Mahira Dayal, The Information

Mahira Dayal

The Information

New York, NY, United States

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Recent:
  • Unknown
Past:
  • The Information
  • Daily Californian

Past articles by Mahira:

The Creator Gamble in Meta’s New Subscription Offering

For the last three years, social networks like Meta Platforms have pledged more tools for creators to help them reach fans and make money, services that aim to attract online influencers and their followers to the apps. Meta’s latest tool comes with a twist—and by twist, I mean a fee of between ... → Read More

TikTok’s Leadership Ties to China; Influencers at Davos

For the past two years, TikTok has been positioning itself as an entity with decision-making that’s independent from its Chinese parent company ByteDance, as it tries to convince U.S. lawmakers that China’s government will not access American user data or use the app to influence Americans. The ... → Read More

How Creators Fit Pinterest’s Commerce Goals; Musk’s Brief ‘Anti-Creator’ Policy

On Friday, I published an analysis of Pinterest, where creators post content such as mood boards, clothing outfits and home decor setups. One takeaway: Its new CEO Bill Ready wants to find ways to increase how much time its existing users spend on Pinterest, and earn more revenue from those ... → Read More

Instagram’s Evolution to Text; Interview With An Attorney-Turned-Influencer

Instagram has evolved from photos to videos to… text?On Tuesday, parent company Meta Platforms said it had made Notes, a new format to share short text posts on Instagram, available worldwide. Instagram began testing the feature this summer. It’s an opportune time to roll out a text feature amid ... → Read More

Pinterest, Grin Add to Creator Economy Layoffs

Pinterest has joined the list of social media companies that have let go of workers. Last week, the company cut jobs in its recruiting team and decided to slow down its hiring for the rest of the year, The Information was first to report.A Pinterest spokesperson declined to confirm details on ... → Read More

The People in Power at Twitch After Executive Departures and a Cut in Streamer Pay

Twitch, Amazon’s video-streaming unit, shook up its top ranks earlier this year following the departures of Chief Operating Officer Sara Clemens and Chief Content Officer Michael Aragon. That led to a consolidation of power under President Dan Clancy. The Information’s first Twitch org chart ... → Read More

Roblox’s Bright Spot; Cameo and Meta Layoffs; The Creator Founder Rising at Twitter

Roblox said Wednesday that its core businesses in the U.S. and Canada have surpassed their peak levels during the pandemic, and sales of its digital currency Robux—its main source of revenue—have rebounded 10% after two straight quarterly drops. But that wasn’t enough to soothe investors who ... → Read More

How Gamers Use TikTok; Pinterest Reassures Creators

TikTok is likely to reveal more about its gaming ambitions when it holds its first gaming event online on Wednesday. During that event, titled “TikTok Made Me Play It,” TikTok may announce a new gaming tab, which will feature in-app games, as the Financial Times reported. The app could also ... → Read More

Snap Needs Some Subscription Juice

Snap’s earnings call had a standout message: The camera app needs to quickly find new ways to tap into its young, growing audience to revitalize revenue growth. One way to do this is by expanding beyond advertising and building a stronger subscription feature. But if Twitter's subscription ... → Read More

How to Thrive as Social Media Gets Less Social; Mosseri Sounds Alarm on Instagram’s Reach With Creators

Social media isn’t as social as it used to be. Rather than using a Facebook feed to update friends every day or creating groups to host events, it’s becoming more common to use direct messaging for most personal interactions and instead place curated content on public profiles, such as an ... → Read More

WTF: A Tough Time for Startups but a Boon for the Cloud

A looming recession has made fundraising tough for startups—“and it’s going to get tougher,” said Alicia Boler Davis, CEO of digital health startup Alto Pharmacy. The company raised $200 million in a late-stage funding round announced in January, led by SoftBank Vision Fund. “Previously there ... → Read More

Questions for YouTube After Kyncl Era; Interview with ‘The Fierce Diva’

After 12 years at YouTube, chief business officer Robert Kyncl is stepping downfrom his role in October, and will leave the company early in 2023. Mary Ellen Coe, who has focused on Google’s ad business for about a decade, will replace him.It’s hard to fully gauge YouTube’s track record as a ... → Read More

TikTok for Food Tests Tipping; Meta Takes Horizon Worlds to Europe

Instagram isn’t the only social platform that wants to look more like TikTok. A new app called Mixo provides the same quick scroll through lots of vertically-oriented videos, but—twist!—provides exclusively cooking and food-related content.When its co-founder and CEO Shirley Romig, 45, launched ... → Read More

Pinterest CEO Ready Gives His Take on Creators; Interview With an Original Robloxer

Pinterest joined Meta Platforms and Snap in reporting disappointing second quarter financial results on Monday. Its revenue for the quarter rose 9% to $666 million, less than the 11% it forecast, because of reduced advertising demand from large retailers and mid-sized advertisers. Its global ... → Read More

Creator Economy Startup Layoffs Near 800

It’s been a turbulent period for workers in the creator economy. Last month, we collected information on seven such startups, including 120 people at celebrity course provider MasterClass and 90 people at PicsArt, which provides photo and video editing tools.In addition to those, at least five ... → Read More

Carta Has Had Talks to Acquire Vauban, a European AngelList-like Startup

Financial services startup Carta has been in talks to acquire Vauban, a London-based startup that provides software for raising venture capital funds and investing capital, according to two people familiar with the matter. Carta, which builds software for startups and investors to track their ... → Read More

NFT Lovers Buck the Crypto Crash

If you attended this year’s NFT NYC conference, you wouldn’t think we’re knee-deep in a crypto crash. Lines to register at the Marriott Marquis at Times Square wrapped around the block and snaked up five floors of the hotel on Tuesday. NFT enthusiasts, tech employees and digital artists, who ... → Read More

Creators Are Awash in Link-in-Bio Products

The link-in-bio space is getting crowded. We count 40 websites that offer these landing pages that display creators’ social media accounts, affiliate links to products they promote and their own podcasts, videos and music. These include standalone startups such as Linktree and features from ... → Read More

TikTok Curbs the Copycats; A Metaverse Startup Beloved by Female Gamers Is Also Profitable

TikTok thrives on viral videos: users replicating dance steps, copying video formats and reusing ideas. But creators have long complained about TikTokers who copy their work but neglect to credit their ideas. TikTok is finally trying to change that.The app on Wednesday announced new ways to tag ... → Read More

Women-Led Venture Funds Have Already Raised More Money Than Last Year

For years, women-led venture capital funds were the true Silicon Valley unicorns, a rarity in a sector where the vast majority of check writers are men. That’s starting to change. Last year the number of U.S. funds raising money where most decision-makers are women rose to 52, from 29 in 2020, ... → Read More