Following its April post-mortem on its platform’s role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Facebook is out with some juicy new details. Most noteworthy given the public’s intense interest in all things Russian is the fact that potential pro-Kremlin entities apparently purchased as much as $150,000 in political ads on the platform between 2015 and 2017.
As Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos explained in a blog post:
“There have been a lot of questions since the 2016 US election about Russian interference in the electoral process. In April we published a white paper that outlined our understanding of organized attempts to misuse our platform. One question that has emerged is whether there’s a connection between the Russian efforts and ads purchased on Facebook. These are serious claims and we’ve been reviewing a range of activity on our platform to help understand what happened.
“In reviewing the ads buys, we have found approximately $100,000 in ad spending from June of 2015 to May of 2017 — associated with roughly 3,000 ads — that was connected to about 470 inauthentic accounts and Pages in violation of our policies. Our analysis suggests these accounts and Pages were affiliated with one another and likely operated out of Russia.”
In addition to that $100,000, another $50,000 in political ad spending is thought to have loose connections to Russia that suggest Russian origins, including “ads bought from accounts with US IP addresses but with the language set to Russian.”
According to Stamos, the “vast majority” of the ads in question did not explicitly mention candidate names or the presidential race itself. Instead, they focused on a spectrum of wedge issues that were particularly hot leading into the election, including gun rights, immigration, LGBT rights and race. Roughly one quarter of these ads were targeted to particular geographic regions, particularly the ads that ran in 2015. Facebook’s more recent findings mesh with the insights around political misinformation campaigns that it published in April of this year. Perhaps most interesting is the revelation that bots aren’t actually responsible for most of this stuff — the bulk of it appears to be non-automated, coordinated campaigns by human actors.
Given the deep knowledge of state-level American politics necessary to successfully geo-target ads like these, the whole thing raises further questions about the possibility that entities linked to the Russian government might have coordinated with individuals in the U.S., though it doesn’t begin to answer those questions.
On Wednesday, Facebook spoke to Congress about the findings as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. In a follow-up story by The Washington Post, Facebook admitted that “there is evidence that some of the accounts are linked to a troll farm in St. Petersburg, referred to as the Internet Research Agency, though we have no way to independently confirm.” The Internet Research Agency is a group known for its pro-Kremlin online propaganda campaigns, which U.S. intelligence agencies believe is funded by a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin with connections to the Russian intelligence community.
For its part, Facebook has been acting on the results of its internal audit examining the ways its platform may have been exploited in the 2016 U.S. election. Based on these reviews, the company was able to boot off its platform 30,000 suspect accounts engaging in what it calls “false amplification” around the time of the French election earlier this year. The company has also begun blocking ads from pages and accounts that repeatedly share fake news and misinformation. Still, if these kind of influence campaigns are truly linked to Russian intelligence efforts, Facebook is going to have a hell of a time trying to stay a few steps ahead.
(This story will be continually updated throughout Wednesday.)
For more than a day, monstrous Hurricane Irma has sustained Category 5 winds of 185 miles per hour while ripping through the northern Lesser Antilles and Virgin Islands. The storm, tied for the second-strongest ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, is headed for the southeastern Bahamas and, by the weekend and early next week, Florida and the Southeast United States.
“The threat of direct hurricane impacts in Florida over the weekend and early next week has increased,” the National Hurricane Center said in its 5 and 11 p.m. updates Wednesday. It added hurricanes watches would likely be issued for parts of the Florida Keys and Florida Peninsula on Thursday.
From my TV interview with NHC Director « if this hits south Florida this is going to be a once in a generation event…the big one for us » pic.twitter.com/NfODX6xVzd
This is a life-threatening storm that the Hurricane Center warns is capable of catastrophic damage. Preparations should be rushed to completion along and near its projected path, including over South Florida.
At 11 p.m. Wednesday, the storm was 85 miles north-northwest of San Juan and was barreling to the west-northwest at 16 mph, moving away from both Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The storm’s heavier rain bands which had been lashing Puerto Rico into the evening were retreating north of the island. However, some of the storm’s outer bands continued producing localized downpours and flash flood warnings remained in effect. In a bit of fortunate news, the storm’s eyewall, the region with the most destructive winds, had passed to its north.
Still a gust of 63 miles per hour was clocked in San Juan early Wednesday evening and up to 900,000 power outages were reported. In Culebra, Puerto Rico, a small island 17 miles east of the mainland, a wind gust registered 111 miles per hour during the afternoon.
With the storm heading west-northwest, hurricane warnings were in effect for the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos, Haiti and the southeastern and central Bahamas. A hurricane watch covered Cuba and the northwestern Bahamas.
(National Hurricane Center)
This historically intense hurricane, maintaining winds of over 180 miles per hour longer than any Atlantic storm on record, is forecast to modestly weaken in the next two days, but remain an extremely dangerous Category 4 or 5 storm. It will produce the full gamut of hurricane hazards across the Bahamas and potentially South Florida, including a devastating storm surge, destructive winds and dangerous flash flooding.
Meanwhile, two new hurricanes formed late Wednesday afternoon in the Atlantic basin: Jose in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Katia in the southwest Gulf of Mexico (see more information down below).
Irma’s growing threat for the mainland U.S.
Model forecasts have shifted the center of Irma’s track eastward since Tuesday, projecting its core to pass right along Florida’s east coast. But enough uncertainty in the track exists that all of Florida should be on the highest alert and preparing for this hurricane.
Some of the latest computer simulations track the storm center very near Southeast Florida Sunday morning, presenting a very dangerous situation for the Miami to Fort Lauderdale area. However, shifts in the storm track are likely.
Model simulations of the center of Irma at 2 p.m. Sunday. (WeatherBell.com)
Tropical-storm-force winds are likely to arrive in Florida on Saturday, with the worst storm conditions occurring Sunday. The most extreme conditions are likely to occur near the storm center, but it is impossible this far out to pinpoint exactly where that will track. And serious storm effects will expand well outside the center.
