to the library of Game Pass — including at least one series that’d previously been PlayStation-exclusive. Game Pass is perhaps Microsoft’s biggest weapon in the ongoing arms race against the other consoles. It’s just a darned good value, and it seems like the company is tripping over itself to add more and more games to Game Pass’s vault. Today, it revealed it’s adding 50 new games

Pan-European social creative agency and content studio, Hey Honey, has hired William Reed as its first creative director to work across the agency’s growing roster of clients.
Reed will be based at Hey Honey’s headquarters in Amsterdam, and will oversee the creative output of the agency's existing client base, whilst also supporting the agency’s ambitious growth plans across Europe. 
Reed said: “I’m looking forward to growing the agency to cut through the

Shante Bacon built her independent agency, One/35 Agency, on being able to give larger agencies a run for their money through agility and diversity. In doing so, she came up with four core advantages independent agencies have that let them be a force in the 21st century.
“I’m here to tell you that small, independent agencies are mighty and that they are built to accelerate,” said Bacon at The Drum’s Agency Acceleration Day in her ‘The Future Looks Independent’

Bacardi handed its creative business to BBDO in 2015. The resulting long-term partnership is in part due to the low attrition of the agency's team, according to the brand's global creative excellence director.
Laila Mignoni, who joined the drinks brand in 2014,  said while awards and a global footprint are important in agency partners, retaining creative talent helps develop a familial relationship that ultimately leads to better work.
“We need new ideas and we new ideas eve

Global food giant Nestlé has teamed up with French supermarket chain Carrefour to put baby milk formula on the blockchain. Using IBM‘s food-tracking blockchain software IBM Food Trust, the two firms will provide customers with transparent information for the GUIGOZ Bio 2 and 3 infant milk ranges, “from dairy to shelf.” IBM Food Trust is based on the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Fabric software. Like other blockchain-enabled products, consumers will be able

TikTok, the short-video making app, has crossed the 1.5 billion downloads mark from the Play Store and the App Store combined. According to a report published by analytics firm SensorTower, the ByteDance almost third of them (468 million) coming from India. Earlier this year, a report published by SensorTower suggested Tiktop surpassed the mark of a billion downloads – with India contributing a quarter of them. SensorTower says the app has been downloaded 614 million times

Employees at the Ukranian Railways have been caught red-handed secretly running a Bitcoin mining farm, costing the state more than $40,000 in power. According to an announcement by Ukrzaliznytsia, the country’s state-owned rail transport provider, the surreptitious cryptocurrency mining operation was reported by Oleg Nazaruk, the company‘s director of the department of economic and information security. “During the inspection of the premises where the so-called

Building on its centenary push –  which celebrates how the retailer has been delivering ‘great value’ for 100 years – Tesco’s Christmas campaign blitz aims to underscore the brand’s relevance and convenience in the run-up to the big day.
At the core of the grocer’s festive push, created by BBH London, is a nostalgic Back to the Future-esque magical mystery tour of the UK; which sees an unassuming Tesco delivery driver embark on an unexpected, whirlw

Three cryptocurrency startups have missed deadlines to refund investors who participated in their illegal digital token sales, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports. The companies, which raised a combined $40 million during 2017’s cryptocurrency bull run, agreed on the deadlines as part of their settlements with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As a result, they were given reduced fines. Airfox, which offers mobile banking services in developing countries, and Paragon Coin

Each week, The Drum talks to a range of media and marketing professionals about their roles, but rarely do they get a chance to show who they are and what drives them as people. The Drum's 10 Questions series attempts to offer a little more insight into those personalities. This week's subject is Made.com's chief creative officer, Jo Jackson. 
 
