Apple turned what should be minimal into something too complex
With the iPhone 14 Pro, we now finally have a feature that’s been on Android for years: an always-on display, or AOD. You can’t believe how excited I am for this small yet powerful feature. It’s one I miss constantly on my iPhone 13 Pro Max, and one I love when I look at the Pixel 6 Pro on my desk.
But as thrilled as I am that the iPhone 14 Pro rocks an AOD, I’m less enthused about the execution. To my eye, having seen barely more than what Apple showed off at the Apple event, the new AOD looks too complicated. It’s like Apple over-engineered the solution to a problem, something that isn’t all that uncommon.
I want to preface this by saying I’m a minimal person, though not a minimalist. I like things simple. I keep my technology as minimal as possible, with as few apps or programs as needed, minimal code, plain desktops, clean filesystems — you get the idea. So understand that before going forward.
iPhone 14 Pro always-on display: Welcome but too complicated
Like I said, I am excited for the always-on display when I get my hands on a purple iPhone 14 Pro. It’s a feature I talked about heavily last year before the iPhone 13 launch, and it’s one I’ve continued to mention leading up to this year’s announcement. I love having an AOD on the best Android phones, and I’m glad the iPhone finally has one.
(Image credit: Future)
But looking at what Apple revealed, plus bits and pieces from people on the ground at the event, I am left dissatisfied. What I’ve seen looks like too much of a good thing. Let me explain.
The iPhone 14 Pro’s always-on display is essentially a dimmed version of the lock screen, complete with all the widgets and clock typefaces. That’s cool, but an AOD is supposed to (in my humble opinion) provide basic information at a glance. Time, notifications, possibly the weather and calendar events, and battery percentage. Those are the basics I want to see when I glance at the Pixel 6 Pro on my desk, and that’s what the phone provides in a minimal, monochrome format.
Looking at what Apple revealed, I am dissatisfied. It looks like too much of a good thing. It looks over-complicated.
Other Android phones offer a bit more in the AOD area, such as OnePlus letting you change the clock typeface or what can appear on the OnePlus 10 Pro’s AOD. But the core premise remains the same: simplicity. Apple appears to have gone overboard, making for a cluttered AOD. at least from what I’ve seen.
I don’t mind the new iOS 16 lock screen features — I quite like them, in fact — but that doesn’t mean I want a dimmed version of the lock screen as my AOD. I have the same problem with my Apple Watch 7’s AOD. It’s a dimmed, colorized version of my watchface, not a basic clock. Instead, I have to set a basic clock watchface to get the AOD I want.
It appears I’ll need to do the same with the iPhone 14 Pro, since the phone will spend more time with the display off than on the lock screen.
iPhone 14 Pro always-on display: Outlook
When I look at the images of the iPhone 14 Pro’s AOD, I am ambivalent, torn if you will. It’s a feature I’ve wanted since making the switch to iPhone early last year, but it doesn’t look like I expected. Is that just the rantings of a curmudgeon resistant to change? You could make that argument.
I will wait to form my full opinion until after I spend some time with the iPhone 14 Pro. Things in theory often work differently in practice, so it’s possible that I will like Apple’s implementation of an always-on display. Or it’s possible that my opinion will further sour.
I plan to keep an open mind about it, but right now, I think Apple overcomplicated the issue.
Jordan is the Phones Editor for Tom’s Guide, covering all things phone-related. He’s written about phones for over five years and plans to continue for a long while to come. He loves nothing more than relaxing in his home with a book, game, or his latest personal writing project. Jordan likes finding new things to dive into, from books and games to new mechanical keyboard switches and fun keycap sets. Outside of work, you can find him poring over open-source software and his studies.
Adobe’s Future of Creativity trend report found that among Boomers, Gen X’ers, and Millennials, in particular, the cowboy has caused the most confusion. The cherries and upside-down smiley face followed shortly behind.
“Generationally, Boomers (24%), Gen X’ers (18%) and Millennials (14%) are less sure of cowboy hat face than Gen Z’ers (10%),” Adobe said in its report.
Nearly half of US users said they used emojis differently than their intended use, while half of the participants also claimed to have sent an emoji that was ultimately misinterpreted.
Of course, Gen Z—as the cutting-edge cool kids they are—seems to have things down pat. 93% of the generation said they feel up to date on the latest emoji meanings. Now whether they’re actually using them correctly is another story. From that same pool, 74% reported using them differently than the intended meaning. To avoid confusion, we could always just stick to words?
