ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE vs CREATIVITY and the HUMAN CONNECTION in CONTENT MARKETING

Can we really trust AI to maintain and elevate our business without us in the driver's seat? 

We are now living in a world where we have the most amazing tools and resources to simplify and streamline the process of building a business to leverage our time more than ever. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now capable of writing content and used to communicate with customers, AI automation can run complete marketing campaigns, so suffice it to say these new technologies can help you create tremendous success in your business and improve your lifestyle. 

Does that mean this technology guarantees exceptional, infallible results for our business? Some will tell you it is, but here’s the thing…

All these modern marketing tools are great and definitely have their place, but consider this; the more AI automated your marketing becomes, the less human it can seem, and that is a big mistake. Will these machines undermine us as a species? Where do we draw the line? 

A Collision Course: AI Marketing, People and Process

Using AI in every aspect of running your business stifles creativity and eliminates trust. Without creativity and a relatable person at the helm, your content, and advertising gets lost in the fiercely competitive market that has evolved today. Importantly, if you are not seen as a human being and be trusted as one, potential customers will look for someone else to do business with. 

With all the different types of marketing at our disposal today, trust is still the key to success. So trust could be considered as the currency of modern marketing and creativity will be the method that builds trust. Creativity is more important than ever because it’s the attribute that separates you from the machines and everyone else.   

Humans are emotional creatures. The biological hardware that produces emotion is millions of years old, and the desire to connect with other people will never leave us. The technology has changed drastically, but we haven't. AI falls short when it comes to creativity, trust, and the human connection. 

Creative, Trustworthy, Curation Is A Thing 

For years now it’s been expressed that “content is king” and content marketing, or blogging with an emphasis on original content is a must if you want to build your audience and personal branding. Content marketing is about providing valuable, engaging information to your audience which then puts you in a trusted position to be able to present that audience with your related offer, using messages that lead to the sale. 

You develop an audience by providing unique value to your intended audience and a decade ago, creating lots of high-value content was the way to go, not so much today. In researching the history of all things marketing, particularly online, over the last 2 decades, I learned what used to work in 2008 or even 2016 is not as effective today, given the amount and in some cases, the nature of the content being churned out these days. 

Things have changed, however with change comes opportunity. The saturation of content online has created a new niche in content marketing. A creative, entrepreneurial endeavor to bring more value to your subscribers, an extension if you like. Content is no longer king – The audience is. 

A Shift In Content Marketing

In a world where we now have oodles of content, lots of noise, and for the most part less capacity for attention, people are wanting trusted guides who will connect them with what’s good, what’s important to them, and what’s real instead of fake or poorly researched. They also want content selected by trusted humans, not algorithms. 

People are also looking to trusted sources for what to buy, what to watch, where to travel etc, and in an age where we have overwhelming information and choice, the relevant curation of the work of others (when done right) is the new wave and a great opportunity for entrepreneurs, editors, writers and the like to more easily command an audience. 

Curation is the selection, organization, and presentation of online content, and even products and services, to a specific audience. So if you’re stuck for ideas to create original content consistently, this is now an accepted channel and notably, curators become trusted experts as much (in some cases more) than original content creators. The curation approach is a lot more sophisticated and powerful than most people think.

Curation At HBO

One example is Home Box Office (HBO) which is the oldest paid TV service around, but in light of streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime that offer algorithmically driven on-demand platforms, also Disney Plus and Apple TV are making their mark, things have become extremely competitive, so HBO came up with a new segment called “Recommended By Humans”. 

It’s not just a marketing ploy either. Recommended By Humans is a means that provides a colorful canvas you can drag around on your desktop or mobile phone, and features 36 unique video suggestions and over 150 curated recommendations from real HBO fans. They also deliver those recommendations through an email newsletter.

HBO is tapping into the current climate which is definitely pro-human, anti-algorithm, and all for a good reason… because it’s what people now want.

The Broader Internet

We all agree the internet is the most powerful source of information ever conceived, but social media has actually reduced knowledge and wisdom given the spurious information and self-serving echo chambers, reinforcing misinformation, and bias. In a world of click-bait, fake news, and “deepfake” videos, smart people are looking for other trustworthy smart people to let them know what’s worth their time and attention. 

The trust component cannot be overstated. With the crushing amount of dubious data and fake news, the world needs more clarity, understanding, and meaning. People need you to separate the wheat from the chaff, the signal from the noise. And that’s why curation is being classed as a viable way to create a meaningful business if done correctly.

Now you may be thinking, why can’t the machines do this for us?  Wouldn’t artificial intelligence and automation be better at this? 

It has been documented that relying on algorithms to “curate” content has been a disaster so far. Facebook is a classic example where the algorithm is the reason for the echo chambers that spread disinformation and put a serious dent in democracy. Albeit these algorithms are manipulated by unscrupulous humans with an agenda to exploit and control other humans, this is not likely to happen if an editorially-focused human is in charge.   

Curation requires very human qualities like communication, empathy, creativity, strategic thinking, questioning, and even dreaming. These are commonly referred to as “soft skills,” and they are the areas that computers can’t handle, but humans excel at.

It comes down to judgment and taste, which are the hallmarks of all great editors and curators. Artificial intelligence doesn’t have those abilities, so we as humans can work alongside machines to do better work than ever. 

In other words, algorithms can aggregate and identify patterns, but they can’t interpret the specific relevance and deeper nuance of an article, podcast, or video lesson to an audience. That’s why people need other people to act as human filters for the technology that editors and curators use to sift through a mountain of information in search of truth and value.

I acquired some very insightful perspectives from Brian Clark, who is a pioneer in content marketing and veteran in the craft of content creation since 1998. He believes that organizing, collecting, preserving, and making sense of our collective knowledge is a critical task facing business and humanity in general, right now and well into the future. Algorithms can do a lot to help, but the “last mile” requires a human filter. 

