<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="462" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Mark-Zuckerbergs-Twitter-rival-passed-30-million-signups-overnight-—-heres-how-to-use-Metas-Threads-app-and-whats-missing-820x462.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-426063" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Mark-Zuckerbergs-Twitter-rival-passed-30-million-signups-overnight-—-heres-how-to-use-Metas-Threads-app-and-whats-missing-820x462.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Mark-Zuckerbergs-Twitter-rival-passed-30-million-signups-overnight-—-heres-how-to-use-Metas-Threads-app-and-whats-missing-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Mark-Zuckerbergs-Twitter-rival-passed-30-million-signups-overnight-—-heres-how-to-use-Metas-Threads-app-and-whats-missing-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Mark-Zuckerbergs-Twitter-rival-passed-30-million-signups-overnight-—-heres-how-to-use-Metas-Threads-app-and-whats-missing-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Mark-Zuckerbergs-Twitter-rival-passed-30-million-signups-overnight-—-heres-how-to-use-Metas-Threads-app-and-whats-missing.jpg 929w" sizes="(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Emin Sansar | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Just sixteen hours after launch, Instagram’s text-based social network Threads has already surpassed 30 million signups,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/META/">Meta</a>&nbsp;CEO Mark Zuckerberg&nbsp;<a href="https://www.threads.net/t/CuXCjGVrd6R/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;early Thursday. It was also the top free app in Apple’s App Store as of Thursday morning.



The app is Meta’s answer to Twitter, which has seen some of its users and advertisers flee since billionaire Elon Musk acquired the social media platform. On Saturday, Twitter&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/01/thousands-of-users-report-problems-accessing-twitter.html">began limiting</a>&nbsp;the number of posts users can read per day to address “extreme levels of data scraping,” which only served to further frustrate users.



A number of Twitter alternatives have emerged in recent months, including decentralized messaging app <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/15/how-to-use-mastodon-twitter-alternative.html">Mastodon</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/03/users-flock-to-twitter-competitor-bluesky-after-elon-musk-imposes-rate-limits.html">Bluesky</a>, which is backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. But neither platform has been able to match Twitter’s user base and popularity.



Threads may have an easier time attracting users. It’s built on top of Instagram and is automatically linked to a user’s account on the photo-sharing app. Initially, users could only access the service through a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/05/how-to-sign-up-for-threads-metas-new-twitter-competitor.html">roundabout way in the Instagram app</a>. But as of Thursday, the app is available for download from Apple’s App Store, and it’s free to use.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-to-use-threads"><a></a>How to use Threads</h2>



Users are required to have an Instagram account in order to use Threads. Once you download the app, it will prompt you to login using your Instagram account. From there, Threads will automatically port over your Instagram username, but you can still customize your profile.



Threads gives you the option to automatically follow all of the same accounts you follow on Instagram, or just a few of them, so that you don’t have to painstakingly locate all your friends and followers on Threads.



Meta&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/05/meta-launches-instagram-threads-messaging-app-challenging-twitter.html">is pitching Threads</a>&nbsp;as Instagram’s “text-based conversation app.” And in many ways, Threads looks very similar to Twitter.



Users primarily post text-based messages, or “threads,” that are limited to 500 characters each. You can tag specific users in a thread by using the @ symbol in front of their username. Users can limit replies on their thread to only their followers, or people they’ve tagged in the post. You can also include photos or videos in a thread.



Threads appear in a scrolling feed, where users can like, reply, repost or quote other users’ threads.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>What it’s missing</h2>



Threads may look a lot like its rival, but it’s missing some critical features.



The most glaring omission is direct messaging, or DMs. One-on-one, private messaging is a hallmark of nearly every other major social media network, including Twitter and Meta’s own Instagram and Facebook. Threads didn’t launch with direct messaging, which can pose a problem for journalists, who often receive messages from potential sources, or for brands, which can offer customer service through social media messaging.



The Threads feed pulls in posts from all users, not just the ones you follow. It can be hard to find the content posted by the users or brands that you’ve followed, and as of now, there’s no way to change the way the feed loads.



Like Instagram, Threads isn’t serving up posts in a chronological order. Content is apparently algorithmically ranked and served up to users no matter what time it’s posted.



There are also no paid ads in Threads, yet. Many brands have already joined up, though. Instagram head Adam Mosseri, who oversees the new app, told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/5/23784870/instagram-threads-adam-mosseri-interview-twitter-competitor" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the Verge</a>&nbsp;that advertising would be a “champagne problem” if Threads is able to scale.



Threads also lacks the ability to include hashtags in posts. Hashtags are a core feature of Twitter, and have made it easy for users to discover posts under a certain topic, as well as surface trending content in one place. Similarly, Threads doesn’t have a feature that allows users to search for specific text or phrases.



Another key differentiator is that Threads doesn’t have a desktop website, so you can only access the service via iOS or Android apps.



There’s also one significant downside to Threads being linked to Instagram. For now, Meta&nbsp;<a href="https://help.instagram.com/515230437301944" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">says</a>&nbsp;there’s no way to delete your Threads account without also deleting your Instagram account.

Mark-Zuckerbergs-Twitter-rival-passed-30-million-signups-overnight-—-heres-how-to-use-Metas-Threads-app-and-whats-missing

Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter rival passed 30 million signups overnight — here’s how to use Meta’s Threads app and what’s missing

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Over the weekend the world saw DJs and musicians serenading and playing music for people in their homes via social media and between the #TogetherAtHome initiative by WHO and Global Citizen to well-known American hip hop DJ, DNice hosting a seven hour set on his Instagram live to over 100,000 people worldwide including influential leaders and celebrities alike such as Jennifer Lopez, P. Diddy, the Obamas, Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones, and Facebook/Instagram owner himself, Mark Zuckerberg among others. This model that people are calling, &#8220;Club Quarantine&#8221; seems to be picking up. Managing Director of KGL FWD, Autumn Marie Faraj co-hosted a similar event herself called #RwandaLive, she joins CNBC Africa for more.

The rise of the social media “Quarantine Party”

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/cat-clifford/">Catherine Clifford</a> 



<a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/mark-zuckerberg/">Mark Zuckerberg</a>&nbsp;has a net worth of<a class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-zuckerberg/#1d1574613e06" target="_blank">&nbsp;$74 billion</a>, according to Forbes. The Facebook CEO and his wife, Priscilla Chan, could buy their two daughters almost anything.



But they don’t.



Zuckerberg told CBS’ Gayle King how he and Chan raise their kids to be grounded despite the family wealth.



“First of all, we don’t give them everything,” Zuckerberg said during the interview that aired Tuesday. “So I think that that’s an important piece.”



Maxima (known as Max), 4, and August, 2, also have responsibilities around the house. “They have chores,” said Zuckerberg.



In May, Zuckerberg shared on Facebook a video of his daughters loading the dishwasher. The caption read, “parenting milestone unlocked.”



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“We also take [our daughters] to work,” Chan told King. “Mark and I take both of them to work, to the office, to see sort of, like, what we do, how we contribute.”



And work “comes home” too, Chan said. “We care deeply about our work. And so we don’t leave it at the door.”



Billionaire&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/warren-buffett/" class="">Warren Buffett</a>&nbsp;has also discussed raising down to earth children. (Buffett’s three children, Susan, Howard and Peter are now in their 60s.)