A few simple steps can ensure you are making the most of the short time you get with a hiring manager when interviewing for a job.
The labour market in the U.S. is looking good as the summer comes to a close, with 528,000 jobs added in July alone. Still, when you’re going for a top position — or maybe even your personal dream job — it’s likely you’ll face stiff competition.
For these top jobs, any advantage you can bring to the interview is helpful. That’s why it’s so important to look the part, do your research, and bring your A-game in general.
Whether you’re looking for a higher-paying job, interviewing in hopes of breaking into a new field, or applying for your first gig out of college, here are 13 things to always do during (or after) a job interview, no matter the field.
1. Research the company
Showing right off the bat that you put in the effort to learn about the company should be a priority. It’s generally a good idea to do a Google search, look the company up on LinkedIn, and see if the firm has been in the news recently.
This preparation will be especially helpful if the manager asks why you’re interested in the company during the interview. Doing your homework will put you in a much better position than simply winging it.
2. Dress for the job
The phrase “dress for the job you want” is widely used for a reason. The ideal attire for a job interview depends on the company and job description, but in many business situations, classic professional attire is the way to go.
This could mean a suit or dress slacks. Or, it might mean a nice dress or skirt with your best pair of pumps or flats, or perhaps a pants suit.
3. Arrive on time
You want to be respectful of the person who is interviewing you, and that includes being respectful of their time.
It’s a good rule of thumb to arrive 10 minutes early — maybe even 15 minutes if you’re commuting to an unfamiliar area — to ensure you’re on time for the interview, and that the hiring manager’s first impression isn’t of you showing up late.
4. Plan responses beforehand
Interview questions can vary depending on your field and the job you’re applying for. However, there are some universal questions that come up often. Use these to prepare.
For example, many interviewers ask about things such as:
Your career history
Why you’re interested in a new job
What your greatest strengths and weaknesses are
What salary range you are looking for
Why they should hire you
Preparing responses for those universal questions — but remembering to keep the answers casual during the actual interview — should make the whole process that much easier.
5. Get familiar with the job description
Read over the job description again before you head into the interview. A job interview, after all, is an opportunity to sell yourself — and to sell yourself, you need to know what the company is looking for.
Arm yourself with responses about how you meet the job requirements and how you would make a great fit for the open position.
6. Bring extra resumes
With everything online these days, there is a chance that the hiring manager will be looking at your resume on a computer the moment you walk in. But again, it’s always a good idea to show up prepared.
Bring a few extra resumes with you to the interview so you can hand them out to everyone involved in the interviewing process.
7. Make a list of your positive attributes
Before your interview, think of three skills you want to emphasize. These might include:
Skills that fit well with requirements listed in the job description
Past work experiences that you think helped prepare you for this new job
Other positive attributes about yourself that you want to get across
Be familiar with your best “selling points.” That way, you won’t forget to mention them during the interview.
8. Turn negatives into positives
There will inevitably come a time when a hiring manager asks if you have experience doing something you have never done. Fortunately, there’s a way to spin this inexperience.
If an interviewer asks if you have Photoshop experience, and you don’t, try emphasizing your other skills — like organization and time management — that shows you’re eager to pick up this new skill quickly and efficiently.
9. Show excitement about the job
Getting a new job is exciting, so don’t feel shy about letting the hiring manager know that you’re thrilled about the opportunity.
It may seem obvious that you want the job if you’re showing up for an interview, but it doesn’t hurt to reiterate that fact so the company knows you’ll show up to work with a great attitude.
10. Keep your cell phone on silent
You want to communicate respect to the person interviewing you, and part of that is turning off distractions.
If your phone begins ringing, or even vibrating, in the middle of the interview, the hiring manager might think they don’t have your full attention — and begin to question whether they would have it after they hired you.
11. Speak highly of former employers
Even if you’re interviewing for a new job because you are unsatisfied with your current position, avoid any negative talk about past employers.
Instead, keep it professional by discussing the type of work you did and why you’re interested in the opportunities this new company can provide.
12. Ask questions
Typically, toward the end of an interview, the hiring manager will ask you if you have questions for them — and you should. This will show you’ve done your homework and you are invested in knowing more about the company.