Although he started off authoring original content with his very successful blogging platforms he has now turned to various forms of curation, saying,

“I got my start with online publishing and digital marketing through email newsletters. And once the fall out from the 2016 election became clear with the manufactured news, devious data capture quizzes, and false narratives, people doing genuine curation looked like geniuses.”
 

Email Marketing – Undisputed Champion

Although we have all the tools at Markethive, such as a blogging and broadcasting platform, subscribing and swiping features, blog cloud, social and digital media platform, email broadcasting and autoresponders, along with ever-increasing traffic and audience, it is email marketing that remains the undisputed champion and 40 times better at converting prospects than social media. 

It’s a way to stay connected and no matter what your preferred marketing approach, getting people on an email list is a priority according to smart bloggers, content marketers, curators, and podcasters. They have realized it is the core of effective marketing. 

So if email is the central key, apart from posting, blogging, and creating content on the Markethive platform, the added advantage of Markethive’s email systems gives you the perfect medium to disseminate your creative and valuable recommendations that are so compelling, your subscribers look forward to receiving your emails. 

Furthermore, curating content, even products, and services, could give you a much stronger value proposition (great for the affiliate marketer). Product and service curation can lead to large amounts of revenue without ever developing products and services of your own.

Curated Email Newsletters

When you combine a curation mindset with email, you have a winning audience-building strategy. The success of examples such as The Hustle, theSkimm, Morning Brew, and Dave Pell’s Next Draft are just a few examples of how email newsletters are helping people make sense of the things that are important to them. These examples are merely the pioneers of this mainstream media movement of curation.  

Importantly, these entrepreneurs are creating media brands that can evolve into powerhouses if they so choose and Markethive has all the hallmarks of being just that and more with the entrepreneurs at their individual helms working collaboratively on this extraordinary springboard.

That, combined with Markethive traffic, scaled by automation and optimized with analytics allows you to ascertain valuable insight that guides your business decisions. You are in the driver's seat, not some machine. 

So you as an entrepreneur, freelancer, consultant or other client-services professional will benefit from all the tools and services Markethive delivers now and into the future, whether it be the referral program, subscriber sharing, media coverage, blogcasting to many social media platforms, sponsored articles and guest posting which are all part of your traffic mix and assist in developing your email list. 

On the other hand…

you’ve got the funnel fanatics. Who needs to build a real brand or make a genuine human connection? Just create an automated funnel with a lead magnet and some shady affiliate offers, and watch the cash roll in, especially now that the term AI has come into play. 

I don’t think so. I must agree with Brian Clark when he says,  

“This is just the latest version of the perpetual “Internet Marketing Get That Money!” scam that has been fleecing “get rich quick” folks from the beginning. Most of the people who buy this funnel software never do anything; some create a small side hustle at best.

But then, what happens? The funnel technique of the day stops working. It always does, because tactics don’t last forever, especially online, and strategic brand-building takes the kind of effort that business opportunity seekers seem unwilling to invest in.”

It’s about building lasting brands, about the over-delivering value to the audience, about the foregoing short-term profit in order to build a truly powerful business. Human brands that establish themselves now will be trusted for much longer than it takes for artificial intelligence to greatly improve. And I beg to differ that AI will ever be able to take on the human element. There’s more opportunity now than ever because emerging technology will amplify the creative person, not replace them.

AI and Blockchain

Where AI is really important is in the Blockchain industry. It has had its fair share and suffered high levels of malware, phishing, and other corrupt endeavors such as fraud and scams. 

AI-based cybersecurity systems are designed to identify threats in real-time, understand the nature of the threat, and prevent future attacks by blacklisting its source. This is a great improvement on traditional cybersecurity systems as AI is designed to improve with every threat because of its ability to detect patterns, study them, and become better at dealing with them.
 
This is the real AI and critical to the security and smooth running of any online business, company, or even a platform like Markethive, driven by blockchain, that uses and employs it to discover fake accounts. Also helps to reroute faster processing, removes email that is not deliverable but keeps emails that fail to deliver due to a full inbox issue. So in this sense, it makes Markethive friendlier, and most importantly maintains the human connection.

Another Feather In The Cap Of Humanity

So here we have another avenue to explore that will bring more value to the people you serve and bring forth the creative, curative genius in you. A human editor to curate the web, filter out the garbage, rise above the noise to deliver reliable information to people who are drowning in and being driven mad with the mass of disinformation and propaganda. 

That’s not to say we forgo creating original content. We still need and want to write about what truly matters to us and our audience. By curating content that is relevant to our topic connects the points of the larger narrative that matter to your audience and in all probability fills the gaps. Instead of agonizing over what next to write about, if there’s nothing necessary or compelling to address, you simply work on other aspects of your business instead of creating content just for the sake of it.  

Conclusion

The Markethive platform can help you achieve your goals as it’s a multi-dimensional, social organizational integrated system with deep level linking dynamics. Integrating vast social networks reaches, internal social network connections, unlimited interconnected WordPress blogs, and APIs to news sites like NBC, Wired Magazine, Bloomberg, Western journal, and 1000s of others, that will continue to expand due to the power of your own Markethive network and the collaboration of separate Markethive groups all working in union with each other. Now that’s what I call real traffic and is reflected in Markethive’s Alexa rank. 

Currently, live in Beta, Markethive is the world’s first Market Network with a social media interface built on the blockchain. This is the next-gen of all things from the past where all the marketing tools are free to use. 

We are moving closer to the release of the Apprentice membership which is designed for the masses and will allow users to take advantage of more services, increasing the ability and potential to earn a substantial income by just being active on the platform. After we launch the Apprentice program our attention then focuses on delivering the Markethive wallet app along with KYC.
 