“Our kids had a very normal growing-up. I mean, they’ve only and I’ve only lived in one primary house that I’ve owned in my life, and I bought that in 1958,” Buffett told Forbes in 2013. (Buffett, who is currently worth&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/warren-buffett/?list=billionaires#4b8adb5a4639" class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">$86 billion</a>, famously still lives in the Omaha, Nebraska,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/05/warren-buffetts-california-beach-house-is-still-for-sale.html" class="">home he bought in 1958</a>&nbsp;for $31,000.)



“So they did not see us moving into progressively fancier houses; they did not ride in private planes. They went to school on the bus,” Buffett said. “Every member of the Buffett family in Omaha has gone to a public school. They went to the same school that their mother had gone to. They went to the same high school that she’d gone to.”



Buffett also co-founded The Giving Pledge, a public commitment for billionaires to give the majority of their wealth away, with billionaire Bill Gates.



Billionaire couple Bill and Melinda Gates use their hard work and such philanthropic endeavors to lead by example for their children, Jennifer, 23; Phoebe, 17; and Rory, 20.



“If life happens to bless you with talent or treasure, you have a responsibility to use those gifts as well and as wisely as you possibly can,” the Gates wrote in their&nbsp;<a class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://givingpledge.org/Pledger.aspx?id=199" target="_blank">letter of commitment on The Giving Pledge website</a>. 



This article first appeared on CNBC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/04/mark-zuckerberg-on-raising-kids-that-are-not-spoiled.html?forYou=true">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/04/mark-zuckerberg-on-raising-kids-that-are-not-spoiled.html?forYou=true</a>&nbsp;and is republished with its permission.

Mark Zuckerberg on how to be a multi-billionaire and not raise spoiled kids

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/ryan-browne/">Ryan Browne</a> 



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=FB" class="">Facebook</a>&nbsp;has made headlines of late with its plans to create a cryptocurrency.



The social media company has been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/17/facebook-currency-chief-questioned-at-house-financial-services-hearing.html" class="">forced to defend the project</a>&nbsp;on Capitol Hill, amid regulatory concerns around data privacy and potential illegal usage, while the G-7 has warned it poses “serious” legal risks.



It’s an experiment in monetary systems for the digital age, and has inevitably been compared to popular cryptocurrencies like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=BTC=" class="">bitcoin</a>. However, many experts question whether Libra can even be called a cryptocurrency.



Other than the fact that they both come with a white paper and are referred to as cryptocurrencies, Libra and bitcoin are actually very different. Here’s a rundown of the key differences between the two.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Different technology</h2>



One of the biggest differences lies in the underlying technology behind both currencies.



With bitcoin, transactions are recorded anonymously on a public ledger known as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/18/blockchain-what-is-it-and-how-does-it-work.html" class="">the blockchain</a>. It’s essentially a database maintained by a network of computers, on which transactions are secured in such a way that makes it virtually impossible to tamper with.



Libra also uses a form of blockchain, or distributed ledger technology. But unlike bitcoin, Libra’s blockchain is permissioned —&nbsp;<a href="https://libra.org/en-US/permissionless-blockchain/#overview" class="">at least for now</a>&nbsp;— meaning that transactions can only be added to it by a group of trusted parties.



That’s where the Libra Association, a Switzerland-based consortium of companies including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=V" class="">Visa</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=UBER" class="">Uber</a>, comes in. Each of the nonprofit organization’s members have invested a minimum of $10 million into the project.



“Libra will create a centralized structure governed by an unelected ‘association’ composed exclusively of large institutions who have purchased their voting rights,” said Ido Sadeh Man, founder and president of the Saga Foundation, a cryptocurrency firm that counts&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=JPM">J.P. Morgan</a>&nbsp;Chairman Jacob Frenkel as an advisor.



It’s different to bitcoin’s network, which can be accessed and maintained by anyone with decent enough hardware and access to the internet.



“Cryptocurrencies are defined by their lack of reliance on trusted intermediaries,” Peter Van Valkenburgh, director of research at the cryptocurrency policy think-tank Coin Center, said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://coincenter.org/entry/the-differences-between-bitcoin-and-libra-should-matter-to-policymakers" class="">recent blog post</a>.



“We believe that Libra is not a cryptocurrency because of its use of a permissioned ledger and its reliance on a trusted issuer to hold and manage a fund of assets that back the currency.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Different use cases</h2>



Bitcoin’s white paper describes the virtual currency as a peer-to-peer payment system, allowing people to exchange money without going through a bank.



It’s commonly used today as a form of investment, with the term “HODL” being a common slang phrase in the industry to describe buying and staying invested in the cryptocurrency for the long term. It’s frequently been referred to as “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/19/bitcoins-digital-gold-but-facebooks-libra-is-the-digital-dollar.html" class="">digital gold</a>. ”



Libra’s primary purpose is to be used in cross-border payments and money transfers. The currency is tied to a basket of government-backed currencies and other assets, to avoid the volatile swings often seen in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=ETH=" class="">ether</a>.



Referred to by many in the industry as a “stablecoin,” Libra is aimed at maintaining a stable value. David Marcus, the Facebook executive leading the blockchain initiative, has previously said it will work “more like a traditional currency” than a cryptocurrency.



“Bitcoin and Facebook’s Libra both represent stages in the evolution of currency but in starkly different ways,” Charles Hayter, co-founder and CEO of digital currency comparison platform CryptoCompare, told CNBC.



“Bitcoin is permissionless, fully decentralized, deflationary and volatile. Libra is permissioned, more centralized, governed by supply and demand and pegged to fiat currencies.”



What Hayter means by “governed by supply and demand” is that Facebook and its partner companies can adjust the supply to match a quantity of other assets held in reserve, effectively maintaining a stable price even when demand changes.



Bitcoin on the other hand has a fixed supply. The total number of bitcoins that will ever be minted is “hard-capped” at 21 million.



“Bitcoin supply is fixed and cannot react to the market’s demand,” the Saga Foundation’s Sadeh Man said. “Libras are created or burned when one of Libra’s authorized resellers deposit or withdraw money from its reserve.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Different regulatory questions</h2>



Facebook’s currency has taken the spotlight when it comes to talk of regulating cryptocurrencies. But some worry the company’s blockchain project could be lumped in with other digital assets by regulators.



That would be problematic given the difference between Libra and a digital currency like bitcoin. Whereas bitcoin rules out the need for financial intermediaries, Libra’s model is reliant on the entities which form the Libra Association, Coin Center’s Van Valkenburgh said.



“A system without intermediaries is a system without intermediary risk, and thus no need for regulation aimed at safeguarding against the types of risk presented by intermediaries,” he said.



The Libra Association currently consists of 28 founding members, according to the Libra white paper, and is hoping to reach 100 members by the time the currency launches. The token is slated for launch in the first half of 2020.



Though bitcoin’s network involves so-called “miners” who record transactions, it wouldn’t make sense to regulated them as they aren’t trusted custodians of user funds, Van Valkenburgh said. Cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets on the other hand do require regulatory oversight, he added.



Questions around how Libra would fit into existing financial regulations were raised at Wednesday’s hearing. Facebook’s Marcus was grilled on whether Libra could be considered a financial security, which he said could not be the case. But Marcus said it could possibly be considered a commodity.



Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/06/sec-chairman-clayton-says-agency-wont-change-definition-of-a-security.html" class="">last year told CNBC</a>&nbsp;that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin could not be viewed as securities. Cryptocurrencies are “replacements for sovereign currencies” like the dollar and the euro, he said.



Regardless, if Facebook and its partners do manage to overcome the regulatory hurdles that have accompanied Libra, the currency “will undoubtedly have an enormous impact on the global economy — possibly eclipsing that of bitcoin,” CryptoCompare’s Hayter said.



For Andy Bryant, chief operating officer of cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer’s European business, Libra could start to convince people there are “other ways” of storing value than using fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar. “If that’s all that Libra achieves, I think it will be a great step forward,” he said.



This article first appeared on CNBC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/19/bitcoin-vs-libra-how-facebooks-cryptocurrency-is-different.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/19/bitcoin-vs-libra-how-facebooks-cryptocurrency-is-different.html</a>&nbsp;and is republished with its permission.

Bitcoin vs Libra: Here are the key differences between the two cryptocurrencies

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/jessica-bursztynsky/">Jessica Bursztynsky</a> 



Billionaire tech entrepreneur&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/mark-cuban/" class="">Mark Cuban</a>&nbsp;criticized&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=FB" class="">Facebook</a>’s venture into cryptocurrency in a new CNBC interview.



“I’m not a big fan of what they’re doing there,” Cuban said of Facebook’s Libra coin. “I think it’s a big mistake.”



Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a “Shark Tank” investor, said he’s not so much concerned with the impact on U.S. markets but at a global level.



“I think globally and in countries where there isn’t a lot of rule of law, or a lot of government stability, or currency stability, then it could be dangerous,” Cuban told CNBC’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/deirdre-bosa/" class="">Deirdre Bosa</a>&nbsp;in an interview that began airing on Friday.



“There’s going to be some despot in some African country that gets really upset that they can’t control their currency anymore and that’s where the real problems start occurring,” he explained.



Cuban has joined a series of government leaders and high-profile bankers in criticizing the social media giant.



In a series of tweets, President Donald Trump on Thursday said that he’s “not a fan” of cryptocurrencies and said Libra “will have little standing or dependability.”



He also said, “If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new Banking Charter and become subject to all Banking Regulations.”



Appearing on Capitol Hill over two days this week delivering testimony and taking questions on the economy, Federal Reserve Chairman&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/jerome-powell/" class="">Jerome Powell</a>said he has “serious concerns” about Libra.



French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney have also questioned Libra.



Last month,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/facebook-announces-libra-digital-currency-calibra-digital-wallet.html" class="">Facebook announced</a>&nbsp;its ambitious endeavor to create a digital coin, with launch plans in the first half of next year. Libra will not be run by Facebook but by a nonprofit association supported by a range of companies and organizations, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=V" class="">Visa</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=PYPL" class="">PayPal</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=EBAY" class="">eBay</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=LYFT" class="">Lyft</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=UBER" class="">Uber</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=SPOT" class="">Spotify</a>.



David Marcus, the Facebook executive behind the effort, told CNBC on the day of the announcement, June 18, that consumers should not be worried about the social media network gaining access to their financial data.



The Libra project comes as Facebook&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/18/facebook-david-marcus-on-building-trust-for-libra-cryptocurrency.html" class="">works to rebuild public trust</a>&nbsp;after a series of privacy scandals and admissions that Russia used the platform&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/30/facebook-russia-fake-accounts-126-million" class="">to try to influence</a>&nbsp;the 2016 presidential election.



Facebook did not immediately return a request for comment.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/12/mark-cuban-calls-facebook-digital-coin-libra-a-big-mistake.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/12/mark-cuban-calls-facebook-digital-coin-libra-a-big-mistake.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Billionaire Mark Cuban calls Facebook’s digital coin Libra a ‘big mistake,’ saying it ‘could be dangerous’

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/david-neagle/">David Neagle, Contributor</a> 



The path to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-agree-giving-up-this-one-thing-will-make-you-more-successful.html" class="">great achievement</a>&nbsp;and leadership is not an easy one. You need a ridiculous amount of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/01/the-2-minute-rule-how-to-stop-procrastinating-and-start-new-habits.html" class="">focus</a>, drive and the ability to inspire others.



While there is no one-size-fits-all&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/26/money-mistakes-millionaires-like-warren-buffett-bill-gates-google-eric-schmidt-never-make.html" class="">approach to success</a>, there are a few traits worth adopting from some of the world’s most&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/04/self-made-millionaires-swear-by-these-5-morning-routinesand-they-all-take-less-than-10-minutes.html" class="">accomplished leaders</a>, from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-agree-giving-up-this-one-thing-will-make-you-more-successful.html" class="">Elon Musk</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/12/amazon-billionaire-jeff-bezos-explains-why-the-smartest-people-change-their-minds-often.html" class="">Jeff Bezos</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/18/how-the-wojcickis-parents-raised-23andme-founder-youtube-ceo.html" class="">Susan Wojcicki</a>.



Here are the top five:



1. They aren’t fazed by failure



Things won’t always turn out the way you expected them to. Most startups fail —&nbsp;<a href="http://innovationfootprints.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/startup-genome-report-extra-on-premature-scaling.pdf" class="">90 percent of them</a>, research finds. Many of your ideas might not work. People may give up on you. But successful people don’t let any of those things get in their way. Instead, they learn from their failures.



When Bezos launched Amazon in 1994, he only gave himself a 30 percent chance of success. “That’s actually a very liberating expectation, expecting to fail,” he told&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20000407181649/http://www.time.com/time/poy/bezos.html" class="">Time magazine</a>&nbsp;in 1999, when they crowned him as Person of the Year.



Indeed, the Amazon founder has had his fair share of failures, from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gobankingrates.com/making-money/business/jeff-bezos-worst-business-failures/" class="">Fire smartphone to Amazon Wallet</a>, but he never stopped taking chances in the pursuit of success.



“If you’re going to take bold bets, they’re going to be experiments,” he said on stage at <a class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-on-big-bets-risks-fire-phone-2014-12">Business Insider’s Ignition Conference</a> in 2014. “And if they’re experiments, you don’t know ahead of time if they’re going to work. Experiments are by their very nature prone to failure. But a few big successes compensate for dozens and dozens of things that didn’t work.”



2. They shoot for the moon



Tesla co-founder Elon Musk took this one literally when he said his mission was to take&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39111030" class="">tourists to the moon.</a>&nbsp;One of the most admirable traits about Musk is always sets the most ambitious goals, from building underground<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/19/tech/boring-company-tunnel-elon-musk/index.html" class="">&nbsp;tunnels to beat traffic congestion</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-launches-neuralink-to-connect-brains-with-computers-1490642652" class="">connecting our brains to computers.</a>



Setting (and attempting to achieve) highly ambitious goals can take a lot out of you. But many&nbsp;<a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/38/4/622/1856977" class="">studies</a>&nbsp;have found that this can make you happier in the long run. In one&nbsp;<a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/38/4/622/1856977" class="">experiment</a>, researchers observed two groups of people: One who set sky-high goals, and one who set more conservative goals.