If you’re struggling to come up with questions, stick to the classics, such as asking about:
Challenges you may face if you are hired
What the company culture is like
What the hiring manager likes the most about working there
What a typical day in your potential new position would look like
13. Follow up
There’s some disagreement about whether the old-school method of sending an actual “thank you” note to a hiring manager is still relevant, but career experts generally recommend at least a “thank you” email.
It doesn’t have to be lengthy: Simply thank the interviewer for their time, reiterate that you are excited about potentially working for the company, and sign off by noting that you hope to hear from them soon.
Bottom line
Whatever your reason for being on the job hunt — even if it’s simply to make more money so you can retire early — arming yourself with knowledge about the company you’re interviewing with, looking your best, and preparing your top selling points can go a long way during the interviewing process.
What is permission marketing, and how can it help you face marketing challenges in today’s privacy-focused world?
Seth Godin’s book, “Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends and Friends Into Customers” has revolutionized the way marketers perceive their customers, allowing them to “get in front of the digital revolution.”
As Godin defined it, permission marketing refers to a form of marketing where consumers are given the choice of opting in to receive promotional messages. You have probably seen it multiple times already, with companies offering incentives for following them on social media or subscribing to an email list for coupons. It’s highly entrenched in our society.
What sets permission marketing apart from other strategies for reaching consumers is that it’s characterized as already having an engaged audience. Users wouldn’t choose to subscribe to your business’s newsletters, emails or social media unless they had a prior interest in your goods. It also has the benefit of being a low-cost way to create personal and relevant relationships due to it usually being done via digital communication tools.
Essentially, it’s the opposite of direct marketing, aka blind marketing, where sometimes the only thing consumers have in common is a zip code.
While Godin’s book is an essential item for every marketer’s toolkit, there’s no denying it was released quite a while ago — 23 years, to be exact.
During that time, a technological explosion — unimaginable in the era of Y2K — rocked our world. While marketers have generally kept abreast of these rapid changes, the landscape around them, including social media and data privacy laws, is going to change even more.
Still, the idea of allowing consumers to consent to be subjected to marketing, aka permission marketing, is more relevant than ever in this age. By enacting and adapting permission marketing to today’s challenges, brands can stay on top of these constant changes while catering to their number one priority: the customer.
Below we’ll take a look at some of the predicted challenges ahead for the industry, along with some best practices on how to tackle them with permission marketing.
Social Data Collection and the Privacy Uprising
Every marketer will say that the more details they have on potential customers, the more likely they will be successful in sales. For the last decade, a great deal of marketers have gotten the specifics on customers via data on social media.
Brands primarily used this data to create a synergistic relationship between their marketing efforts and their customers. People used social media, and companies could see what customers liked and disliked, which allowed those companies to fine-tune their ads.
Meta — arguably the largest social media company due to its ownership of WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook and Instagram — suffered a huge data leak in 2019, prompting a mass exodus of users and new concerns about data privacy.
To further complicate things, Apple saw two ways to gain from Meta’s loss. First, they launched a new marketing campaign with one major selling point — privacy. Users gained more control over how their data was tracked and used, a change that made a major impact on other companies and slashed ad return on investment by 38%, according to Forbes.
The second gain for Apple was to partner with other companies, like Singular, to tap into ways to model and analyse this newly missing data — something that sequestered other brands from the advertising game.
Keeping an Eye out for New Tools
Not every company can afford to use these now necessary data collection technologies. As such, when seeking out new tools for permission marketing, Annie Wissner, CMO at Avenue 10 and VP of marketing at High Level Marketing, said “the best…tactics are those that help your audience go faster, reduce costs, solve business problems or gain a competitive advantage. Any form of content, from a blog post to a podcast to a webinar to a newsletter, is good as long as it offers value, is fun to consume and is highly relevant to your audience.”
If any of your company’s current strategies don’t fulfil those metrics, it might be time to change where you’re spending your time and money.
One tried and true application for permission marketing is email subscriptions. Email marketers have to seriously compete for the attention of younger generations. On average, Millennials receive 6–50 emails per day, and Gen Z sees anywhere from one to 20. And the chances of getting them to open an email are low.
But that doesn’t mean these groups don’t like getting email, and companies shouldn’t abandon the communication medium. According to MediaPost, more than 66% of Millennials and 53% of Gen Zers want to receive email marketing at least once per week.
Wissner said email is a nice tool because it offers the ability to organize and search through content — something that’s necessary with the growing need to keep content structured across multiple communication channels.
