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H-1B worker advice, managing remote teams, pitch deck teardown • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 11, 2022Posted in capital gains, EC roundup, Pitch Deck Teardown, revenue-based financing, Startups, VentureNo Comments

According to layoffs.fyi, more than 23,000 tech workers have been laid off so far this month. For comparison, the site tracked 12,463 layoffs in October. Facebook’s parent company Meta announced the first major job cuts in its history this week, eliminating 11,000 jobs. Like Twitter, Stripe, Brex, Lyft, Netflix and other tech firms based in the Bay Area, many of the employees impacted are immigrants here on worker visas. An unexpected layoff introduces an element of chaos into anyone’s life, but when an H-1B worker loses their job, a very loud clock starts clicking: unless they can land a new position or change their immigration status within 60 days, they’ll need to leave the country. And because tech companies at every size are enacting hiring freezes and planning more cuts, their ability to live and work in the U.S. is suddenly in question. Earlier today, I hosted a Q&A with immigration lawyer Sophie Alcorn for H-1B workers who have been laid off (or think they might be). “You either get a new job, you leave, or you figure out some other way to legally stay in the United States, but you have to take some action within those 60 days.” Start looking now for new opportunities, she advised, as it will take new employers time to submit paperwork to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Full ZebethMedia+ articles are only available to membersUse discount code TCPLUSROUNDUP to save 20% off a one- or two-year subscription “The best-case scenario would be that this new company files your new change of employer petition and USCIS receives the paperwork on or before the 59th day since your last day of employment,” said Alcorn. “It takes at least three weeks to prepare everything,” which means candidates and employers must move quickly as the days count down. “You probably need a signed offer around day 33,” she said. A lot of the information Alcorn provided was just as relevant for hiring managers as it was for workers who’ve been laid off: any number of factors can combine to further complicate a process that’s already hard to puzzle out. For example, what happens to H-1B workers who get laid off while they’re out of the country? Can getting married actually solve an immigration problem? (Definitely not!) Because so many people have been laid off during a season when it’s traditionally hard to land a new position, I asked Alcorn whether she thought the layoffs would cause an exodus of tech talent from Silicon Valley. “The American Dream is still really important to immigrants,” she said. “A lot of people are going to fight to find a way to stay here, even if it’s not necessarily in the in the Bay Area with the high cost of living. They still want what America represents and they’re going to reevaluate their relationship with Big Tech and the nature of work.” 3 tips for managing a remote engineering team Image Credits: Inok (opens in a new window) / Getty Images I once managed an office where the CEO and I were the only two people who weren’t on the engineering team. We occupied a pod in a co-working space, so we all sat around one large table. Outside of our group lunches, the developers rarely spoke to each other, as most communication took place via Slack, Jira and GitHub. Today, that team works remotely. In a post for TC+, entrepreneur and angel investor Kuan Wei (Greg) Soh shared his top suggestions for managing distributed engineering teams, which includes mandatory standups and at least three hours each day when everyone is available to chat. “We expect Slack messages to be replied to within an hour, that everyone be reachable if we call them, and that we would work responsibly with our assigned partners,” he says. Use IRS Code Section 1202 to sell your multimillion-dollar startup tax-free Image Credits: BrianAJackson (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Founding teams usually select a corporate structure like an LLC or S-Corp, but those who hope to exit for $10 million for more should consider starting up as a Qualified Small Business (QSB) C-Corporation, advises tax attorney Vincent Aiello. Under IRS Code Section 1202, founders who hold QSB stock for five years or longer will be exempt from paying capital gains tax after a sale. “It constitutes a significant tax savings benefit for entrepreneurs and small business investors,” Aiello says. “However, the effect of the exclusion ultimately depends on when the stock was acquired, the trade or business being operated, and various other factors.” Revenue-based financing: A new playbook for startup fundraising Image Credits: Cocoon / Getty Images (Image has been modified) Revenue-based financing can make early-stage startups less dependent on investors so they can hold onto more equity. With terms that usually range from 12-24 months, many teams use these funds for short-term projects, like sales and marketing campaigns. “Because the return on these activities may be higher than the cost of revenue-based financing, startups should use revenue-based financing to fund initiatives that will bear fruit soon,” advises Miguel Fernandez, CEO and co-founder of Capchase. Pitch Deck Teardown: Syneroid’s $500K seed deck Image Credits: GPC Smart Tags (opens in a new window) Stolen-vehicle recovery systems have been available for decades, but a lost pet has higher emotional stakes. According to Syneroid, a startup that makes smart tags, 10 million pets are lost each year in the United States, but “less than 30% are returned home.” After raising a $500,000 seed round at a a $3.9 million valuation, the company’s founders shared their 12-slide pitch deck with ZebethMedia for a review. “No information has been redacted or omitted,” writes Haje Jan Kamps.

