The Information

Directory
Search, find and engage with others who are serious about tech and business.
Forum
Follow and be a part of discussions about tech, finance and media.

Brand Partnerships
Premium advertising opportunities for brands
Group Subscriptions
Team access to our exclusive tech news
Newsletters
Journalists who break and shape the news, in your inbox
Video
Catch up on conversations with global leaders in tech, media and finance
Partner Content
Explore our recent partner collaborations

Snapchat's VP of content, Nick Bell. Photo by Getty Images.

The Cost of Joining Snapchat’s Discover

By Tom Dotan · May 10, 2016 7:02am PDT · 1 comment

For media companies trying to gain or maintain a spot on Snapchat’s digital magazine section, Discover, the company has made one thing clear: Access doesn’t come cheap.For example, Snapchat requires some firms with channels on Discover, such as Vox Media and Tastemade, to pay Snapchat a guaranteed minimum amount of money over a... For media companies trying to gain or maintain a spot on Snapchat’s digital magazine...

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Photo by Bloomberg.

In Shift, Uber Seeks Bids for Cloud Business

By Amir Efrati and Steve Nellis · May 9, 2016 1:26pm PDT

There’s a new hot contract up for grabs in the cloud market: Uber.The ride-hailing company is taking bids from “public” cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft to handle a small but important slice of its infrastructure, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. Uber is already testing some... There’s a new hot contract up for grabs in the cloud market: Uber.The ride-hailing company...

Facebook's VP for Messaging Products, David Marcus. Photo by AP.

Despite Stumbles, News Outlets Flock to Messenger

By Cory Weinberg · May 9, 2016 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

When Mic internally tested a Facebook’s Messenger “bot” to send out news articles last month, employees didn’t tap and chat with it much. So the Millennial-focused site changed course and will soon release a Messenger bot that sends people photos for a daily caption contest. An early test sent out a picture of Barack... When Mic internally tested a Facebook’s Messenger “bot” to send out news...

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom. Photo by Bloomberg.

Sports Networks Want Instagram to Install Video Fence

By Cory Weinberg · May 5, 2016 7:00am PDT

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom. Photo by Bloomberg.

Sports Networks Want Instagram to Install Video Fence

By Cory Weinberg · May 5, 2016 7:00am PDT

Instagram’s efforts to become a hub for user-generated and professional videos have hit a snag: its lack of a fence. Instagram doesn’t have so-called “geofencing” capability, allowing it to cordon off the videos posted on the app for viewing only by users in particular countries. That is stopping some sports broadcasters... Instagram’s efforts to become a hub for user-generated and professional videos have hit a...

Mashable founder Pete Cashmore. Photo by Flickr/Josh Hallett.

Mashable’s Costly Path to Video

By Tom Dotan · May 4, 2016 12:58pm PDT · 10 comments

As this week’s Newfront digital video ad presentations in New York highlight, most news sites have been building up video production in the past couple of years. It’s a way to tap the $70 billion in TV ad dollars some think could switch to digital in the coming years. But as sites are discovering, video is also hugely expensive to... As this week’s Newfront digital video ad presentations in New York highlight, most news...

An Uber ad on a taxi. Photo by Flickr/Alper Cugun.

Uber Bolsters its Marketing Ranks

By Amir Efrati · May 3, 2016 12:40pm PDT · 5 comments

Uber has hired its first vice president of growth marketing, Kellyn Kenny, signaling that it may be stepping up its marketing war against Lyft.Ms. Kenny, whose appointment was confirmed by the company, was most recently a top “brand strategist” at Capital One, the credit card and financial services firm. Prior to that, she worked on... Uber has hired its first vice president of growth marketing, Kellyn Kenny, signaling that it may...

Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman. Photo by Bloomberg.

