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🤖 eCommerce news:

📸 Instagram’s co-founders are back with Artifact, a kind of TikTok for text  "Artifact — the name represents the merging of articles, facts, and artificial intelligence — is opening up its waiting list to the public today. The company plans to let users in quickly, Systrom says. You can sign up yourself here; the app is available for both Android and iOS. The simplest way to understand Artifact is as a kind of TikTok for text, though you might also call it Google Reader reborn as a mobile app or maybe even a surprise attack on Twitter. The app opens to a feed of popular articles chosen from a curated list of publishers ranging from leading news organizations like The New York Times to small-scale blogs about niche topics. Tap on articles that interest you, and Artifact will serve you similar posts and stories in the future, just as watching videos on TikTok’s For You page tunes its algorithm over time."

📧 LinkedIn Adds New Newsletter Showcase Tools to Help Users Tap Into Newsletter Growth  "After going through a brief boom period a couple of years back, where every social platform was looking to add in newsletter features, the option has cooled somewhat in recent months, with most now scaling back their newsletter creation options. But on LinkedIn, newsletters have continued to grow, with the platform recently reporting that newsletter creation in the app was up 10X year-over-year. Newsletters have become a popular means of connection on the platform, which could present new opportunities for your outreach. And if you’re considering LinkedIn newsletters, these new updates will help."

☑️ Instagram Adds Lead Forms as CTA Button Option on Business Profiles "This is an interesting addition for digital marketers – Instagram had added a new ‘Lead Form’ option within your IG business profile action buttons, which provides new ways to generate direct response from your business presence in the app."

🎶 TikTok Adds New Video Insights Element to Dig Deeper into Content Trends  "The new overview provides data on comparative ad performance (vs industry benchmarks), insight into how specific elements in your clips are resonating, audience breakdown insights and more.TikTok says that the new insights will provide more guidance on potential angles for your content, and updates that you can test to improve performance. “Try out different hooks, rearrange video elements, or make a new video based on the same topic, based on performance trends.”

💰Twitter Applies for US Licenses to Facilitate In-App Payments  "Twitter has taken its next steps towards facilitating payments in the app, with The Financial Times reporting that the company has begun applying for regulatory licenses in US states, the next legal requirement for providing payment services in the app. Payments, which Elon Musk has a long history in, could be another way for Twitter to generate revenue, by enabling transactions between users, from which it would then take a small percentage. Musk has repeatedly flagged his vision for payments as part of his broader push to make Twitter into an ‘everything app’, which would provide more functionality and usage benefits."

🔗 Linktree adds new monetization options, including a ‘Buy Me a Gift’ feature "First, Linktree is launching a new “Buy Me a Gift” button that is somewhat similar to its Tip Jar feature. Buy Me a Gift is a new way for fans to say thank you to their favorite creators in a simple way. Creators can pick from five emoji gift options that represent what a fan’s gift means to them. The emojis you can choose from include the coffee emoji, taco emoji, cake emoji, beer emoji or present emoji. Then, they can set a price and connect their PayPal or Square account to get paid. Linktree says it won’t charge any transaction fees for a limited time."

📞 Fairphone nabs $53M in growth capital for ‘sustainable’ consumer electronics "Dutch social enterprise Fairphone, which makes modular and — the claim is — more sustainable and ethical consumer electronics, has nabbed a chunk of funding to continue scaling a circular-economy-aligned smartphone business. The €49 million (~$53 million) “growth capital” investment — from an international consortium of impact investors, led by new shareholders Invest-NL, the ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund and existing investor Quadia via its Regenero Impact Fund — is more than the startup has raised since being founded, back in 2010. (Fairphone had previously raised $40.7 million, per Crunchbase — spread across nine funding rounds, drawing on a range of sources from crowdfunding to VC and debt.)"