Answers for H-1B workers who’ve been laid off (or think they might be) • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 11, 2022Posted in Dear Sophie, EC Future of Work, H-1B visa, immigration law, Layoffs, Sophie Alcorn, StartupsNo Comments

According to layoffs.fyi, more than 23,000 tech workers have been laid off so far this month. For comparison, the site tracked 12,463 layoffs in October. Facebook’s parent company Meta announced the first major job cuts in its history this week, eliminating 11,000 jobs. Like Twitter, Stripe, Brex, Lyft, Netflix and other tech firms based in the Bay Area, many of the employees impacted are immigrants on worker visas. An unexpected layoff introduces an element of chaos into anyone’s life, but when an H-1B worker loses their job, a loud clock starts clicking: unless they can land a new position or change their immigration status within 60 days, they are required to leave the country. And because tech companies at every size are enacting hiring freezes and planning more cuts, their ability to live and work in the U.S. is suddenly in question. Earlier today, I hosted a Q&A for foreign tech workers who have been laid off (or think they might be) with Silicon Valley-based immigration lawyer Sophie Alcorn. Alcorn, who writes “Dear Sophie,” a weekly advice column for ZebethMedia+, shared general information for visa workers and hiring managers who are looking for talent. If you’re a visa holder who’s been laid off, your first priority is to “find a lawyer and figure out your last day of employment, because that’s when you need to start counting the 60-day grace period,” said Alcorn. “You either get a new job, you leave, or you figure out some other way to legally stay in the United States, but you have to take some action within those 60 days.” Start looking now for new opportunities, she advised, as it will take a new employer time to submit paperwork to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. “The best-case scenario would be that this new company files your new change of employer petition and USCIS receives the paperwork on or before the 59th day since your last day of employment,” said Alcorn. “It takes at least three weeks to prepare everything,” which means candidates and employers must move quickly as the days count down. “You probably need a signed offer around day 33,” she said. Based on her experience, Alcorn estimated that 15% of the people laid off from Bay Area startups are immigrants, 90% of which are H-1B holders. Below, you’ll find answers to several of the questions we received [edited for space and clarity]. I was laid off while I was abroad, but my lawyer advised me to travel back on ESTA, which I did. Do the 60-day grace period still apply? Sophie Alcorn: If you’re in the United States on ESTA after being laid off while abroad, you’re not in H-1B status anymore. You need to leave the country to get a new H-1B and try to come back in and start working. You don’t have the 60-day grace period anymore; you’ve abandoned it. The only thing you can do to change or extend your status if you’re in the United States on the Visa Waiver Program for 90 days on ESTA is get married to a U.S. citizen and have them sponsor you for a green card. It needs to be a real, good-faith marriage. You have to intend to share a life together, you have to demonstrate that your families know each other, that you do romantic comedy things together and have the photos to prove it. And the government’s going to check in two years to see if you’re still married. I am currently on an OPT and have an H-1B approved, but not activated. Can I change employers without going through the lottery right away? Or would my H-1B need to be activated first? You can actually change employers without [doing so]. When you’re interviewing for jobs, you need to make it very clear to the HR person that you think you are eligible for an H-1B change of employer, and you really need their immigration lawyers to take a close look, because essentially, what you will need is a change of status from F-1 or OPT to H-1B within the United States, as well as a change of employer.

Amid record dry powder, VCs are determined to fund anything but you

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 11, 2022Posted in EC News Analysis, EC venture capital, fundraising, Startups, Venture, venture capitalNo Comments

Seriously, anything If you had to sum up the 2022 venture capital market in one word, that word could be contradictions. Venture funds have record dry powder — deployable capital on hand — and yet funding continues to steadily decline. There is seemingly more talk of backing women and people of color in the industry than ever, and yet the numbers are headed in the opposite direction. VCs said publicly that they were focusing on companies on the path to profitability, but that wasn’t true for even a minute. So while many venture firms said they are largely sitting out investing this year as they wait for valuations to fall, it is, again, largely untrue. What does seem to be true, though, is that some VCs are using this year’s uncertainty as an excuse to avoid doing the work it takes to discuss valuations and assess TAM on potential investments into companies with real customer bases. Because they aren’t backing no one — they’re just backing everyone but you.

