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You know that you read them before you <keyword id="47916" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="invest">invest</keyword> your money, before you buy a new phone and also when you have got nothing better to do.<br />
 <br />
But what you may not know is that there are millions like you and together, you have indirectly and unknowingly contributed – so that a few good people become millionaires.Blogging has been the ‘in thing’ for quite some time now, and it has slowly and steadily made its way to being the most lucrative and well-paying career choice.<br />
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Below is the list of 5 richest bloggers of the world.<br />
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<strong>1.    </strong><strong><keyword id="1086320" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="PETE-CASHMORE">Pete Cashmore</keyword></strong><br /> Starting Mashable from his humble abode in <keyword id="44181" type="COUNTRY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Scotland">Scotland</keyword> when he was just 19, Cashmore has come a long way in terms of success and reach. The most followed <keyword id="6354616" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword> handle, @Mashable, has 3.7 million followers while Cashmore makes around $600,000 per month. Truly, it’s ‘cash more’ all the way.<br />
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<strong>2.    </strong><strong><keyword id="475179" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Michael-Arrington">Michael Arrington</keyword></strong><br />
Known to the world as the ultimate tech guru, Michael Arrington is the man you want to be, if you dream of making it big in tech blogging. His blog techcrunch.com is the most dominant technology blog, earning Arrington a whopping $500,000 a month.<br />
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<strong>3.    </strong><strong>Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr.</strong><br /> Known to the world as <keyword id="133123" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Perez-Hilton">Perez Hilton</keyword>, <keyword id="2105208" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mario-Armando-Lavandeira-Jr-">Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr.</keyword> provides you every gossip you want to know about your favourite stars and even those that you don’t want to know. Believe it or not, he manages to make $200,000-400,000 per month doing just that.<br />
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<strong>4.    </strong><strong>Collis Taeed</strong><br />
Collis Taeed writes and makes video tutorials, detailing the tips and tricks of various application software programs and designing tools. His video tutorials are easy to understand and all major photo and video software can be mastered using them. He blogs at TutsPlus.coim and makes around $120,000 per month.<br />
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<strong>5.    </strong><strong><keyword id="1549534" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="Gina-Trapani">Gina Trapani</keyword></strong><br />
The only woman to make her way into this list is Gina Trapani who talks about life hacks and daily life tips &amp; tricks at lifehacker.com. It was started in 2005 and you could be wondering how many life hacks she has thought of till now, earning her $110,000 every month.<br />
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Image: Thinkstock<br />

Get To Know 5 Richest Bloggers Of The World

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Twitter/@moshehogeg</span></p><p class="caption">Moshe Hogeg, CEO of Mobli and co-founder of Yo</p></div><p></p></div></div>Simple notification app Yo has raised a $1.5 million seed round at a $5-10 million valuation, the company tells Business Insider.</p>
<p>The round, which closed last week, includes eight investors. The founders of China's Tencent led  Yo's seed investment, putting in more than $250,000. Mashable founder Pete Cashmore, Betaworks and notable angel investors also contributed to the round.</p>
<p>Yo is an app that lets users send push notifications to friends by pressing a friend's name. Users can't customize the push notifications; the only message they can send to friends is the word "Yo." </p>
<p>Since its launch in April, the Israel-founded startup has grown to more than 2 million downloads. Co-founder Moshe Hogeg says users are sending more than 2 million "Yos" per day. A new version of the app will be launched before the end of the month. Yo currently has three employees.<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">The Yo app.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>The app has been a punching bag for tech blogs and even <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/stephen-colbert-yo-2014-6">comedian Stephen Colbert who stated</a>, "<span>"When I first learned about an app that boils down all your communication into two letters, I expressed myself in one: 'Y?'"</span></p>
<p><span>But Yo investor John Borthwick of Betaworks says he sees the app as a promising notification system that's paving the way for a new suite of apps.</span></p>
<p>"Over the past year we have seen a handful of apps that function exclusively in the notifications layer - i.e., the content lives in the the notification, the content is the notification," <a href="http://blog.betaworks.com/post/92151557623/yo">Borthwick wrote on Betaworks' blog.</a> "<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">We are fascinated by these uses of simple yes/no on/off communications tools...As the notification layer becomes the primary interface of alert-based information on your phone - as the OS's allow navigation and controls in those alerts - there will emerge a new class of applications that mediate this layer for web sites, other apps and connected hardware."</span></p>

Simple Notification App 'Yo' Raises $1.5 Million From Pete Cashmore, Betaworks And The Tencent Founders