What was your first-ever job?
I started earlier than most, at nine months old I was a Pampers baby. Following that I spent my childh

Welcome to TNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, and other stuff. If you’re reading this, I’ll assume you already have a pair of AirPods. Yes, everything’s okay, no one here is going to judge you for spending a sizeable chunk of money on those sexy little earbuds. While the joy of the AirPods is their simplicity, there’s one element of them that isn’t immediately clear: how much charg

As the impending general election looms closer, the BBC Creative has unveiled a film to launch election coverage on the BBC. 
A general election like no other, comprehending the ins and out of the political landscape right now is hard enough for political experts, let alone regular folks. And while the BBC has made many general election campaigns in its time, Helen Rhodes, executive creative director at BBC Creative, said there has never been "one like this, but this isn’t like any ot

It’s been another week of Christmas ad debuts as advertisers brace themselves for the season. Spots from Sainsbury’s, Lidl and Marks & Spencer Clothing and Food have all aired this week, looking to spread cheer and drive festive sales.
In the lead up to the big day, The Drum will be crunching the numbers to reveal which newly unveiled seasonal spots have resonated most with audiences each week.
With John Lewis’ highly-anticipated dragon-fronted spot having just missed the c

The folks at Wilfa used newly discovered tech innovations to unearth untapped levels of precision and consistency in the fine art of coffee brewing. Their work led to the Red Dot Award-winning Precision Automatic Coffee Maker, a brew system that looks gorgeous, knocks out perfectly brewed coffee every time — and right now, is available with an extra $10 price drop down to $74.99, an almost 80 percent savings from TNW Deals.

Digital identity brand Yoti was highly commended in the Best in Brand Purpose category at The Drum Social Purpose Awards 2019 for its ‘Digital Identity for All’ campaign. Here, the brand reveals the challenges faced and the strategies used to deliver this successful project.
 
The challenge
The primary focus of much of the digital identity sector has been on the design, adoption and use of large-scale digital identity systems and how users interact with them once they&

Researchers have disclosed a set of vulnerabilites affecting Qualcomm chipsets that could allow a potential attacker to steal critical information. The findings — published by cybersecurity vendor Check Point Research — reveal the ‘secure world’ present in Qualcomm CPUs, that powers most Android phones, suffer from a flaw which may “lead to leakage of protected data, device rooting, bootloader unlocking, and execution of undetectable APTs [Advanced Persistent Threa

South Korea and its capital Seoul are best known for cutting-edge tech giants like Samsung and LG, but now there’s a big push to put its startups in the spotlight. One way the country is doing this is through events, specifically Start-Up Seoul: Tech-Rise 2019 — Seoul city government’s flagship event. TNW flew to Seoul to attend the buzzing conference where over 40,000 attendees, 300 startups, and a 100 investors from all over the world got together to share ideas and experien

Newly installed GroupM chief executive Christian Juhl has made his mark on the media buying giant with the introduction of a new global leadership team.
Juhl was brought in to replace Kelly Clark when he stood down after almost three years in the role in July. Moving over from his role as chief exec of GroupM's Essence, Juhl began work back in October, taking charge of 35,000 employees at the world's largest media agency business. 
The restructure comes amid the news that it is di

If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you might know how to properly say “Leviosa.” But many muggles don’t know how to pronounce that, and other difficult words. No worries. Google’s new feature will help you pronounce tricky words just directly from the search results. All you have to do is type “How do you pronounce” followed by the words you want help with. Google will show you how to pronounce the word with audio. You can even use your phone’s mic to

BT Sport has beaten ITV and Sky to retain exclusive Uefa Champions League and Europa League rights in a deal estimated to be worth £1.2bn.
The sum paid matches the same figure it shelled out for the 2018-21 rights.
The deal will see the pay-TV broadcaster continue to air all 420 games live and highlights and show in-match clips on social media.
In previous years, BT Sport has aired the Champions League and Europa League finals free, resulting in a boost to its audiences. It is estimated th

Music streaming provider Deezer and The Story Room have launched a new campaign designed to win over Hispanics to its listening platform through a shared love of music.
‘Together we make magic’ is a multi-platform campaign spanning the US, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina and will invite Latinos to pick up the beat from a simple twitch or tingle into a full-blown melody.
Deborah Jordan, marketing director, US/Latam of Deezer, said: “We don’t think about it often, but the ma