The entire Florida peninsula is only about 100 miles wide, small compared to the size of the storm. Tropical-storm-force winds presently extend outward up to 185 miles from the storm center and hurricane-force winds extend 50 miles away.
Saffir-Simpson category rating of a hurricane only refers to peak winds in eyewall. This example from #Irma this morning is roughly to scale pic.twitter.com/i78HG3KzDs
A hurricane does not need to be rated Category 5 intensity to cause catastrophic damage. Remember, the category rating only refers to the peak winds in the eyewall, not the size of the storm, the rainfall and the storm surge.
Group of simulations from American (red) and European (blue) computer models as of Tuesday afternoon. (StormVistaWxModels.com)
Locations in northern Florida as well as up into Georgia and the Carolinas should also be preparing for a significant impact Monday and Tuesday. The forecasts from recent model runs bear some resemblance to Hurricane Matthew, which affected these areas just 11 months ago.
The rainfall forecast for the coming week shows a heavy swath over the Florida peninsula, and then spreading northward into the Carolinas as Irma likely tracks over those areas early next week.
Early Wednesday afternoon, a wind gust to 131 miles per hour was clocked on Buck Island and 87 miles per hour on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The National Weather Service issued an extreme wind warning for destructive winds gusts over 115 miles per hour for Saint John and Saint Thomas, “producing swaths of tornado-like damage.” A flash flooding warning was also issued.
Areas affected by the storm’s eyewall likely faced high destructive winds. The Hurricane Center provides this description of the potential damage inflicted by Category 5 winds:
A high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.
Forecasts also called for rainfall totals of 8-12 inches along the path, with isolated amounts up to 20 inches, leading to flash flooding and mudslides — especially over any high terrain.
While the center of Irma passed just north of Puerto Rico, damaging winds were still likely there, especially over the northeast part of the island, along with 4 to 10 inches of rain (and isolated totals up to 15 to 20 inches) and a storm surge of 4 to 6 feet in coastal areas.
After passing Puerto Rico, the storm should then pass just north of the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Thursday, where hurricane-force winds and torrential rains are also possible.
Later on Thursday, the storm will near the Turks and Caicos and southeastern Bahamas, where it could push ashore a devastating storm surge of 15 to 20 feet above normally dry land.
Irma’s path through the Northern Lesser Antilles
Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, the hurricane passed directly over Barbuda and Saint Martin in the northern Leeward Islands, the strongest hurricane ever recorded in that region and tied with the 1935 Florida Keys hurricane as the strongest Atlantic storm to strike land.
As Barbuda took a direct hit, the weather station there clocked a wind gust to 155 mph before it went offline. The storm surge on the island, or the rise in water above normally dry land, reached at least 8 feet.
Widespread destruction was reported on the island.
The storm also passed directly over Anguilla and St. Martin early Wednesday, causing severe damage.
Irma’s peak intensity (185 mph) ranks among the strongest in recorded history, exceeding the likes of Katrina, Andrew and Camille — whose winds peaked at 175 mph.
Among the most intense storms on record, it only trails Hurricane Allen in 1980, which had winds of 190 mph. It is tied for second most intense with Hurricane Wilma in 2005, Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 and the 1935 Florida Keys hurricane.
The storm has generated the most Accumulated Cyclone Energy, a measure of both a storm’s duration and intensity, of any hurricane on record.
Without a doubt, the World Meteorological Organization will retire the names Harvey and Irma after this season. While there have been several instances of consecutive storm names getting retired (Rita and Stan 2005, Ivan and Jeanne 2004, Isabel and Juan 2003, Luis and Marilyn 1995), the U.S. has only been hit by more than one Category 4+ hurricane in a season one time: 1915. Two Category 4 hurricanes hit in Texas and Louisiana six weeks apart that year.
While Irma is grabbing all of the attention, two other hurricanes are spinning in the Atlantic basin:
Tropical Storm Jose was upgraded to a hurricane late Wednesday afternoon. Positioned far out in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, the storm was rapidly gaining strength and was forecast to become a major Category 3 storm by Friday. The current track forecast keeps it mostly away from land areas over the next several days but it could graze the same islands in the northeastern Lesser Antilles slammed by Irma this weekend and forecasters will be watching it closely.
Tropical Storm Katia, which formed early Wednesday in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, intensified quickly into a hurricane late in the afternoon. It could intensify into a Category 2 hurricane before making landfall in the Mexico state of Veracruz Friday into Saturday, where a hurricane watch is in effect.
Hurricane season in perspective
In terms of Accumulated Cyclone Energy for all storms so far, 2017 has spiked to well above average in the past week thanks to Irma. And now we also have Jose and Katia adding to the tally. As of Wednesday morning, this season’s Accumulated Cyclone Energy is at about 152 percent of average for the date.
When people think about computer vision (sometimes called “machine vision”), they often think of smartphones and autonomous cars.
Snapchat can give you a puppy dog face thanks to facial recognition (a subset of machine vision). Autonomous cars can identify a human walking across a street. But did you know that machine vision plays a role in future marketing applications as well?
In this article, we’ll explore three current applications for computer vision in marketing. It’s important to note that these applications are most likely to be found in retail or broad B2C markets — I covered the reasons for this in my “5-year trends in artificially intelligent marketing” article here on MarTechToday (which may be a useful read for people with a strong interest in AI’s wider marketing applications).
1. Contextual ads/in-image ads
When Google AdSense or Google Display Network is embedded on a site, users will see a text or image ad that’s either (a) relevant to the text on that page, or (b) based on retargeting data of that particular user.
But what about images? As it turns out, there are companies (GumGum is one of them) that can display advertisements over images, by contextually identifying what is in the image and displaying relevant ads on the image itself.
For example, an image featuring playing kittens might be a good place to advertise a cat food brand — or an image of a tropical beach might be a good place to advertise vacation rentals in the Bahamas. One of GumGum’s YouTube videos shows this technology in action in a short highlight reel:
This is a challenging task that hasn’t been possible until relatively recently — thanks to major developments in machine vision in the last two to three years.