Markethive is transparent from the ground up and dedicated to upholding users’ privacy, autonomy and free speech which correlates perfectly with entrepreneurs who wish to use the art of curation “clean up” the web, so to speak, thereby giving a much-needed service to the people exposed to overwhelming, contradictory content, victims of tyrannical tech giants and fraudulent scams. It’s an absolute jungle out there! 

Markethive is Not Just About IDEAS. It’s About Making Ideas HAPPEN!

Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept, and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

HACKS, CENSURE, CENSORSHIP IS RIFE – DECENTRALIZED SOCIAL MEDIA ARISING TO COUNTER CHAOTIC MAINSTREAM MEDIA

July 15th, 2020 will most likely go down in history as one of the worst days for Twitter in its 14-year reign as the platform that everybody who’s anybody has an active profile and trusts that their account is secure. It is known as the political discussion platform that world leaders use among other high-profile celebrities and apart from Twitter using its power to effectively flag and censor content they deem disinformation or not acceptable by their standards, it seems hackers can also mess with the accounts.   

An overwhelming hack that was reportedly taking advantage of internal tools by convincing a Twitter employee to assist in the hijacking of many high-profile accounts which enabled the hackers to take control and solicit Bitcoin donations. Among compromised accounts were those of U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden, former U.S. President Barack Obama, Google, Apple, Warren Buffett, Elon Musk, Kanye, and Kim West along with many well-known people in the crypto space. 

The scale of the attack was enormous but apparently the financial reward was minimal. These hackers brought a $28 billion company to its knees but it seems they only collected a trifling $120,000 in Bitcoin. 

Twitter’s reputation is the real casualty as the impacts are multifold. It’s now evident the hackers had access to private communications for the accounts they penetrated and could’ve been used for much more destructive nature than just scamming crypto. Nevertheless, high-profile accounts were embarrassed, associated with scammers, and locked out of their account, regardless of any security measures they may have taken.  

Given the nature and standing of the users, it’s a mystery how and why it’s even possible for Twitter employees to usurp any account on the platform. While hacks of centralized services are quite common these days, they are rarely broadcasted in such a direct, explosive manner in real-time. 

This period of chaos and confusion went on for several hours and the hits on more accounts continued. Twitter’s response was slow and disorderly and although they must’ve been aware of what was happening, they were either unable or unwilling to shut down the platform during the pandemonium. If the report from vice.com Motherboard is accurate regarding the hackers having assistance from a Twitter employee on the inside, it makes Twitter’s controls look exceptionally weak. 

Accidental Reveal

Furthermore leaked screenshots revealed more information about Twitter’s secretive abilities to control accounts and narratives on the site. This is most damning as it is evidence that Twitter is aggressively deleting from the site and contains such keywords as ‘trends blacklist’ and ‘search blacklist’ which seems to show that Twitter does exercise some editorial bias at what content receives algorithmic boosting and what doesn’t.

This accidental reveal of Twitter’s deboosting tools will strengthen the critics’ view that Twitter is a partisan, editorializing service rather than the neutral one it claims to be. It has also been aggressively pursuing more controls alongside algorithmic, rather than chronological timelines. 

Fact-checking handled by the Moments team at Twitter is a bone of contention. It’s a challenge in areas like science and medicine, where respected authorities enforce established standards of knowledge, but it’s almost impossible in politics.

For instance, flagging President Trump’s Tweets was gutsy but seen as clumsy and although they may be experts on compiling social media posts arranging them into a narrative, it hardly qualifies them as master arbiters of truth.

Plus there’s more direct intervention in trending topics and when you consider that all of these measures make up an arsenal to control speech, it seems the perfect juncture for an autocratic oligarch to censure any discourse involving influential people. 

Time To Move On

We’ve come a long way since the first video of a day at the zoo on YouTube, another tech giant receiving bad press for its censorship, which has escalated into class-action lawsuits. What started out as a novel way to communicate, find friends, and deemed as “fun”, is now hazardous to our health, wellbeing, and privacy, even livelihood. 

We have been subject to numerous breaches of trust, and control by the centralized big tech platforms that have become commercialized and overtly politicized, and therefore intervene in political disputes by de-boosting particular topics and also selectively banning individuals, in some cases companies with a concept, idea or technology that threatens the status quo. 

There is growing unrest among users on these platforms that have an established model of total control, including ownership of all users’ content which retains the discretion to both monetize or “cash in” on user-contributed content and kick users off the platform for any reason.

Property rights of users’ content creation should extend to these social media platforms, however, given the current balance of power between the users and platforms, it’s not likely to happen within the current crop internet oligarchs still in the centralized Web 2.0 era. 

Instead, we are seeing a number of social media and video platforms that are censorship-resistant with a focus on privacy emerging.

Snapshot of LBRY.TV homepage

LBRY.TV, a video-sharing platform is decentralized with its neutral protocol that allows anyone to post content without reprisal, and stores this information on an immutable blockchain. According to CEO, Jeremy Kauffman, every time a crypto personality gets banned from a big tech platform LBRY has an influx of new users. He says, 

 “If platforms want to make the error of enforcing their political biases on their users, let the free market provide competitors like LBRY that make this problem obsolete. Innovations like LBRY make it so that the interference of Twitter and YouTube is technologically impossible.” 

Notably, LBRY specifies the wanton power to censor and deplatform that centralized platforms apply is one of its motivations for being here and is experiencing positive growth.