Reddit’s Ad Push: Two Steps Forward, One Back

By Amir Efrati · Apr 28, 2016 7:01am PDT

Reddit’s ad business is beginning to take off, though not as quickly as some at the company had hoped.The online news aggregator and discussion forum recently projected internally that it would boost revenue to more than $20 million this year, from single-digit millions last year, according to one person with direct knowledge of the... Reddit’s ad business is beginning to take off, though not as quickly as some at the company...

WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum. Photo by Bloomberg.

How WhatsApp Will Tiptoe Into Business

By Cory Weinberg and Amir Efrati · Apr 27, 2016 10:01am PDT · 2 comments

WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum. Photo by Bloomberg.

How WhatsApp Will Tiptoe Into Business

By Cory Weinberg and Amir Efrati · Apr 27, 2016 10:01am PDT · 2 comments

WhatsApp is planning later this year to offer banks, airlines and other businesses the ability to send one-way messages to customers, people familiar with the plans said. It will be WhatsApp’s first official move to lure businesses onto the messaging app.WhatsApp has said it would soon start testing business accounts, but it’s now... WhatsApp is planning later this year to offer banks, airlines and other businesses the ability to...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Facebook and Baidu Are Becoming Fast Friends

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 25, 2016 7:02am PDT

Facebook’s own apps may be banned in China, but the company has a powerful tool to forge closer ties with large Chinese app publishers: its mobile ad network.Apps such as China’s Baidu, Cheetah Mobile and APUS have quietly joined the largest sellers in Facebook’s network. Those apps—which range from mobile games like... Facebook’s own apps may be banned in China, but the company has a powerful tool to forge...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google Preps New Corporate Incubator

By Jessica E. Lessin and Amir Efrati · Apr 24, 2016 8:37am PDT · 1 comment

Sundar Pichai has a new plan to stop Google employees from jumping ship to start companies: Create a startup incubator within Google. Dubbed “Area 120,” the incubator will be overseen by long-time Google executives Don Harrison and Bradley Horowitz, according to people familiar with the project. The two discussed the new group at a... Sundar Pichai has a new plan to stop Google employees from jumping ship to start companies:...

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman

Ex-Reddit Exec Quietly Launches ‘Positive’ Reddit Rival

By Amir Efrati · Apr 22, 2016 11:34am PDT · 1 comment

The former second-in-command at Reddit who was pushed out of the online news aggregator last year has launched a competing site of his own, with a focus on “healthy, positive communities.”Dan McComas, who was known to be critical of Reddit’s inflammatory discussion groups related to topics like race or overweight people, is... The former second-in-command at Reddit who was pushed out of the online news aggregator last year...

Eddy Cue. Photo by Bloomberg.

Infighting Slows Apple’s Cloud Engineering Efforts

By Amir Efrati and Steve Nellis · Apr 21, 2016 7:02am PDT

Eddy Cue. Photo by Bloomberg.

Infighting Slows Apple’s Cloud Engineering Efforts

By Amir Efrati and Steve Nellis · Apr 21, 2016 7:02am PDT

Political infighting within Apple’s engineering ranks is holding back the company’s efforts to fix technical problems that have plagued iCloud and iTunes, say people with direct knowledge of the situation. Two engineering teams working on new internal cloud-computing infrastructure to power Apple’s Web services are in open... Political infighting within Apple’s engineering ranks is holding back the company’s...

Working in a datacenter. Photo by Flickr/Leonardo Rizzi.

In Pivot, Mesosphere Plans to Give Away Key Software

By Steve Nellis and Amir Efrati · Apr 18, 2016 7:33pm PDT · 3 comments

Mesosphere, a cloud infrastructure startup popular with developers, will start offering its flagship product for free, according to people briefed about the move. It marks a major shift in the company's business model and offers more proof of the challenges of building a business around open-source software.Mesosphere will give away the... Mesosphere, a cloud infrastructure startup popular with developers, will start offering its...

Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff. Photo by AP.