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Stephen Chernin</span></p><p class="caption">Pete Cashmore</p></div><p></p></div></div>Digital news site Mashable is seeking a buyer for as much as $300 or $350 million, <a href="http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2015/12/8586125/next-sale-mashable">Capital New York's Ken Doctor reports</a>.</p><p>The potential buyer is rumored to be Time Warner Investments, Doctor reports. <a href="http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2015/01/8561135/mashable-raises-17-m-new-funding-bi-gets-25-m">Time Warner led Mashable's $17 million round </a>of funding in January, which valued the company at <a href="http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2015/12/8586125/next-sale-mashable">$180 million</a><span>.</span></p><p>Doctor describes 2015 as a "year of reckoning" for digital news companies, which had to either "grow, die, or be bought."</p><p>2015 has indeed seen many deals in digital media: AOL sold to Verizon, Business Insider sold to Axel Springer, Re/code sold to Vox Media, and BuzzFeed, Vice, and Vox Media all received big outside-investments.</p><p>Quartz, The Atlantic's tech and science publication, is rumored to be up for sale. Smaller publications like GigaOm and The Bold Italic <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/2015-zombie-media-companies-2015-12">shuttered this year</a>.</p><p>Doctor reports that Mashable's revenue for 2015 is expected to be around <span>$35-40 million. In November, according to Comscore, Mashable had <span>23 million visitors.</span></span></p><p><span> </span><span>Pete Cashmore famously launched Mashable out of his home in Aberdeen, Scotland ten years ago when he wss 19 years old, with no outside capital. Now, Mashable has raised $31 million from investors including Time Warner Investments and Tribune Digital Investments.</span></p><p><span>This isn't the first time there have been reports about Mashable getting bought. In 2012 Reuters <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/felix-salmon-cnn-will-buy-mashable-for-200-million-2012-3">reported CNN was buying Mashable</a> for $200 million, a deal that did not materialize.</span></p><p><span>When reached for comment, a Mashable spokesperson said: "<span>Mashable does not comment on investment or financial matters related to the company."</span></span> </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-ceo-travis-kalanick-made-billions-life-story-2015-12">The insanely successful life of Uber billionaire Travis Kalanick</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="xwY2lmdjrD0sKNXKjphpxxEqtRvRDYXG" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Mashable could be for sale for as much as $300 million

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images </span></p><p class="caption">Mashable founder Pete Cashmore</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Mashable is selling itself to old school magazine publisher Ziff Davis for $50 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.</strong></li><li><strong>It's a big cut from the company's last valuation of around $250 million in 2016.</strong></li><li><strong>Ziff Davis, owner of PC Magazine, tried and failed to buy Gawker <keyword id="6354777" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Media">Media</keyword> last year.</strong></li></ul><p> </p><p>Mashable has agreed to sell itself to the old school magazine published Ziff Davis for $50 million, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/mashable-agrees-to-sell-to-ziff-davis-for-around-50-million-1510863283">the Wall Street Journal</a>. </p><p>That's considerably less than Mashable's most recent valuation of $250 million in 2016, according to the WSJ (although Pitchbook pegs Mashable's valuation at the time at $200 million). </p><p>Mashable gained popularity as an early example of profitable digital media shortly after its founding in 2005. Its viral blog style spread quickly and easily on social media, making it a hit with advertisers looking for the easy-to-calculate readership metrics that Facebook and Twitter virality provided. </p><p>But as the company aged, it faced the same sluggish returns as many other digital media companies. Mashable<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-mashable-lays-off-staffers-turns-focus-on-video-2016-4"> laid off 30 employees</a> last year as it made a pivot to video content, which often brings in high premiums from advertisers.</p><p>Ziff Davis, whose best known publication is PC Magazine, has been looking to acquire a strong digital brand for years. The 90-year-old publishing company <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/gawker-ma-univision-hldg/univision-bids-for-gawker-challenging-ziff-davis-sources-idUSL1N1AX012">was expected to buy</a> Gawker Media for $90 million in 2016, but got outbid by Univision, its current owner, at the last minute. </p><p>Mashable and Ziff Davis did not respond to requests for comment. </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-hackers-can-compromise-your-computer-monitor-darkly-cybersecurity-ssl-mr-robot-red-balloon-security-2017-11">Hackers can gain access to your computer monitor - a cybersecurity expert shows us how easy it is</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Mashable is selling itself for $50 million to an old school magazine publisher that tried to buy Gawker

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Mashable's sign in their New York office.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Mashable was in deep trouble financially before it sold for far below its one-time valuation of $250 million, according to documents reviewed by Business Insider.</strong></li><li><strong>The company was heavily reliant on digital <keyword id="6354777" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Media">media</keyword> advertising revenue, the documents show. </strong><strong>It also lost $4.2 million in the three months through September. </strong></li><li><strong>Ziff Davis is hoping to improve Mashable by focusing on search engine optimization and e-commerce, and says the Mashable addition makes Ziff Davis the "largest tech brand."</strong></li></ul><p>The price tag was the first clue that a once high-flying digital media startup, was in serious trouble.