by tyler | Mar 18, 2024 | Tech
Hello, and welcome back to Equity , the podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.
This is our Monday show, in which we take a look back at the weekend and what’s ahead in the week. We’re coming to the end of earnings season, which means that there are just a few weeks left in the first quarter.
With spring in the air, here’s what we got into this morning:
For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website .
Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts , Overcast , Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto , a show that interviews founders and more!
by tyler | Mar 18, 2024 | Tech
LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned social platform, has made a name for itself primarily as a platform for people looking to network and pick up knowledge for professional purposes, and for recruitment — a business that now has more 1 billion users. Now, to boost the time people are spending on the platform, the company is breaking into a totally new area: gaming.
TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that LinkedIn is working on a new games experience. It will be doing so by tapping into the same wave of puzzle-mania that helped simple games like Wordle find viral success and millions of players. Three early efforts are games called “Queens”, “Inference” and “Crossclimb.”
App researchers have started to find code that points to the work LinkedIn is doing. One of them, Nima Owji, said that one idea LinkedIn appears to be experimenting with involves player scores being organised by places of work, with companies getting “ranked” by those scores.
BREAKING: #LinkedIn is working on IN-APP GAMES!
There are going to be a few different games and companies will be ranked in the games based on the scores of their employees!
Pretty cool and fun, in my opinion! pic.twitter.com/hLITqc8aqw
— Nima Owji (@nima_owji) March 16, 2024
A spokesperson for LinkedIn has confirmed that it is working on gaming, but said there is as yet no launch date.
“We’re playing with adding puzzle-based games within the LinkedIn experience to unlock a bit of fun, deepen relationships, and hopefully spark the opportunity for conversations,” the spokesperson said in a message to TechCrunch. “Stay tuned for more!”
The spokesperson added that the images shared by the researcher on X are not the latest versions.
(Update: some updated pictures have now been supplied, which we’re embedding below.)
LinkedIn’s owner Microsoft is a gaming behemoth. Its games business — which includes Xbox, Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax — brought in $7.1 billion in revenues last quarter , passing Windows revenues for the first time.
The LinkedIn spokesperson declined to say how and if Microsoft is involved in the gaming project at LinkedIn.
Games are regularly among the most popular apps for mobile phones and PCs — both in terms of revenues and engagement — and puzzle-based casual games has been one of the most popular categories in the space among mobile users. Non-gaming platforms have long tapped into these facts to boost their own traffic — arguably a trend that preceded the internet, if you think about the popularity of crosswords and other puzzles in newspapers and magazines.
The New York Times, which acquired the viral hit Wordle in 2022 , said at the end of last year that that millions of people continue to play the game, which is now part of a bigger platform of online puzzles and games developed by the newspaper.
Others that have doubled down on gaming have seen mixed results. Facebook, the world’s biggest social network, has been a major driver of social gaming over the years. But in 2022 it shut down its standalone gaming app amid a decline in usage: it’s putting significantly more focus these days on mixed reality experiences and its Meta Quest business.
Over the years, LinkedIn has tried out a number of different new features over the years to boost how and how much people use its platform, with the strategy possibly best described as: “how can we take the most popular tools people are using right now and make them relevant to LinkedIn’s audience and focus on the world of work?”
Those have ranged from efforts in online education and professional development, through to a publishing and news operation, bringing in more video tools and courting creators and influencers .
by tyler | Mar 18, 2024 | Tech
Hello, and welcome back to Equity , the podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.
This is our Monday show, in which we take a look back at the weekend and what’s ahead in the week. We’re coming to the end of earnings season, which means that there are just a few weeks left in the first quarter.
With spring in the air, here’s what we got into this morning:
For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website .
Equity drops at 7 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts , Overcast , Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto , a show that interviews founders and more!
by tyler | Mar 14, 2024 | Tech
Microsoft-owned professional social network, LinkedIn, is the latest to get a formal request for information (RFI) from the EU. The Commission, which oversees larger platforms’ compliance with a subset of risk management, transparency and algorithm accountability rules in its ecommerce rulebook, the Digital Services Act (DSA), is asking questions about LinkedIn’s use of user data for ad targeting.
Of specific concern is whether LinkedIn is breaching the DSA’s prohibition on larger platforms’ use of sensitive data for ad targeting.
Sensitive data under EU law refers to categories of personal data such as health information, political, religious or philosophical views, racial or ethnic origin, sexual orientation and trade union membership. Profiling based on such data to target ads is banned under the law.
The regulation also requires larger platforms (aka VLOPs) to provide users with basic information about the nature and origins of an ad. They must also make an ads archive publicly available and searchable — in a further measure aimed at driving accountability around paid messaging on popular platforms.
In a press release announcing the RFI Thursday, the Commission wrote that it’s asking for “more details on how their service complies with the prohibition of presenting advertisements based on profiling using special categories of personal data”. It also flagged LinkedIn’s requirement to provide users with ad targeting info.
