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Weekly News For You To Stay Updated With The App Industry
In a world that never ceases to amaze, we have more stories to keep you in the loop of all the app news and developments.
Check out our latest edition of the Weekly News Wr(app) featuring stories of Netflix’s woes, Instagram’s Earth Day celebrations, and Snapchat’s growth.
[Catch up on the previous week’s stories by clicking here]
1. Google allows a “Reject All” button for cookies in Europe
Users from Europe can finally choose to “Reject All Cookies” without having to hunt for the button.
This comes as a boon because we all know how hard it is to find the option to reject cookies. It’s usually buried down in some sub-menu that we don’t care to find. Since we don’t want to waste too much time, we choose the easier way out and click the “Accept All” button.
Thus Google gets our precious consent to accept their offer of cookies.
Of course, cookies are not intrinsically bad and can enhance your online experience. It’s a problem when these cookies end up in the wrong hands like hackers.
But Google has turned a new leaf. Not because they understand the value of our privacy but because they were fined by European antitrust authorities.
Following a massive €150 million fine, the tech giant redesigned the cookie menu for French users, with the same to be implemented in the U.K., Switzerland, and other EU countries.
Source: https://bit.ly/3rQARf7
2. Netflix to introduce ad-based subscription plans
Netflix is offering users a cheaper plan that has ads. Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix is optimistic about the success of this new plan by looking at how it’s working for Disney+ and HBO Max.
But this is a shift from the company’s long-held stance to not allow advertising on the platform.
Given that Netflix reported lesser earnings and a loss of subscribers for the first in years, we can see why the reason for this announcement. The Ukraine-Russia conflict saw Netflix lose 7 lakh subscribers, and the user count in India did not hit expected numbers. The low count of subscribers in India led to Netflix introducing a cheaper plan.
But will this actually help Netflix? We’ll have to see. The streaming service is facing a crisis with its share prices falling rapidly. Moreover, Netflix is facing a PR nightmare ever since they decided to hunt down users who shared their passwords. This raid-of-sorts implies that users are to blame for Netflix’s recent misfortune. It never helps to blame customers.
Netflix has a lot to do to earn back its users trust.
Source: https://bit.ly/3OBhlwC
3. Instagram Reels will now have a fundraising option
Instagram decided to celebrate World Earth Day by adding a fundraising option on Reels. They said that this will help users to make donations to environmental causes like climate change and other charitable ventures that positively impact the world.
Now celebrities and influencers can use this option to encourage their followers to donate to these causes. The fundraising feature is yet to be released to all users, though some have reported having access to the feature.
Meta says that they’ve received over $150 million in donations from 4 million users via Facebook and Instagram. This number could increase with the fundraising button on Reels. The most popular non-profits on Instagram include The Ocean Cleanup, World Wildlife Fund, and Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
Instagram’s parent company Meta also released various Earth Day celebratory features like an Earth Day Sticker for Instagram, an Earth Day profile frame for Facebook, and custom stickers for Messenger among many others.
Source: https://tcrn.ch/3F1uX05
4. Snap is growing faster than Meta and Twitter
Snapchat’s parent company Snap came out with its first financial report for the year and they seem to be buzzing.
Their Daily Active Users (DAU), which rose by 18%, were higher than that of Meta and Twitter.
But Snap’s revenue took a hit because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict plus Apple’s new privacy changes. “We believe the impact of the war in Ukraine on input costs, marketing budgets and overall economic competence has been significant, and that it is difficult to predict its impact on a forward-looking basis,” said Snap CFO Derek Anderson.
They aimed at a 44% increase in profit but were only able to achieve a 38% year-over-year of $1.06 billion.
For the future, Snap is betting big on augmented reality experience and thus is planning to upgrade its AR shopping experience and community-generated AR experiences for local landmarks.
Source: https://tcrn.ch/3EKgpBP