</p><p>Mashable agreed to sell itself to Ziff Davis, owner of an assortment of digital media brands from PCMag to Askmen.com, for a <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/12/5/16735262/ziff-davis-mashable-sold-50-layoffs-pete-cashmore">reported</a> $50 million. </p><p>That was a steep discount for a company had been valued at as much as $250 million in a fundraising round just last year. Shareholder documents reviewed by Business Insider help explain why the fire sale was necessary. The documents relate to the sale agreement, and paint a bleak picture of a company that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mashable-could-be-for-sale-for-as-much-as-300-million-2015-12">failed to meet its own outsized expectations</a> and was heavily exposed to a reckoning in digital advertising.</p><p>Weighed down by large long-term expenses like the high rent on its offices in New York, London and Singapore, Mashable ended September with about $4.65 million in cash on hand, down from $8.4 million at the start of the year, the documents show. Its loss for the three months through September was $4.2 million, and the financial statements suggest revenue growth was slowing. </p><p>The company essentially auctioned itself off, soliciting bids from 40 potential bidders. But it only received what it considered to be two serious offers, including the one it ultimately settled on from Ziff Davis. Mashable's board believed the sale was preferable to subjecting shareholders to the "risks and uncertainties of the company's business plan and prospects," according to the documents. </p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While management and major investors saw some of the $50 million the company sold for, outstanding stock options provided to employees at various points during Mashable's ascension, were completely worthless in the sale, the documents show.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ziff Davis declined to comment for this article. Mashable did not respond to repeated requests for comment in time for publication. </span></p><h2><strong>Mashable looked set to miss its revenue targets</strong></h2><p>The Wall Street Journal reported in November that Mashable had raised revenue by 36% to $42 million in 2016, and was eyeing $50 million in revenue this year, potentially breaking even.</p><p>But details included in the shareholder agreement suggest the company was nowhere close to meeting those goals. They show that in 2016, revenue increased by 25% to $40.6 million, up from $30.1 million in 2015.</p><p>For 2017, the documents include revenue details for the three months through September. In that period revenue totaled about $8.6 million. It's important not to extrapolate too much from one quarter's financial statements, because the last six months of the year tend to be the largest for digital media revenue. That year-end growth can come on fast, and for Mashable it meant sales rose from $1.97 million in July to $3.6 million by September. </p><p>Still, even using the September sales as a monthly benchmark suggests annual sales of about $43 million - barely over the 2016 total.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2><strong>It is heavily exposed to digital advertising at a challenging time</strong></h2><p>As rivals sought other revenue streams, Mashable was heavily exposed to digital advertising uncertainty at a time when Facebook and Google continue to eat up virtually every dollar of new ad spending. </p><p>Roughly 72% of Mashable's revenue came from digital ads in the last three months before the sale; the next largest revenue source was distributed content, which accounted for 15% of revenue.</p><p>Though Mashable's distributed revenue is about average - premium publishers <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dcn-report-shows-publisher-revenue-from-google-facebook-snapchat-2017-1">generated</a> around 14% of their overall revenues <span>from distributing their content on third-party platforms in the first half of 2016</span> - other revenue sources that could've buoyed the site were too small to make a significant impact.</p><p>E-commerce accounted for just 2% of the Mashable's revenue in the latest three months, around $163,000. Events made up 7% of revenue, and licensing made up 3% of revenue. By comparison, Gizmodo Media Group <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/story/14089501/1/univision-s-big-bet-on-e-commerce-built-on-gawker-s-ashes.html">expects</a> e-commerce to make up a third of its total revenue this year, <a href="https://digiday.com/media/love-complexities-publishers-confront-challenges-growing-events/">while other digital media publishers</a> boast that events may make up 20% of their revenue by next year. </p><h2>It was losing millions of dollars</h2><p>Meanwhile, Mashable lost over $2.1 million in July alone, and more than $1 million in August and again in September, according to the documents. </p><p>Income statements from the last three months before the sale showed that the company spent over $470,000 on travel, meals, and entertainment for staff. The company also spent $100,000 on telecommunications, a figure far larger than that of many digital media companies, while production costs - presumably for advertising and other campaigns - cost $362,086.</p><p>Combined office rent in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, and Singapore climbed steadily over several years to $3,748,000 in 2016.</p><p>The majority of the costs were focused on its flagship office in Union Square in New York, located in the same building as other digital media companies including The Intercept and GMG. Conversations with executives from two other digital media companies in similarly high-priced areas suggest the company was paying significantly more for space compared to competitors of equivalent sizes.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span>To be sure, many independent, venture capital backed publishers are feeling the pain as they vie for leftover ad budgets. Even some of the biggest players in that world, BuzzFeed and Vice, have fallen short of revenue goals this year. And multiple mid-sized publishers, including Mic and Refinery29, have recently been hit with layoffs as they grapple with a new, smaller ad revenue reality in 2018.</span></p><p>But this much is clear: The results of Mashable's financial predicament set the terms for the sale, which included a restructuring plan alluded to on numerous occasions throughout the merger agreement.