Tag: Messaging

Messaging Is the New Platform

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Enhanced messaging is a game changer for anyone looking to finally connect meaningfully to their customers

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announcing the Messenger Platform last year

Something new and very big is happening in messaging right now.

To further inflect their growth curve, Facebook has released a bot platform on top of Messenger, and Twitter has accomplished largely the same via their improved DM system. Together with Samsung and their RCS messaging format (intended to eventually replace SMS, cross-platform) as well as iMessage through Apple Business Chat (ABC) we are seeing conversational interfaces that actually sets a new bar that enables a whole new set of powerful use cases on these platforms.

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Has Uber Built an Ant Farm For Its Drivers?

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The NewCo Daily: Today’s Top Stories

Walter | Flickr

When it comes to experimenting with contractors’ behavior, how far do gig-economy companies like Uber go? Pretty far, according to a new in-depth account by The New York Times’ Noam Scheiber.

In a sense, the entire Uber platform is like a Skinner box or ant farm for isolating and examining how different incentives and inputs produce different outputs from riders and drivers. Uber is constantly tweaking the behavior of its drivers, the people formerly known as employees, with gamification-style interface elements — like badge rewards or notifications that pop up to say, “You’re $10 away from making $330 in net earnings. Are you sure you want to go offline?”

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Predictions 2017: Tech Industry Backlash, Trump Leaves Twitter, Snap Sours + 7 More

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This is my 14th annual predictions post. And as I look back on the previous 13 and consider what to write, I’m flooded with uncertainty. That’s not like me. Writing these predictions is something I’ve always looked forward to — I don’t prepare in any demonstrable way, but I do gather crumbs over time, filing them away for the day when I sit down and free associate for however long it takes me to complete this post.

But this time, well, for the first time ever I have very little idea what’s about to come out of the keyboard. Honestly, when I consider the coming 12 months, so much feels up for grabs that I wonder whether it’s wise to prognosticate. Then I remember, it’s all of you reading these words who keep me writing in the first place — your encouragement, your wise (and sometimes cutting) commentary, and your willingness to spend a little time with me and my thoughts. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to write more — it’s always been how I make sense of the world, and this year, the world feels like it needs a lot more sense making. So I’ll be writing at least a few times a week going forward, starting with this uncertain post.

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