Snapshot of Minds.com newsfeed

MINDS.COM is a blogging platform that emphasizes its minimization of privacy concerns and self-described as a free “crypto social network” that upholds internet freedom. Founder and CEO, Bill Ottman aims to provide a spying free alternative to mainstream social media and pointed out that surveillance by default with little transparency into how a user’s data is used and sold. He says,

“The growth is typically a direct result of scandals with mainstream media platforms. Every day there’s a new scandal. People are looking for alternatives and want to diversify … The trend is towards open source. We’ve seen this happen in other areas already.”

The Minds platform has plans to add several new features this year and is researching the possibility of a decentralized reputation system. Meanwhile, its growth continues as it is currently trying to attract users from India where the government has banned 59 Chinese apps at the end of June this year. 

Necessity Is The Mother Of Invention

Since working and earning a living from home particularly online-based has become more popular and seen as a necessity in a growing number of cases, there is a platform focused on developing a complete self-sovereign ecosystem for the entrepreneur of all niches and individuals from all walks of life at any level of expertise. It does not discriminate. 

Snapshot of Markethive.com newsfeed

MARKETHIVE.COM is the not-so-vertical social market network media broadcasting platform that encompasses all facets of inbound marketing and digital media, built on the blockchain and takes privacy, transparency, censorship, and the ability for users to attain financial freedom very seriously. 

With a built-in newsfeed and messaging system enabling users to collaborate, along with a philosophy, in which users can freely associate and disassociate with – but not ban – other accounts, allows for the coexistence of mutually acrimonious individuals without relying on censorship from management. 

Founder and CEO, Thomas Prendergast says Markethive is a sanctuary to the millions who struggle. Markethive is just getting started. People have been making money with Markethive for years as an inbound marketing platform and saving money from tools that elsewhere would cost a lot of money. Today it has evolved into so much more including storefronts enabling the users to establish or participate in cottage businesses under the Markethive umbrella. He says,

“Markethive is a philanthropic endeavor. To give, not take, to help not exploit. Markethive is a vision with a mission – To empower and bring prosperity to every living soul with a purpose…even if that purpose is only to be free from the shackles of the Social Media tyranny we all face.” 

Still, in BETA, the continuous growth of Markethive is noteworthy as all aspects of the free inbound marketing systems are currently operational along with the micropayment faucet system and airdrops, with the release of the wallets and messenger app just around the corner. Markethive is also preparing for its video platform, conference hub, and ecommerce APIs, along with numerous loyalty programs.

The image below is a comparison chart of leading platforms in the industry and what they offer.

Problem Solved 

Each of these platforms has a monetary incentive in the form of their own cryptocurrency with its primary purpose to free and empower the people and with the politicization of Facebook, Google, and other social media giants, Web 3.0 with crypto is a sign of the times upon us. 

Although there is pressure on the tech giants from critics to stop their behavior and implement some form of decentralization, many say this would not be an easy task and not likely to happen. Even if they did, the way they behave in so many other ways is questionable. 

It has become evident that the solution to an overbearing problem is a social internet built on a decentralized blockchain where users can own and operate without the risk of losing their fundamental right to free speech, sovereignty with a capacity to prosper on all levels. 

This is a new era with the evolution of technology and the next generation. What would be even better is if these stand-alone vertical platforms work towards becoming interoperable thereby creating a collaborative network across the internet.

Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept, and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

JOHN MCAFEE – A LIVING LEGEND NOW “GHOST”

John McAfee, founder of McAfee Associates and developer of the first antivirus software would have to be one of the most fascinating characters, principled but arguably has a unique set of values and jawdropping life experiences. In the eyes of some, he is a legend, for others, the most controversial figure that speaks his mind fervently. 

McAfee has had an eventful working life starting out as a door to door salesman, progressing to silicon valley working for numerous tech companies, and a software developer and cryptanalyst, with his biggest claim to fame being McAfee Software, among other things. With a fascinating life comes fascinating anecdotes, very outspoken, nothing is off-limits, and now an avid cryptocurrency supporter with a focus on privacy, not only talking about it but doing something about it. 

His life has also been filled with substance abuse, numerous lawsuits, and arrests including being involved and wanted for questioning in the murder of his neighbor in Belize in 2012. McAfee has incarcerated 21 times in 11 countries, albeit for non-violent crimes, always finding a loophole with the aid of his lawyers resulting in his release. On two occasions he faked a heart attack and a stroke to buy time for his defense. This guy is a regular Houdini.

McAfee tweets,

“My life has consisted of a series of close calls. Authorities call me "Slippery". I don't know. I only know that I will answer only to God. Not to man.”

Running For POTUS Twice – Why Not? 

In September 2015 he decided to start a new political party called The Cyber Party. He also ran for President in 2016, attempting to join the Libertarian Party, but he failed to win the nomination, with New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson winning it instead. 

With over a million followers on Twitter and just because he can, McAfee announced on June 3, 2018, via Twitter that he would run for president again in 2020, either with the Libertarian Party or under the banner of a party of his own creation. 

On January 22, 2019, McAfee announced that he would be continuing his campaign "in exile", following reports that he, his wife, and four of his campaign staff were being indicted for tax-related felonies by the IRS. McAfee indicated that he was in "international waters in his untraceable cage”

On March 4, 2020, McAfee ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Vermin Supreme, as he decided to run for the 2020 Libertarian Party vice-presidential race. The next day, McAfee tweeted that he was re-entering the 2020 Libertarian presidential primary after none of the other Libertarian candidates would “accept  him as their VP running mate.” At the 2020 Libertarian National Convention, McAfee was not nominated for president or vice-president.

In April, McAfee announced that he would be the running mate of Adam Kokesh, a competitor for the nomination, and also endorsed him for president, even though McAfee decided to continue his campaign for the presidency.

In May, Jo Jorgensen was nominated at the 2020 Libertarian National Convention, thus suspending McAfee's campaign.

