1. Facebook Removes Trending News
Later this week, Facebook will be deleting the “Trending News” section of our feed. After much criticism of this section, since Facebook isn’t the most reliable news source, the decision was finalized last week. According to Facebook, Trending News accounted for “less than 1.5 percent of clicks to news publishers on average.” The company is trying to display news in other ways, and may even include a local news section in the future to attract more views. We’ll see if they can actually do it right this time. In the meantime, we’ll just have to stick to traditional sources… anyone remember the newspaper?
(Source: The Verge)
2. Apple #CantStopWontStop
Now that iPhone users are realizing how expensive it is to get a new iPhone, they are holding onto their old phones for dear life. While trying not to crack the screen, Apple users are buying the best of the best iPhone cases to save their phone’s life and their wallet. So, what does that mean for Apple? With most of their sales coming from hardware purchases, Apple is experiencing a 5.6% drop in year-on-year smartphone sales. That won’t stop this powerhouse company though. Apple is exploring new ways to expand its business beyond hardware sales. Their plan is to increase ads sales across different platforms. Can Apple succeed in a different plan for sales? We will have to wait to find out.
(Source: The Verge)
3. Spotify Steps Back
On Friday, Spotify announced that they will no longer base content decisions on past behaviors of various artists. The streaming app previously blocked songs from certain artists such as R.Kelly and XXXTenatacion due to the artists’ bad behavior. However, Spotify CEO, Daniel Ek, expressed his regret of the company’s actions and apologized for the way they handled the ban. “I think we rolled this out wrong and could have done a much better job,” Ek said. No kidding.
(Source: BuzzFeed News & BBC)