🎹 Spotify’s test of a Friends tab on mobile hints at expanded social ambitions "Spotify’s success with its year-end review known as Wrapped, designed for social sharing, may be pushing the company toward building more social experiences directly into its mobile app. The company for many months has been testing different iterations of a “friends activity” tab on its mobile app, and investors have now taken notice. During the streamer’s Q4 earnings call earlier today, the company was asked to clarify some details about its social plans. Though Spotify CEO Daniel Ek declined to comment on the specific feature the investor asked about, he didn’t shoot down the idea of Spotify becoming a more social platform. Instead, he replied that social could become “a meaningful driver of creating an even stickier and more engaging experience” for the company."

📈 Top trends:

Spotify is first music streaming service to surpass 200M paid subscribers

Snippet:

"Spotify’s number of premium subscribers increased to 205 million as of December 31st, the company announced in today’s earnings release, representing a 14 percent increase year-on-year. That helped increase its monthly active users (MAUs) to 489 million, a 20 percent rise. That’s above its guidance from last quarter, when it said it expected to reach 202 million premium subscribers and 479 million MAUs. 

The earnings release comes a week after Spotify announced layoffs affecting six percent of its company, or a little under 600 employees. But, much like other tech companies facing the same economic downturn, Spotify’s latest earnings release suggests its financial situation hasn’t significantly worsened in recent months. But as my colleague Elizabeth Lopatto recently wrote, the reasoning behind these industry layoffs could have more to do with investors than raw profitability."

The Most Visited Websites in the World - 2023 Edition [Infographic]

Link to read in full here

Link to thread below here

🙉 Stand out creator:

Mr. Beast cures 1,000 blind people

Mr Beast the biggest YouTuber in the world is changing the game of content forever.

He has over hundreds of millions of followers across his channels and is spending millions on each video to make history.

I couldn't not shout this video out.

"Half of all the blindness in the world can be saved by a 10-minute surgery"

The surgery helps removes the clouded lens and replaces it with an artificial lens.

He's literally changing lives...

In the video Mr Beast:

• Surprises a boy that's always wanted to drive but can't with a new Tesla

• Gives a man $10,000

• Surprises a man with his son who he has struggled to see since going blind

And much, much more!!!

If this doesn't make you emotional I don't know what will.

Link to the YouTube video here

Link to Linkedin post here

🐦 Twitter thread of the week:

Link to the thread here

Meme of the week 😂:

🤝 Hot jobs:

Busuu - Performance Marketing Director

"Joining Busuu means being part of one of the top EdTech companies in the world, a multiple award-winner recognised for its innovation and impact in language learning.Busuu’s vision is to empower people through languages. We are the world’s largest online community for language learning, with 120+ million registered users. We make learning a language easy by combining AI-powered courses with feedback from our global community of native speakers and lesson content designed for real life.Busuu is part of the global Chegg family. Chegg is the leading student-first connected learning platform and a NYSE listed company."

Shift - Performance Marketing Director

"Global B-corp, privately owned, £60m plus revenue and only just getting started. This well loved d2c brand is on the hunt for a talented and career driven Performance and Media Director to manage an 8 figure budget and bring the brand to life. This is a huge impact role with a Global remit owning all digital and media spend. They are taking on the big players in the space quickly becoming a challenger brand. We now need a passionate Performance leaders to drive the next stage of exciting growth. The brand offers fantastic working lifestyle and benefits."

Dr. Martens - DTC Marketing Director

"Dr. Martens is one of the most well known and culturally influential British brands around, steeped in over 60 years of heritage. Our products have become cultural icons, instantly recognisable and with timeless and democratic appeal, loved by our wearers across the world. As brand custodians, we are lucky to work for such a dynamic, thriving, and ethical business, with people from diverse backgrounds, who bring their true selves to work, and where anyone can grow their career. Do you have what it takes?

THE GIG

In this newly created role, reporting to the CMO, you’ll be responsible for developing Dr. Marten’s global DTC Consumer Experience strategy to achieve our long-term brand and business goals. As a consumer-centric, digitally-savvy, omnichannel marketer, you’ll work cross-functionally to deliver a vision that drives brand equity, acquires new consumers, and deepens customer loyalty."

That concludes another edition of Never Fully Read, where we bring you the latest and greatest in eCommerce, culture, and more, all in a quick and easy 5-minute read.

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