“Until very recently, it hasn’t been possible for a computer to get a semantic — that is to say, a human-level understanding of pictures,” machine vision guru Nathan Hurst, a distinguished engineer at Shutterstock, told me. In a recent interview, he explained how past approaches almost always boiled down to tagging images to identify their contents — until engineers built machine learning models that could be trained on massive image data sets.
With algorithms that can distinguish not just a “car,” but a “2004 Honda Civic,” and not just a “dog,” but a “cocker spaniel,” advertisers now have the ability to target specific image contexts to target their ads. An e-commerce business targeting Honda owners can not only target branded search terms (in Google AdWords, for example), but might also target only the images of Honda cars on related websites.
The online world is moving to video — with Cisco research predicting that 80 percent of web traffic by 2019 will be from engagement with video. Because of this trend, not only are major journalistic sites (such as Mic and Verge) pivoting to video, but brands are also aiming to win in the video game — but it’s not easy.
If a sunglasses brand has 100 images of its newest design, how does the company know which of those images should be used to garner clicks or purchases from users on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest?
Montreal-based Envision.ai is working on applications to parse through myriad image and video options to match the right media to the right user at the right time. Because a certain user or demographic group may change click-through behavior depending on the time of day, an AI system could be trained to adjust advertising media on these real-time factors.
For instance, Unilever’s Axe body spray has run social media campaigns with 100,000 different versions of its “Romeo Reboot” video, according to a post by the project’s visual effects director. As this kind of deep “calibration” to users and segments becomes the norm, large consumer brands may be forced to follow suit to match the innovators in online media engagement.
3. Facial recognition for advertising feedback
One of the benefits of online advertising is the fact that it’s trackable. Advertisers know how many sessions, users, clicks and so on happen in a given day or minute. They can calibrate specific ads to certain types of users or geolocations or days of the week and so on. This digital “footprint” allows for a tremendous amount of data to be collected to help optimize an advertiser’s efforts.
But outdoor advertising hasn’t been able to keep up. Tracking “users” and tracking “number of people who walk within 10 feet of this signage” are very, very different — the latter being much more challenging. Tracking “number of clicks to video content” and tracking “number of passersby who look at this outdoor advertisement for more than 3 seconds” are very different — again with the latter being much more challenging.
The limitations of the physical world are being overcome, however, by innovative companies that are taking the principles of online testing and variation and bringing them offline. London’s MC Saatchi has experimented with outdoor advertisements that track physical equivalents of “engagement” and varies its outdoor signage in real time based on the responses of the people who walk past.
In the future, advertisements on desktop and (especially) mobile may gather details about attention and emotion through facial recognition — and take this feedback into account to help determine what ads should be shown next or what details the advertisers themselves should change.
Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily MarTech Today. Staff authors are listed here.
The value of video production in today’s fast-paced environment should not be understated. In fact, many would argue that anyone hoping to make it as a photographer in today’s world better know how to shoot video in addition.
Simply Google “video marketing statistics” and you will be inundated by the number of results pointing to this fact. In a recent article by HubSpot, shared on Forbes.com, the following stats blew my mind:
Adding a video to marketing emails can boost click-through rates by 200-300 percent.
Embedding videos on landing pages can increase conversion rates by 80 percent.
90 percent of customers report that product videos help them make purchasing decisions.
According to YouTube, mobile video consumption grows by 100 percent every year.
And this was only a handful. Simply put, video production is going to a be a huge part of any successful marketing strategy going forward. As someone that started as a photographer and has gradually migrated to a focus on video, I wanted to share some of my experiences as to why you should be adding video as part of your portfolio and how easy it can be.
Less Can Be More
When my business partner and I started Simple Cinema, our strategy was to focus on small to medium-sized local businesses in our area who could benefit greatly from video content on their site but didn’t have the insane budgets that larger companies do. Having worked as a PA for larger productions companies in town, I began to notice that many of the productions seemed vastly overdone for the desired outcome. Insane equipment requirements such as RED cameras, anamorphic lenses, elaborate lighting setups, not to mention bloated staffing where it sometimes seemed like 10 percent was carrying the remaining 90 percent. Furthermore, all of this work was being booked through a third-party agency, aka the middleman, which is simply another mouth to feed in the process driving up costs. Arguably, this is part of the industry, and depending on the job, most of these requirements would be obligatory.
However, we saw an entire niche left unserved because of these constraints. DSLR and mirrorless-sized cameras can produce amazing cinematic results at a fraction of the cost. When managed properly, the results can be as good as a $20,000 RED camera with far more flexibility and less overhead. It should also be worth noting that most clients will only be using the video content on their websites or social media. Therefore 4K, much less 8K, is simply not as valuable as it may seem although most mirrorless cameras now shoot at that resolution with ease.
The above video was arguably very simple: a single take using only a Panasonic GH5. However, an interesting scene, a solid edit with foley added, and a well-executed deployment by our client resulted in one of their biggest weekends and the most viewed post on social media.
The point being, you don’t need a ton of fancy new gear to start shooting video. Chances are, the camera you already own will do an amazing job. Read your manual and figure out what frame rates it shoots at for every given resolution. Watch YouTube tutorials on camera movements and practice making your shots looks more like what you see on large ads. Finally, assist on larger jobs and see how they shoot. Take note of lighting techniques, key personnel, and execution. I learned a ton by assisting on other jobs including what was necessary or not for any given situation.
Video for Social Media Marketing
As we started pitching our business, we came to realize that most businesses were interested in short promos, “about us” videos, or content to be used on social media. Marketing on social media is a huge endeavor in today’s world especially for smaller, local businesses who are appealing to a younger crowd. To become relevant and stay relevant on social media requires an enormous amount of content posted regularly with a consistent style or look to it. Talk to any business owner and most will understand the importance of this fact but will almost immediately tell you they don’t have the time for it or don’t understand how it works.