She claimed that while email has its advantages, other channels might be a little more attractive for younger audiences, such as Slack and social media, as it offers the ability to get an immediate response to a question, concern or comment.
For instance, some companies use Facebook Messenger to send ads directly to consumers and keep it as a place where customers can reach out if they need help with an order. Slack, on the other hand, has recently been used at digital conferences as a way to communicate the logistics of the event and award prizes based on participation in the chat channels.
Be Mindful of Where Your Customers Are
Permission marketing is often the way companies can start and recircle clients into their sales funnels. But in the age where digital and physical are starting to blur, omnichannel marketing efforts will help consumers complete the sales funnel.
Wissner had another bit of advice for marketers on this subject: use an omnichannel strategy with your permission marketing. In many ways, permission marketing is the base concept of omnichannel — meeting the customer where they’re at.
Google Play app with over a million downloads plagues phones with full-screen ads
A newly discovered adware app on the Google Play Store with over a million downloads is sneakily hiding an aggressive form of adware, and the developer has made it hard to spot the source of the annoying full-screen ads the app comes with.
Tracked down by Malwarebytes (opens in new tab), the PDF reader app uses common ad software development kits (SDKs) and its own SDK to display full-screen ads that pop up on a phone, even when the app is not being used.
As the report points out, the SDKs used such as Applovin and Facebook Ads are fine to display ads within the app, which allows it to be free. However, bombarding users with frequent ads, even video ads, outside the app makes this a malicious form of adware.
PDF Reader app with adware example via Malwarebytes (Image credit: Malwarebytes)
What’s more, the full-screen ads take a few hours to start displaying in order to make it harder for the user to figure out where the displayed ads are coming from. Malware researcher Nathan Collier logged each step of how the adware is executed and notes the PDF reader app will “sound a charm” when the screen is locked, and initiate a full-screen ad once unlocked.
Even after the first ad is displayed, another ad in the form of a video comes soon after. Collier states that after the initial ads, they start coming in more frequently. The app is said to have existed since November 2021, and with over a million downloads according to its Google Play listing, many users could unknowingly have the app downloaded.
Example of PDF reader adware via Malwarebytes (Image credit: Malwarebytes )
Don’t let adware ruin your phone
It’s always a good idea to be cautious about what apps you download, and many malicious apps hiding adware or even malware will have clear signs that it’s suspicious.
As an example. the PDF reader has a few suspicious indicators. Firstly, it’s rated as “Mature 17+.” There’s no reason for a PDF reader to have any kind of age restriction, especially one that’s for “mature” audiences. Secondly, the app is developed by “Fairy games,” which doesn’t exactly match the type of app on offer.
Adware is a sneaky way for threat actors to generate revenue by automatically displaying an obnoxious number of online advertisements, usually without the user’s knowledge or consent. Unfortunately, it can also lead to malware, meaning it’s worth getting rid of it.
The PDF reader app, known as “PDF reader – documents viewer,” is currently on the Google Play Store (here), so be sure to stay well away from it and look for more trusted PDF readers. If you recognize this app on your device, make sure to delete it so you can get rid of any annoying pop-up ads.
The best way to get rid of adware (and any malware they may bring with them) is by downloading one of the best antivirus apps. These cybersecurity programs can scan your device and remove adware, along with preventing future adware downloads and malicious pop-up ads.
Darragh Murphy is fascinated by all things bizarre, which usually leads to assorted coverage varying from washing machines designed for AirPods to the mischievous world of cyberattacks. Whether it’s connecting Scar from The Lion King to two-factor authentication or turning his love for gadgets into a fabricated rap battle from 8 Mile, he believes there’s always a quirky spin to be made. With a Master’s degree in Magazine Journalism from The University of Sheffield, along with short stints at Kerrang! and Exposed Magazine, Darragh started his career writing about the tech industry at Time Out Dubai and ShortList Dubai, covering everything from the latest iPhone models and Huawei laptops to massive Esports events in the Middle East. Now, he can be found proudly diving into gaming, gadgets, and letting readers know the joys of docking stations for Laptop Mag.
Do you have a morning routine? A UK mathematician has come up with a morning routine that she says is mathematically proven to improve your day.
Ryan Seacrest shared on-air the expert surveyed 2,000 people to come up with the schedule, as part of a campaign with Special K cereal.