Crypto’s white knight was a black hat all along and other TC news • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 11, 2022Posted in Crypto, FTX, SBFNo Comments

This week, I talk with Dom-Madori Davis about the coalition of VCs that are standing for reproductive rights. And Jacquelyn Melinek comes on to break down the FTX/Binance saga that’s unfolded over the past week (and that continues to develop). And as always, we break down the biggest stories in tech. Articles from the episode: Other news from the week:

Can proof-of-reserves prevent future crypto exchange collapses? • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 11, 2022Posted in Binance, Chainlink, Crypto, crypto ecosystem, crypto exchanges, EC Blockchain, EC Cryptocurrency, FTXNo Comments

A number of crypto exchanges are rushing to publish proof-of-reserves in a seeming attempt to reassure investors their funds are safe as fellow exchange FTX melts down. Proof-of-reserves (PoR) are independent audits by third parties that aim to provide transparency and evidence that a custodian holds the assets it claims to own on behalf of its clients. Auditors then aggregate balances into something called a Merkle tree, which entails all client balances. FTX exploded this week following a CoinDesk report that showed a June 30 balance sheet of its affiliate trading firm, Alameda Research, was largely made up of FTX’s native token, FTT. This all could have been avoided with PoR, Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, said to ZebethMedia. “There was a balance sheet issue and it became known to many depositors all at once,” Nazarov said. “And because it was a surprise, there was a bank run that led to insolvency.” But imagine if depositors knew what FTX and Alameda Research’s balance sheets were from the beginning.

Musk’s lawyer tells Twitter staff they won’t be liable if company violates FTC consent decree • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 11, 2022Posted in consent decree, FTC, Social, TwitterNo Comments

Following a warning shot from the FTC to Twitter yesterday, ZebethMedia has obtained an internal email sent by Elon Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, to all remaining employees — in which he seeks to calm staffers’ concerns by claiming that they do not have individual liability for upholding the requirements of the FTC consent decree. We’ve reproduced the full text of the email (sic) below — which was sent by Spiro to Twitter staff at 5:21PM, November 10: Elon – questions have arisen today regarding the consent decree in effect at the time you took over the company. We have our first upcoming compliance check with the ftc since taking over and we will handle it. The only party to the decree is Twitter- not individuals who work at Twitter. It is Twitter itself (not individual employees) who is a party and therefore only Twitter the company could be liable. I understand that there have been employees at Twitter who do not even work on the ftc matter commenting that they could to to jail if we were not in compliance- that is simply not how this works. It is the company’s obligation. It is the company’a burden. It is the company’s liability. We spoke to the FTC today about our continuing obligations and have a constructive ongoing dialogue. We will of course remain in compliance with the consent decree and the legal department is handling it and happy to answer any questions Thanks Alex The 2011 consent decree required Twitter to establish and maintain a program to ensure and regularly report that its new features do not further misrepresent “the extent to which it maintains and protects the security, privacy, confidentiality, or integrity of any nonpublic consumer information.” In a note (first reported by The Verge) posted in Twitter’s internal slack and visible to all employees, a departing internal attorney said that in fact, individual engineers do engender “personal, professional and legal risk,” seemingly in contradiction to what Spiro sent in the above email. On Thursday, key Twitter executives including the company’s Head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth, as well as its Chief Information Security Officer Lea Kissner, Chief Compliance Officer Marianne Fogarty and Chief Privacy Officer Damien Kieran all abruptly departed the company. The FTC noted that they are watching with “deep concern” the ongoing situation at Twitter in light of the consent decree. The FTC fined Twitter $150 million earlier this year after finding a breach of the settlement related to user data provided for security purposes being used for ad targeting. We’ve reached out to the FTC for clarification regarding the consent decree and individual employee liability and will update if we receive more information.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy faces enormous challenges amid falling profits and negative numbers • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 11, 2022Posted in Adam Selipsky, Amazon, Andy Jassy, AWS, Commerce, EC Cloud and Enterprise Infrastructure, EC Ecommerce and D2C, EC News Analysis, Enterprise, jeff bezosNo Comments