Alphabet’s Sidewalk Preps Proposal for Digital District

By Jessica E. Lessin · Apr 14, 2016 2:20pm PDT · 3 comments

Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs is nearing a big decision point in one of the company’s most ambitious projects: the possible construction of a futuristic district.Sidewalk chief Dan Doctoroff and his team plan to discuss the secret project, codenamed “Project Sidewalk”, with Alphabet CEO Larry Page in the coming weeks. If Mr.... Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs is nearing a big decision point in one of the company’s most...

Facebook and Twitter Pressure Partners Over Snapchat

By Amir Efrati and Cory Weinberg · Apr 14, 2016 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Earlier this year, The Huffington Post got a polite but pointed request from Twitter: Stop using The Huffington Post’s personalized Snapchat logo as its Twitter profile image, according to a person briefed on the situation.In response, HuffPo reduced how often it used the logo on Twitter—which makes it easier for people to find the... Earlier this year, The Huffington Post got a polite but pointed request from Twitter: Stop using...

GoPro CEO Nick Woodman. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple Designer Jumps to GoPro

By Jessica E. Lessin and Reed Albergotti · Apr 13, 2016 7:28am PDT

GoPro CEO Nick Woodman. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple Designer Jumps to GoPro

By Jessica E. Lessin and Reed Albergotti · Apr 13, 2016 7:28am PDT

A member of Apple's elite industrial design team, Danny Coster, is jumping ship, joining GoPro to head up a new hardware design group there.Mr. Coster worked for Apple since the early 1990s, including on products like the iPhone and the iPad wireless design. A member of Apple's elite industrial design team, Danny Coster, is jumping ship, joining...

An AwesomenessTV show on go90 called 'Guidance.' Photo by AwesomenessTV.

Verizon Hires NBCU Exec for go90

By Tom Dotan · Apr 7, 2016 12:37pm PDT

Verizon has hired digital media executive Chip Canter from NBCUniversal as general manager of its go90 video app, said two people familiar with the situation. Mr. Canter, who started at Verizon in recent weeks, will serve under Verizon’s head of consumer product Brian Angiolet. He comes to the company at a critical time for the video app... Verizon has hired digital media executive Chip Canter from NBCUniversal as general manager of its...

Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg. Art by Dustin Rogers.

Facebook Struggles to Stop Decline in ‘Original’ Sharing

By Amir Efrati · Apr 7, 2016 7:01am PDT · 9 comments

Less than a year ago, leaders at Facebook convened to address a serious problem: people using the social network were posting fewer things about their personal lives for their friends to see, according to confidential company data about several types of content sharing that happen on Facebook, which was viewed by The Information.Thus began an... Less than a year ago, leaders at Facebook convened to address a serious problem: people using the...

Google's Clay Bavor. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google Sees AR, Not VR, as the Real Goal

By Amir Efrati · Apr 4, 2016 12:40pm PDT · 7 comments

At its developer conference in May, Google is expected to talk a lot about its plans for tailoring Android smartphones to virtual reality. But make no mistake: for Google, VR isn’t the ultimate prize—augmented reality is. Google leaders including CEO Sundar Pichai and Clay Bavor, who heads a newly formed VR unit at Google, have... At its developer conference in May, Google is expected to talk a lot about its plans for...

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson. Photo by AP.

In Snub to Google, AT&T Looks to Sell Alternative Android Phone

By Amir Efrati · Mar 30, 2016 7:02am PDT · 11 comments

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson. Photo by AP.

In Snub to Google, AT&T Looks to Sell Alternative Android Phone

By Amir Efrati · Mar 30, 2016 7:02am PDT · 11 comments

AT&T has recently discussed selling a smartphone powered by an alternative version of Android, the operating system developed by Google, according to one person with direct knowledge and one person briefed about the talks. If the proposed phone sells, it could weaken Google’s control of Android in the U.S. and set back its efforts to... AT&T has recently discussed selling a smartphone powered by an alternative version of...