Volia. Most marketing on social media consists of short, action-inspired clips that are direct and to the point. Our pitch was simple. We can offer a steady flow of social media content for your business, and if needed we can manage the posting of said content on your behalf. All for a monthly fee. In the world of entrepreneurship, monthly fees, or retainers, are like gold. As opposed to one-time jobs where you are paid $X up front to complete Y job after which your income earned is complete, we began seeking out monthly partnerships where we could earn a set amount of dollars on a recurring basis. This is great for both parties involved because it fosters an environment of consistency and trust for their brand and one of financial stability for your business. Furthermore, most of the content is simple and short with taglines added to single clips and a logo to cap it off.
Obviously, this model would not be for everyone but from our perspective it was ideal. Look for underserved niches in your market and how video can help serve those niches. By offering a service or product that is needed as opposed to being a luxury, it will be far easier to sell yourself.
Businesses, especially social media, love drone shots. Anything drone draws immediate attention as being novel and captivating. This was a quick snapshot of the same scene featured in my lead video for this article taken in between filming. The client loved it.
“Do You Offer Photography As Well?”
I get this question a lot. More than I did when I was simply a photographer. As it turns out, offering video first will oftentimes lead to a need for photography as well.
When creating a video for a company, the setups and conditions will likely be ideal to take a few snapshots as well. If time permits during a shoot, take some photos as well. Show the client those shots in addition to the finished video and chances are they will immediately see value in them. You can offer them for an additional price or perhaps as a freebie for future business. At the very least, they may be useful as part of a commercial photography portfolio to solicit other clients. The irony for me was that I struggled to find commercial photography gigs before shooting video and now they seem to go hand in hand.
This was one of several sample shots taken in between filming for a small technology company. The client only requested video but later paid me for the photos as well to be used on their website.
Stock Footage
Everyone has heard of stock photography and therein lies the problem. Stock photography took off at the beginning of the digital age as anyone with a few bucks could own a camera and shoot decent photos. Before long, it became incredibly saturated and only those who had been in the game long enough survived.
Usher in the revolution of stock footage. While difficult to estimate with certainty due to a lack of hard financial data, it is believed that the stock footage market is poised to grow at 20 percent per annum with a total economic value between $600-800 million per year (Robb Crocker, Stock Footage Millionaire 2014). These figures should be striking to anyone that has even a modest knowledge of finance.
Stock footage has an insane amount of relevance in today’s world for many of the reasons I noted above. Many companies do not have large budgets and therefore turn to stock footage where they can compile clips into a comprehensive video at a relatively affordable price. As rapid technological advancement continues and the need for interactive media grows, stock footage will inevitably become a larger part of the equation. And the best part is that this industry is still in its infancy with barely 10-plus years of archives.
So how would you go about getting into stock footage? Start by researching. I bought a book titled “Stock Footage Millionaire” written by a successful stock footage producer. The book outlines the industry and gives several examples of best practices and gear requirements which are far less cumbersome than you might expect. Next would probably be to produce a few shoots and get a library going. Develop a concept and hire talent. Execute a well-planned shoot and archive the best clips. Next, find an agency like Blend Images or Pond5 that will host and sell your clips.
This process takes a great deal of time and often an up-front investment that will not provide returns for generally a year or more. However, if you are smart about it and focused on what sells you may find this to be a great avenue for recurring income which will benefit you into your later years.
This is a screengrab from a hospital stock footage shoot I was incredibly lucky to be a part of last month. The image, although not high resolution, is still something I could use on my photography portfolio especially considering it is medical in nature.
Conclusion
In my opinion, the possibilities for video are endless when left to the imagination. While I still refer to myself a photographer, most of my focus these days is on video and for good reason, it seems. As an aspiring professional, be thinking about how you can add video to your portfolio and if so, what are the best approaches for your business and market. I would love to hear other’s stories on this topic.
VidCon is debuting in Australia for the first time on September 9th and 10th 2017.
Startups have to market their brand. Startups have to communicate their message. Startups have to build a loyal following of customers. But as obvious as these steps may seem, the ways to successfully implementing them can be confusing. In a competitive landscape dictated by continuous evolution, there seems a saturation of options for startups to market themselves effectively. Different marketing mediums, different content modalities, different launch strategies. The challenge for founders, therefore, becomes identifying the opportunities showing the most effective yield at any given time.
Under current market dynamics, one medium in particular appears to be gaining accelerating momentum in terms of its efficacy.
Video content seems poised as the latest marketing arbitrage for Australian startups.
This trend is consolidated by VidCon, a global online video conference, debuting in Australia on September 9th and 10th. This is the first year that the two-day event, which was recently hosted in Amsterdam on April 7-9, has gone international. It hosts influencers, creators and experts that are prominent in the online video space as a means to illuminate the expansive activity in the industry.
In my chat with Jim Louderback, VidCon CEO, he described the conference as an eclectic combination of online video influences.
« VidCon is a mix of three different events. At it’s core, the community side is like Comicon for Online video. The creator track helps those who want to create content on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and other services get better at what they do. And the industry track explores how to build profitable businesses across these new online video platforms ».
But in addition to its multi-genre reach, VidCon’s presence in Australia is indicative of the growth of video as a ubiquitous marketing medium in the local market.
According to Louderback, Australia is an eco-system that demonstrates strong engagement and a pool of innovative content creators.
“Australia has an amazing group of online video creators, and some of the most passionate fans in the world. It’s natural to bring the biggest online video conference to a place where there’s such an amazing confluence of talent and such an amazing group of supportive fans. We wanted to make sure we were part of that community, and hopefully we can help celebrate the creative economy in VidCon as we connect the local community to VidCon’s global audience”.
New York: SundaySky, powering personalized video engagement for leading brands, today announced that Eric Porres has joined the company as chief marketing officer. Porres is a respected, influential marketing leader with a track record of driving both brand and business growth. He will help further SundaySky’s leadership position in the market as the only provider of personalized one-to-one video engagements across the entire customer lifecycle.