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is the definition of a company man. In an age when people switch jobs frequently, he has been at Amazon for 25 years, working his way up to president and CEO. But before he reached the corner office, he helped build Amazon Web Services, its cloud arm, into a $60 billion juggernaut. It wasn’t exactly a rise from the mailroom, but Jassy was there as founder Jeff Bezos’ aide-de-camp when they came up with the idea of AWS in the early 2000s at an executive offsite. He helped build it. He nurtured it. He made it into the crown jewel of the company. So when Bezos announced he was stepping down early last year, it didn’t take long for the organization to turn to Jassy, whose hard work at AWS and his deep understanding of company culture seemed to make him the perfect heir apparent. But things haven’t necessarily gone as planned since he took over the leadership role in July 2021. Much of what has happened has been out of his control. Like many chief executives, he inherited the problems left behind by his predecessor. During the pandemic, Amazon became the general store for the world. People stuck in lockdown turned to Amazon for their goods. The company’s revenues mushroomed and its workforce exploded, with the organization adding an astonishing 800,000 workers, mostly in its warehouses (per The Wall Street Journal). The future was bright, but as Jassy took over last year, people were heading out again. Suddenly, everyone wasn’t buying everything online anymore. As we headed into 2022, other macroeconomic factors began to affect commerce — online and brick-and-mortar — as inflation soared and consumers’ buying power began to diminish. Add to that the higher cost of energy and persistent supply chain issues, and Amazon was suddenly facing some challenges that were beginning to have a serious impact on earnings.

Tesla opens its EV connector design to other automakers • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 11, 2022Posted in EV, Tesla, TransportationNo Comments

Tesla is sharing its EV charging connector design in an effort to encourage network operators and automakers to adopt the technology and help make it the new standard in North America. Tesla said in a blog post Friday that its design and specification files are available for download. The company said it is “actively working with relevant standards bodies to codify Tesla’s charging connector as a public standard.” The charging connector in all Tesla vehicles offers AC charging and up to 1 MW DC charging. Its compact design and performance is considered superior to the Combined Charging System connectors used by most EVs in North America. Tesla claims that its charging connector and charge port — which it now calls the North American Charging Standard (NACS) — is the most common charging standard in North America. It’s a stat based on Tesla vehicle sales in North America and the number of chargers at its branded Supercharging stations. Tesla has nearly 1,500 Supercharger stations in the United States. Each station has an average of nine chargers. Tesla didn’t name any automakers or charging infrastructure companies as converts. In this highly competitive environment, in which virtually every automaker is now using the CCS, it’s hard to see GM, Ford and Stellantis switching to Tesla’s technology. However, at least one company — EV startup Aptera — supports the move. Earlier this year, Aptera called for U.S. government to adopt Tesla’s Supercharger technology as the standard for all EV charging in the country. And EVGo has added Tesla connectors to some of its charging stations in the United States. The company said in the blog post that network operators “already have plans in motion” to incorporate NACS at their chargers. If network providers like ChargePoint, EVConnect or Electrify America add NACS, it would allow Tesla owners to charge at these stations without a need for an adapter. If automakers switch to the NACS on its EVs, it would give owners of those vehicles access to Tesla’s North American Supercharging and destination charging networks.

Sight Tech Global 2022 agenda announced • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 11, 2022Posted in accessibility, Biotech & Health, Sight Tech GlobalNo Comments