“Not everyone has the same routine but a combination of the different elements should be key to ‘getting out of bed on the right side,’” British Science Association head Dr. Anne-Marie Imafidon told the Sun.
· WAKE UP AT 6:44 AM
· GET OUT OF BED AT 7:12 AM & SHOWER FOR 10 MINUTES
· EAT BREAKFAST FOR 18 MINUTES
· EXERCISE FOR 21 MINUTES
If you work at 9, then you have 59 minutes to get there.
See the math above to make it fit for your own schedule and listen back for more:
A new team will be tasked with building paid experiences across Meta’s apps
Meta is setting up a product organization to identify and build “possible paid features” for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, according to an internal memo sent to employees last week that was obtained by The Verge.
The new division is Meta’s first serious foray into building paid features across its main social apps, all three of which boast billions of users. It’s being set up after Meta’s ads business was severely hurt by Apple’s ad tracking changes on iOS and a broader pullback in digital ad spending. The group, called New Monetization Experiences, will be led by Pratiti Raychoudhury, who was previously Meta’s head of research.
In an interview with The Verge, Meta’s VP of monetization overseeing the group, John Hegeman, said the company is still committed to growing its ads business, and that it had no plans to let people pay to turn off ads in its apps. “I think we do see opportunities to build new types of products, features, and experiences that people would be willing to pay for and be excited to pay for,” he said. He declined to elaborate on paid features that are being considered.
Meta’s revenue almost entirely comes from ads, and while it has several paid features already across its apps, the social media giant hasn’t made charging users a priority until now. Hegeman downplayed paid features becoming a meaningful part of the business in the near term, but said that “on the flip side, I think if there are opportunities to both create new value and meaningful revenue lines and also provide some diversification, that’s obviously going to be something that will be appealing.”
Longer term, Meta sees paid features becoming a more meaningful part of its business, he said. “On a five-year time horizon I do think it can really move the needle and make a pretty significant difference.”
Facebook group administrators can already charge for access to exclusive content, and virtual “stars” can be purchased to send to creators. WhatsApp charges certain businesses for the ability to message their customers, and Instagram recently announced that creators could also begin charging a subscription for access to exclusive content. In June, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company wouldn’t take a cut of transactions from paid features and subscriptions until 2024.
Meta isn’t alone in pushing toward more paid features. Social media apps have been increasingly turning to charging over the past couple of years. TikTok started testing paid subscriptions for creators earlier this year, Twitter has paid Super Follows, and Discord makes its money entirely from its Nitro subscription. In addition, this year both Telegram and Snapchat added paid tiers that unlock additional features. Snapchat’s paid tier has proven to be an early hit.
“We’re obviously paying attention to what’s going on in the industry,” said Hegeman. “And I think there are multiple companies that have done interesting things in this space that I think hopefully we can learn from and emulate over time.”
TikTok has absolutely taken the world by storm since 2020. And it’s not just for the kids — with over 1 billion users, it’s popular across all demographics.
User behaviour on TikTok has been evolving as its popularity grows. We’ve seen the app go from dancing teenagers to influencing shopping behaviour across the world.
Now the next step for TikTok seems to be turning into the next big search engine.
Is TikTok the new Google?
Short answer: no.
TikTok is an internal search engine for TikTok content. It’s dedicated to a particular area of focus and a particular format: video.
There are a few different factors at play in how we choose the search engine to solve our need in the moment, but at the end of the day, TikTok and Google satisfy very different search intents.
Why do users search on TikTok?
We’re seeing TikTok take market share from Google in verticals such as food, gardening, and travel. These are low stakes searches where the outcome is unlikely to cause you harm. Since you don’t need a perfect or factual answer, you can use TikTok to find it.
TikTok’s video format makes a lot more sense if you’re looking for answers where the visual matters. Date spots in your city or a gardening tutorial are perfect searches for the platform.
Another reason users choose TikTok is that the answer will always be provided by a subject matter expert, not a niche blogger. Social proof abounds, as you can assess the expertise of your source by looking at the comments and number of views, likes, and followers.
A few concerns have been raised about the spread of misinformation on TikTok, as they have in most other content platforms. However, these are slightly more worrying on TikTok because it has an unprecedented potential for virality, and a large, young user base, who are more easily influenced during content discovery than during active search.
