By the end of the year, the photo sharing app Instagram expects to earn $3 billion from ad sales. That’s a huge jump from the $60 million the social network made in 2015. In that time, Instagram has collected more than 600 million users, a number bested only by its parent company Facebook. About 8 million of these accounts belong to companies who use the platform primarily for promotion.
Soon, though, some brands will be able to develop closer relationships Continue reading
Since YouTube’s founding, the video s
haring site has prided itself on being a platform that anyone can use to express themselves. This concept catapulted the site to instant success and led to a $1.65 billion buyout from Google in 2006. Along with becoming one of the search engine giant’s most lucrative advertising outlets, YouTube is also the most valuable video platform on the Internet by far.
Despite this lofty status, though, major advertisers like AT&T, Lyft and Johnson & Continue reading
Even before the days of iTunes and Spotify, musicians depended heavily on the money they earned from touring to supplement their album sales. And while streaming services have recently provided a big boost of revenue for the industry, the vast majority of musicians still don’t make enough money from their recordings to earn a living. As a result, performing live is often the best option for musicians who want to see a monetary reward for their efforts.
Of course, touring Continue reading
From factory floors to Wall Street financial firms, robotic labor is becoming an increasingly important part of production for many companies. And according to the head of Yum Brands, fast food could be the next industry to adopt automation on a wide scale. This week CEO Greg Creed said that robots could start replacing humans at Yum-owned chains like Pizza Hut and Taco Bell by the mid-2020s.
Other fast food companies have already begun to experiment with automation. Wendy’s, for Continue reading
Whether you’re on a long road trip or just heading home from work, chances are that you won’t want to pick up dinner from a gas station. After all, the nation’s fueling stops are better known for roller-grilled hot dogs and unhealthy snacks rather than fine dining. But with many American eaters on the hunt for fresh and convenient options, gas stations around the country have started meeting this demand by bringing restaurants on site.
For instance, in Leesburg, Virginia, Continue reading
For many modern consumers, the origin of their food is just as important as its nutrition stats. That’s why high-end grocery stores like Whole Foods often specify which farms their meat and vegetables come from, sometimes even including detailed stories about their staff and methods. Still, even this attention to detail isn’t enough for some discerning eaters. In order to ensure they know exactly where their food comes from, these consumers can pool their resources together to purchase a cow Continue reading
For centuries, ships used wind-catching sails to travel all over the world. Then the steam engine arrived during the industrial age and changed maritime transportation forever. Of course, the massive engines in today’s vessels rely on petroleum for power, presenting a number of potential problems. Along with environmental issues, big tankers also cost a fortune to fuel. For instance, the Danish shipping firm Maersk Group spends $2.1 billion per year on fuel costs.
To reduce this enormous expense, the company Continue reading
Over the years, Silicon Valley startups have become famous for developing open work spaces free of personalized desks or big corner offices. The idea is to allow employees to gather together and collaborate rather than leave them enclosed in their cubicles. While other companies avoided this unconventional approach at first, more firms have switched to open offices as the concept has become more popular. Still, these companies have tended to be smaller operations as many big businesses remained skeptical that Continue reading
Three years ago, the staff of the Swedish software consulting firm Crisp felt it was time for a change in leadership. The company had been recently experimenting with its upper management structure, going from a standard CEO model to one that replaced the top executive annually through a staff vote. Then, a radical idea took root in the minds of Crisp’s employees. “We said, ‘what if we had nobody as our next CEO – what would that look like?’” said Continue reading