The first group reported feeling more fulfilled after having achieved their goals. The reason? When you set conservative goals, as opposed to more ambitious ones, the satisfaction you get from achieving them is much lower.



Oprah Winfrey is also a master when it comes to going big. She started off as a television reporter, then expanded her media empire by including movies, podcasts and websites. “The Oprah Winfrey Show” still remains the highest-rated daytime talk show in American history. By age 32, she had already reached millionaire status.



 3. They lead from personal experience



In 2017, a Google software engineer published a&nbsp;<a href="https://gizmodo.com/exclusive-heres-the-full-10-page-anti-diversity-screed-1797564320" class="">10-page memo</a>&nbsp;against the tech giant’s diversity initiatives. The document went viral, prompting a quick response from&nbsp;<a href="http://www.google.com/" class="">Google</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/01/how-google-ceos-brilliant-answer-in-a-job-interview-helped-him-get-hired.html" class="">CEO Sundar Pichai</a>.



But the most daring and bold response came from YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. Rather than speaking out in a corporate and sterile tone (which was expected, given that Google owns YouTube), she spoke about her personal experience and addressed the pain and empathy she felt for others who had read memo.



“I’ve had my abilities and commitment to my job questioned. I’ve been left out of key industry events and social gatherings. I’ve had meetings with external leaders where they primarily addressed the more junior male colleagues,” she&nbsp;<a href="http://fortune.com/2017/08/09/google-diversity-memo-wojcicki/" class="">wrote in an article for Fortune</a>.



Wojcicki’s response focused on how to empower the next generation of young women. Her viewpoint not only showcased her vision for the future, but also captured the hearts of many. The most successful leaders know when to lead from an objective strategy, and when to lead with empathy and humanity.



4. They know the greatest ideas come at the most unexpected times



Studies about the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/05/genius-genetics-intelligence-neuroscience-creativity-einstein/" class="">brain and internal thought processes</a>&nbsp;(i.e., daydreaming, imagining) have revealed that our “aha” moments often appear at the most unexpected times. “Information comes in consciously, but the problem is processed unconsciously, with the resulting solution leaping out when the mind least expects it,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/05/genius-genetics-intelligence-neuroscience-creativity-einstein/" class="">writes Claudia Kalb</a>, a best-selling author and journalist who reports on human behavior.



In a <a class="" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2rgsan/i_am_elon_musk_ceocto_of_a_rocket_company_ama/">Reddit AMA session</a>, Musk said that he thinks up the most brilliant ideas he’s when taking a shower. CEOs and executives from some of the most successful companies in the world — including <a class="" href="http://www.linkedin.com/">LinkedIn</a>, <a class="" href="http://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a>and <a class="" href="http://www.google.com/">Google</a> — <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/23/why-ceos-at-google-facebook-and-linkedin-love-walking-meetings.html">hold meetings on foot</a> (i.e., standing, walking) because they believe that’s when people are most focused, creative and productive.



Like all successful leaders, it helps to allow things to flow in and out of your brain naturally, instead of getting too attached to when and where they come from. If there are certain activities, locations or times where you find yourself most relaxed, be willing to have an open mind and let your creativity ignite on its own.



5. They think outside the box and beyond the status quo



Stitch Fix CEO Katrina Lake&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/03/12/stitch-fix-ceo-katrina-lake-on-how-algorithms-boosted-margins.html" class="">recently told CNBC</a>&nbsp;using&nbsp;artificial intelligence (A.I.) to create in-app algorithms helped boost the company’s earnings. The algorithms lifted Stitch Fix’s net revenue per client by six percent year-over-year.



When you’re at the top of the mountain, there isn’t a status quo to reference or a path to follow; you’re the one blazing the trail. It’s a distinct leadership trait at the C-suite level, but you don’t need to spend years climbing the ladder to acquire the same foresight.



Instead, reap the benefits now by mapping out five, 10 or even 20 unconventional solutions to your current business quandary. You’ll have a greater chance of successfully solving your problems by doing so. When your entrepreneurial muscles does this type of heavy lifting on a regular basis, you’ll soon be able to master “thinking outside the box” more nimbly, which will put you at the front of the pack.



<a class="" href="https://davidneagle.com/">David Neagle</a> is the founder of <a class="" href="https://davidneagle.com/">Life Is Now, Inc</a>., a leadership coaching company. David’s coaching has expanded to more than 30 countries, and his work has been featured in Forbes, CBS, NBC, The Wall Street Journal, Inc., and Entrepreneur. He’s also the best-selling author of ”<a class="" href="https://www.amazon.com/Millions-Within-Manifest-Exactly-What/dp/1614482772">The Millions Within. ”</a> Follow him on Twitter .



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/04/5-traits-that-separate-millionaires-like-jeff-bezos-mark-zuckerberg-bill-gates-from-those-who-never-succeed.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/04/5-traits-that-separate-millionaires-like-jeff-bezos-mark-zuckerberg-bill-gates-from-those-who-never-succeed.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

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5 powerful traits that separate successful Billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg from everyone else

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/julia-boorstin/">Julia Boorstin</a> 



Facebook is unveiling an ambitious plan to create a new digital currency and financial system to transform the way money moves around the world, and not just on its own apps.



It’s leading a consortium to create an open-source digital currency called Libra, set to launch in the first half of next year. The goal is for developers to create services for consumers to send money around the world easily and for free — with the same convenience as sending a photo or a message.



The Libra currency will not be run by Facebook, but rather by a nonprofit association supported by a range of companies and organizations. But&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=FB" class="">Facebook</a>&nbsp;does have a plan to profit from it with a new subsidiary, Calibra, which is building a digital wallet of the same name for storing and exchanging the currency.



The financial information from your digital wallet will not be used for ad targeting on Facebook’s platforms because the two divisions will be kept totally separate, the company said.



“We’ve seen internet change the game for everything that could be digitized, except for money,” said David Marcus, the leader of Facebook’s Calibra division.



“The numbers really speak for themselves. There’s 1.7 billion people around the world that are unbanked, the same number are underserved by financial services,” said Marcus, who before taking over Facebook’s blockchain initiatives ran its Messenger division and was previously president of PayPal. “Now, anyone with a cheap smartphone has access to all the info they want in the world for free with a basic data plan. Why doesn’t money work the same way?”



The announcement comes after Facebook has faced a slew of privacy issues, raising real questions about whether people will trust the social platform with their financial information. Marcus says that’s why it’s so important that Facebook not be in control of the currency.



“It may sound super controversial but there’s no better way to demonstrate the evolution of our thinking, what we know we should control and what we should not and can not control,” Marcus said. “A network that enables billions of people to move money around the world should not be something we can or should control.”What is Libra?



The new digital currency is set to launch in the first half of 2020. It will be run by a nonprofit, the Libra Association, based in Geneva, Switzerland. Its goal is to be broadly accessible, stable and secure.



Unlike bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which can be hugely volatile and speculative, Libra will be backed by relatively stable government-backed money.



“If you buy $50 of Libra, your $50 makes its way to the Libra Reserve,” said Marcus. “It’s designed to be stable and confer values on Libra that makes it more like a traditional currency than any of the digital currencies are now. This is the way paper money was created.”



The fact that the Libra blockchain is open-source means that anyone can build a service or app that uses the currency. The wallets that are developed to use the service will be interoperable, so you’ll be able to send money from Facebook’s Calibra wallet to any other system that accepts Libra.