Users are even searching for TikTok content on Google, with queries such as “TikTok pasta”, amassing 1,778 searches per month in the US:
Branded queries on Google for TikTok content have a combined monthly search volume of 30.1 million in the US alone. But in the spirit of transparency, I’ll share that most of those are not PG (or even PG-13).
Active search vs. content discovery
There are two key behaviours on TikTok we must differentiate: active search and content discovery.
Content discovery
Content discovery is the main behaviour on TikTok and it’s the one we’re most familiar with. It’s when the user is scrolling through the app, passively hoping to find entertainment, financial advice, recipe ideas, or a new favourite beauty product.
Users have been enjoying a positive content discovery experience on TikTok for years. They have found new restaurants or a selfie angle that makes them look like Kylie Jenner.
This is the key to understanding TikTok’s rise as a search engine: This positive content discovery experience has earned the users’ trust. They know that the content they want to consume is on TikTok. So when the need arises, they turn to the video platform first.
Active search
This leads us into active search. Active search is when a user types a specific question into TikTok’s search box.
On TikTok, users can seamlessly scroll through all of the content that answers their query, without having to open multiple tabs on their browser. This improves user satisfaction, reduces friction and, most importantly, teaches TikTok the best answer. More on that later.
Let’s talk about psychology
Persuasion resistance is a natural psychological defense when we feel like someone is trying to manipulate us into buying, doing, or thinking something. We perceive persuasion as a threat and we try to move away from it or oppose it.
Over a decade ago, the online advertising industry started to worry about a decrease in the CTR of their display ads. Pop-ups got dismissed, banners went ignored. Users had caught onto advertisers: we were trying to sell them something.
This triggered a phenomenon known to psychologists as persuasion resistance. Advertisers called this response “banner blindness”. As an industry, we developed four different strategies to counter this resistance to persuasion.
First, we started making our ads look like they were part of the content. We called these “native ads”.
Then, we started placing the ads in unexpected places, where users were less likely to be bracing themselves to be sold to.
We started making ads a little bit more relevant to the context, so that they felt less intrusive.
Finally, we moved into social proof, and we started leveraging the power of trust. Thus influencer marketing was born.
TikTok leverages these four strategies to counter resistance to persuasion by design. How do they do it?
Creators are paid for their content through the Creator Fund, based on how many views or engagement their videos get. They are incentivized to make quality, engaging content that users will enjoy, not just by making deals with brands.
They regularly showcase their beauty routines, fashion, or home products, with or without a brand sponsorship. This makes affiliate or sponsored content look just like regular content.
Their ads are served in exactly the same format as their regular content, with a small tag letting you know that it’s promoted content.
All the videos have an identified creator, visible like and view counts, and open comments. Social proof abounds!
But SEO is not paid social or influencer marketing. So why should we care?
SEO is now omnichannel
Putting the right content in front of users at the right time is at the core of what we do. If we want to keep achieving this goal, we must provide content where the user is looking for it.
As technology integrates further into our lives, we’ve seen the rise of multisearch. Google created the term as a way to integrate their Google Lens functionality into the way we speak about search and SEO.
We now search by asking our home assistant devices questions or taking a picture of a tree we don’t recognize. We search on Google Maps, on Youtube, on Instagram and even on Amazon.
The days when SEO was about responding to a query in a search box are long gone.
By putting our content out on TikTok and optimizing it for search, we are helping users find our content when they need it, where they want it, and in the format they chose to consume it.
TikTok on the SERPs
An omnichannel SEO strategy will let you interact with your users beyond your own domain, and it can help your brand take up more real estate in the SERPs.
Google is trying to diversify the domains they show on search, so if you want to feature in the SERPs multiple times, you’ll have to distribute your brand’s content across different domains.
TikTok’s website has over 31 million pages built programmatically around topics, hashtags, and sounds:
Topic pages make up the most of their URLs and traffic, and seem to be built based on hashtags used, along with some form of machine learning consolidation of their variations. These include related videos, topics, users, hashtags, and sounds.
Based on the data available on different tools, we know that this section on TikTok’s website has about 157 million monthly organic clicks.
Based on the numbers alone, the benefit of having your content feature in these pages is obvious.
Industries that should be on TikTok
TikTok serves you content based on what the algorithm has determined you’ll enjoy, not based on who you follow. So users constantly discover new creators.
The TikTok algorithm does a genuinely good job at finding your interests or helping you discover stuff that you like. These topics of interest become small niches with their own name.
