1. Snapchat’s First-Ever Decline
Ever since Instagram stole Snapchat’s idea for Insta stories, their user base has skyrocketed, with more than 400M daily users alone. This is double the number that Snapchat has ever had, making Instagram the fastest-growing media format. Yesterday, Snapchat announced that they lost 3M users last quarter, their first-ever decline. Snapchat is still surviving against all odds, especially after the Saudi royal family invested $250M in return for a 2.3% stake, and its average revenue per user grew 65% in the Rest-of-the-World (RoW) this quarter. More to come.
(Source: Snap Inc., TechCrunch, The Hustle)
2. College Dropouts on the Rise
As school starts for incoming freshman on college campuses, tuition insurance policies are being included on the campus living checklist. As tuition increases — a $20K increase from 1988 — so has mental health breakdowns, therefore, increasing college dropouts. According to The Washington Post, children from families earning more than $90K have a 1-in-2 chance of getting a bachelor’s degree by 24. That falls to a 1 in 17 chance for families earning under $35K. Tuition insurance policies are beginning to increase rapidly, tripling from 20K to 70K plans within the past 5 years. Most policies charge about 1% of the cost of school, making it a smart move if a kid plans to drop out, saving thousands of dollars in tuition.
(Source: The Hustle)
3. Animal Crackers Are Set Free
Barnum’s Animals Crackers, a classic 116-year-old Nabisco snack, has set their animals free into the wild. The former package design had the animals locked in cages, depicting a typical circus scene.
Animal-rights organization, PETA, finally said enough is enough and urged the company to change the packaging. Now, the animals are cage free and the new design is up on store shelves. “The new box for Barnum’s Animal Crackers perfectly reflects that our society no longer tolerates the caging and chaining of wild animals for circus shows,” PETA executive vice president Tracy Reiman said. “PETA is celebrating this redesign, just as we’ve celebrated the end of Ringling Bros. circus and the introduction of animal-circus bans across the U.S.” However, the question still remains, “Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?”
(Source: USA Today)