The third annual Sight Tech Global conference, a virtual, free and highly accessible event on December 7 and 8 convenes some of the world’s top experts working on assistive tech, especially AI, for people who are blind or visually impaired. If you don’t follow this topic, maybe you should, because a lot of cutting-edge tech over the years — think OCR and NLP — was developed at the outset with blind people in mind, and went from there to more mainstream uses. Register today! At this year’s event we have sessions with the creators of several new devices to assist with vision, and we’ll talk about the technology architecture decisions that went into balancing capability with cost and tapping existing platforms. We’ll also take our first look at accessibility in VR, which is an area of huge concern because if/when VR takes off in the entertainment and business worlds, it’s vital that people without vision have access, as they do today on smart phones and computers thanks to screenreaders like JAWS, VoiceOver and NVDA. Our third big slab of programming is about AI itself. There is no shortage of hype as far as AI’s capabilities, and it’s important to push back on that by discussing some serious limitations and deficits in the way today’s AI works for people with disabilities, not to mention humanity in general. At the same time, AI is arguably the best core tech ever for people without sight. Understanding AI is vital to the future of everyone with disabilities for all those reasons. Don’t forget to register today! And before you browse this awesome agenda: For technologists, designers and product folks working on earthshaking assistive tech, we’re hosting a small, in-person event on December 9 featuring workshops on assistive tech, many run by the same luminaries on the agenda. Interested? Contact us. Here’s the agenda. To see times and more, go to the Sight Tech Global agenda page. The Dynamic Tactile Device: That “Holy Braille” for educations is near Following up on last year’s discussion of the APH and Humanware collaboration to create an education-focused tactile display (see next session), Greg Stilson updates Sight Tech Global on the project’s progress and APH’s work toward an SDK for developers to build on the tactile display. Greg Stilson will also lead a breakout session for attendees who want to go deeper on the Dynamic Tactile Device. Greg Stilson, Head of Global Innovation, APH Moderator: Devin Coldewey, Writer & Photographer, ZebethMedia The DOT Pad: How the Bible and smartphone speaker tech inspired a breakthrough For decades, engineers have worked toward a braille display that can render tactile images and multiline braille. DOT Pad may have cracked the code with an innovative approach to generating dynamic fields of braille pins actuated by smart integrations combined with existing technologies, like Apple’s VoiceOver. Eric Kim and Ki Sung will also lead a breakout session for attendees who want to learn more. Eric Ju Yoon Kim Co-Founder/CEO DOT Ki Kwang Sung Co-Founder/CEO DOT Moderator: Devin Coldewey Writer & Photographer ZebethMedia Virtual Reality and Inclusion: What does non-visual access to the metaverse mean? People with disabilities and accessibility advocates are working to make sure the metaverse is accessible to everyone. This panel will delve into research on the challenges current virtual and augmented reality tools create for people who are blind or have low vision.The panelists will share their experiences using immersive technologies and explore how these tools can be used to enhance employment opportunities in hybrid and remote workplaces — but only if they are built with inclusion in mind. Moderator Bill Curtis Davidson Co-Director, Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT) Alexa Huth, Director Strategic Communications, PEAT Brandon Keith Biggs, Software Engineer, The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute and CEO XR Navigation Aaron Gluck, PhD candidate in Human-Centered Computing, Clemson University Inventing the “screenreader” for VR: Owlchemy Lab’s Cosmonious High For developers of virtual reality games, there’s every reason to experiment with accessibility from the start, which is what the Owlchemy Labs team did with Cosmonious High, the 2022 release of a fun, first-person game situated in an inter-galactic high school that one reviewer said “has all the charm and cheek of a good Nickelodeon kids show.” And it reveals some of the earliest approaches to accessibility in VR. Peter Galbraith, Accessibility Engineer II, Owlchemy Labs Jazmin Cano, Accessibility Product Manager II, Owlchemy Labs Moderator James Rath, Filmmaker, Accessibility Advocate and Gamer Audio Description the Pixar Way AI-driven, synthetic audio description may have a place in some forms of accessible video content, but the artistry of the entirely human-produced audio descriptions Pixar produces for its productions set a creative standard no AI will ever attain, and that’s all for the good. Meet members of the Pixar team behind excellence in audio descriptions. Eric Pearson, Home Entertainment Supervisor, Pixar Anna Capezzera, Director, Audio Description Operations, Deluxe Laura Post, Voice Actress Christina Stevens, Writing Manager, Deluxe Moderator Tom Wlodkowski, Vice President, Accessibility, Comcast Seeing AI and the New AI Microsoft’s hugely popular Seeing AI is one of the apps that appears to do it all, from reading documents to recognizing people and things. Those services are enabled by Microsoft’s rapidly advancing cloud-based AI systems. How is Seeing AI advancing with those capabilities and what is the future for Seeing AI? Saqib Shaikh, Co-founder of Seeing AI, Microsoft Moderator Larry Goldberg, Accessibility Sensei & Technology Consultant Accessibility Is AI’s Biggest Challenge: How Alexa aims to make it fairer for everyone Smart home technology, like Alexa, has been one of the biggest boons in recent years for people who are blind, and for people with disabilities altogether. Voice technology and AI help empower people in many ways, but one obstacle stands in its way: making it equitable. In this session, learn from Amazon about how they’re approaching the challenge ahead. Peter Korn, Director of Accessibility, Devices & Services, Amazon Josh Miele, Principal Accessibility Researcher, Amazon Caroline Desrosiers, Founder & CEO, Scribely Hands on with Seleste Rapid

Numerous social apps see gains in wake of Twitter chaos, new data shows • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 11, 2022Posted in Apps, Elon Musk, Social, social apps, TwitterNo Comments

