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The Big X (Twitter) Mistake with Monetization, and The Problem of Rigged X Engine Optimization

By
Ndubuisi Ekekwe
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1

X (yes, Twitter) is broken. It is broken because people have rigged the monetization system. In the past, I used to get value for my business research on Twitter where I could type something, and get some views about that topic.

But today, the results I get are totally uncorrelated with my search. Why? They have taken XEO (X Engine Optimization) to a new level. Simply, you can write any nonsense and hashtag trends so that when people search those trends, you show on the search, and by showing on the search, if you are a monetized account, you make money when those visitors see ads!

So, consider this tweet or whatever it is called now: “We are traveling to Umuahia tomorrow for the group meeting #Obama Biden Ukraine INEC  …”. You can list and tag unrelated things, which are trending at that time. Now, when people search for “INEC”, this post shows up. Notice that this post has nothing to do with INEC.

Why is this happening? Incentives. People want more visitors for those monetizing their accounts, and they’re pushing noise into the platform to bring traffic. Without the money, this would not have happened. They would have focused on hashtagging Umuahia alone! Elon Musk and team must fix this, because its search is broken.

Comment on Feed 

Comment 1: This is not completely the case.

The issue with deliberately misplaced hashtags has been a thing before Musk took over and long before monetization was activated.

The Twitter Trend Table has always been a powerful section of the app, and long before Musk came in, users will do anything to appear on the trend table, and in many cases where they could not, they just simply place the trending tags for the day in their tweets to drive more traffic and visibility to their post.

(The trend table gives informal communities with similar interest, geography, and activity pattern a sense of what the top conversation for the day is. And it drives tons of traffic to the top 10 tags on it daily.)

It’s something that has been prominent and I have personally been irritated by before Musk took over.

If anything, maybe the behaviour just got worse since you can now earn from those views.

Comment 1R: This is correct. However, like Ndubuisi Ekekwe opined, X or Twitter is completely broken. I had mentioned this earlier on that oftentimes trends lead you to totally unrelated posts. It used to be there in the pre-Musk era but it is now completely a metastasized cancer.

Comment 1R: Your last paragraph is what’s happening actually. The behavior has changed because of monetization. People will do anything now to get that.

My Response: Great point there. I think it is the scale that is the issue now as there is a clear monetary incentive to do it 

External Funding Routes of Early-Stage Enterprises and their Impacts on the Venture Ecosystem

By
Tiamiyu Ismail
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0

Bootstrapping a business with personal funds often proves to be a very herculean task if at all that is possible. Hence, how to secure and leverage external funding opportunities invariably constitutes a focal question in the heart of start-ups or emerging entrepreneurial firms.

Over the years, several corporate financing structures have developed, providing external funding for entrepreneurs or businesses in their early stages. These include Angels, Venture Capitals, Accelerators, Incubators and government grants or public funds. Business owners could choose any one of these alternatives based on their prevailing capital structure, model and stage.

Although each funding structure has its own targeted business or corporate investees, they collectively shape the investment ecosystem as a whole.

Accelerators

Accelerators focus mainly on early-stage enterprises or start-ups and provide them with contextual support in addition to financial support. In other words, Accelerators provide not only financial support but also mentorship, education, and networking services to enhance and accelerate the growth of early-stage entrepreneurial firms.

Accelerators are more likely to provide contextual support than financial investment as they target highly precarious firms in their early stages which do not particularly interest other institutional investors; especially the VCs. Therefore, Accelerators prefer to invest in firms that VCs think have low profitability.

Accelerators started to wax strongly in the investment ecosystem following the establishment of Y-Combinator in 2005. Since the founding of Y-Combinator other star accelerators like Techstars, and 500 startups have developed. Studies have shown that Accelerators not increase the survival probability of entrepreneurial firms and provide higher and faster returns on investment compared to VCs; they also influence the making of an effective venture ecosystem.

Angel Investors

Angel investors provide early-stage entrepreneurial firms with both financial and technical support to scale. Angel investors are often highly experienced in management and they seek to have appreciable managerial influence on the businesses they are funding. Studies have shown that most angel investors are former entrepreneurs and business managers who are investing their wealth in firms as a way of giving back to society. Therefore, unlike other investor types that are motivated by high returns, angels are motivated by the growth of the funded firms.

