Facebook Teaming Up with Lyft to Increase Outreach in Crises
Facebook is teaming up with organizations such as Lyft to make it easier to help people during a crisis. Now these companies can provide critical information, and services directly on the Community Help page. Lyft's Head of Social Impact Mike Masserman and Facebook's Social Good Product Lead Asha Sharma explain how this new integration works.
"We've seen the communities come together and use in a lot of different types of crises over the last year," said Sharma. "Now that we have organizations involved there's an opportunity to actually help people in a crisis get the services they need."
"In the wake of the hurricanes in Florida and Texas we formalized this program to provide people with free reduced rides to hospitals and shelters," said Masserman. "We think this is a great evolution of that program to make sure that more people and communities during times of crisis know these relief rides are available to them."
Jack Dorsey has stepped down as CEO of Twitter, saying he believes the social media platform is "ready to move on from its founders". The move has many wondering where Dorsey will focus his attention next, as he is still CEO of his financial payments company Square, which is heavily involved in cryptocurrency. Doug Astrop, managing partner at Exponential Investment Partners, joined Cheddar to discuss what Dorsey's resignation means for tech investors, particularly within the crypto space.
Astra founder, chairman, and CEO Chris Kemp spoke to Cheddar's Kristen Scholer about his company's first successful launch into orbit last month, becoming the fastest space company to reach orbit using a privately developed liquid-fueled rocket. He also noted that the company's priority is to "improve life on Earth from space" by rapidly increasing the number of low-orbiting satellites to do everything from connecting people to monitoring weather patterns.
Once again, YouTube is releasing its annual list of the top trending videos and music videos that had people in the U.S. talking. Madeline Buxton, trends expert for YouTube joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Stocks closed at session lows Wednesday as investors grew skittish over the first reported case of the COVID-19 omicron variant in California. Josh Sailar, Partner at Blue Zone Wealth Advisors, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss investor worry over the new variant, the Fed dropping the word 'transitory' to describe inflation and potentially speeding up their asset tapering timeline, 2022 predictions, and more.
The Robin Hood Foundation is New York City's largest poverty-fighting organization. For more than 30 years, Robin Hood has built and fueled non-profits across all five boroughs. CEO Richard Buery joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell ahead of his ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange and later, lighting of the NYSE Christmas tree.
Creator commerce platform LTK raised $300 million in a recent funding round, now valuing the company at $2 billion. LTK is the world's largest influencer marketing platform and is known for helping to pioneer the so-called 'creator economy.' The company helps content creators make money off of their social media posts by hosting them on one central marketplace. LTK says more than $3 million in products are bought each year on its website and app. Now, the company is looking to continue its growth. LTK co-founder and president Amber Venz Box joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