The Reality

Too crazy to be elected, too rare to not be considered. The reality is McAfee doesn’t want the top job although he says would enjoy causing a stink and embarrassing the candidates on stage in the debates. He will also continue to challenge and debate on his Twitter feed. At his first AMA with the Libertarian Party, he says he does not consider himself a top presidential candidate, saying,

“I don’t want to be president. Who wants that job? We have bigger problems, people. The presidents’ lost their power back in 1960 and today they are called transients by the real manipulators and influencers who are the departments and agencies like the CIA filled with career people at the highest level who never retire…]” 

In addition to that, he says

“manipulation and influence have become institutionalized in our government”. Please people, if anybody out there thinks that I especially can ever be president of the United States, move, please, out of your mother’s basement and see the real world”. 

He goes on to explain what we as a nation can do. We can change the hearts, the minds, and the perceptions of the American public if we are realistic. Anyone can run for president and deservedly be in the spotlight but for a Libertarian to actually win the election, in a predominantly two-party preferred race it’s not realistic.   

“Victory is not winning the presidency, victory is being true to your beliefs and acting as you believe and letting the world see that. Please God, let us be real in this election”. 

Staying One Step Ahead Of The Feds

McAfee has been on the run from the US government for alleged charges of tax evasion narrowingly escaping arrest on several occasions. He admits he hasn’t paid income tax for 11 years, and the government actually ignored him for 8 of those years, until he was discovered giving talks about how to avoid paying income tax. In an interview with news.bitcoin.com, John McAfee believes and states,

“I’ve already paid over $50 million in taxes in my lifetime. I have not received $50 million in services. If anything I should be the one asking for a f*****g refund.”

He goes on to say that not filing a tax return is not an offense, but not being truthful about the ones you do submit is. McAfee has not filed a tax return and believes his arrest would be unlawful. 

He also says,

“Income taxes in my mind and heart, as I see the reality around us, are unconstitutional, illegal, and it pushed us back into a feudal society of over 1,000 years ago. Because what is a feudal society? One in which you belong to the king.”

McAfee and his wife Janice are staying one step ahead of the IRS and now also the SEC in light of McAfee DEX, his decentralized exchange which he launched last year, and according to McAfee are two of the most corrupt agencies of the US government. 

In a recent interview he explains that when he worked for MGT Capital Investments, a technology holding company, these agencies went after the $800 million company just to get him, which destroyed the company. They got wind of the fact McAfee was speaking out on international stages on how to avoid paying taxes by using cryptocurrency. Consequently, McAfee resigned amicably and was extremely apologetic to MGT. 

“They’re supposed to protect shareholders and just because they want me, thousands of stockholders lost everything. That’s corruption if you ask me.” 

We’re Not Where We Say We Are

Still underground where no one, not even family knows where they are, John and Janice McAfee post disinformation on his twitter feed so no one can track them. They may travel for a day, take photos, then come back to their hideout, post the photos saying "here we are.” He also claims to have 7 body doubles and Janice has 6. However, MacAfee makes no secret that they are in a Russian speaking country, but where that is exactly, is anyone’s guess.

About Face On Bitcoin Prediction

McAfee has changed his mind about his infamous bitcoin prediction and declaration that had the world talking, calling his previous prediction of Bitcoin hitting $1 million by the end of 2020 as total nonsense adding that people who believed in the absurd forecast should wake up. 

In a tweet, he stated correlating the entire North American continent GDP as an example to explain why his prediction was just a joke saying,

“If Bitcoin ever hit $1 mil, it's market cap would be greater than the GDP of the entire North American Continent.”

In another tweet, McAfee described Bitcoin as “ancient” tech and his prediction on the price going to $1 million was simply his trick to lure new users into the crypto space.

“Bitcoin was first. It's an ancient technology.  All know it. Newer blockchains have privacy, smart contracts, distributed apps and more.”

McAfee’s Latest Innovation

John McAfee, the cybersecurity mogul turned fugitive is still making waves and creating innovations that even have NASDAQ intrigued with his latest controversial project – the world’s first fully untraceable 4G data service titled “The Ghost Cell Phone Data Service.”  

This operates through electronic SIM technology, which allows phones to connect to a special data service network without the use of a physical SIM card. The special data service network is constructed from a number of technologies that make it impossible for connections to be tracked or traced.

Whilst only supported phones will be able to access the network, the offering is already poised to support some of the world’s most popular models, including a number of Google, Samsung, and iPhone handsets. 

Phone owners will be able to access the service without having to supply any personal information. The service is prepaid, without any contract, and only requires users to scan a QR code supplied upon purchase to connect.

The service forms part of McAfee’s new Ghost ecosystem, which currently includes Ghost cryptocurrency and the GhostX Exchange. GHOST is a Proof of Stake privacy coin to help make you nothing but a "ghost" when transacting online!

McAfee is now reportedly looking for members of the mainstream media who are interested in the service to take part in the beta-testing stage, with global launch expected in September. 

Life In Exile

It seems that John McAfee always has something in the works including an autobiography that will be published next year and forthcoming movie. But according to him he and his wife now lead a boring life in exile watching the television for about 6 hours a day including the show, "The Family Guy". Now at 74 years old, still drinking like a fish and smoking like a trouper, so what’s his secret? 

McAfee describes himself as an explorer, an entrepreneur, lover of life, a lover of freedom, and very no-nonsense in spite of the absurdity of his colorful life. He just wants people to “wake up” and will continue to be outspoken on various issues, doing whatever he can to level the playing field, helping people to take back their freedom and fight tyranny and oppression. 

Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept, and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

WHAT IS A UNICORN COMPANY?

• Who Are They?
• How Are They Valuated?
• What’s Expected Of Them?
• How Are They Perceived? 