Venture Capitalists

Venture Capital is an equity-based financing provided to small businesses or start-ups with high or long-term growth potential. Generally, Venture Capitalists prefer to invest in relatively more mature early-stage entrepreneurial firms characterized by high industry-knowledge and technology as well as the capacity to generate profit by selling shares or initial public offerings. Most VCs concentrate in specific industries where they have expertise and can be able to mitigate risks.

In addition to providing finance support, VCs can also provide mentorship and networking opportunities to the funded companies. Funding decision in VC usually takes more time compared to other investor types because it involves a more painstaking vetting and profiling of potential investees. A type of VC funding called Micro-VC makes investments on a small scale and increases its contextual support for targeted firms, similar to accelerators, to avoid high investment risk.

Incubators

Incubators manage early-stage companies through different developmental phases until the companies have the wherewithal in terms of finances, physical structures and human resources to function independently. Incubators’ support to early-stage companies can include; office space, administrative functions, education and mentorship, access to investors and capital and ideation. These may involve a fee on or an equity stake in the business. Unlike Accelerators that focus on established early-stage businesses, incubators focus on concepts that have yet to transition into a full-fledged business.

Relationship between Investment Types, Behaviours and Performance

Early-stage firms that could access one or more of the aforementioned external funding should have higher survivability and liquidity compared to early enterprises that could not access any of those investment supports. However, studies have shown that investment behaviour and performance can differ according to these investment types.

Choi and Kim (2018), analyzes over 30,000 investment data involving Accelerators, Angels, and Venture Capitalists from the CrunchBase database and discovers that the performance of Accelerators differs from that of Venture Capitalists, but is similar to that of Angels. The study shows that while Accelerators’ investees perform well post funding, Venture Capitals’ investees perform well in terms of survivability.

Resource:
Yunsoo Choi and Dohyeon Kim (2018). The effects of investor types on investee performance: Focusing on the seed accelerator. Cogent economics & finance

Telecom Investment in Nigeria Records Significant Increase, Rises From $38b to $77b in Q2 2023

By
Ojukwu Emmanuel
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0

Nigeria’s telecom investment is reported to have recorded a significant increase in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023, rising from $38 billion to $77 billion.

This was disclosed by the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta who lauded the milestone during a media chat with media industry stakeholders in Kano.

According to Prof. Danbatta, the telecom sector contributed 16 percent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during this period, (Q2) 2023.

In his words,

“From about eight percent contribution to GDP in 2015, when I came on board as the EVC of NCC, quarterly GDP has increased significantly to reach its current threshold of 16 percent and this has continued to positively impact all aspects of the economy”.

Prof. Danbatta lauded his leadership as NCC boss while disclosing that through the effective implementation of NCC’s mandates, the telecommunications industry in Nigeria has achieved remarkable milestones under his watch.

“While we acknowledge the challenges encountered by the industry, we have also witnessed explosive growth, improved regulatory standards, and digital innovations that have garnered global recognition”, he said.

While disclosing impressive statistics that have characterized his leadership at NCC from 2015 to date, the Danbatta said that active telephone subscribers had increased from less than 150.7 million to 218.9 million, representing a teledensity growth of 115.70 percent from 107.87 percent in 2015.

Through stimulating broadband infrastructure across the country, he said broadband penetration, which stood at 6 percent in 2015 has increased significantly to 47.01 percent as of July 2023, enhancing over 89.73 million subscriptions on 3G, 4G, and 5G networks in the country.

Additionally, general internet subscriptions have reached 159.5 million up from less than 100 million in 2015.

“Also, from an 8 percent contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015, telecommunications sector now contributes 16 percent quarterly to the Nigerian economy as of the second quarter of 2023.

“Besides, following the authorization of more telecommunications companies to operate in Nigeria’s telecoms sector, the investment profile has increased tremendously from $38 billion in 2015 to $75 billion currently and this keeps growing daily. From the sales of Fifth Generation (5G) C-Band Spectrum, the NCC has generated over $847.8 million for the Federal Government”, he said.

While the NCC is still faced with a number of challenges such as multiple taxation, vandalism, and securing equitable Right of Way (RoW) from governmental stakeholders, the commission remains committed to ensuring that there is a sustained growth trajectory.

As the national target to achieve 70 percent broadband penetration by 2025 is receiving significant attention, the NCC has promised to achieve a broadband penetration of 50 percent before the end of 2023.