</p><p>Ziff Davis said it would not enter into the merger unless Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore signed a continued employment contract (the documents BI reviewed did not disclose the amount the founder received as part of that contract). And the company established a $2.2 million pot to encourage top employees to stay. The allocation of that pot will be determined in consultation with an advisory committee made up of Cashmore, chief operating officer Michael Kriak, publisher Greg Gittrich, and chief technology officer Robyn Peterson.</p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But when the sale closed on December 5, the company laid off 50 staffers.</span></p><p>For its part, Ziff Davis appears to be taking action to remedy some of the issues at Mashable.</p><p>The company seemed to suggest during an all-hands call last week that it could only guarantee that its current New York and Los Angeles offices would remain open. It shut down offices in San Francisco in October - many of its employees there are now working from home, and plan on moving into the IGN office - and relocated its London team to a separate office.</p><p>In a separate meeting following the sale, managers announced that some staffers from PCMag, Geek, Computer Shopper, and IGN are set to move to Mashable's office in New York (In a cruel twist, part of the Mashable logo sign at the New York office fell apart on Monday). They also announced plans to consolidate and integrate employees from Mashable's business side into other teams at Ziff Davis. </p><p>Execs are hoping to boost search traffic by improving the so-called page-level-authority of individual posts, perhaps by writing longer, more in-depth stories, and said there was a site redesign in the works.</p><p>Further, Mashable appeared to abandon the pivot to social video <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mic-staff-layoffs-pivot-to-video-2017-8">that it embarked on in 2016 when it laid off two dozen editorial staffers</a>, a likely product of the company's failure to garner significant revenue<span style="font-weight: 400;"> from distributed channels.</span></p><p>Ziff Davis expects that the changes to the brand and restructuring will significantly improve the business. </p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In an all staff meeting earlier this month, Ziff Davis executives said that with the help of Mashable, by the end of 2018, it will be profitable.</span></p><p>Ziff Davis General Manager Mike Finnerty acknowledged the company needed some "quick wins," but added if it does the "right things...we're going to be number one in comScore tech."</p><p>"We're going to be the largest tech brand now with the combination of Mashable and all of the other things in the portfolio," Finnerty said.</p><p><em>Andy Kiersz contributed reporting.</em></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tiny-buttons-rivets-jeans-2016-11">What those tiny rivets on your jeans are for</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Leaked Mashable documents show how bleak things were before Ziff Davis came to the rescue

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Good morning. Here's everything you need to know in the world of <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> today.</p><p><strong>1. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/newspaper-publishers-send-cease-and-desist-to-brave-browser-2016-4">17 newspapers have called ex-Mozilla CEO's new ad-blocking browser "blatantly illegal."</a> </strong>A group of the biggest US newspaper publishers - including Dow Jones, The Washington Post, and The New York Times Co. - have cosigned a "cease and desist" letter.</p><p><strong>2. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/verizon-to-place-bid-for-yahoo-google-considering-bid-too-2016-4">Verizon is expected to place a bid for Yahoo next week and Google is considering a bid too.</a> </strong>Verizon plans to replace Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer with AOL CEO Tim Armstrong and Verizon's executive VP, Marni Walden, who would run the combined entity, according to a report from Bloomberg.</p><p><strong>3. </strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoos-patents-could-be-worth-4-billion-2016-4"><strong>Yahoo's patents could be worth $4 billion.</strong> </a>The company's massive patent portfolio includes 6,000 intellectual properties in the field of mobile, data, and advertising technology.</p><p><strong>4. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/models-from-racist-gap-ad-are-sisters-2016-4">It turns out the two models in the Gap ad criticized for being "racist" are sisters.</a> </strong>The girls' mother is reportedly actor Brooke Smith, who starred in "Grey's Anatomy."</p><p><strong>5. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/xai-raises-23-million-in-series-b-2016-4">The company behind a human-like AI bot who organizes your meetings just raised $23 million to take on Facebook and Microsoft.</a> </strong>X.ai created Amy Ingram, the virtual PA.</p><p><strong>6. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-making-of-emirates-jetpack-commercial-2016-4">Here's how the crazy Emirates commercial, where men flew alongside a plane in jetpacks, was made.</a> </strong>Emirates Airlines astounded the world by showing men flying alongside their A380 jumbo jet, 4,000 feet above Dubai.</p><p><strong>7. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sweet-co-apologizes-for-raising-prices-2016-4">This Japanese company offered an apology you'd never find in America.</a> </strong>Akagi Nyugyo released a somber 60-second commercial to apologize for raising prices on its Garigari-kun popsicles from 60 to 70 yen.</p><p><strong>8. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/today-i-sent-note-mashable-team-pete-cashmore">Mashable announced layoffs on Thursday, which has seen it replace its chief revenue officer Seth Rogin and chief content officer Jim Roberts.</a> </strong>Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore wrote on LinkedIn that the company is shifting from hard news to more "digital culture" coverage.</p><p><strong>9. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/taco-bells-tacobot-orders-food-for-you-2016-4">Taco Bell is using a chat bot to completely change how you order food.</a> </strong>Taco Bell has teamed up with Slack to launch "TacoBot," which allows users to order food on the instant-messaging service.</p><p><strong>10. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/15-shocking-sexual-peta-advertisements-2016-4">Here are 15 of the most shockingly racy PETA ads.</a> </strong>The animal rights group is known for using shockvertising to spread its pro-vegetarian message.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/science-workout-health-fitness-2016-3">This 7-minute fitness routine is all you need to get in shape</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="p1ZXhpMTE6DXp4thwevw7Um4kDHk8NBb" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

The 10 things in advertising you need to know today

<p class="p1"></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>The Facebook poke was once considered to be&#xa0;a creepy flirting tool, but it seems to have evolved into&#xa0;a simple and polite way to say hello to an old acquaintance.</p><p>When I went to test my own Facebook friends' reactions to the poke over a decade after it was first introduced, it was surprising to learn the poke was viewed exactly how&#xa0;Mark Zuckerberg wanted users to see it&#xa0;11 years ago.</p><p>But let's back up.</p><p>When a little website called TheFacebook.com launched in 2004, there were very few bells and whistles. But there was one very beloved feature - a button to "Poke" other users.</p><p>The poke didn't come with any explanation or rules. Zuckerberg, then 23, said he just wanted to make something with no real purpose. For years, Facebook as a company did not explain what poking implied (<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/aug/30/companionsthroughtheages">see this vague interpretation from its FAQ page in 2007</a>) and so it was up to the first generation of the network's users to define the poke.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Now thanks to the advent of Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat, and Twitter, there are so many ways to tell someone you approve of their online activity - with "likes" and "faves" and "hearts" - leaving the poke to fade into the background.</p><p>But that doesn't mean people have stopped talking about it.</p><p>Searching for combinations of the words "Facebook" and "Poke" on Twitter (the internet's cafeteria) yields a surprising number of recent results.&#xa0;</p><p class="p1"><div></div></p><p class="embed-spacer"><div></div></p><p class="embed-spacer"><div></div></p><p class="embed-spacer"><div></div></p><p class="embed-spacer"><div></div></p><p class="embed-spacer">Facebook currently describes poking as a way to just say hello or get your friend's attention. "People poke their friends or friends of friends on Facebook for a lot of reasons," insists the site's FAQ page.</p><p>This might have been true for the earliest generation of Facebookers. When I asked one close friend what she remembered about the Facebook poke, she immediately responded "poke wars."</p><p>"Sometimes you would login to Facebook, poke everyone [back and forth] for awhile, and then continue with the rest of your day," she recalled. From my own personal experience, "poke wars" were like a personal battle of wills, each person trying to have the last poke before signing off.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>In 2007, the poke had grown to be associated with a lighthearted flirt. Slate's Emily Yoffe wrote that the poke was "<a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2007/03/fiftysomething_facebooking_and_fabulous.html">a form of Facebook communication for the commitment-phobe</a> who doesn't want to rush into friendship." Again, friendship seemed to be the major underlying purpose behind the innocent website feature.</p><p>But Yoffe's definition clashes with a 2006 op-ed from Brown University, which affiliated the poke with such a high level of sexual tension that it led two seniors to have an "awkward" one night stand. Then there was this Mashable post, which alleged that a poke between two people in 2007 led to their marriage in 2014.</p><p>It seemed as though Facebook's poke had evolved into a virtual pickup line. An old website called PickUpArtistMindset wrote in a 2008 post called "<a href="http://www.pickupartistmindset.com/general-advice/how-to-pick-up-girls-on-facebook/">How to Pick Up Girls on Facebook</a>" that "most of the work to succeeding on Facebook is <em>before</em> you poke her. She will receive the poke, look at your pictures, and then if she likes them she will poke back. After that simply add her as a friend and get ready to message her." How sweet.</p><p>It wasn't just sleazy pick up artists either. In a guide for clueless Moms, Good Housekeeping created a "<a href="http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/tips/a16220/facebook-cheat-sheet/">Facebook Cheat Sheet</a>" to help them understand teen slang. The poke, they wrote, was reserved typically for flirting.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>But the poke's brief tenure as the pick up tool dujour had become deplored by 2009. "Can someone please tell me WTF is up with guys on Facebook poking you?" <a href="http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/smitten/2009/08/afternoon-confessional-do-not">Glamour writer Shallon lester wrote</a> in 2009. "I have never once responded to a poke-and don't even get me started on whatever the hell a "super poke" is, gag - and I urge you girls to do the same."</p><p>College Candy agreed, writing in a 2009 <a href="http://collegecandy.com/2009/04/20/how-not-facebook-etiquette/">Facebook etiquette guide</a> that, "Poking is not a form of flirtation."</p><p>By 2010, it seemed to be widely understood that the poke was a creepy (and lazy!) way to tell someone you'd like to sleep with them. A 2010 CNN article titled "It's time to reclaim the Facebook Poke" <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/social.media/08/04/facebook.poke.netiquette/">surveyed a bunch of people about their personal definition</a> of the poke. Their findings? "[The poke is] a totally weak move. As one of those surveyed said: 'It's Facebook's creepy tool of socially acceptable sexual molestation.'" Even five years ago, there were already so many other acceptable ways to flirt online that using the poke feature seemed outdated, bizarre, and alarming.</p><p>As if in response to the public's distaste for the poke, in 2011, Facebook's major redesign hid the button so that it no longer showed up on a friend's profile. If you really, really wanted to poke someone, you would have to go digging through Facebook. It currently lives buried on your Newsfeed under the Apps section. It even prompted <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/29/facebook-kill-the-poke/">Mashable's Pete Cashmore to call for the death of the poke. </a></p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>But it's four years later, and&#xa0;the poke at least remains a part of the public lexicon. Whether it's teens and tweens discovering the joys of the poke war today or people simply wondering why anyone would bother poking anymore, if Twitter is to be believed, at least some of us are still talking about it.</p><p>When I asked what the usage for the poke looked like these days, a spokesperson from Facebook told Tech Insider they don't keep track of that data. So I took matters into my own hands and&#xa0;poked a number of different people who I have varying degrees of relationships with on Facebook - from an 8th grade math teacher to my current roommate - to see what the response from poke would be.</p><p>If the truly accepted definition was the poke was now "creepy," I was surprised to see everyone I poked (including an old teacher) all poked me back - though to be fair, they were a bit confused.</p><p>"I cannot remember the last time someone poked me," my old math teacher mused. "Probably years ago." He didn't think anything of it.</p><p>This doesn't mean the poke is safe from oblivion or even that it could be making a comeback. But there does seem be a vestige of the old power the poke once held over its early users nine years ago: Even in 2015 if a friend pokes you, it's only polite to poke them back to say "hi."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-tell-facebook-been-hacked-secure-account-2015-7">How to tell if your Facebook has been hacked</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="xpcTc1djpv7nl5rPG5X0nBod7PakJ4PI" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Poking someone on Facebook is no longer a creepy or lazy way to flirt with someone

<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/prince-william-hits-washington-kate-joins-nyc-first-lady/">arrived in the US on Sunday evening</a> for a three-day tour of Manhattan and Washington, DC.</span></p>
<p>The royals were greeted by crowds of fans and heavy security upon their arrival at the <a href="http://www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/the-carlyle-new-york">Carlyle Hotel</a>, where they will stay for the duration of their trip.</p>
<p>Shortly after arriving, the couple was whisked away<span> for a fundraising dinner at the Gramercy Park apartment of British advertising legend Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP. </span></p>
<p><span>There, the couple raised <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/08/kate-middleton-and-prince-william-s-2m-dinner.html">more than $2 million</a> for their charity, the American Friends of the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.</span></p>
<p>With only two full days in the US, the royals' schedules are jampacked. Here's what the couple has planned for Monday and Tuesday:</p>
<h3>On Monday, William met with Obama in Washington, DC, while Kate visited a Harlem children's center with Chirlane McCray, wife of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.</h3>
<p>The Duke of Cambridge <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30382449">met with President Obama</a> ahead of William's speech <span>to the World Bank on the illegal wildlife trade. He also joked about the "chaos" of his son George's birth. </span></p>
<p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Shortly thereafter, the Prince spoke at the World Bank on behalf of </span><a href="http://www.unitedforwildlife.org/#!/">United For Wildlife</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">, a group of </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">conservation organisations united to end illegal wildlife trade. </span></p>
<p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Meanwhile, Kate </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/08/us/new-york-uk-royals/">visited</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> the </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Northside Center for Child Development in Harlem alongside Mayor Bill de Blasio's wife - and first lady of New York City - Chirlane McCray. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Kate has repeatedly been <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/kate-middleton-princess-dianas-footsteps-ny-visit-27442295">compared</a> to the late Princess Diana, <span>who would also meet with children from disadvantaged backgrounds during her visits to New York.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span></span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Kate </span><a href="http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/12/08/full-slate-of-events-set-for-royal-couple-during-nyc-visit/">reportedly</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> spent about an hour at the Center, wrapping presents and doing arts and crafts with the kids.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Afterwards, Kate attended a luncheon</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> at the residence of the British Consul General, where she mingled with members of the successful British business and arts community in New York.</span></span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>William was <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/kate-middleton-tours-new-york-prince-william-visits-obama-article-1.2037755">scheduled</a> to meet Kate at the British Consul General's residence on Monday afternoon, accompanied by Chelsea and Hillary Clinton, for a Conservation Reception recognizing the work done by<span> various United for Wildlife partners.</span></p>
<p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">On Monday night, the couple will head to Brooklyn to watch the Brooklyn Nets play the Cleveland Cavaliers and mark the </span><a href="http://www.stylelist.com/view/full-itinerary-kate-middleton-prince-william-NYC-trip/#!slide=2587463">launch of</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.stylelist.com/view/full-itinerary-kate-middleton-prince-william-NYC-trip/#!slide=2587463"> a new collaboration</a> between The Royal Foundation, United for Wildlife, and the NBA. </span></p>
<h3>On Tuesday morning, William and Kate will visit the 9/11 memorial and travel to the top of the Empire State Building.</h3>
<p>Neither Kate nor Will have ever been to New York before, so they are eager to squeeze in some tourist activities while they're here.</p>
<p>Royal aides had originally not planned for Kate to go to the Empire State Building, thinking the pregnant princess would like some down time, but after seeing it was not on her schedule she <a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/12/08/prince-william-and-duchess-kate-kick-off-u-s-trip-with-visit-to-white-house-and-new-york-city-child-development-centre/">reportedly</a> <span>told her staff she would like to go. </span></p>
<p><span><span>The Empire State Building commemorated the couple's first visit to the Big Apple by changing its lights to red, white, and blue - the colors of the Union Jack flag.</span></span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>We welcome Their <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Royal?src=hash">#Royal</a> Highnesses The Duke &amp; Duchess of Cambridge by sparkling in red, white &amp; blue. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RoyalVisitUSA?src=hash">#RoyalVisitUSA</a> <a href="http://t.co/o0tr84eKAI">pic.twitter.com/o0tr84eKAI</a></p>
- Empire State Bldg (@EmpireStateBldg) <a href="https://twitter.com/EmpireStateBldg/status/541713456177872896">December 7, 2014</a></blockquote>

<h3>Later, the couple will attend a charity dinner at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art for St. Andrews University, where they met as undergrads in 2001.</h3>
<p><span><span>The charity dinner celebrating St. Andrews' 600th anniversary will be held at the museum's Temple of Dendur exhibit, and will cost attendees a <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2864531/New-York-prepares-receive-Prince-William-Kate-touch-charitable-charm-offensive-Big-Apple.html">reported </a><span><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2864531/New-York-prepares-receive-Prince-William-Kate-touch-charitable-charm-offensive-Big-Apple.html">£85,000 ($132,991) per table</a>.</span></span></span></p>
<p>Tom Hanks, Mary-Kate Olsen, and William's cousin, Princess Eugenie, are also scheduled to attend, the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2864531/New-York-prepares-receive-Prince-William-Kate-touch-charitable-charm-offensive-Big-Apple.html">Daily Mail</a> reported. </p>

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<p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>AOL</span></p><p class="caption">Shingy on the wrecking ball.</p></div><p></p></div></div>About five minutes before I met David Shing in the Sheraton hotel bar in Austin, Texas, his image was going viral through my T</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">witter feed. Again. For the second time in about a month. </span></p>
<p><span>I was catching up on some work emails on my phone in the hotel's driveway when the tech and media folks I follow started furiously retweeting a photo from AOL's official advertising account. </span></p>
<p><span>It was Shing, commonly known as "AOL's Digital Profit Shingy," riding on a wrecking ball, Miley Cyrus-style, in Mashable's South By Southwest party house in downtown Austin. He was wearing a leopard print jacket, black pants, and a pair of boots that looked like white paint had been purposefully splattered all over them. His long, black hair, streaked with wisps of gray, stood nearly straight out in all directions, defying gravity thanks to a who-knows-what concoction of hair gels and glues. He was smiling. Enjoying himself. </span></p>
<p><span>Knowing the Twitter community's penchant for knee jerk commentary, I sensed a disaster. Sure enough, the AOL tweet spawned enough snarky comments and blog posts for AOL to delete it the next day, which in turn caused another round of attacks. (AOL wouldn't say exactly why it deleted the tweet.)</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Until that day at the Sheraton, my only exposure to Shingy was an appearance on MSNBC in February. It wasn't his first time on TV, but it somehow captured the attention of tech pundits and journalists on an afternoon with no real news to write about. Before Shingy was even finished with the segment, the Internet exploded. "This Man Is Representing AOL On Live Television," </span><a href="http://valleywag.gawker.com/this-man-is-representing-aol-on-live-television-1518467796">read the headline on a Valleywag post</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">, which later said, "</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">This is the face of a dying corporation, convulsing as it goes down."</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span>That's not quite the impression I got from Shingy when I spent one afternoon with him at the SXSW Interactive festival. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Shingy, 43, is warm and downright polite. I found him chatting with some clients at the hotel bar and introduced myself. He bought me a Coke and we found a quiet corner of the bar to start our chat. He was wearing the same outfit I had seen him wearing minutes before in the tweeted wrecking ball photo.</span></p>
<p>We got to know each other before the formal interview and talked about everything from what we thought of Austin to the stories behind our tattoos. (He and his wife have matching <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_knotting">Chinese knot</a> tattoos that connect when they press their sides together.) He's truly pleasant and thoughtful, and easy to talk to. He makes you want to be friends with him.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Screenshot / Twitter</span></p><p class="caption">Shingy's appearance on MSNBC in February.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>But what does Shingy do?</p>
<p>The "Digital Prophet" title sounds absurd, especially for someone working at a conventional corporation like AOL. But his day-to-day role is pretty normal for an ad guy. He meets with clients and helps them come up with ways they can advertise differently online, versus traditional media like TV. Based on the way Shingy describes his job, it doesn't sound much different than what your typical creative director does. </p>
<p>But Shingy being Shingy, he has his own unique way to define his job: "I'm a storyteller. I contextualize. I take all the currencies of what's going on before, now, and next. I come in and basically inspire people."</p>
<p>That's how Shingy speaks, as if he has the power to peer into the future and tell us what the Internet is going to turn into. Hence the "Prophet" in his job title. The question is then, with all these why should any advertiser believe buzzwords, or take his predictions seriously?</p>
<p>"It's about my point of view," Shingy says about his meetings with clients. "I see what's trending and I do the thinking for them. The truth is that my advice may not be the advice they take on, but it inspires them to think differently about it."</p>
<p>Shingy began working at AOL in 2008 as a contractor in the marketing department and helped the company launch new content verticals overseas, including a women's magazine and European versions of AOL's American sites. Eventually, he joined the marketing team full time and started speaking on a bunch of panels about the future of digital media. That led him to the current Digital Prophet role, which was originally pitched to him as a sort of evangelist position within AOL's advertising division. </p>
<p>"The title came from asking myself: Do I want to call myself an evangelist? No. Do I want to call myself an architect? No. Do I want to call myself a creative director? No," Shingy says, sort of turning his nose up at the blah-sounding creative director title. "So, I chose Digital Prophet because it was fun and funky. And it's polarizing." Shingy later asked me if I thought he should change his title since that seems to be the source of so much criticism. I told him that's up to him and Tim Armstrong, AOL's CEO.</p>
<p>Polarizing is probably the best word to describe Shingy. And he knows it. <span>A designer by trade, Shingy came to the U.S. from Australia to work at a startup. He holds a patent for a design tool that can change the way a business' website looks without doing much work. <span>He gets a lot of his predictions from his gut after being a heavy user of the Web for so long.</span></span></p>
<p><span>"I know I look weird to them," Shingy says of his critics. "I guess I quite like it. I quite like being polarizing. The industry is about to change. There are more weird-looking people. There are more weird titles out there. There are more people doing things we never thought they'd do ... and we're going to see even more interesting and creative people."</span></p>
<p>But that hasn't stopped the Internet snark-machine from dumping on everything Shingy does.</p>
<p>"Did it hurt my feelings? No." Shingy says of the blowback his MSNBC interview received. "I was more concerned about what this means to be bullied by people who are kind of anonymous, people who haven't seen what I do in context. They made an assumption and it became a pile-on. I was really just surprised by it."</p>
<p>"I got tons of support," Shingy says. "I mean, obviously people saw it and said, 'hey, this is becoming a thing.' But no, I didn't get any negative feedback."</p>
<p>The higher-ups at AOL weren't concerned with it either, Shingy says. And the fact that AOL's PR reps asked me if I wanted to meet Shingy in person likely means they see an opportunity to get him out in public even more.</p>
<p>In fact, Shingy says he's gotten even more interest from clients than ever before. SXSW was particularly busy for him, giving him the opportunity to meet with potential clients attending the conference.</p>
<p>I don't think he's spinning tales either. After we spoke, I followed Shingy through the streets of downtown Austin to Pete's Piano Bar on 6th Street, where he was speaking on a panel about new media with Gary Vaynerchuk and some other pundits. <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Some of Shingy's clients who happened to be staying in the same hotel - all I can say is they work for a major automotive company - came along with us.</span></p>
<p>I asked the clients what they thought about Shingy. Was he just spewing buzzy terms trying to attract advertisers, or did they think he was the real deal? After all, it doesn't matter what you and I think about Shingy. His job is to attract advertisers so they spend their money with AOL. If the clients are happy with Shingy, then AOL is happy with Shingy.</p>
<p>And the clients I spoke to seemed to dig Shingy. They said they liked his ideas, and love it when they get a chance to meet with him and pick his brain. You could argue that they were just saying this because Shingy was standing 10 feet away, but these are smart people with lots of money to spend. There are plenty of other online media organizations who would love a chunk of that. I didn't get the impression they felt duped.</p>
<p><span>Shingy got some strange looks on our walk. I heard a small crowd outside Stubbs Barbecue snicker as we walked by. But when we hit 6th Street, a random guy came up to Shingy, shook his hand, and said something about loving Shingy's videos. (Shingy has his own Web series on AOL.) </span></p>
<p><span>A</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">nd once we got inside Pete's, where a bunch of others in the online media and marketing world were hanging out, Shingy was in his element, surrounded like some sort of rock star. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Perhaps that's what Shingy meant by his critics looking at him out of context. The Internet can be mean, with folks hiding behind the pseudo-anonymity of blog bylines and Twitter avatars. You see a weird-looking guy on TV who works for a behemoth like AOL, and before you know it he's been turned into a nasty meme by people who know next nothing about him other than the fact that his hair stands on end.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">But in the context of Shingy's <em>professional</em> world, the world that matters - the world that pays his bills - he seems to be doing all right. </span></p>

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