Previously the CMO at Sailthru and Rocket Fuel, Porres brings a diverse background of 20-plus years of executive leadership, digital marketing, agency ownership and brand experience to SundaySky. He joins SundaySky as its SmartVideo platform is achieving record growth and adoption at some of the world’s largest brands, including ATT, Citi, Williams Sonoma, Staples and Verizon. SundaySky has created more than 1.7 billion personalized and unique videos across web and mobile devices.
“Eric levels up our entire team, as brands trust his ability to simplify and solve complex industry problems, capitalize on trends before everyone else, and, at the same time, humanize marketing,” said Jim Dicso, CEO of SundaySky. “Eric brings depth and experience in media, data and technology. Few marketers have such a successful record of building and scaling companies.”
Unlike other solutions, SundaySky delivers true end-to-end video personalization, letting brands scale their storytelling capabilities and provide a unique message for each customer or prospect. Porres will play an integral role in helping companies adapt and transform their brand engagements into personal, valuable and relevant experiences for every individual, cultivating brand loyalty and creating customers for life.
“Brands are only starting to tap into the potential of data-driven creative, and video is the ultimate storytelling vehicle,” said Eric Porres, CMO of SundaySky. “SundaySky sits at the intersection of two of the hottest consumer trends today: personalization and video, combining data with the power of sight, sound and motion for storytelling in the digital age.”
Nick Friese, CEO of Digiday, said, “It’s a sharp move to bring Eric on as CMO at SundaySky. Eric is one of the most thoughtful people working in tech today, and his natural curiosity combined with powerful presentation skills should help create more demand for personalized video from brand marketers.”
Prior to SundaySky, Porres was CMO at Sailthru, Rocket Fuel and Lotame Solutions, and he previously founded several digital marketing and strategy firms. He also held management roles at Time, Inc. and Agency.com. Porres graduated from Duke University and is an investor and advisor for several startup companies.
Leveraging video marketing is apowerfulstrategy to promote, brand, and grow your business online. More consumers are interacting with videos today than ever before and, in 2017, it’s vital to boost and ramp up your video marketing to connect with your audience.
But don’t take my word for it! I’ve compiled 17 intriguing statistics that illustrates the power behind video marketing. When you’re done, you’ll be motivated to bolster your video strategy to create success in your overall digital marketing.
Shutterstock
#1 By 2019, global consumer Internet video traffic will accountfor 80%of all consumer Internet traffic (Source:SmallBizTrends)
#2 Facebook generates8 billion videoviews on average per day (Source:Social Media Today)
#3 YouTube reports mobile video consumption rises 100% every year (Source:Hubspot)
“The effect of this unilateral executive amnesty, among other things, contributed to a surge of minors at the southern border that yielded terrible humanitarian consequences.” — Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in remarks announcing the rescission of DACA, Sept. 5, 2017
“The temporary implementation of DACA by the Obama Administration, after Congress repeatedly rejected this amnesty-first approach, also helped spur a humanitarian crisis — the massive surge of unaccompanied minors from Central America including, in some cases, young people who would become members of violent gangs throughout our country, such as MS-13.” — President Trump, in a statement on DACA, Sept. 5
In announcing the end of President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Attorney General Jeff Sessions asserted that the 2012 action “contributed” to the massive influx of unaccompanied minors from Central America that peaked in 2014.
The president’s written statement on ending DACA echoed this claim — that it “helped spur a humanitarian crisis” involving the Central American children. The statement then tried to tie that crisis to violence by MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, a Central American gang that has been operating in the United States since the 1980s. A White House fact sheet was slightly more nuanced: “Partly because of DACA, the United States saw a surge in illegal immigration by minors in 2013-2014, because they hoped to take advantage of the program.”
The careful statements use political weasel words — “among other things, contributed” and “helped spur” and “partly” — that always jump out at The Fact Checker. What is the evidence for the claim that DACA led to the surge of unaccompanied minors?
The Facts
DACA was intended to let “dreamers” — children of illegal immigrants who in many cases knew no other home — to avoid deportation and get work permits that are renewed every two years. A recent survey of about 3,000 DACA applicants found the median age on arriving in the United States was 6.
Under the programs, the Obama administration set forth requirements for qualifying for DACA, including having resided in the United States continuously from June 15, 2007, to June 15, 2012. Applicants also needed to have arrived with a parent and before turning 16, be in school or be a graduate of high school, or be a military veteran and not convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor or three or more misdemeanors.
Essentially, Obama was ordering a program of “prosecutorial discretion” that would not target for deportation undocumented aliens who meet these qualifications. When Obama announced the program, he said it was intended as a temporary action — and not a pathway to citizenship — because Congress had failed to pass legislation accomplishing the same goals.
In 2014, nearly 70,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended at the southern border as they made the trek from Central America to the U.S. border, a jump of 77 percent from the previous year. Most fled violence and abuse in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
A theory emerged, especially among immigration foes such as then-Sen. Sessions, that Obama’s DACA policy was also responsible for the influx of unaccompanied arrivals. But there are substantial problems with this theory, both in logic and statistics.
Note the DACA rules above, which included arriving before Obama’s June 15, 2012, announcement, arriving with a parent and living continuously in the United States for five years. “These young people would not have qualified,” said Doris M. Meissner, who was commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service during the Bill Clinton administration and now directs the immigration policy program at the Migration Policy Institute.
Meissner acknowledged that there is evidence that smugglers increasingly suggested the children could get a “permisos” to stay for a while in the United States. The Washington Post in 2014 reported that a leaked Border Patrol memo summarizing interviews with children detained at the border in 2014 indicated that “the main reason the migrants had crossed into the United States was ‘to take advantage of the ‘new’ U.S. law that grants a free pass or permit’ from the government.”
A Justice Department official cited the Post article as evidence for Sessions’s statement, but the article does not mention DACA. Instead, it refers to “the perception they will be allowed to stay under the Obama administration’s immigration policies.”