LinkedIn has been given until April 5 to respond to the RFI.
Reached for a response to the Commission’s action, a LinkedIn spokesperson responded by email — stating: “ LinkedIn complies with the DSA, including its provisions regarding ad targeting. We look forward to cooperating with the Commission on this matter.”
The RFI represents an early stage in a potential DSA enforcement procedure — suggesting the EU has found issues which are prompting it to ask questions about how LinkedIn adheres to the ban on sensitive data for ads but hasn’t yet established preliminary concerns which would lead it to open a formal investigation. Such a step may follow, though, if it’s not satisfied with the answers it gets.
Compliance is serious business as confirmed violations of the DSA can attract fines of up to 6% of global annual turnover. The DSA also empowers the EU to impose fines for incorrect, incomplete, or misleading information in response to an RFI.
The Commission said its RFI to LinkedIn follows a complaint by civil society organizations, EDRi, Global Witness , Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte and Bits of Freedom, back in February — which called for “effective enforcement of the DSA”.
LinkedIn isn’t the only platform to be in the EU’s spotlight when it comes to use of data for ads. Earlier this month , Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, received an RFI from the Commission asking for more details about how it complies with the DSA’s requirement that use of people’s data for ads needs explicit consent.
A number of other RFIs have also been fired at VLOPs by the EU since the regulation began to apply on them in August last year .
The Commission has said its enforcement is prioritizing action on illegal content/hate speech, child protection, election security and marketplace safety.
Earlier today it announced its first formal investigation of a marketplace, Alibaba’s AliExpress, citing a long list of suspected violations. It also has two open probes of social media sites X and TikTok — raising another string of concerns, such as around illegal content and risk management; and content moderation practices and transparency.
Add to that, today the Commission dialled up scrutiny on how tech giants are responding to risks related to generative AI, such as political deepfakes — sending a bundle of RFIs, including with a eye on the upcoming European Parliament elections in June.
Now the EU is asking questions about Meta’s ‘pay or be tracked’ consent model
EU dials up scrutiny of major platforms over GenAI risks ahead of elections
by tyler | Jan 17, 2024 | Tech
LinkedIn is rolling out new tools that are designed to help people find relevant job opportunities, the company announced on Wednesday. A new “Job Collections” feature will allow users to expand their job options by exploring collections of relevant jobs across a variety of industries and companies that they may have been unaware of. Plus, the platform is launching a new “Preferences” page that makes it easier to select and manage your preferences.
In a blog post, LinkedIn noted that job applications are up an average of 16% per person per job, and that competition is heating up. The platform’s new Job Collections feature aims to make it easier for people to find opportunities that are a fit for them. To get started with Job Collections, you have to visit the Jobs tab on LinkedIn. From there, you have to look for “Explore with Job Collections.” Next, you can click on any of the collections that align with your interests. For example, you can look at jobs that offer remote work or good parental leave.
Image Credits: LinkedIn
Image Credits: LinkedIn
You can also look at industry-specific collections, such as food & beverage, healthcare, media, pro sports and more. If you’re someone who has always worked in large companies but want to try something new, you can choose look at job opportunities at startups and small businesses.
As for the new preferences page, LinkedIn says users can now manage their preferences in once place in order to ensure the best possible chances for an ideal job match. The new preferences page can be located at the top of the Jobs tab on mobile and on the left rail on desktop. Once you set your preferences, LinkedIn will highlight them in green on every job details page so you can quickly determine if it aligns with your ideals.
The preferences you can set include employment type (full-time, part-time, contract, etc.) and location type (remote, hybrid, on-site). Plus, you can set a minimum pay preference in you’re in the United States. LinkedIn plans to add more preferences to the page in the future.
LinkedIn is also introducing a new “I’m Interested” button that allows you to privately express interest in working for a company without having to apply for a specific role. You can do so even if there aren’t any open roles at the company. After you have signaled your interest, recruiters at the company may look at your profile when looking for candidates. LinkedIn recommends expressing your interest for your top 10-20 companies.
Today’s announcements come as LinkedIn is beginning to roll out a new AI-powered LinkedIn Premium experience that is designed to help people quickly assess if a job opening is a good fit for them. The tool can also help users identify the best way to position themselves for any job, while also learning more about the company and industry.
LinkedIn is rolling out these new tools as a new wave of layoffs have hit the tech industry. Last week, Google laid off over 1,000 employees across its Google Assistant division and the team that manages Pixel, Nest and Fitbit hardware. Also last week, Audible laid off 5% of its workforce , Discord laid off 17% of its staff and Amazon laid off “several hundreds” of employees at Prime Video and MGM Studios.
LinkedIn, now at 1B users, turns on OpenAI-powered reading and writing tools
