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Most people probably want to ask Courtne Smith about her time spent as Drake’s personal assistant and member of his management team. Working closely with one of the biggest pop stars and successful businessmen as his friend and right hand probably yields some inspiring, lifelong knowledge (and we get to that). But the more interesting thing about Courtne Smith, the co-founder and CEO of the polling app NewNew, is her ability to evolve her businesses and fearlessly meet new challenges along the way. It should be noted, this isn’t Smith’s first rodeo in business or tech. A serial entrepreneur, Smith previously launched the prize giveaway app Suprize in 2018. Users were given chances to win cool items, including concert tickets, Kylie cosmetics, and Nike sneakers. Then, Smith and her business partner Filip Diarra decided brands wouldn’t give away free goods forever, so they evolved Suprize into NewNew, which allows users to personalize polls around various topics using videos, popular...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. One of the main goals of the Trump administration has been to remove Washington’s “elites” from office. Now that billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency agency have instituted mass layoffs, some supporters have buyer’s remorse. With midterm elections coming up, it’s possible that DOGE cuts could hurt the GOP and Trump administration as long as they continue. In town halls across the country, from Georgia to Idaho to Missouri, Republican lawmakers are facing backlash from their constituents for aligning with Musk’s influence in government and continuing to spew Donald Trump’s lies. They’ve assured constituents that rolling back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, along with implementing mass deportations, are effective policies that serve the American people. But it’s clear from the round of boos seen in videos on social media that their voters aren’t buying it....
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion has been in the spotlight since the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN, in 2020, which millions of people witnessed via social media. That reminded me of how the civil rights movement didn’t spark real change until people saw the violence against protestors broadcast directly into their homes. Similarly, in 2020, many witnessed injustice unfold in real time on their phones. We can draw parallels between the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the events of the past five years. Just as some supported integration while others opposed it, there are divided views on DEI today. Gallup Inc. helps track public opinion on these issues over time. George Gallup founded the American Institute of Public Opinion, the precursor to Gallup. In 1935, they conducted their first political public opinion poll and have remained independent, never conducting surveys on behalf of...
Lyft is continuing its decade-long mission of eliminating barriers that hinder people from getting to the polls on Election Day . On Nov. 5, the rideshare service will offer 50% off ride codes (up to $10) nationwide for all transportation options — including bike or scooter — using the code VOTE24. The promotion is valid from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. in every time zone, making it easier for voters to reach polling places despite logistical challenges. “Lyft has always believed in removing barriers to transportation, and voting access is no exception,” Heather Foster, Lyft’s senior director and head of global public policy, told AFROTECH™. “This election is further heightened due to the ongoing challenges many communities face in getting to the polls and is more important than ever as new barriers to voting have emerged.” According to Lyft , there are currently 100,000 fewer polling places available than in the 2020 election, representing a 50% decrease since 2018. As a result of...
Election season can be one of the most exciting and anxiety-inducing times in America. Every four years, two major party candidates campaign to become the next leader of the free world, along with lesser known independent candidates. This election’s major candidates are current Vice President Kamala Harris as a Democrat and former President Donald Trump as a Republican. Regardless of candidate choice, one critical component of the democratic process is access to voting. Throughout U.S. history, voting has not always been a right for everyone, particularly for women and people of color. Slowly but surely, change began to take hold. The journey toward voting rights for Black Americans began with the 14th Amendment in 1868, granting citizenship to formerly enslaved people. This was followed by the 15th Amendment in 1870, which prohibited racial restrictions on voting. However, barriers like poll taxes and literacy tests persisted, limiting true access. The 1965 Voting Rights Act,...
Nearly two-thirds of U.S. consumers surveyed in a new report said they feel like brands have done little to nothing to follow through on the anti-racism pledges they made last summer. Big name brands like Snapchat, adidas, Yelp, and PepsiCo made promises to improve their diversity and inclusion efforts following protests due to the murder of George Floyd. A year later and 34 percent of consumers said brands had done little to tackle their internal racial problems, while 27 percent of consumers believe they have done even less than that. “ Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 were, by volume, the largest demonstrations in American history. As a result, they have had a serious lasting effect on both the national conversation around race, as well as the responsibility of businesses to do their part in tackling racism,” GWI Trends Analyst Doug Gorman said in a press release. “Now more than ever, consumers are actually holding brands accountable for their Corporate Social Responsibility...
Voting in the 2020 Election just got a lot more convenient. One of the biggest concerns with voter turnout is the inconvenience it causes voters, whether it involves conflicts with jobs or the commute to local polling places. To increase voter turnout this year, major brands like Twitter, BET, MTV, and more are backing what they hope will become a new national holiday: Vote Early Day. Similar to Voter Registration Day, the motivation behind this initiative is to encourage Americans to not only exercise their right to vote but to vote early. Major brands are supporting this new push to target young voters and ensure they’re properly educated on their respective state’s laws around early voting. The planned date for Vote Early Day is Oct. 24, giving voters more than a week before the general election on Nov. 3. A recent press release stated that celebrating Vote Early Day “will help ensure that millions more Americans take advantage of their options to vote early. Over 200 million...