Unicorn is a term used in the venture funds industry to indicate a privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion and usually no more than 10 years old. The term was coined in 2013 by venture capitalist Aileen Lee, choosing the mythical animal to represent the statistical rarity of such successful ventures. 

At that stage, there were only 39 companies that were considered to be unicorns. She looked at software startups founded in the 2000s and estimated that only 0.07% of them ever reach $1 billion valuations. She noted startups that managed to reach the $1 billion mark, are so rare that finding one is as difficult as finding a mythical unicorn.

According to Lee, the first unicorn companies were founded in the 1990s with Alphabet (GOOG) or Google as it is now called, being the super-unicorn of the group with a valuation of over $100 billion. Many more unicorns came along in the 2000s with Facebook being at the top of the list and classed as the only super-unicorn for that decade.

Categorizing these companies have evolved and the terms used now are, Decacorn which is for those companies over $10 billion, while Hectocorn is used for such a company that valued over $100 billion.

Since Lee’s publication, the term unicorn, is widely used and refers to startups in the technology, mobile, and information technology sectors and usually integrates all three, questionably supported by their fundamental finances.  

Average Life Of A Unicorn 

According to Google, there were 465 unicorns as of April 2020. The largest unicorns included Ant Financial, Didi, Airbnb, Stripe, and Palantir Technologies. The most recent Decacorn is Lyft which became a public company on March 29, 2019. Generally, these billion-dollar valued unicorns become a public company or are bought out or merged with another successful public company. 

In 1999 the average life of a company was 4 years before it went public. Now that has been stretched out to 11 years before a venture-supported technology company is listed. This is brought about by an increased amount of private capital available to unicorns, along with the increase of the number of shareholders a company can have before it is required to disclose its financials publicly. Notably, private investors can only take a position on unicorns when they choose to list.

No Need For An IPO

Through many funding rounds, companies do not need to go through an initial public offering (IPO) to obtain capital or a higher valuation as they can just go back to their investors for more capital. IPOs also run the risk of devaluation of a company if the public market thinks a company is worth less than its investors. 

Just two examples of this situation were Square, best known for its mobile payments and financial services business, and Trivago, a popular German hotel search engine, both of which were priced below their initial offer prices by the market. 

This was because of the severe over-valuation of both companies in the private market by investors and venture capital firms. The market did not agree with both companies' valuations, which in turn, dropped the price of each stock from their initial IPO range.

Where And Who Are The Unicorns?

Unicorns are concentrated in a few countries/regions: China (125), United States (124), India (27), South Korea (11), UK (10), Israel (7), Sweden (6), Indonesia (6), Singapore (4), France (3), Hong Kong (3), Portugal (3), Switzerland (3), Australia (2), Estonia (2), Belgium (2), Canada (2), Germany (2), Ukraine (2), and fourteen other countries (1 each). 

The Top 10 Unicorn companies are listed in this image below

Former Unicorns 

Below are the top 10 unicorns that exited due to an IPO or Acquisitions

Click the link to view the full list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unicorn_startup_companies
NOTE: The companies in red on this list do not have a website. 

The Valuation Of A Unicorn

The valuation of a startup company to be classed as a unicorn is unique in comparison to more established companies. For an established company, the valuation stems from past years’ performance, while a startup valuation is derived from its growth opportunities and expected development, so there is no actual math to estimate startups’ valuations. 

Valuations for unicorns usually come from funding rounds of large venture capital firms. To give such high valuations in funding rounds, venture capital firms have to believe in the vision of both the entrepreneur and the company as a whole. They have to believe the company can evolve from its unstable, uncertain present standing into a company that can generate and sustain moderate growth in the future. This approach can backfire as it did when it hurt Softbank, a leading investor in WeWork who took a $4.6 billion hit when the company failed to float in 2019. 

A very significant final valuation of startups is when a much larger company buys out a company and gives them that unicorn valuation. For example when Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion.

Bill Gurley, a partner at venture capital firm Benchmark predicted in March 2015 and earlier that the rapid increase in the number of unicorns may "have moved into a world that is both speculative and unsustainable", that will leave in its wake what he terms "dead unicorns". Also, he said that the main reason for Unicorns' valuation is the "excessive amount of money" available for them. 

Similarly, in 2015 William Danoff who manages the Fidelity Contrafund said unicorns might be "going to lose a bit of luster" due to their more frequent occurrence and several cases of their stock price being devalued. Research by Stanford professors published in 2018 suggests that unicorns are overvalued by an average of 48%. 

It’s In The Numbers

Businesses on the internet have made great headway. Some of the biggest businesses in the world, including Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple, are solidly established in the online tech world. A lot of other companies also have large, tangible revenue growth and earnings. They don’t buy users or customers with the hope of making money considering the inevitable attrition rate when those users eventually change their behavior. 

So valuations shouldn’t depend on imaginary future earnings but on actual returns and EBITDA. (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) Amortization being affiliate fees or payments of an obligation of a series of installments or transfers. 

Some argue that venture investors are getting over-enthusiastic when pricing businesses, inflating the price of startups that should be valued in the millions, not billions. Instead of carrying out proper risk analysis, they are diving in out of a fear of missing out on the supposedly next big thing.

Path To Profitability – The New Watchword

Silicon Valley’s crop of highly valued tech start-ups, which include Uber and Airbnb, now household names, all benefited from the mass adoption of smartphones and cheap cloud computing. Many of these companies built global empires by simply taking existing businesses, like taxis, food delivery, hotels, etc, and making them mobile, based online. 

Now we are seeing the likes of robotics and Artificial intelligence (AI) startups wanting to be a contender for the next big thing in unicorns. However, growth at all costs has gone out the window after years of IPOs being done without much focus on profits. “Path to profitability” is the new watchword according to Ryan Dzierniejko of Sequoia along with Michael Moritz, another Sequoia partner who says  “The law of economic gravity has returned as it does every decade or so”.