Consumers will not interact with the Libra Association, but will only interact with Libra through a digital wallet or an operator. For people who don’t have the ability to digitally purchase Libra with a credit card or digitally linked account, Marcus says he expects companies in emerging markets to create locations where people can exchange Libra for cash.Who’s involved in this digital currency?



Facebook is joined by 27 other companies and organizations that are founding members. The goal is to have at least 100 companies and organizations on board for its launch next year. Each member of the association will manage one of the “nodes,” or locations where transactions involving Libra are validated.



Founding members include companies in the payments space:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=V" class="">Visa</a>, Stripe and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=PYPL" class="">PayPal</a>, which will be able to help merchants accept Libra. Some tech companies are also on board, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=EBAY" class="">eBay</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=LYFT" class="">Lyft</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=UBER" class="">Uber</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=SPOT" class="">Spotify</a>, and Latin American payments platform Mercado Pago, which could drive adoption of acceptance of the currency. Two European telecom companies are also involved, Iliad and Vodafone.



Venture capital investment companies involved have experience with digital payments: Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Initiatives, Ribbit Capital, Thrive Capital, and Union Square Ventures. Nonprofit and academic organizations on board are focused on helping people who don’t have access to banking: Creative Destruction Lab, Kiva, Mercy Corps, and Women’s World Banking. And four blockchain companies are involved: Anchorage, Bison Trails, Coinbase and Xapo Holdings.



“The idea is that [Libra] has mass adoption — lots of trusted companies that want to join the journey, so there’s a chance of this becoming mainstream,” Marcus said.



This list of founding members invested a minimum of $10 million to fund the operating costs of the nonprofit association as well as to launch an incentive program to jumpstart the underlying Libra blockchain and to drive adoption of the currency.Facebook’s Calibra digital wallet



Facebook’s Calibra is a digital wallet that will be accessible as a stand-alone app and integrated into Messenger and WhatsApp. Facebook says it’s designed to enable anyone to securely store money for free on their phone and to allow people to securely send and receive Libra around the world, with no fees for consumers, although Facebook is considering “very low” fees for merchants.



Down the line, Marcus anticipates Facebook will offer other financial services, such as loans, from which it could profit: “If the network is successful, it will be a big opportunity for us to provide lending to all these consumers,” he said.



Facebook’s larger goal is to get people to spend more time on its platforms. This launch will enable the 2.7 billion people who use its various apps every month to more easily make purchases from the 90 million businesses on its platform. The easier it is for these businesses to drive sales on Facebook, the more likely they are to buy ads.



Although Calibra is fully owned by Facebook, it’s operating as a subsidiary kept separate from Facebook’s advertising businesses, so it can be regulated appropriately.



One key use case for Calibra is remittances. Facebook says that every year $25 billion is lost by migrants on fees from the likes of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=WU" class="">Western Union</a>. Marcus says the current process is antiquated: Immigrants send a photo of their receipt from Western Union to family members via WhatsApp so they can collect the money, minus a fee. Calibra would cut Western Union and other money-transfer services out of the equation.



A key for Calibra’s adoption is making it easy to understand exchange rate and transfer money in and out of the currency, says&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/15/instagram-kevin-weil-helped-facebook-beat-snapchat.html" class="">Kevin Weil,&nbsp;</a>Calibra’s VP of Product who formerly oversaw Instagram Stories, Facebook’s successful attempt to battle Snapchat.



“The easier it is to go back and forth [from the local currency to Libra] the more confidence people will have,” he said. “If you’re banked you can imagine connecting your bank account, if you’re not banked then you can imagine a map that shows nearby money transfer experiences.”





Will this whole thing take off?



Libra is the first new cryptocurrency that has a real opportunity to bring digital currency to the mainstream, according to one of Libra’s founding partners, Anchorage, which acts as an institutional custodian for crypto assets.



It solves some of the underpinning issues that other cryptocurrencies have not been able to, to reach this promise, ” says Anchorage President and co-founder Diogo Monica.



“It’s based on a very scalable, highly efficient blockchain, that can do many thousands of transactions per second. And it’s backed by bank deposits and government securities like the U.S. dollar, so it will have low volatility,” Monica said. “The association has so many big players that already have relationships, which solves the chicken-and-egg problem of adoption.”



Monica says that Anchorage will operate one of the many nodes to handle Libra transactions and could sell its services to other members of the association for safekeeping of their Libra assets.



Marcus says if people don’t want to trust Facebook’s Calibra, there will be other apps to access the currency.



To boost its security, Calibra will have the same verification and anti-fraud processes that banks and credit cards use. To gain access users will have to have a valid government ID and use two-factor authentication, leveraging the likes of FaceID. The service will have built-in fraud production and dedicated live support. And if someone accesses a user’s account, Calibra promises to refund any lost assets.



Launching a whole new system comes with its challenges. “Every direction you look there’s stuff you have to figure out from scratch,” said Weil. “Not everyone is familiar with exchange rates, and even the folks that are, aren’t necessarily familiar with digital currency. I’ll take a lot of time to educate people.”



There’s also the question of regulatory approval. Weil says they’re talking to regulators and are in the process of getting money-transfer licenses, which they expect to have secured for a launch next year.



“People will misunderstand and think this is a Facebook thing, ” said Weil. “We incubated it, but it’s designed to be run in a decentralized way.”



This article first appeared on CNBC  <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/facebook-announces-libra-digital-currency-calibra-digital-wallet.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/facebook-announces-libra-digital-currency-calibra-digital-wallet.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Facebook leads consortium creating Libra digital currency, launches Calibra digital wallet

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Byron Lotter, Portfolio Manager, Vestact joins CNBC Africa for a look at market movements shaping the SA markets.