The drama at Twitter following Elon Musk’s acquisition has seen some users looking for an exit. In recent days, alternative social apps and microblogging platforms have seen strong gains, including, most notably, the open-source decentralized Twitter alternative Mastodon. The service’s founder and CEO recently announced Mastodon had topped 1 million monthly active users, after more than half a million users joined the network since the October 27th deal’s closure. But Mastodon isn’t the only app profiting from Twitter’s upheaval. In a new report, app intelligence firm Sensor Tower analyzed social app growth after Musk took over. It noted Mastodon has seen approximately 322,000 new downloads from U.S. app stores in the 12 days following Twitter’s acquisition (Oct. 27 through Nov. 7), which is more than 100x the 3,000 it had seen in the prior 12-day period. Globally, the app grew 657% to 1 million installs during that same Oct. 27-Nov. 7 timeframe, up from 15,000 in the 12 days prior. Other third-party Mastodon clients saw a bump, too, with Metatext and Tootle both growing from less than 1,000 installs to 19,000 and 7,000, respectively, between the two time periods. But Mastodon isn’t the only network seeing an uptick in app installs, as it turns out. Tumblr also saw its U.S. app installs grow 96% from 47,000 to 92,000 between the two time periods. Plus, its global installs grew 77% from 170,000 to 301,000. Image Credits: Sensor Tower In addition, alternative social app CounterSocial grew 2,300% to 24,000 installs in U.S. app stores in the 12 days following the acquisition, and grew 3,200% globally, with 33,000 installs, the report said. Another app intelligence firm, data.ai, sliced the data in a slightly different way. It examined various social apps’ worldwide download growth during a 7-day period following the acquisition (Oct. 27 through Nov 2), then compared that with the prior 7-day period. Its data, shared exclusively with ZebethMedia, also confirmed the sizable gains made by Mastodon and CounterSocial in terms of the growth in global installs between the two time periods. Mastodon’s installs jumped 2,200% and CounterSocial’s grew 1,200% its analysis found. But Data.ai looked further up and down the apps stores’ charts and found that a number of other social apps were seeing bumps, beyond just direct Twitter alternatives. These included David’s Disposable (up 83% during the two time periods), nFollowers (up 50%), CocoFun (up 46%), Substack Reader (up 24%), Tribel (up 11%), Tumblr (up 7%), and Pinterest (up 2%). Substack, in particular, has been marketing itself as a social community following the Twitter acquisition, even launching a new discussions feature that allows writers and their audience to engage in threaded chats. Dispo had fun trolling Twitter’s chaos in a couple of tweets and memes, like one that celebrated how Musk doesn’t own the Dispo app. Image Credits: data.aiThis isn’t to say the drama has been all bad for Twitter. Surprisingly, some people have even newly installed the app since the acquisition, as it turns out. Data.ai shows Twitter’s app installs jumped 17% after the acquisition, while Sensor Tower’s look at the slightly longer timeframe saw a 21% increase. The latter said Twitter saw 7.6 million global installs and $502,000 in consumer spending in the 12 days after the acquisition, an increase from 6.3 million installs and $303,000 in spending in the prior 12-day period. These consumer spending numbers, however, should be taken with a grain of salt for now as Twitter Blue’s launch was put on pause after being live for only a couple of days. There’s no reason to believe that these figures indicate, as of yet, a significant increase in demand for the subscription with long-term staying power. That data will come in time. If anything, it shows Musk’s ability to market things to his fanbase and users’ general curiosity about what’s going on with Twitter’s products at present. Image Credits: sensor tower Though Twitter may have seen slight gains this week, not everyone is happy about the changes. Some angrier Twitter users took out their angst over the acquisition in the Twitter app’s reviews on the App Store. On Nov. 5, 2022, the app saw a spike in negative ratings as 119 1-star iOS reviews were added — the most it has seen in a single day during this latest surge in negative reviews, also according to data from Sensor Tower. However, this isn’t the biggest surge of negative reviews Twitter has ever seen, we understand. Other incidents have caused larger bumps. After Trump was banned, for instance, Twitter saw 801 1-star reviews on Jan. 9, 2021. It also saw a surge in March 2022 after the new timeline was rolled out and in April and when Elon Musk said he was buying Twitter. Its largest spike in negative reviews this year wasn’t even this week — it was on Oct. 28, when Musk’s deal was finalized. Overall, however, it was the Israel-Palestine crisis in May 2021 that resulted in the highest volume of new negative reviews, followed by the Trump ban.

Author : zebethcontrol