There are a considerable number of unicorn companies and the valuations seem to grow beyond the imagination of anyone. Is this the tech bubble 2.0?

The Unicorn Reality Check

Even before it was declared a global state of emergency due to COVID-19 on March 13, 2020, the unicorn reality check was underway with venture capitalists reckoning that a third of American unicorns would thrive, a third would disappoint and a third would be subject to an acquisition or die. Some are calling it the next dotcom bubble which burst 20 years ago with the advent of the internet and others are more optimistic. Either way, startup pastures that emerge in the aftermath of this economic upheaval will look very different. 

The past decade saw huge sums of money from sovereign-wealth funds, also mutual and hedge funds pour in, either directly or via VC firms into startups that were unicorns or at the very least their backers believed they might be soon. 

The jubilation began to diminish last year in May 2019, with Uber’s downturn of $43 billion, down more than a third of what it was on its first day of trading. Then, in October, WeWork, a “techie” office-rental group, scrapped its IPO after it became clear that investors had no appetite for shares in a firm that lost as much money as it generated in revenues. Its valuation was cut from $47bn to less than $8bn.

However, for Airbnb, a home-sharing website will bounce back from seeing bookings fall by 40% as the pandemic restricted travel and a possible delay of its IPO, (which was expected to be this year’s biggest) because, despite its losses of late, it is well managed and cash-rich. It also has an unmatched global reach and is likely to be back on track, making money once people are free to travel.

UNICORN – The New Buzzword In Marketing

Unicorns have come a long way since Aileen Lee coined the term in 2013, to convey wonder and rarity. Nowadays every startup wants to be one, for bragging rights and to hire the cleverest coders. Some are portraying themselves to be the next super unicorn to impress and lead potential users, consumers, and possibly victims into believing that the company is positioned to reach great heights and needless to say, using the term completely out of context. 

 “For millennials and Gen Zs being a unicorn became a filter,” says Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera, a unicorn company that offers online learning courses and university degree programs.

 A small Austin-based scooter startup called itself, simply, Unicorn. It was said to be an attempt to leverage the popularized name and what it stood for, as on a psychological level, people will tend to gravitate towards what they believe identifies as successful. The outcome? It subsequently failed when the firm went bust in December of 2019, after spending all its cash on Google and Facebook ads.

Artificial intelligence is a very generic term and used by many different industries for various use-cases, however, AI is being used in a way that is basically unchained and they’re not making smart decisions about it. It’s heading into areas that people don’t know about, giving it too much power and control and will ultimately get burned. It’s all about competition and the race to see who will create the best AI for any given industry.   

Too many unicorns rest on shaky and opaque financial structures that may exaggerate their lofty valuations. These include “not-so-techy” capital-intensive firms such as WeWork, where accommodating more customers means leasing more physical office space. 

Also, direct-to-consumer retailers such as Casper, which sell flashy bedding. The co-founder, Neil Parikh declared in 2016 that, “We consider ourselves a tech company first,” Stock Market investors considered it a mattress retailer. In February it listed at $575m, less than half its $1.1bn private valuation.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) used in marketing is more about automating simple tasks that allow us to free up more of our time to be strategic, effective, and less repetitive. It’s about improving processes while still keeping that human touch with customers and prospects. So you could say it’s automated intelligence. Some companies are taking it to the extreme with hype boasting they are first and foremost a tech company, and completely AI-based, but it is simply to generate a buzz.

The Next Unicorn

In terms of the next unicorn Randy Komisar of Kleiner Perkins, a big VC firm, offers an alternative rule of thumb. For a unicorn to count as genuinely “tech”, and therefore profitably scalable, its actual product must be technology, he says, “it can’t just be using technology.” 
Businesses selling physical goods or services and startups offering online solutions with an already established market without proprietary technology often don’t make the cut. 

As it stands now, even viable listings are on ice until the markets’ pandemic fever breaks. In the interim, the unicorn sphere is talking about consolidating. Softbank reportedly wants Uber Eats and Door Dash to merge. In the USA, Uber may try to charm Lyft into merging, whose share price has fallen faster than its own.

There is no magic formula for identifying the next unicorn company and only time will tell us whether the unicorn boom is a bubble or not. If today’s big startups go on to secure significant profits for their investors, they’ll be looked back on as a smart opportunity well taken. If they go the way of WeWork, then the unicorn boom will be remembered alongside the dotcom bubble as an example of investor folly.

Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept, and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

CRYPTOCURRENCY SPARKING A WAVE OF GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION

The future of finance is being redefined as cryptocurrency is becoming a thriving ecosystem, quietly encroaching on the territory of traditional finance institutions’. 

Over the last five years, Bitcoin users and transactions have averaged a growth rate of nearly 60% per year. Similarly, private and public investors have deepened their commitment to cryptocurrencies including Ethereum, Ripple (XRP), Stellar, and the upcoming Markethive Coin (MHV) along with a number of other cryptos across different sectors of the industry.

We are most definitely heading towards decentralized communities. Countries all over the world are taking notice of cryptocurrencies, particularly the countries that have suffered hyperinflation. One prime example is that of Venezuela, where inflation soared, trust in the national government policy, and currency plummeted led to a rise in the interest of cryptocurrencies.

Cryptography Begets Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency has erupted into a $200 billion industry, sparking a wave of what is seen as a global disruption, however, in many ways a savior in this world of oppression and the autocratic system that society has been subject to. 

There is a rich history of innovation at the heart of cryptocurrency and blockchain. One of the core elements being cryptography and dates back to ancient times of nearly 4000 years ago in Egyptian and Mesopotamian writings only to enhance its linguistic appeal. 