Much like a subreddit, TikTok has unofficial “toks”. You can find niches such as book-tok, finance-tok, food-tok, and many others.
Based on the data, case studies, and some expert opinions, there are industries that can truly benefit from being on the platform and surfacing content tagged for these various “toks”:
Sports teams
Streaming services and entertainers
Fashion and beauty brands
Restaurants and food bloggers
Travel brands and influencers
Home and DIY content creators and brands
If you think this list reminds you of the top industries on Pinterest, you are right.
TikTok and Pinterest have a lot in common. Both platforms prioritize content discovery based on your interests and serve mainly visual content.
When looking at suggested searches, the value becomes clear when I start typing keywords typically associated with an informational or commercial intent:
While these are personalized for each user, you can see that others are searching for content that brands or publishers have typically kept on their blogs and find valuable for their businesses.
Brands looking to increase their brand awareness can benefit from being on TikTok regardless of their industry. After all, nobody expected the success Duolingo has had on the platform.
Conclusion
Is TikTok threatening Google? No. Is it worth the attention of SEOs? Yes.
Over the next few months, keep an eye out for more pieces on how to make the most of this upstart and unlikely content discovery search engine. I will be writing about the TikTok algorithm, what the search experience looks like on TikTok, and how to make sure your videos rank.
Learn about click farms and how to stop them from draining your business’ ad budget.
Fake products hawked by influencers. Shady merchandise on Facebook marketplace. The internet is filled with fraudulent schemes. Among these bad actors are click farms, a particularly sinister fraudulent act aimed explicitly at draining businesses’ advertising budgets. Juniper Research estimates that U.S. businesses will lose over $23 billion to this type of ad fraud scheme by the end of the year. Here’s what you need to know about click farms and three quick ways to stop them from hurting your business.
What is a click farm?
A click farm is a physical location where a large group of workers spends their days manually clicking on paid advertising at scale. These clicks inflate the ad’s traffic and impressions, resulting in zero sales since these fraudulent clicks do not convert to sales.
How do click farms work?
Click farms generate a large volume of “real human” clicks. Bots are better suited for achieving this goal, but websites are better at detecting bot clicks through CAPTCHA and other preventive measures. However, the human element makes all the difference with click farms, as click farm activity is harder to detect.
Here’s how the process works.
A click farm worker sees as an ad
They click on the ad
They’ll perform the necessary action (download an app, fill out a form, like a post, follow an account, etc.)
The attribution system reads the click as valid and charges the advertiser.
The click farm worker repeats this process for every ad, with some going so far as to create fake profiles using stolen identities online.
Take, for example, the $50 billion click farm problem plaguing China. According to Yahoo Finance, there have been reports of click farms housing and operating as many as 17,000 phones simultaneously used to perform clicks based on the buyer’s request. This recent rise in click farms in the urban areas of China has affected global advertising. In the U.S., $62 million out of $407 million in ad spend per user was wasted due to ad-fraud schemes.
How to detect click farms on your ad
One way to detect whether click farms are draining your ad budget is by monitoring your traffic activity. Typically, click farms have the same pattern when “click farming” an ad. They share the same phone model, IP address, device, geolocation, browser versions, etc., in large numbers.
Once you notice you’re getting clicks from a particular region and they all have the same pattern, check your engagement metrics. Ideally, any platform running ads would allow you to see how your ads perform. It may be a click farm attack if you notice a sudden spike in traffic and a high click-through rate but zero conversions.
Effects of click farms on ad campaigns
Wasted ad spending: This is often the most noticeable impact of click farms on ad campaigns. Due to the fake clicks, advertisers quickly rack up charges that drain their ad budgets. Take an ad running on Google. A competitor can hire a click farm to drive false clicks to your ad. This drains your ad budget with little to no returns. And once you can no longer fund your ads, Google takes you off their platform.
Skewed marketing data: Making accurate marketing decisions relies on evaluating past results and determining the weak and strong points to inform future strategy and improvement. Once this data is compromised with fake clicks, the marketing data becomes useless — without it, advertisers have difficulty running ads that will effectively convert traffic into sales.
How to combat click farms
1. Enable restrictive geo-targeting
To get the best results for your ad, you have to restrict displaying ads to users in certain regions of the world known for click farms. You can easily set this preference up on any ad platform. Alternatively, you can also block specific IP addresses from accessing your ads. For example, if you notice a sudden spike in clicks from IP addresses in Hong Kong, you can block those addresses.
