What’s up with technology?
The past week has been exciting, especially in the world of technology and l have a few things to share on that. I really had a lot to follow and catch up on.
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First was Elon Musk’s admission to the BBC that indeed, many advertisers did quit Twitter after he made changes to the business model when he took over. But, as he also claimed, Twitter was “roughly breaking even” and that advertisers were returning to the social media site. How nice.
“All is well that ends well” Musk said, referencing the pain he had experienced following his interest in Twitter. He bought Twitter for US$44 billion after a series of boardroom and courtroom drama.
Musk's technology
The story goes like this: Tesla CEO, Musk, in April 2022 triggered twists and turns in the global financial market when he made comments about Twitter.
In a Ted talk, Musk claimed there was the need for Twitter to be more “transparent”, possibly to the point that it would be possible for the social networking platform to “open source” its algorithm and code on Github!
He was of the view then that a bid of US$40 billion should suffice to buy Twitter. Well, the claims by Musk about Twitter generated a lot of interest, especially from financial market analysts and market watchers. Expectedly, at some point, the market value of Twitter- as reflected in the estimated share price- enjoyed some strong appeal because of the words of Musk. In the market, words drive everything.
So, what was “in the words” of Musk that drove the market to high frenzy? A lot, really and because markets move on information, it responded accordingly. Musk was held to his own words to buy Twitter, which he eventually did.
In his recent interview with the BBC, he said he had no regret about buying Twitter, but that the pain level of his involvement in the company had been “extremely high” and it hadn’t been “some sort of party”.
He told the BBC: “I feel like we’re headed to a good place. We’re roughly break-even, I think we’re trending towards being cashflow positive very soon, literally in a matter of months. The advertisers are returning.” Long may it last!
The other issue that l found interesting in technology news was the concerns raised, mostly in the West, about the national security threat of TikTok.
TikTok, the China-based social media platform, is arguably the world’s most popular app today. Built by ByteDance, the popular site was expected to be the foreign version of the company’s popular domestic video-sharing platform, Douyin. But data privacy and security concerns seem to threaten growth in the near future.
What is more, many technology analysts are of the view that any restrictions applied to TitTok could also affect other China-based platforms such as WeChat and Shein.
WeChat has more than one billion users, predominantly in China. The app, developed by Tencent, has inbuilt features that makes it essential for not only communications, but also bookings of any form, managing finances and even health monitoring. In fact, a local study in China on the fight against the coronavirus claims that WeChat provided a strong avenue for health monitoring during the pandemic.
Shein is a little bit different to TitTok and WeChat. It is the world’s largest fashion retailer and was the most-downloaded fashion and beauty app in the United States of America last year, with estimated 27m downloads. Typical of Chinese e-commerce sites, it is a lot more engaging and user-friendly, which improves the shopping-experience considerably.
In fact, technology is shaping our lives, isn’t it?
Security concerns have always influenced developments in the technology space. I remember how years back one was always prompted to download certain “patches” or updates to help protect your PC or laptop from malware and other virus attacks.
It was easy then to just secure an anti-virus software, install and let it run a sweep through your files to detect virus.
Virus-corrupted files were removed and the PC or laptop gained more strength once free of virus. The result was instant as you saw a far more improved performance from your machine!
But today’s security concerns are a notch higher. With most operational processes, in our private lives and businesses adopting technology, the virus unleashed is now “trained” to perform specific tasks- to steal, perhaps maim or destroy.
In September 2020, for instance, the then US President, Donald Trump, sought to ban WeChat and TikTok outright over security concerns. But that executive orders have been withdrawn by the current President, Joe Biden but his administration has also launched a national security review of apps created by companies with links to regimes that the US is sceptical about.
With technology driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution, such security concerns will not go away any time soon. Cyber risks are on the rise and no one is spared.
In July 2021 for example, a ransomware attack on Kaseya, a US based information technology firm caused massive damage to operational processes. The attackers demanded US$70m to set those affected free!
As I explained in the July 10, 2021 edition of this column, the attack on this Florida-based company led to disruptions in the operations of more than 1200 companies across the globe, demonstrating why and how cyber security has become important as we adopt more technology in private, social and business activities.
On July 2, 2021, Kaseya announced that it had become the victim of a cyberattack.According to reports, the attackers exploit a vulnerability in Kaseya's software and managed to compromise the system, affecting the vendor's operations and services to third parties. Available records show that Kaseya maintains a presence in 10 countries, with its international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland and US headquarters in Miami, Florida. Just imagine the extent of damage in this instance.
Again, in the October 26, 2018 edition, I explained how technology adoption has been good to the “global economy, transforming lives and transforming the way services in banking, health, education, agriculture and aviation (just a few examples) are conducted. But, it hasn’t been smooth sailing at all times. The opportunities have brought threats too”.
“Significantly, in transforming our lives, technology has also exposed us to a number of other risks too.Today, cyber risks are causing severe disruptions to global peace and security. We are all not safe, again, thanks to technology!”
So what does it all mean to you? Well, pretty simple. Safe clicking saves money, so beware of your digital footprint. As for technological development, it has come to stay and more innovations are expected.