The Justice Department official noted that after DACA, the number of unaccompanied children surged in 2013, for a 59 percent increase over the previous year — and then another 77 percent in 2014.
Meissner said that the promise of “permisos” was not related to DACA but instead the fact that children from countries that did not border the United States were allowed to stay in the United States, with relatives, until they faced deportation hearings — and at the time that could take a year or more.
A key reason for this situation was an anti-trafficking law signed in 2008 by President George W. Bush. The law, Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), ordered that within 72 hours of determining that a child is an unaccompanied minor and is from a country other than Mexico or Canada, that child should be transferred by the Border Patrol into the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. Virtually all of these children — 90 percent — were then housed with relatives or family friends while the they awaited hearings; the rest were placed in foster care.
In peer-reviewed academic study published in International Migration in 2016, researchers Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes and Thitima Puttitanun crunched the data and concluded that the anti-trafficking law, along with violence in the originating countries and economic conditions, was largely responsible for the surge in unaccompanied minors, whereas DACA had no significant impact. They noted that the rise in unaccompanied minors began in 2009, the year after the passage of the law, when the number increased by 145 percent year over year.
The number of unaccompanied children “practically doubled since the passage of the aforementioned law by the US Congress, probably due to the fact that children from non-neighboring countries were allowed to stay in the United States, often for years, while awaiting a hearing,” Amuedo-Dorantes and Puttitanun wrote. “In contrast, in relative terms, the TVPRA lowered by approximately 26 per cent apprehensions of unaccompanied minors originating from Mexico, who continued to be returned immediately to their home country following their apprehension via expedited removals.”
David Bier, an immigration policy analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute, has noted that Bush administration also faced a child-migrant crisis, but there is no data for unaccompanied minors before 2008. “Before the recession, its [Customs and Border Patrol] statistics show that huge numbers of children were coming to the border,” he wrote. “Juvenile arrivals are simply returning to their pre-recession trend.”
The Justice Department official noted that in 2010, Obama himself had warned that giving legal status to people in the country illegally could have negative repercussions. “I recognize the sense of compassion that drives this argument, but I believe such an indiscriminate approach would be both unwise and unfair,” Obama said. “It would suggest to those thinking about coming here illegally that there will be no repercussions for such a decision. And this could lead to a surge in more illegal immigration.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The Pinocchio Test
Sessions and Trump used carefully-parsed words in an effort to have their cake and eat it too.
There was a surge in unaccompanied children in 2014, two years after DACA was announced. But that does not mean DACA led to that crisis or even contributed significantly to it. A bigger factor appears to be the 2008 law signed by Bush — as well as violence and economic conditions in the countries the children fled. DACA may have helped foster a perception that Obama was lenient on illegal immigrants, but it is hard to draw a direct line, as Sessions and Trump strive to do.
Sessions was more careful in his phrasing, since he acknowledged there were other factors behind the surge. We wavered between Two and Three Pinocchios, with Sessions’s statement more of a Two and Trump leaning toward Three. Since Trump is the president, his language is more important and thus earns a Three. (Watch the video above on how the president has twisted and turned on DACA over the years.)
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President Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program could cause the Republican Party grave damage with Latino voters, according to experts both inside and outside the GOP.
Trump did better with Hispanics in last November’s presidential election than most expected, avoiding a catastrophic loss with the voting bloc despite his hard-line rhetoric on immigration and his signature promise to build a southern border wall.
But the decision to end DACA — a program put in place by then-President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaOPINION | Bill O’Reilly: Harvey, Sandy, Katrina — A tale of three superstorms Week ahead: Tech mobilizes on DACA | House panel looks at Uber economy Trump asked aides for ‘a way out’ on DACA: report MORE in 2012 — could prove a watershed moment, some say.
“It is the topic of conversation in every Latino household,” said Luis Alvarado, a Los Angeles-based Republican strategist. “If this energy can be corralled and focused against Republicans in the 2018 elections, Republicans are going to suffer great losses.”
Speaker Paul RyanPaul RyanThis week: Harvey aid at top of long to-do list as Congress returns The Memo: Trump faces critical fall Week ahead in finance: Lawmakers brace for high-stakes September MORE (R-Wis.) had last week urged Trump not to end the program. On Tuesday, Arizona’s two Republican senators, John McCainJohn Sidney McCainThis week: Harvey aid at top of long to-do list as Congress returns Week ahead in defense: Senators pick up work on defense bill | Briefings on North Korea, Afghan troop surge Week ahead in cyber: Dems look to block State Department shakeup MORE and Jeff FlakeJeffrey (Jeff) Lane FlakeThe Memo: Trump faces critical fall North Korea fears demand attention despite domestic concerns Flake: ‘Harsh rhetoric’ not slowing down North Korea MORE, criticized him for doing so. Meanwhile, centrist GOP lawmakers including Rep. Carlos Curbelo (Fla.) are pushing a legislative fix.
Notably, Sen. Cory GardnerCory Scott GardnerOPINION | US must prepare for a decade of tensions, North Korea nuclear tests GOP rightly shows Trump that Lincoln’s party stands for justice OPINION | Bannon and Trump trigger firestorm of national outrage MORE (R-Colo.), the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, threw his support behind the DREAM Act on Tuesday. Gardner is now a co-sponsor of the proposed legislation, which would go even further than DACA, providing young illegal immigrants with a path to citizenship.
Another California GOP strategist, Hector Barajas, stressed that Democrats would make political hay from the ending of DACA, especially if Congress did not step in during the six months before the program officially goes dormant.
“It will be a drumbeat on Spanish-language television,” Barajas said. “It is the drumbeat happening on the news right now and it will be for at least a couple of weeks. There will be a constant reminder from the other side [Democrats] about who ended this program.”
Both men said the politically toxic effect of the decision could be amplified by the timing, as it comes soon after Trump’s pardon of Joe Arpaio, the controversial former sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz.
Separately, Alvarado said that California offers a particularly instructive example for Republicans when it comes to Latino voters.
