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Snapchat tries to make money while sticking to its roots

29/04/2023
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Snapchat’s parent company, Snap, is leaning up efforts to expand beyond its loyal user base and reach profitability with new tactics, including the use of artificial intelligence.

During the annual conference, CEO Evan Spiegel revealed that an average of 750 million people worldwide use the image-centric messaging service each month, with the majority falling between the ages of 13 and 34. Despite its popularity, Snap has struggled to generate significant revenue from advertising and turned an annual profit, unlike Meta, which includes Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The company’s net loss tripled to $1.43 billion last year, leading to a fifth of its workforce being laid off.

Snap’s new tools and products are aimed at attracting audience-winning creators, encouraging users to pay for subscriptions, and convincing advertisers that the app is a worthwhile platform. However, as Snap seeks ways to make money, it must be “careful not to stray too far from its roots” as an ephemeral, fun messaging service, warns Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg.

Balancing private exchanges, “public spaces,” and a sense of “community and intimacy” cultivated since its inception will be critical for Snapchat’s success.

Snapchat’s pioneering use of images to communicate and augment what cameras see using AI “lenses” was a significant draw for users in its early days. However, as other platforms copied its ephemeral messaging, Snapchat’s relevance has waned, with Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi noting that “no one is talking about” Snapchat.

Unlike TikTok and Meta, the app doesn’t attract the attention of regulators. Nonetheless, Spiegel sees Snapchat as a break from the “social media popularity contest” where users can enjoy authentic communication with friends and family without the pressure of looking “pretty or perfect” in every post.

Snapchat’s new tools include the ability to ask questions of a “My AI” chatbot in group exchanges, which subscribers to the Snapchat+ subscription service can soon use to receive a “unique generative Snap back that keeps the visual conversation going.”

The company is also working to woo social media influencers whose posts attract viewers and advertisers. Snap Vice President Jack Brody believes creators find Snapchat to be a place where they can “express their authentic selves,” while Alyssa McKay, a top female creator on Snapchat, says she has a strong relationship with her audience because they feel they know her. However, most social media influencers do not consider Snapchat essential, preferring to focus on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, according to Alessandra Angelini, founder of Influur.

Snap also unveiled ARES, its new business unit that will provide online retailers with a suite of augmented reality tools, further expanding its offerings beyond messaging. As Snap seeks to balance its roots with profitability, the success of its new initiatives and products remains to be seen.

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Want to Make Money in the Stock Market? Try Doing Nothing

28/04/2023
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The best way to make money in the stock market may be… doing nothing at all.

That’s the idea behind a recent analysis by Morningstar chief ratings officer Jeffrey Ptak, who created (and analyzed) a model portfolio of S&P 500 companies that a hypothetical investor had been holding — and not touching, except to reinvest dividends — for the last decade.

his discovery? The hands-off method performed just as well, if not better, than the entire index.

The “do nothing” approach to investing isn’t new. It’s the idea that over the long term, setting up your portfolio and letting it grow will leave you better off than making frequent changes, chasing short-term gains or reacting to news headlines.

It’s an especially important lesson for investors right now, when markets are volatile and the economic headlines are especially scary (inflation! Interest rates increase! An earnings recession!), and it feels much like the next crash could be right around the corner.

For nervous investors, there’s a lot of temptation to move money out of poorly performing assets and into safer ones — or out of the market entirely. For bold investors, it can be equally tempting to hunt for bargains when asset prices are falling.

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How ‘doing nothing’ performs in the stock market

Luckily, Ptak’s “Do Nothing Portfolio” — which was based on all of the S&P’s holdings as of the end of March 2013 — reveals an easier way to beat the market.

The basket generated a 12.2% return over the 10-year period between 2013 and 2023 — nearly exactly the same as the performance of the entire S&P 500 index over the same time. It was also less volatile. That’s especially surprising, Ptak wrote in a blog post, because his portfolio wasn’t rebalanced or adjusted as the S&P 500 changed. In the index itself, on the other hand, stocks were added and removed.

At the end of the decade, the portfolio also equaled the S&P 500’s performance despite holding a considerable amount of cash, which Ptak added to the basket as companies in the S&P were acquired over the course of the years. He says this cash helped cushion the blow of declines in the market without dragging too much on returns.