Why Facebook is still a good buy despite data breach scandal

Craig Blewett, University of KwaZulu-Natal
It’s a rather impressive, if controversial, resume for a teenager: blamed for the election of Donald Trump, increased divorce rates, rising syphilis cases, and the advent of fake news.
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Facebook turns 14 on February 4. And the controversies continue unabated. But there’s one aspect of Facebook that should not be lost in all the noise: the extraordinary change it has brought about in how we connect, communicate, consume and share content – in the classroom, as well as in other spaces.
Putting the words “Facebook” and “learning” together may seem like an oxymoron. But my research has delved into the role Facebook has played in shaping how the new generation consumes and shares content. Understanding this is pivotal to understanding how we should be using technology to teach in the digital age. Quite simply, Facebook has changed the way that children learn.
<h2>How students learn</h2>
That’s what I’ve discovered through my research, which used a cyber-ethnography approach to try and determine how students are learning in our modern digital age. This involved essentially “living” with students while they connected, communicated, and learned in a Facebook space.
I spent an entire semester watching and interacting with students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa as they used a Facebook page as their primary learning portal. The students were given admin access to the space. This meant they could determine how the space was used: who had access to it, how it was designed, what was posted on the page, and even the level of anonymity of their posts.
This provided me with an opportunity to watch the students learn, unfettered from traditional learning constraints. However, it would take a while for the students to fully explore their learning within this new space. Initially the students would often attempt to defer to me and my guidance. Only after I repeatedly refused to control their learning experience did they begin to behave in a self-oraganising way and allow me to observe their “natural” learning patterns.
The research revealed that Facebook provided students with a series of learning affordances. Affordances are “can do” oppportunies, some intentional and others unintentional, that technology spaces provide. In this instance the research revealed that the affordances at play were accessibility, connection, communication, control and construction. These affordances provide valuable insights into how students learn in digital spaces.
Once I understood this, I could turn my attention to the key need: developing ways of teaching, called pedagogies, that are appropriate for the digital age. Currently the focus on technology – the what, has distracted us from pedagogy: the how. Without understanding how best to apply these new technologies’ affordances, educators will not be able to effectively impact teaching in the modern classroom.
However, providing educators with a list of “how tos” isn’t much use without a system that makes the list easy to implement. As Dan Schwartz, dean of Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, says:
&#8220;I can tell people they need to teach better. But if I don’t give them things that are easy for them to implement, they won’t do it.&#8221;
<h2>Activating the classroom</h2>
That’s where the Activated Classroom Teaching (ACT) model comes in. I developed this model in a bid to create a taxonomy of teaching and learning for 21st century classrooms. A taxonomy is an ordered arrangement of items. One of the most famous of these is Bloom’s taxonomy of thinking. The ACT model attempts to provide a taxonomy of digital-age teaching approaches.
The ACT model consists of five digital-age pedagogies that seek to maximise the affordances of technology, modern students’ approaches to learning and the development of key 21st century skills such as creativity, problem solving, curiosity, critical thinking, etc.
The focus is a shift from passive ways of teaching (consumption) to active approaches (curation, conversation, correction, creation and chaos). This aligns with research that shows children are spending more than half their online time actively engaging: creating content, getting involved in “interactive consumption” and communicating.
Ignoring the tectonic shifts taking place in our classrooms is not the solution. Simply dropping technology into our classrooms is not the solution. Simply training teachers to use computers is not the solution. As British author and education expert Sir Ken Robinson has said, we need a paradigm shift, but it’s more than that &#8211; we need a pedagogy shift.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90552/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />The young teen, Facebook, has changed how we connect and learn. But, as the OECD pointed out in its global study about educational technology: “If we want students to become smarter than a smartphone, we need to think harder about the pedagogies we are using to teach them. Technology can amplify great teaching but great technology cannot replace poor teaching.”
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This article was originally published on The Conversation.

Op-Ed: Why putting the words ‘learning’ and ‘Facebook’ together isn’t an oxymoron

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We&#8217;ve often heard this saying: &#8220;Behind every successful man is a good woman.&#8221; The expression also holds true for successful women.
In fact, people with supportive spouses are &#8220;more likely to give themselves the chance to succeed,&#8221; according to a study published by <a class="inline_asset" href="http://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/news/news-stories/2017/august/supportive-spouses-brooke-feeny.html">Carnegie Mellon University</a>.
<div id="inline_movable_ad">Researchers studied 163 married couples and discovered that people with supportive spouses were more likely to take on potentially rewarding challenges. Those who accepted challenges experienced more personal growth, happiness and psychological well-being just a few months later.</div>
&#8220;We found support for the idea that the choices people make at these specific decision points, such as pursuing a work opportunity&#8230;matter a lot for their long-term well-being,&#8221; Brooke Feeney, lead author of the study and professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon, says in a statement.
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Many successful people have discussed the importance of having their spouse by their side. Former president Barack Obama attributes his political success to his wife.
&#8220;Obviously I couldn&#8217;t have done anything that I&#8217;ve done without Michelle,&#8221; <a class="inline_asset" href="https://www.popsugar.com/love/Video-Barack-Michelle-Obama-Oprah-16207967">Obama tells Oprah Winfrey</a> in 2011. &#8220;You were asking earlier what keeps me sane, what keeps me balanced, what allows me to deal with the pressure. It is this young lady right here&#8230; Not only has she been a great first lady, she is just my rock. I count on her in so many ways every single day.&#8221;
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted the vital role his wife Priscilla Chan plays in his life in a <a class="inline_asset" href="http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/05/mark-zuckerbergs-speech-as-written-for-harvards-class-of-2017/">2017 Harvard commencement speech</a>. The tech guru says Chan inspired him to volunteer his time and take on social work.
&#8220;Priscilla&#8217;s the most important person in my life so you can say, it&#8217;s the most important thing I built in my time here,&#8221; he says in the speech.
Of course, it&#8217;s not just women supporting their husbands. In a 2013 <a class="inline_asset" href="http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/beyonce-my-marriage-to-jay-z-works-because-we-were-friends-first-2013152">interview with Winfrey</a>, Beyoncé says that her husband, rapper and mogul Jay-Z, is extremely supportive and helps her &#8220;on so many levels.&#8221;
&#8220;I would not be the woman I am if I did not go home to that man,&#8221; says the Grammy winning artist. &#8220;It just gives me such a foundation.&#8221;
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<div class="embed-container image">So what can one do to push their spouse to embrace new work opportunities? Express enthusiasm about an opportunity, reassure your partner and discuss the benefits of taking on a new role or challenge, says the study.</div>
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&#8220;Significant others can help you thrive through embracing life opportunities,&#8221; says Feeney. &#8220;Or they can hinder your ability to thrive by making it less likely that you&#8217;ll pursue opportunities for growth.
Written by <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/ruth-umoh/" rel="author">Ruth Umoh</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/ruthumohnews">@ruthumohnews</a>
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Why the secret to your success is who you marry

