When Twitter ($TWTR) announced last week that they were permanently suspending the President’s personal account I was surprised – but I really don’t think they had an option. It’s very clear that Twitter’s growth has been heavily influenced by Trump and I expect the company will see user attrition as a result. Already, over the last few days, their stock has been falling. That said, there was no way out here. The simple fact is that Twitter makes money from advertisers and this cohort is about as risk averse as can be. Brands don’t want to be next to controversial rhetoric so they often will blacklist platforms or services that could be considered threatening. During my time at Jarden when I was overseeing our global advertising, we were constantly tweaking our buys to avoid anything that could be considered controversial. If Twitter had done nothing, while their user base would likely have remained robust, their earnings would have fallen precipitously as advertisers abandoned the platform. This, also likely would have been a jolt to the stock – and ultimately their business model.
Category: Life
This is the first year that sales on Cyber Monday are expected to exceed Black Friday, but then of course, this year is anything but normal. I’ve never been a fan of the whole holiday shopping frenzy. As food lines extend miles and millions of people remain unemployed, it’s more important than ever to give back this year.
I’ve been reading recently how an increasing number of companies (and startups) are giving their employees off today in order to vote. I applaud this move. It should be a national holiday so everyone has a chance to go out and make a difference. We are very fortunate that we even have a say in our democracy, while around the world this is not always the case.
Nearly 100 million people have already voted either through in person early voting or by mail – this is nearly three-quarters of the number of votes cast in the entire 2016 election. I expect, in the end, we’ll see significantly more voter turnout for this election then we did in 2016 and that’s a good thing.
I voted by mail, but for those who haven’t, I urge you to go out today and exercise your right to vote.
I’ve been away from NYC the last couple of months as the pandemic unfolded but recently came back to a different experience. As I left the terminal at LaGuardia on a weekday morning there were no taxi lines and no one hustling me for a ride. It was strange but also somewhat peaceful. After a record setting 25 min into Manhattan I arrived downtown. I spent the afternoon walking around a few different neighborhoods to get a feel for how things had changed. Some shop owners told me business was slower for sure, and yet others said it’s about normal for August. Some said they had been able to negotiate rent concessions, others had not. People were in less of a rush and the tourists were gone. The parks were more alive than I’ve ever seen as people sat out on blankets with friends and their 4-legged friends.
I love to travel so when an opportunity comes up I head somewhere international. This year, my trip was to Peru which I had never visited before. As the Coronavirus pandemic was just building in early March, I started to think will my fight be cancelled for March 10th. In the week prior, I had started to see people buying hand sanitizer but for the most part things were calm and it was just another day commuting on the subway in New York. The idea of social distancing didn’t exist and virtually no one wore face masks. So the night before my flight, I made a final decision that I was going to go.
By guest author: Brandon Tendler
As Jorge Hernandes arrives at his destination in a darkly lit industrial complex off the beaten path in North Miami, he sees a small sign that says “pick up here”, Jorge enters the facility where about 7 other delivery drivers await, all of their names listed on the wall with real time updates tracking where their orders are in the kitchen. He notices in the back several separate units, each has its own prep area, kitchen and packing station. The to go bags leaving the facility are all adorned with different brands and contain different cuisines from new restaurant brands never heard of before.