California’s landmark law to protect user data, the California Consumer Privacy Act, will take effect on Jan. 1. The legislation is meant to protect people’s information as they spend more time online, giving them more knowledge about what data is being collected about them, and where it is being sold and disclosed to.
This is just the tipping point for the largely unregulated social media and online world. As people become more aware of how their online activity is being used, whether it is to target advertising or political messages, they will put more pressure on government officials to protect their personal information. At the same time companies that rely on data for advertising, especially giants like Facebook and Google, will have to work with legislators to comply while growing their businesses.
Teens will become more conscious about the emotional effect of social media
With younger generations relying on mobile phones as their communication conduits, they are more online than any previous generation. About 95 percent of teens have access to a smartphone — and a little under half of them are online on a “near-constant basis” according to a Pew study.
Interesting enough, a quarter of teens told Pew they felt social media had negative effects on their lives. Facebook use itself has been linked to unhappiness, while a University of Pennsylvania study showed that limiting social media use to 30 minutes a day could lead to a decrease in feeling lonely or depressed.
Armed with the knowledge about the positives and negatives of social media, since there is more research than ever before, today’s teens will be more aware of the effects having an Instagram-perfect life could have on their well-being.
TikTok Won’t Stop
Teens still watch about 20 hours of television a week, but they’re also more likely to find their entertainment through other avenues like YouTube. A lot of this content relies on user-generated material, leading to the rise of creator-made shows, and clips and memes becoming the viral watercooler topics of today.
Enter TikTok: An entertainment platform perfect for people with short attention spans but a lot of creative energy. Instead of simple passive comments about the world or mundane facts about your day, TikTok allows people to share performances to help inspire, entertain, or get people talking. For the creators themselves, it’s one way to stand out in a crowded world and know you made a difference thanks to view counts. It’s why the platform is poised to take over in the next decade.
Welcome the era of social commerce
Online retailers have always struggled with getting people to buy things right after they see it online. Shoppers usually see an ad, put it in a digital cart and maybe come back to purchase it later on, if at all.
Thanks to Instagram however, companies are having more success with people purchasing things directly from an ad. As the behavior to click-through advertisements to purchase an item immediately becomes more comment, more ad dollars will flow from traditional brick-and-mortar store marketing to digital advertising inside social feeds. And, as messaging apps become more prominent, a greater number of people will get used to chatting with chatbots to get that customer experience rather than talk to a salesperson in-store.
Chen Arad, Chief Operating Officer for Solidus Labs, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why Wormhole was particularly vulnerable to a $320+ million crypto hack and discusses what new investors need to do in order to protect their assets.
E-commerce platform for construction and building materials RenoRun has raised $142 million in a Series B round, which the company says is the fourth largest Series B round in Canadian history. RenoRun’s platform offers same-day delivery of construction materials to job sites in Canada and the United States. The company aims to revolutionize the construction industry by maximizing productivity and efficiency. RenoRun co-founder and CEO Eamonn O’Rourke joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Facebook parent company Meta reported weaker-than-expected fourth quarter earnings, and also issued disappointing guidance for Q1 2022. The tech giant is also under pressure due to Apple's iOS privacy change, as well as continued multi-billion dollar losses for its metaverse focused business unit. Angelo Zino, Tech Analyst at CFRA Research, joins Closing Bell to discuss the earnings results, how Apple's iOS privacy change will impact revenue, whether the metaverse is an underrated investment opportunity, and more.
Rental prices are rising across the country, causing millions to relocate. Average rents rose 14 percent last year, and Americans expect rents will continue to rise by about 10 percent just this year. Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
The video game industry has seen monumental growth the past few years - with an increasing amount of companies jumping head first into the space. In January alone, Microsoft announced its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard, game publisher Take-Two agreed to buy Zynga, and most recently, Sony announced it has agreed to buy game developer Bungie for $3.6 billion. Tobias Batton, CEO and founder of Ex Populus, joined Cheddar Movers to discuss the surge in M&A activity in the gaming space.
Facebook parent Meta reported disappointing results in its first quarterly earnings report since rebranding to focus on the metaverse. The tech giant delivered mixed results with quarterly profit falling well below Wall Street expectations. Shares plunged more than 20 percent in after hours trading as a result. Martin Garner, COO of CCS Insight, joined Cheddar Movers to break down the company's results.
Karyn Cavanaugh, Chief Investment Officer at Carolinas Wealth Management, breaks down which industries investors should watch this earnings season and highlights which sectors have upside potential.
Super Group, the company behind leading global online sports betting and gaming businesses Betway and Spin, has landed on Wall Street. The company went public via SPAC with Sports Entertainment Acquisition Corp., and now lists on the NYSE under the ticker symbol 'SGHC.' This debut comes as the U.S. sports betting market continues to heat up with more and more states legalizing the practice. Eric Grubman, chairman of Super Group, joined Cheddar to discuss.
Miami wants to be the crypto capital of the world. Mayor Francis Suarez has gone all in on the blockchain, even accepting one of his first paychecks in Bitcoin, hosting one of the world's largest digital cryptocurrency conferences, and marketing Miami as a great place for tech experts to work. Maja Vujinovic, managing director of OGroupLLC, joined Cheddar's Fast Forward to discuss Miami's enthusiasm toward crypto, some of the potential risks that entails, and where the city might be heading when it comes to the crypto takeover.
Like so many other cities, Miami experienced a tourism boom over the summer after vaccines were distributed. But, the Omicron variant has thrown the travel industry for a loop. David Whitaker, president and CEO of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, joined Cheddar to discuss the city as a tourist destination, and how it has handled headwinds from the pandemic.