Facebook is responding to the challenge from <a class="inline_quotes" href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/SNAP" target="_self" data-gdsid="163704" data-inline-quote-symbol="SNAP">Snap</a> in the classic way that tech companies try to face new competitors — by <a class="inline_asset" title="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/28/facebook-camera-stories-disappearing-messages-ape-snapchat.html" href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/28/facebook-camera-stories-disappearing-messages-ape-snapchat.html" target="_self">duplicating every core feature</a> that made Snap popular, and then trying to crush it with distribution and marketing.
According to a story published Tuesday in <a class="inline_asset" title="https://www.theinformation.com/inside-the-war-between-facebook-and-snap" href="https://www.theinformation.com/inside-the-war-between-facebook-and-snap" target="_self">The Information</a> (subscription required), Facebook created a &#8220;Teens Team&#8221; to figure out how to grab teenagers back from Snapchat, and has been up front about its tactics within the company: The internal mantra among some groups is &#8220;don&#8217;t be too proud to copy.&#8221;
Unfortunately for <a class="inline_quotes" href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/FB" target="_self" data-gdsid="139619" data-inline-quote-symbol="FB">Facebook</a>, the track record for this strategy is poor.
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Flash back to the early 2000s, when <a class="inline_quotes" href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/MSFT" target="_self" data-gdsid="25619" data-inline-quote-symbol="MSFT">Microsoft</a> was the undisputed king of the tech industry, with two unassailable monopolies — operating systems and productivity apps for personal computers.
It faced a lot of competitors, but the one that scared it the most was <a class="inline_quotes" href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/GOOGL" target="_self" data-gdsid="19004" data-inline-quote-symbol="GOOGL">Google</a>, which was in a completely different business.
Google didn&#8217;t start by creating alternatives to Windows and Office, although it did so later. Instead, it created a suite of online services — first search, followed by email and maps — that threatened the entire purpose of a personal computer. Why rely on Microsoft software running locally when you could get so much done with web apps?
Microsoft&#8217;s response? Trying to build the exact same service that made Google famous — a search engine, first known as MSN Search, later rebranded to Bing.
Eleven years later, Bing is a small minority player in search, with less than 10 percent market share on the desktop and less than 1 percent in mobile, according to <a class="inline_asset" title="https://www.netmarketshare.com/" href="https://www.netmarketshare.com/" target="_self">NetMarketShare</a>. Google dominates with almost 80 percent share on the desktop and well over 90 percent in mobile. &#8220;Google&#8221; has become a verb. Nobody &#8220;Bings&#8221; anything.
Bolstered by the massive margins in search advertising, Google has moved farther and farther into Microsoft&#8217;s core territory, adding a massively successful mobile operating system (Android), web browser (Chrome), online productivity apps (Google for Work) and an increasingly robust cloud computing business. It also surpassed Microsoft in market cap for the first time <a class="inline_asset" title="http://mashable.com/2012/10/01/google-market-cap-passes-microsoft/" href="http://mashable.com/2012/10/01/google-market-cap-passes-microsoft/" target="_self">in 2012</a>, and remains ahead today.
Google faced its own Bing moment in 2011, when it faced a challenge from then-upstart Facebook. The social network didn&#8217;t threaten Google by building a better search engine. It did so by creating an entirely different online service, based around social networking and real identities, that drew people&#8217;s attention away from search and other Google properties. As people spent more and more time on Facebook, advertisers followed.
Google&#8217;s response? To launch a competing social network based on real identities called Google+. It was just as successful as Bing — which is to say, not successful at all.
Facebook may still win. After all, Microsoft used this playbook very effectively in the 1990s to eliminate the threat posed by Netscape Navigator — it built a better browser, then shipped it with Windows. It dominated web browsing for almost a decade (until Google came along with Chrome and <a class="inline_quotes" href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/AAPL" target="_self" data-gdsid="8016" data-inline-quote-symbol="AAPL">Apple</a>&#8216;s iPhone introduced the concept of effective mobile web browsing).
But Microsoft in the 1990s had an effective monopoly on personal computing platforms with Windows. If you wanted to go online, you had to go out of your way not to use Windows. The same is not true for Facebook — there are many ways to communicate and share information in real time with friends, including text messaging platforms like SMS and Apple&#8217;s iMessage, and competing social networks like Twitter and — yes — Snapchat.
Facebook will have to do more to regain teens&#8217; attention than simply duplicating every feature that made Snapchat popular.
Disclsoure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal is an investor in Snap.

Facebook has reached its Microsoft Bing moment, and history shows the results won’t be pretty

In the United States, adults who have a college degree make more money and face lower unemployment rates than those who don&#8217;t, according to federal government Labor Department data. But there are exceptions to every rule.
Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson and John Paul DeJoria are all self-made billionaire entrepreneurs who either dropped out of college or skipped higher ed entirely.
The legendary Apple CEO attended Reed College in Portland, Ore., for one semester before dropping out because he didn&#8217;t have any money, he says in a graduation speech he delivered in 1991. He enrolled for another year and a half of coursework later on, he says.
Zuckerberg and Gates both dropped out of Harvard when their respective tech companies, Facebook and Microsoft, started taking off.
<blockquote>&#8220;YOUR ABILITY TO THINK DIFFERENTLY WILL BECOME ONE OF YOUR BIGGEST ADVANTAGES IN LIFE – TAKING YOU PLACES WHERE MOST STRAIGHT-A STUDENTS WILL NEVER GO.&#8221; 
-Richard Branson, founder Virgin Group</blockquote>
Branson and DeJoria skipped college entirely. Branson dropped out of high school to start his first ever venture, Student magazine. He went on to found Virgin Brands, which now includes some 60 companies with 60 million customers around the world.
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DeJoria went directly into the U.S. Navy after high school. When he returned from active duty, he had a hard time finding a job. At one point, he collected bottles for cash. He went on to co-found the hair care company Paul Mitchell Systems and tequila maker Patrón Spirits Co.
Their stories are evidence that there is no single track to success. Even if you don&#8217;t thrive in academic settings, there are many diverse paths available to you for reaching your goals.
As Branson says in a letter to his 10-year-old self, his lack of success in the classroom opened other doors for him later in life.
&#8220;Your imagination is one of your greatest gifts – this will become more and more apparent when you enter secondary school,&#8221; <a class="inline_asset" href="https://www.virgin.com/node/108216" target="_self">writes Branson to himself</a>. &#8220;You will face many challenges, and often feel like you don&#8217;t fit in and that you can&#8217;t always keep up. Don&#8217;t let this hold you back.
&#8220;Use your imagination to find inventive ways around it. Your ability to think differently will become one of your biggest advantages in life – taking you places where most straight-A students will never go.&#8221;