FTX reopens claims portal following security incident

By
Paul Ugbede Godwin
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0

FTX, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, has announced that it has reopened its claims portal for users who were affected by the security incident that occurred on September 15th, 2022. The incident resulted in unauthorized withdrawals of some users’ funds, as well as temporary suspension of trading and deposits on the platform.

Settlements are the process of finalizing transactions on the exchange, ensuring that the buyers and sellers receive their respective assets and funds. FTX uses a unique settlement system that differs from other exchanges, which has both advantages and disadvantages.

According to a blog post by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, the exchange has identified the root cause of the breach and has taken steps to prevent it from happening again. He also stated that FTX will reimburse all users who lost funds due to the incident, either by restoring their balances or by paying them in USD or USDC.

The claims portal, which was initially opened on September 16th, allows users to submit their claims and provide evidence of their losses. FTX said that it will process the claims as quickly as possible and will notify users of the status of their reimbursements. The portal will remain open until September 30th, after which FTX will close it and finalize the payouts.

One of the advantages of FTX’s settlement system is that it allows for faster and cheaper transactions, as well as more flexibility and innovation. FTX does not use the traditional blockchain-based settlement system, which can be slow, expensive, and limited by network congestion and scalability issues. Instead, FTX uses a centralized database to record and settle transactions, which can be done in seconds and with minimal fees.

Another advantage of FTX’s settlement system is that it enables the exchange to offer more diverse and complex products, such as futures, options, leveraged tokens, prediction markets, and more. These products allow traders and investors to hedge their risks, speculate on various outcomes, and access new opportunities in the crypto market.

However, FTX’s settlement system also has some disadvantages and risks, which have been exposed by recent events. One of the disadvantages is that it relies on the trust and integrity of the exchange, which can be compromised by human error, technical glitches, or malicious attacks. FTX does not use a decentralized ledger to verify and secure transactions, which means that there is no guarantee that the transactions are accurate and fair.

Another disadvantage of FTX’s settlement system is that it can create confusion and uncertainty among users, especially when there are disputes or discrepancies. FTX does not provide a clear and transparent way for users to verify their transactions or balances, which can lead to disputes or errors. For example, some users have reported that their balances were incorrect or missing after a settlement, or that they received unexpected or unwanted settlements.

These issues have raised questions and concerns about FTX’s settlement system, and whether it can reimburse hope on the exchange. Hope is an essential factor for any exchange, as it reflects the confidence and trust that users have in the platform. Without hope, users may lose interest or faith in the exchange, and withdraw their funds or switch to other platforms.

FTX has acknowledged some of the problems with its settlement system and has promised to improve it and address the users’ complaints. FTX has also claimed that its settlement system is fair and secure, and that it has not caused any losses or damages to users. However, some users remain skeptical or dissatisfied with FTX’s explanations and solutions.

Therefore, it is unclear whether FTX’s settlements will reimburse hope on the exchange, or whether they will erode it further. FTX’s settlement system has both pros and cons, and it may depend on how the exchange handles the challenges and controversies that arise from it. Ultimately, FTX will have to prove that its settlement system is reliable and trustworthy, and that it can deliver on its promises and expectations.

FTX also thanked its users for their patience and support during this difficult time and apologized for any inconvenience caused by the incident. The exchange said that it is committed to providing a secure and reliable service to its customers and that it will continue to improve its security measures and protocols.

Those Google Auto-Ads Are Not Intentional

By
Ndubuisi Ekekwe
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0

Good People, if you saw auto-ads or google_vignette on Tekedia this morning, they were not approved by us. Google activated them; we noticed that it sent an email “Give Auto ads another try: …” We have been declining these offers, but stubbornly Google feels that anyone who runs a popular website must monetize via ads, and the firm keeps pushing ads, even when we have not approved. I find it strange indeed!

Google, how many times do we need to tell you that we’re not interested in Auto Ads on tekedia.com. I find it extremely offensive that you can decide to activate ads on our website by fiat. Yes, we understand that the game is to fill all spaces with adverts, but we do not want that on tekedia. Please DO NOT activate ads we have not activated.

We woke up this morning with all kinds of adverts on the site. You called them “experiments”. Who gave you the power to experiment therein? We currently use what we want.  Thanks for the tools. We like what we’re using but we do not want those auto-ads.

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