2. Opt for tasking pre-qualification challenges
CAPTCHA challenges for human verification aren’t as compelling — or complex — as they used to be. In less than 5 seconds, click farm workers can bypass the challenge of accessing your ads. However, creating a tasking challenge that requires complete concentration frustrates the workers, hence preventing them from draining your ad budget since they can’t do it at scale.
3. Avoid fraudulent publishers and ad platforms
Sometimes, the click farms draining your ad budget are directly from the publishers or supply-side platforms you use. These platforms advertise ad space promising high traffic, clicks, views and impressions to help you connect with your audience. Meanwhile, the traffic they’re promising is from click farms. Avoid this scheme by working with ad platforms and publishers that use ads.txt.
ds.txt, which stands for Authorized Digital Sellers, is a text file allowing publishers to list resellers of their ad inventory. As an advertiser, this list is essential in deterring fake traffic and clicks from eating up your ad budget. Ads.txt benefits include safeguarding advertisers from bogus ad inventory and more accessible matching seller IDs during bid requests.
To summarize the pervasive click farm problem: The overall demand for clicks and user attention is a booming industry that, unfortunately, continues to attract bad actors. Ad networks generally offer some level of protection to all advertisers, but click farms have developed sophisticated systems to bypass this protection. While there’s no single solution for eliminating click farms, utilizing the abovementioned strategies will prevent ad budget losses on fraudulent clicks.
Fewer people are starting their product searches on Amazon.
When you’re looking to find a product online, your first stop is most likely Amazon(AMZN -0.36%). The majority of online product searches start with the e-commerce giant, followed by a regular old search engine like Alphabet‘s (GOOG 0.59%)(GOOGL 0.39%) Google.
But Amazon’s dominance of product searches appears to be waning while search engines like Google remain resilient.
Is Google gaining ground?
Jungle Scout, a company that develops software for online marketplace merchants, recently asked consumers where they start their product searches online.
While 61% of respondents said they started on Amazon during the second quarter, that’s down from 74% in the first quarter of 2021. Meanwhile, search engines have remained steady at 49%. (Respondents could select more than one option.)
That might suggest Google is becoming a better discovery platform for online shopping. It’s been an area of focus for Google for years, even before former CEO and executive chairman Eric Schmidt called Amazon its biggest competitor.
Current CEO Sundar Pichai said investments in e-commerce are paying off. During Alphabet’s second-quarter earnings call, Pichai said: “People are shopping across Google more than 1 billion times each day. We see hundreds of millions of shopping searches on Google Images each month.”
Interestingly, Amazon wasn’t the only site or app that saw fewer respondents in 2022 versus 2021. In fact, practically every other potential response was selected less often, except for search engines. That includes Walmart and social media apps. That’s despite heavy investments from competitors, including Alphabet’s YouTube, in growing e-commerce on their platforms.
The survey shows Amazon is still dominating other retailers in the product-search space and fending off the growth of social media. Overall, consumers might be using fewer sources to search for products online, but Amazon remains the top option for more people than anything else.
Amazon has built a business as a search engine
The reason investors need to pay attention to Amazon’s position as a product search engine is that it now runs a very big business based on product searches. The bulk of its ad revenue comes from sponsored products and brands in its search results.
Last quarter, ad revenue grew 18% to $8.76 billion. That’s a $35 billion run rate. And that revenue is very high-margin relative to its marketplace, third-party seller services, and even its cloud computing business. Notably, that ad revenue growth has slowed significantly after monster increases in 2020 and 2021.
Amazon dominates e-commerce channel advertising even more than it dominates e-commerce. While its robust user base and meaningful data on its users help attract more-valuable ads, it’s the search traffic that has led to that dominance.
As e-commerce growth continues to outpace in-store sales growth, Amazon is poised to see the benefit of shifting ad budgets from things like end caps in store aisles to banner ads on Amazon and other online retail websites.
But Google sees that opportunity as well, and it could present a bigger threat to the growth of Amazon’s ad business than any of its retail competitors. While the most recent Jungle Scout survey indicates Google is making progress in e-commerce, Amazon remains at the top of the chart. For now, there appears to be plenty of growth left in Amazon’s ad business, but Amazon investors should keep an eye on Google’s progress in e-commerce advertising.
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