Cryptography has been used throughout the course of history and evolved into being used to protect sensitive information with analog cryptography used in WW2. The science of cryptography continued to advance progressively throughout the centuries. It’s come a long way since then and as long as there is a need to protect sensitive data cryptography will continue to advance. 

Beginning in 1990, an entirely new form of cryptography, dubbed quantum cryptography, was under development by computer scientists hoping to once again elevate the level of protection offered by modern encryption.

Then came cryptographic techniques used to make cryptocurrencies possible. Cryptocurrencies leverage several advanced cryptographic techniques, including hash functions, public-key cryptography, and digital signatures. These techniques are used primarily to ensure the security of data stored on blockchains and to authenticate transactions.

Since then, a series of key events have continued to shape the sector

Now, there are over 5,000 cryptocurrencies in circulation, some will stagnate and peter out and others will soar as they are built on innovative applications and have real use-cases giving rise to a rapidly evolving ecosystem.

The infographic below displays a cross-section of cryptocurrencies, stakeholders, and core applications across a sector that’s continuing to grow more important as we see the economic climate change dramatically.

Setting The Stage For The Bigger Picture

As cryptocurrency and blockchain technology continues to gain momentum, its longer-term ramifications will be a focal point. Essentially, its cryptographic foundation sets the stage for future developments in a financial economy.

• Privacy

Anonymized transactions protect users’ data through cryptographic techniques.

• Access

Providing a new financial model for 1.7B unbanked individuals around the world.

• Efficiency

Steep reductions in settlement time and efficacy could save consumers $16 billion annually.

• Security

Providing immutable, traceable records of security-rich transactional networks.

• Programmable Money

Smart contracts could drastically eliminate manual and administrative work⁠, ultimately bypassing them altogether.

The Practical Advantages Of Cryptocurrencies

The cryptocurrencies of today go beyond just replacing cash. This new token-based economy is evolving, with unique solutions emerging in finance, security, identification, social engagement, the marketplace, digital media, and ownership. Cryptocurrencies are adding both value and utility to the digital economy, and to the global financial market as a whole.

• Payments

Digital cash can be used for both ecommerce and brick-and-mortar retailers for purchasing goods without the need for a trusted third party. 

• Store of value

A new form of scarce native currency and a means of settlement.

• Global Transactions

Borderless money that enables easy conversion between currencies.

• Stablecoins

Crypto version of fiat which is tied to the value of resources like gold or the U.S. dollar.

• Digital ownership

Digital handling, storage, and monetization of data.

• Alternative finance

Digital assets such as collectibles, commodities, and tokenized securities

• Decentralized utilities

Crypto-enabled networks, products, and services that exchange between assets.

Four Projects Set To Rock The Landscape

Cryptocurrency and blockchain offer cutting-edge advances that are diverse and transformative. These are just a few of the ways cryptocurrencies are breaking down barriers for people and companies worldwide, allowing them to grow personal wealth and enter the global market.

SPEDN auto-converts crypto to fiat for merchants, reducing exchange rate risk while offering convenient customer payment options. SPEDN makes it possible to spend Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies without needing to cash out to fiat currency or load a plastic card.
 SPEDN currently supports Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), the Gemini dollar (GUSD), and Zcash (ZEC), with many more coins coming soon.

ECOSC is a Malta-based company and has designed a platform using blockchain technology to embrace the oil and gas minerals and all products for trade. It is a global, decentralized supply chain management solution that aligns stakeholders, vendors, and buyers with the strategic management of supply and demand outcomes with cryptocurrency assets. 

ECOSC will reduce the risk of human error, counterfeiting, and fraud. It means less time will be spent processing documents and reconciling, which will increase the transaction process speed.

Blockchain Foundry provides custom blockchain consulting, development, and integration solutions that help leverage blockchain technologies. This firm targets governments and enterprises in need of customized blockchain solutions. 

Blockchain Foundry’s mission is to disrupt markets by leveraging the potential of blockchain technology. It eliminates middlemen, clearinghouses, and other mechanisms that can lead to errors, security breaches, or negatively affect your bottom line.

MARKETHIVE Market Network incorporates social media, digital media, ecommerce, ewallet, and inbound marketing that enables entrepreneurs, business professionals, commercial artists, etc, to utilize a blockchain-driven state of the art platform that encompasses every aspect of inbound marketing and social media engagement where it rewards all users’ activity with MHV and allowing all users’ to prosper on many levels. 

With the ability to take advantage of the many cottage industries within the ecosystem brings financial sovereignty, privacy, autonomy to every individual with a genuine opportunity to be in control of your future with peace of mind and set to champion the social media and internet marketing industry. 

The Blockchain Crypto Industry Is Expanding 

Worldwide, the numbers show that blockchain-based technology and cryptocurrency use is growing. Blockchain wallet users rose from nearly 9 million in 2016 to over 47 million recorded in March 2020.

Only 100 decentralized apps (DApps) were produced by developers in 2015. with that number skyrocketing to over 3,118 by 2020.

Overall, cryptocurrencies are helping to create an innovative and accessible financial system around the world giving back freedom and autonomy to the community at large. 

“Cryptocurrency deserves an opportunity to find a sustainable future in our economy.”
                                                                                     Adena Friedman, President & CEO of NASDAQ

While the future of the new cryptocurrency economy is still taking shape, one thing is for sure, cryptocurrencies are infinitely changing the way we view and measure the value of money.

Grounded in decentralized and autonomous systems, cryptocurrencies are having an unprecedented effect in the financial world. Ultimately, cryptocurrencies will help to transform finance as we know it, delivering a slew of investment opportunities across the global economy and a more secure, autonomous way to engage and conduct business online. 

Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept, and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals.