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Home » Updates of Interest: Snapchat, Wikipedia and Apple

Updates of Interest: Snapchat, Wikipedia and Apple

by | Mar 18, 2016

We understand. You were so busy daydreaming about leaving your office for the warm weather that you missed out on recent updates of interest. Check out what you may have missed while you were looking out that window waiting for Spring to arrive.

Snapchat: It’s Getting Personal

Snapchat is ending its lens store two months after its launch and will focus on building their ad revenue instead. Having trouble saying goodbye to your Snapchat shades? Have no fear, Snapchat added a new “on demand” feature that enables users to create their own geofilter starting at only $5. The process seems very simple, and you can even try it right now to experiment with prices, logos and locations. That’s not all–celebrate your birthday with Snapchat through the Birthday Party feature that enables a personalized filter only available on your birthday. With Snapchat catching up to Facebook’s eight-billion views per day, it’s no wonder they’ve decided to focus much of their efforts on advertising.

Wikipedia is still not Google Rival?

Don’t change  your default search engine just yet. Reports of Wikipedia receiving $250,000 in funding to secretly develop “the Knowledge Engine” that would rival Google’s search engine are false, according to the Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia’s parent company). Many of Wikipedia’s community and editors were outraged because the proposal was not a part of the foundation’s publicly available annual plan. Shortly after the grant proposal was leaked, the executive director of Wikimedia, Lila Tretikov, announced her resignation to the Wikimedia community. Although the Wikipedia community is probably pleased with the cleared-up rumors, Wikipedia now has a new challenge of finding a replacement for her position.

The Apple-FBI Fight Isn’t Over

There’s been an ongoing fight between the FBI and Apple over the FBI’s demand to gain custom access to an iPhone used by a terrorist involved in the San Bernardino shooting. The FBI’s argument is that if the country wants more security, they have to give up a little privacy. Apple released a letter to their customers ensuring that all iPhone data and content is safe and cannot be accessed…even by themselves. So who’s right? It seems as if the country is split, with 51% of Americans supporting the FBI, while 31% support Apple, with the remaining 11% undecided. Companies like Twitter or Facebook strongly stand with Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, but Microsoft’s Bill Gates believes there should be balance between privacy and security. This leaves us with one question: what is the iPhone privacy fight really about?

About the Author

Greg Kihlström

Greg is an award-winning digital strategist, creative director, author and speaker. He is currently SVP Digital at Yes& (a Capitol Communicator Sponsor) as of Fall 2017 when Carousel30, the agency he founded, was acquired.He has worked with brands such as AARP, AOL, Booz Allen Hamilton, Choice Hotels, GEICO, Howard University, Marriott, MTV, The Nature Conservancy, Porsche, Toyota, United Nations and others. His work has won awards from the ADDYs, Webbys and others, been featured in books by HarperCollins and Rockport Press, publications such as Advertising Age, Communication Arts, Web Designer and Website magazine.He currently serve as VP of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) District 2, and as a Board Member of the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business Marketing Industry Mentoring Board (MIMB). He is Past President of AAF DC, and served on the National Board of AAF, Board of Trustees of the Trust for the George Washington Memorial Parkway, the Board of AIGA DC, and the Trust for the National Mall's National Advisory Board.

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