Ptak was able to replicate his results over two more 10-year periods. He determined that “the Do Nothing Portfolio would have acquired itself very well over the full 30-year period, earning a slightly higher return than the S&P 500 with less volatility,” he wrote.

He attributed that success to a few factors.

For one, holding cash in a portfolio (rather than being 100% invested) can insulate against losses and allow for new investments when necessary. Second, resisting the temptation to add new stocks to

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How To Make Money With AI and Chat GPT: Earn $1,000 Per Month

22/04/2023
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Developing programming and coding technologies.

scyther5 / Getty Images/iStockphoto

You may have heard about Jackson Greathouse Fall, who asked OpenAI’s ChatGPT to give him instructions to turn $100 into “as much money as possible.” He followed the chatbot’s instructions and within days created an affiliate marketing website worth more than $1,378. Another ChatGPT user claimed to make $6,147 in a week.

Read: How to Build A Financial Plan From Zero

The message is clear: You can make a lot of money quickly using ChatGPT and other AI platforms. But how? Keep reading to find out.

How To Make Money on Chat GPT: 4 Ways To Earn $1,000

How are people using ChatGPT to make money? AI and ChatGPT do not offer get-rich-quick schemes. But if you are willing to put in the time and couple ChatGPT with your other skills, you can easily earn $1,000 per month or more.

Here’s a look at four ways to earn extra income by using ChatGPT.

1. Write Articles With Help From ChatGPT

The average freelance writer earns $68,690 per year, according to ZipRecruiter. That is much more than $1,000 per week.

But what if you could write faster using ChatGPT to help you outline and research? You could earn more money in less time.

You can also use ChatGPT to help you write articles for your affiliate marketing website. This would allow you to earn money from sales of products that you promote on your website. ChatGPT can even help you find lucrative affiliate programs to join.

2. Use ChatGPT for Social Media Management

You can also use ChatGPT to create effective and compelling social media content to help promote your affiliate website. Influencers who are already earning money from social media can use ChatGPT to create more effective content faster.

With ChatGPT as your assistant, you can also sell your services as a social media manager to other companies. Knowing how to use ChatGPT effectively to create the right type of content is a specialized skill. That skill will become more profitable and in-demand as the program’s capabilities grow.

What Is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a sophisticated chatbot created by OpenAI. It can hold written conversations, help you research topics and even write content. It learns as you speak with it, growing more sophisticated day by day. The company calls this technology “Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback,” and it makes ChatGPT one of the most sophisticated AI systems for languages available today.

3. Use ChatGPT To Create an App or a Chrome Extension

ChatGPT doesn’t just help people put words on the screen. It can also help with coding and programming. If you have an idea for an app or a Chrome extension, you can use ChatGPT to help you write the code.

4. Create Effective Marketing Campaigns

You can always benefit from a comprehensive marketing strategy, even if you feel confident in your ability to create content for websites or social media. ChatGPT can help you find your target audience and generate a marketing plan that works,

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“That was just me trying to make money to eat”: Aubrey Plaza Chased Down Donald Trump in ‘Noddy the Elf’ Costume for $7 an Hour to Make Ends Meet

21/04/2023
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American actress Aubrey Plaza is a well-known name in the industry right now. She gained a lot of popularity after starring in Parks and Recreation (2009-2015), Ingrid Goes West (2017), and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010). She has displayed her distinctive style of acting with a pinch of dark humor in every project she has been a part of.

But what did she do before she was famous? Like every normal person, Aubrey Plaza had to work odd jobs just to keep her stomach full. She once talked about how she met Donald Trump dressed up as Noddy the elf at a gig to earn money.

Aubrey Plaza met Donald Trump in 2007

Last year, actress Aubrey Plaza appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and talked about an odd job that she took up before she was famous. During the interview, David Letterman pulled out a photo from 2007 of Aubrey Plaza alongside Donald Trump. Although you can’t see her face because of the costume, the actress confirmed that it was behind the mask. she said,

“That had nothing to do with me trying to be an actor or anything. That was just me trying to make money to eat. I found a job on Craigslist to play that character, which is actually a British children’s character named Noddy the elf. I’ve never read any of the books and don’t know anything about the character, but I did dress up as Noddy the elf.”

The outfit was meant to appeal to the kids, as it included a huge cartoonish head with a permanent smile plastered on it. She used to get paid $7 per hour for the job.

Also read: “It’s not a good feeling, it sucks”: Amid Financial Struggle, Aubrey Plaza Was Fired From Many “Odd Jobs” Before Her Successful Hollywood Career

The actress was asked to take a picture with Donald Trump

Donald Trump and Aubrey Plaza (in the costume) — Donald Trump and Aubrey Plaza (in costumes)

Aubrey Plaza met Donald Trump at the FAO Schwarz toy store in New York. She recalled that her boss asked her to click a picture with Donald Trump,

“My boss at the time said, ‘The only thing you have to do tonight is to get a picture with Donald Trump. That’s all I need you to do. Do it or you’re fired.’”

She explained that she did her quirkiest moves while approaching Trump to get his attention but “he kept shooing me away,” she recalled. However, she finally got the shot.

Also read: “Sh*t’s F*cked”: Aubrey Plaza Could Not Believe She Was Forced to Hide Her UnderB*ob While Accepting SAG Awards on Stage

Aubrey Plaza is a big celebrity today

Looking back at it, it’s a funny story about how she met Donald Trump. Now, since she has become famous, thanks to her dark humor and unique style of acting, she no longer has to work as Noddy the elf.

She rose to fame in the late 2000s and early

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Why is the Biden administration helping Trafigura make money for a Kremlin kingpin?

20/04/2023
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Qthe US government is enabling a major commodity trader to funnel money back to Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

This undermines US sanctions against Russia imposed over the war in Ukraine. It also limits the opportunity for US companies to establish alternate supply chains in the US and allied interests.

RUSSIA AND NORTH KOREA ASSIST CHINA BY PRESSURING PACIFIC FORCES

The company in question is Trafigura, a major multinational company based out of Singapore. As the Financial Times recently reported, the US government has sought to persuade Trafigura and other traders to move Russian oil without fear of sanctions.

On paper, Trafigura is an odd benefactor of choice for the Biden administration’s grace. The company has been involved in numerous scandals over the years. This includes a 2006 incident in which Trafigura chartered a vessel that then dumped toxic waste in the Ivory Coast. The Guardians later proved that Trafigura had sought to cover up its responsibility for the scandal, even pursuing a “superinjunction” to prevent media reporting on it.

Trafigura was most recently taken in a fraud scheme worth $580 million. Having bought what it claimed it believed to be nickel, Trafigura said it only discovered the fraud when it opened shipping containers and found them to hold far lower-value carbon steel instead. Trafigura is now taking legal action against the individual it blames for the fraud, but it is unclear how the company’s due diligence efforts failed so spectacularly. The firm recently announced that some of its senior leaders will be stepping down.

That said, Trafigura defines itself by its close relationship with the Russian energy and commodities sector (a statement by Trafigura to the Washington Examiner follows at the end of this article).

In a statement to the Washington Examinerthe US State Department did not specifically address Trafigura, but it said, “We are working diligently to ensure that our sanctions have the most impact on Russia, not others. The US does not currently have sanctions in place against Russian energy exports to other countries. We have taken steps to make it clear to commercial actors that the US Department of the Treasury has issued General License 8 authorizing energy-related transactions with sanctioned Russian banks, so those payments can continue. The US and our allies’ and partners’ sanctions and export controls are structured for long-term effects to weaken Russia’s position as a global energy producer and supplier in response to its ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine.”

How the State Department’s incentivizing of Russian oil flows supports a “long-term effort to weaken Russia’s position as a global energy producer” is unclear.

Regardless, as its competitors have distanced themselves from Russian investments in response to the war in Ukraine, Trafigura is steaming ahead with new business activities. Reports suggest that it was negotiating a multibillion-dollar deal to acquire aluminum from Russia’s Rusal company. Reports also indicate Trafigura very recently purchased large amounts of Russian copper from the London Metals Exchange.

But it is Russia’s supreme energy giant, Rosneft,