Imploring data analytics is common among startups. Whether the company is in its conceptual stage or making the transition into becoming a leading name in an industry, collecting data provides helpful information on decision-making and boosts business intelligence. According to a Deloitte survey , nearly 50 percent of surveyors reported that data helps them make better decisions. However, for early startups, some data can be misleading, thus giving the company the wrong impression of success and customer population. Depending on data collecting methods or misinterpretation of a target audience, early company data can be tricky. Here are a few ways startups fall prey to faulty data: Small Sample Size During the data collection phase of data analysis, it is important to have an adequate sample size. For example, a survey of 100 customers might look different than a survey of 1000 customers. The power and validity of a study lie in its ability to incorporate the masses. The goal is to...
When you own your own business, there’s a lot of different challenges that may come up, especially when it comes to money. According to a survey by Kabbage , small business owners often skip paying themselves in order to control cash flow. Founded in 2008 , Kabbage is an online financial services platform, where small businesses can receive access to automated funding in minutes. For the survey, Kabbage ended up polling 500 successful entrepreneurs. The survey revealed that many small business owners will go multiple months in a row without paying themselves. According to Kabbage, 26 percent of business owners went two to six months without paying themselves, while another 25 percent went more than six months without a paycheck. “Having owned multiple small businesses before founding Kabbage, I am intimately familiar with cash flow challenges,” Kabbage’s CEO Rob Frohwein said. “Sleepless nights were my reality when waiting on customer checks and thinking through needed...
Facebook has removed 22 more pages associated with Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist whose pages have been known to spread misinformation and incite violence. Jones is mostly known for making claims that 9/11 and the Sandy Hook shooting were hoaxes. The company deleted the pages following its latest policy changes that prohibit administrators of removed pages from creating duplicates. Last month, Facebook announced it would make pages more transparent and have third-party fact checkers flagging misleading or incorrect content. The company has relied upon third-party fact-checkers during the 2018 midterm elections to stop the spread of misinformation about polling locations, times and dates. Facebook’s update also covers administrators using other existing pages once their pages have been removed. Not all of the 22 newly removed pages had Jones as a direct administrator; however, there were many common administrators between those pages and the pages removed in August. Facebook began...
After a series of hacks that impacted millions of users, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is calling for a one-week protest against Facebook. The organization is encouraging its members and partners to log out of Facebook on Tuesday to protest multiple data breaches on the platform that targeted African American users specifically. The NAACP is using the hashtag #LogOutFacebook on platforms like Twitter for visibility. “We recognize that Facebook is now a mainstay in communication,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson told AfroTech. “We want this protest to be a dialogue that escalates into action [from Facebook].” The NAACP also wants users to sign out of WhatsApp and Instagram, Facebook’s other properties; however, the protest does not include Twitter, which was also used in Russian election interference efforts. According to the New York Times , Russia’s 2017 efforts focused heavily on Instagram as the platform gained more popularity and...
Midterm elections are right around the corner and Twitter is still dealing with misinformation on it’s platform. Friday, the social media giant revealed that it’s removed more than 10,000 accounts linked to targeted misinformation campaigns since late September. Twitter was notified by the Democratic Party and said the removed accounts violated its policies. The social media company and other platforms have been criticized as their websites are used to spread misinformation, propaganda and as a place for hate speech and violence. Last week, Twitter said it lost more than 9 million accounts after the company began aggressively removing robot and spam accounts from the platform. In September Twitter updated its usage policy forbidding the use of dehumanizing language emphasizing its efforts to remove problematic content. The updated policy does not focus on voter suppression and misinformation and the company has been criticized by lawmakers for not proactively removing bot accounts....
With the midterm elections less than two months away, Instagram is using its platform to launch a campaign urging voter registration with ads in users’ feeds and Stories. This week Instagram announced its partnership with TurboVote to simplify the voting process for its users and direct them to information about registering and voting rules in their states. On election day, Instagrammers will be able to add a custom “I Voted” sticker to their photos and videos that directly link to Get to the Polls to help voters find their polling place. The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), found that only 19 percent of eligible voters in the 18 to 29 age demographic cast a ballot in the 2014 midterms, the lowest recorded turnout rate. Seventy-one percent of Instagram users are in the 18-24 age range, according to the Pew Research Center . Instagram says it will unveil more details on their voter registration push in the coming weeks.
The midterm elections are right around the corner, and as polling places ramp up for the big day, some voters face a huge barrier when getting to the ballot box — transportation. According to the The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), six million people between the ages of 18 and 29 didn’t vote in 2016, even though they were registered. A survey by CIRCLE shows 29% of youth voters cited lack of transportation as a reason they didn’t vote and among youth of color that number was 38%. To help curb this trend, Lyft is offering half-priced rides for people trying to cast their ballot and free rides to those living in underserved communities. The ride-hailing service will be working with organizations such as The National Urban League and Vote Latino to make this initiative happen. Here’s how it would work. There will be one general code for people trying to get to the polls on November 6. Those codes will be distributed by groups like Vote...