These 5 self-made billionaires all share the same surprising trait

Artificial intelligence (AI)—including robotics and cognitive computing—has been one of the top discussions on the minds of business leaders, organisations and consumers in the past few months. Mark Zuckerberg once said his personal challenge is to build an assistant powered by AI to help him at home and at work, while <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-toyota-ai-idUSKCN0Z60BE">Toyota</a> is developing a billion-dollar driver assistance system that integrates AI to improve vehicle safety.
For several decades robots have captured the hearts and imagination of consumers – from Rosie, the Jetsons’ robot maid in the 1960s, to the little BB-8 droid in the recent blockbuster “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”  Today the innovations that were once considered science fiction, are truly becoming a reality. One of the most talked about items at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show was <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/4-robots-ces-you-might-want-your-own-powered-pet-175427">Kuri</a>, a 20-inch-tall rolling bot that has more mobility than most robots being showcased this year.
READ: <a href="/news/special-report/2015/11/06/your-next-co-worker-could-be-a-robot/">Your next co-worker could be a robot &#8211; CNBC Africa﻿</a> 
In the workplace, the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence to augment employee tasks, provide real time feedback and improve the performance of the workforce are limitless and organisations are just beginning to scratch the surface.  Mix that with the rapid rise of Millennials in the workforce, and we are likely to see more openness to new technology, as these digital natives reinforce enthusiasm for the emerging world of AI, with its robots and <a href="https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-iq-plus-eq.aspx">wearables</a>.
One of the most talked about business challenges is how organisations work with cognitive computing, robots and other AI applications that collect and analyse data, and make informed decisions or recommendations.
Already, cognitive computing is being used today in a variety of industries and functions. For example, the <a href="https://automatedinsights.com/ap">Associated Press</a> is using technology to create earnings reports and box scores for sporting events, and it signed a pact with the <a href="http://www.poynter.org/news/mediawire/344335/resistance-is-futile-ap-to-use-computers-to-cover-baseball-games/">NCAA</a> to use intelligent machines to cover college sports beyond big-time football and basketball, including those at the Division II and III levels that traditionally don’t receive coverage.
So, what does this mean for the <a href="https://www.accenture.com/us-en/workforce-of-the-future-index">workforce of the future</a>?
R<a href="http://www.accenture.com/CognitiveComputinginManagement">esearch</a> from Accenture Strategy found mixed feelings among management when it comes to artificial intelligence on the job.  The research, which polled more than 1,700 managers across 14 countries about their attitudes toward and expectations of intelligent machines, found:
<ul>
<li>Some hesitation: Overall, managers are excited at the possibility of AI in the workforce, but there is still a fair amount of uncertainty. The majority of managers believe that intelligent machines will make them more effective and their work more interesting, yet more than one third (35 percent) fear intelligent machines will threaten their jobs.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Differences among the ranks: There is more resistance among lower level management in trusting the insights provided from intelligent machines. When asked if they would trust the advice of intelligent machines in making business decisions in the future, only 14 percent of first-line managers and 24 percent of mid-level managers said they strongly agree, compared to 46 percent of executive-level managers.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>An emerging skills gap: There is a new kind of skills gap developing between “hard” and “interpersonal” skills. While managers recognise the need for digital skills, creative thinking and strategy development, most are overlooking the importance of the interpersonal skills that will set them apart from machines. And overall, more than half (57 percent) of the managers surveyed are uncertain whether they have the skills needed to succeed in their role in the next five years.</li>
</ul>
How leaders can prepare for robots in the workplace
Employees may be apprehensive about how intelligent machines will change their roles and duties in the next five years, but no one really knows what is to come. Will AI assistants be all the rave in the workplace in five years or using wearables to improve emotional intelligence? One thing is certain, that CEOs and leadership teams need to ensure their managers are prepared to take full advantage of the changes that lie ahead. To help facilitate the shift leaders must:
1.         Sharpen the Human Edge.To achieve the right skill levels and capabilities, leaders will need to rethink their organisations’ talent development and coaching programs, as well as individual performance criteria. Managers need skills that will drive organisational performance and interpersonal skills to build teams, foster innovation and encourage new ways of working.
2.         Rally the Troops.Leaders must present themselves as advocates of change. Managers will be more likely to commit emotionally to the introduction of cognitive computing if they trust the leaders at the helm. Building trust will require clear and honest communications and calls for leaders to involve managers in the change.
3.         Chart a Course of Discovery.CEOs and leadership teams should strive to create a union of managers and machines that does more than just automate tasks or augment managers’ performance. The most successful long-term unions will multiply the value that managers or machines are able to deliver on their own.
4.         Embrace the Unknown.Leaders and their managers must be willing to experiment to identify machine uses that make the most sense for their organisations and their teams. A “fail fast” approach will help them zero in on the higher-value opportunities.
In the next five years, <a href="https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-intelligent-machines-workforce-of-the-future.aspx">management and machines can unite</a>! There is significant potential for intelligent machines to improve enterprise performance at the management level, but leaders must ensure that their organisations have the capacity to change. Those that get it right will create a culture of experimentation and trust among leaders at all levels, unlocking the full potential of the workforce of the future.

How Africa can prepare for robots in the workplace

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<div class="attribution"><a href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/FB" target="_blank" class="inline_quotes" data-gdsid="139619" data-inline-quote-symbol="FB">Facebook</a> CEO <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/mark-zuckerberg/" target="_blank">Mark Zuckerberg</a> Friday laid out the latest steps by his company to weed out fake news, amid growing criticism over the possible impact misinformation on the social network had on swaying the U.S. presidential election outcome.</div>
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The company has found itself thrust at the center of the debate on fake news, with even U.S. President Barack Obama lamenting the spread of misinformation on the social media platform. A report released earlier this week showed that <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/16/more-facebook-users-engaged-with-top-fake-election-news-than-most-popular-real-reporting-report-says.html" target="_blank">more Facebook users engaged with misleading stories than real, mainstream reporting</a>.
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<div class="teads-ui-components-label">In a late night <a href="https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10103269806149061" target="_blank" title="https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10103269806149061" class="inline_asset">post</a>, Zuckerberg said the amount of misinformation on Facebook was small but the company took the matter seriously.</div>
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He said Facebook will strive to enhance its ability to detect false news while also making it easier for people to report fake stories.
Another aspect of Facebook&#8217;s plan was third-party verification. Zuckerberg said Facebook had reached out to many fact-checking organizations and was hoping to hear from others as well.
Other measures to stamp out fake news included labeling stories that had been identified as false by third parties or Facebook&#8217;s community and showing warnings when people read or share them.
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<div class="headline">Obama: Misinformation can be packaged well on Facebook  Thursday, 17 Nov 2016 | 12:22 PM ET | 03:01</div>
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Facebook will make the criteria for selecting stories that appear as links in its news feed more stringent and work with the media industry to better understand their fact checking systems, he said.
In addition, Zuckerberg said Facebook will continue to disrupt the economics underpinning fake news, having updated its advertising standards earlier this week to make it clear that its ban on deceptive and misleading content also applies to fake news.
Zuckerberg acknowledged that the situation was complex, both technically and philosophically.
&#8220;We need to be careful not to discourage sharing of opinions or mistakenly restricting accurate content. We do not want to be arbiters of truth ourselves, but instead rely on our community and trusted third parties,&#8221; he said in the post.
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Facebook has an answer to fake news

Recently, I have been intrigued to see how parts of this great continent are beginning to take up the mettle and make a mark when it comes to technology prowess, particularly, the platform economy.
We might still not have created the likes of Google, Facebook, Whatsapp, but our foray into M-Pesa, the platform that has come to define the era of mobile money in Africa and many other innovations, demonstrates that it won’t be long before the continent enters the ranks of producing a global platform of note.
I have been clamoring for a company to originate from Africa that creates games for the people of Africa and of course the world.  Gaming is the way one can express how their culture is reshaped and changes over a period of time &#8211; <a href="http://www.chopup.me/">Chopup</a> is one such tech platform.
Chopup is the brainchild of two youngsters in Nigeria, who have chased their dream to make sure African games like their peers around the world have a voice and more importantly, the people of this continent can also enjoy games that are made in their own circumstances.
These games that are created use the environment and caricature of the bustling energies of Lagos particularly the Yellow Combies, which pry commuters from one part of the city to the rest.
To get their creation going, these youngsters arranged gaming challenges at different universities across Nigeria, taking a cue from the playbook of the forerunner of the social media, Facebook.
These youngsters have won accolades about their growing creation in gaming and continue to learn and aspire to take their games across the continent and world.
Recently, their games have been uploaded into the gaming portals of MTN, Etisalat and Huawei and are slowly making their way across the continent.
The journey of these two youngsters is still in its infancy, but the steps taken shout of a growing tech future as attested by the recent visit by Mark Zuckerberg to Nigeria and Kenya
*YPO is a global community of chief executives dedicated to becoming Better Leaders through Lifelong Learning and Idea Exchange.TM  We create trusted spaces where leaders gather, connect, share and grow. The YPO platform provides more than 24,000 members in more than 130 countries – representing diversified industries and types of businesses – with access to extraordinary educational opportunities, alliances with leading institutions, and interest-based communities to support their businesses, communities and families. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.ypo.org/">ypo.org</a> .﻿

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Mark Zuckerberg

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Facebook leads consortium creating Libra digital currency, launches Calibra digital wallet

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Why the secret to your success is who you marry

Facebook has reached its Microsoft Bing moment, and history shows the results won’t be pretty

These 5 self-made billionaires all share the same surprising trait

How Africa can prepare for robots in the workplace

Facebook has an answer to fake news

A Nigerian startup that's redefining gaming in Africa

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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