In 1994, incumbent Republican Gov. Pete Wilson made support for Proposition 187 a key element in his reelection campaign. That ballot initiative sought to bar illegal immigrants from using most state services and established a citizenship screening process.
Proposition 187 passed by a wide margin and Wilson won a second term, but they were Pyrrhic victories. The episode is widely held to have fired up California’s growing Latino population and alienated them from Republicans for decades.
Republicans have never won a Senate election in the state since, nor has a GOP nominee carried it in a presidential election. The party’s only successful candidate for major statewide office since that time was two-term Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is atypical as both an immigrant and a movie star.
Now, Republicans and independent experts alike wonder if they might be witnessing a “Pete Wilson moment” on a national scale.
“Trump is energizing Latinos, I suppose,” said Antonio Gonzalez, the president of the William C. Velasquez Institute, which bills itself as a nonpartisan public policy organization with a Latino focus.
“This is exactly what happened with Prop. 187. There were only two years where Latinos turned out for midterm elections at the same rate as in presidential elections. That was 1994 and 1998 — and those two elections are what transformed California from a purple state to a blue state.”
Alvarado, the GOP strategist, agreed, saying that “we’ve seen this before in California” with Proposition 187.
The GOP, he lamented, does “not hold any statewide office because of the effervescency against Republicans in California. That is exactly the danger Republicans face with Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpSouth Korea conducts live-fire exercises for second day in a row N. Korea moving rocked believed to be ICBM: report OPINION | Bill O’Reilly: Harvey, Sandy, Katrina — A tale of three superstorms MORE at the helm.”
Yet Trump has defied expectations before. Last November, he held Democrat Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonThe Memo: Trump faces critical fall Trump lawyer to reporter: ‘Are you on drugs?’ John Legend casting ‘out of shape’ Trump supporters for music video: report MORE’s winning margin among Hispanic voters to 38 points (66-28), according to exit polls. Four years previously, Obama had defeated GOP nominee Mitt Romney by 44 points (71-27) with the same group.
To some, that was a sign that Trump’s message of disruption, in addition to his promise of more jobs and rising wages, had resonated with part of the Hispanic community. Others note that Trump’s actual share of the Hispanic vote was virtually identical to Romney’s and suggest this might be a “floor” of reliably Republican voters among Latinos.
There is also the chance that Trump’s move will resonate with his base deeply enough to offset any losses among Hispanic voters.
The decision to end DACA is the fulfillment of a campaign pledge. On the trail, Trump referred to DACA as an “illegal amnesty” that had to be ended — though he softened that rhetoric soon after being inaugurated, often talking of handling the issue “with heart.”
Groups that support reduced immigration welcomed Trump’s decision to end DACA. Roy Beck, the president of one such group, NumbersUSA, described it as “a wonderful Labor Day present to unemployed American millennials.”
Another conservative group, the Faith and Freedom Coalition, described the decision as “proper, proactive action.”
Trump himself, who often relishes bare-knuckle rhetoric, was more muted on the DACA decision. Speaking to reporters before a White House meeting on tax reform Tuesday, he said he had “a great heart” for the people who have benefited from the program.
The program provides people who entered the United States illegally before the age of 16 with renewable two-year work permits and frees them from the threat of deportation, so long as they meet certain conditions. Around 800,000 people are in the program.
“I have a love for these people, and hopefully now Congress will be able to help them and do it properly,” Trump said.
On Tuesday evening, he appeared to soften his position even more, writing on Twitter that if Congress did not « legalize DACA » he would then « revisit the issue. »
The constitutionality of Obama’s action in enacting DACA has long been hotly debated. Obama did so only after Congress failed to act — and after he himself had seemed to suggest that he did not have such expansive powers. A later policy constructed along broadly similar lines — DAPA, or Deferred Action for Parents of Americans — was struck down by the courts.
The Trump administration on Tuesday acted under pressure from the Republican attorneys general of several states who had pledged to mount a legal challenge to DACA if the president did not move.
Attorney General Jeff SessionsJefferson (Jeff) SessionsSessions to make DACA announcement Tuesday Trump to end DACA with 6-month delay: report Trump lawyer to reporter: ‘Are you on drugs?’ MORE and, reportedly, White House chief of staff John KellyJohn Francis KellyMORE believed that DACA was unlikely to survive such a challenge, and some people who support the policy goals of the program agree.
Still, polls show broad sympathy for DACA beneficiaries. An NBC News-Survey Monkey poll released last week indicated that 64 percent of American adults support the program, compared to just 30 percent who oppose it.
Obama weighed in via Facebook on Tuesday, calling Trump’s move “wrong,” “cruel” and “self-defeating.”
The former president meant the last term in the sense of “bad for the nation.” But the experts who spoke to The Hill argued that Trump himself had also fallen victim to another self-inflicted wound.
“He has turbo-charged the Latino community against him,” Gonzalez said.
The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage, primarily focused on Donald Trump’s presidency.
Irma tore the roof off a police station on Barbuda, forcing officers to take shelter in a nearby fire station, The Associated Press reported.
Midcie Francis of the National Office of Disaster Services said that there had been damage to several homes but that the authorities had not yet assessed the extent of the destruction.
Residents and officials were particularly worried about the storm surge. Barbuda is flat, with a maximum elevation of no more than 150 feet, though most of its small population lives in and around the town of Codrington, which is at or close to sea level.
“Unfortunately, in Barbuda there are few buffers if a significant storm surge is experienced,” The Daily Observer newspaper said in an editorial on Monday.
Dario Barthley, a project officer with Cricket West Indies, the sport’s governing body in the region, said in a text message that more than 1,000 residents moved before the storm into the island’s only shelter, leaving hundreds more potentially exposed.
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Florida residents lining up to get propane tanks filled in Miami on Tuesday. Credit
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“It’s one of the flattest Caribbean islands, so the devastation will be a lot worse there, sad to say,” Mr. Barthely said.
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Residents of Antigua also expressed concern about Barbudans in text messages and on social media. Phone lines to the sister island have been down for hours, leaving most residents there unreachable, Antiguans said.
— KIRK SEMPLE
Hurricane sideswipes Antigua.
Irma produced high gusts of wind across Antigua, in what appeared to be a less-than-eventful hit on the island early Wednesday.
About 4 a.m. local time, the storm was 40 miles north of the island, the National Hurricane Center said.
In the Gambles Terrace neighborhood in St. John’s, the capital city, major structures were still intact and houses showed no significant damage. A few fallen branches littered the streets.
The special Alitalia jetliner, which left Rome on Wednesday morning, was originally scheduled to fly over Puerto Rico and Venezuela before entering Colombian airspace, Reuters reported.
The revised route takes it south of Puerto Rico, flying over the islands of Barbados, Grenada, Tobago and Trinidad.
In Puerto Rico, wary of rising waters.
Irma was expected to pass just north of Puerto Rico, which could help the island avoid major damage, but the authorities still warned residents to watch for rising waters.
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“We are letting people know there is an expectation of six to eight inches of rain, with some areas receiving up to 12 inches,” Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló said at a televised briefing Wednesday morning. “This is a cause of concern for flooding in Puerto Rico. As the history with Harvey states, flooding can become the major cause of death in events of this nature.”
Mr. Rosselló said that about 700 people had sought refuge in shelters across the island, including many in Ponce, on the southern coast. He urged people to leave low-lying areas, and said that the authorities had not yet had to call out the National Guard to get people to leave.
“We are asking citizens to be mindful of the risks,” he said. “Help us help you.”
Puerto Rico was last hit by a Category 5 storm nearly a century ago, said Bryan Norcross, a hurricane specialist at the Weather Channel. That hurricane, known as San Felipe, killed more than 2,700 people in Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico and Florida in September 1928, according to The Associated Press.
Officials in Puerto Rico warned that the island’s fragile electrical grid could be shut down for months in some areas. Mr. Rosselló warned that the powerful winds could thrash the island, its infrastructure, houses and the phone system.
The hurricane could not have come at a worse time for Puerto Rico. The island is the throes of an economic crisis and does not have money for rebuilding.
Stoic residents say major storms are a fact of life.
As the storm bore down late on Tuesday, many residents of the Leeward Islands sounded stoic and battle-tested, saying powerful storms were a fact of life in the region.
“We grew up with this stuff,” Joseph John, a surgeon in Antigua, said by telephone. “We build for it. We have the necessary sustenance for it, like water, generators and so forth, shutters and all that.”
Dr. John, who lives on the coast, was spending the night with a friend who lives inland.
But he and others acknowledged that with the promise of record-high winds, Hurricane Irma could be a new experience for the islands.
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“This one is a superstorm, so people are very uptight about this,” he said. “We’re talking 185 right now. I can’t recall any hurricane packing on 185 in my lifetime,” he added, referring to winds of 185 miles per hour.
“There are tons of homes here that aren’t prepared for it obviously,” the surgeon continued, saying that many of the substandard dwellings were in lower-income neighborhoods. “What the heck is going to happen, we don’t know.”
On Wednesday, Elias Hadeed, a retired structural engineer and general contractor in Antigua, said that from his perspective, the storm was “much better than expected.” By 6 a.m., he said, the rains had stopped and there had been “no extensive damage” to his garden and his reinforced concrete home.
Photo
Residents of St. Petersburg, Fla., filled sandbags on Tuesday as they prepared for Hurricane Irma. Credit
Lara Cerri/Tampa Bay Times, via Associated Press
He said in a text message, “We are lucky that it shifted a little bit to the north of Antigua, but feel sad for the people in our sister island Barbuda.”
In St. Kitts and Nevis, Commissioner Ian Queeley of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force said in a text message on Wednesday that the early reports were encouraging. “Not too bad at this time,” he wrote. “Still plenty rain and strong winds.”
— KIRK SEMPLE
Live Webcam St-Barth – Port de GustaviaVideo by St-Barth LiveCam
Six islands in the Bahamas are evacuated.
“The price you may pay for not evacuating is your life or serious physical harm,” Prime Minister Hubert Minnis of the Bahamas warned residents.
Evacuees from the southern part of the island chain were being flown to Nassau, the capital, on Wednesday, The A.P. said. Mr. Minnis called the operation the “largest evacuation” in Bahamian history.
Miami area and the Florida Keys are taking no chances.
In Miami-Dade County, Florida’s most populous, the memory of the damage brought in 1992 by Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm, spurred residents to prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Irma earlier than usual.
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On Wednesday, Mr. Trump tweeted: “Watching hurricane closely. My team, which has done, and is doing, such a good job in Texas, is already in Florida. No rest for the weary!”
Hurricane looks like largest ever recorded in the Atlantic!
Most projections have Irma slamming into the state by Sunday, although it was unclear where it might make landfall.
Gov. Rick Scott activated the state National Guard and declared a state of emergency.
Evacuation orders for Miami-Dade County were expected Wednesday or early Thursday, Mayor Carlos Gimenez said. Hundreds of thousands of residents are likely to leave their homes as a precaution for what is expected to be unprecedented coastal flooding.
The county expected to open shelters on Wednesday, and ordered schools closed on Thursday.
The Florida Keys, a vulnerable chain of islands, were under a mandatory evacuation order: Wednesday morning for visitors and Wednesday evening for residents. The islands’ three hospitals began evacuating patients on Tuesday.
Hurricane Harvey in Texas was weighing heavily on people’s minds.
“I think because of Texas, people are freaking out,” said Yoseyn Ramos, 24, a Miami resident who said she was worried because she could not find gas anywhere.
Watching Tropical Storm Jose, and Katia.
The National Hurricane Center said that Jose was expected to become a hurricane Wednesday night, and that Tropical Storm Katia had formed in the Gulf of Mexico.
When people think about computer vision (sometimes called “machine vision”), they often think of smartphones and autonomous cars.
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