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You might have noticed this week that Instagram is testing a feature that hides "likes" on posts in the US.
Transform talent with learning that worksCapability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More As Amanda Perelli reported, some popular influencers and their teams have already begun expressing concern over the change.
"For creators, it's a big change because likes are the number one tool for tracking post engagement," Adam Wescott, a partner at the digital talent-management firm Select Management Group, told Amanda. "They know within minutes how their content will do based on number of likes."
And, given how easy it is to buy followers, some are worried the change could lead to more fake influencers.
"Now that people don't have to make sure their likes correlate to their following, one of the easiest ways to spot fraud, this will create more fake influencers in my opinion," Joe Gagliese, the CEO of the influencer-marketing company Viral Nation, told Amanda.
The shift is yet another milestone in the evolution of Instagram, and its relationship with a giant community of influencers who make a part- or full-time living from creating on the platform.
Brands are set to spend up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022, according to Business Insider Intelligence research. On Instagram in particular, the average price of a sponsored photo has soared from $134.04 in 2014 to $1,642.77 in 2019, according to IZEA. Of course, it's possible to earn a lot more.
For example, Caitlin Patton, who has 24,900 followers on Instagram, told Amanda she typically earns about $2000 for a campaign on the platform. And Katy Bellotte, a YouTube creator and Instagram influencer, told Amanda that on average she earns between $2,400 and $5,000 for a sponsored Instagram post.
Others have used Instagram to launch their own business. Julia Engel, who goes by Gal Meets Glam online and now has 1.1 million Instragram followers, in 2018 launched a dress collection that releases limited products every few months. Since launching, Engel's collection has earned $35 million in revenue, she told Amanda.
The rise of the influencer economy is nothing new, of course. But this week's debate over hiding "likes" is another reminder that for platforms like Instagram and YouTube, it's not just those scrolling through their feed when they have a spare moment who notice a design change.
There's a whole economy of folks who rely on the platforms for income who are also impacted.
Betting boom
Gaming, media, and tech companies are clamoring to corner pieces of the US sports-betting market, which Morgan Stanley estimates could generate $7 billion in revenue by 2025.
Even Wall Street's looking for ways to get in on the action. As Rebecca Ungarino and Dan DeFrancesco reported this week, TD Ameritrade is considering business opportunities it could pursue within the world of sports gambling as it looks to make up lost revenue from moving to zero commissions.
Here's your 101 on the booming sports-betting market, courtesy of Ashley Rodriguez:
SoftBank's struggles
It's not just WeWork. As we reported this week, several other SoftBank-backed startups are also in the news for the wrong reasons:
- Short-term car leasing startup Fair burned through nearly $400 million in 10 months. Meghan Morris revealed how Softbank stepped in and cleaned house in the wake of WeWork.
- Insurance startup Lemonade has postponed IPO plans after plotting an offering for this year, Dakin Campbell reported. It shows how the pipeline for high-growth tech is getting clogged after WeWork.
- Plenty, a futuristic farming startup, raised $260 million from Jeff Bezos and SoftBank on the promise of upending agriculture. Insiders are raising questions, Erin Brodwin reported.
-- Matt
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