Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Upcoming Event

Best Places to Work in Virginia

Hamburger Menu Hamburger Menu

Tag: social media

Glen Allen’s Snagajob is acquired by Boston’s JobGet

JobGet, a Boston-based hourly jobs listings platform, last week announced that it has acquired rival Snagajob in Glen Allen.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, according to Tony Liu, cofounder and CEO of JobGet.  

Snagajob will operate as a standalone entity within JobGet, creating the United States’ largest hourly workforce job platform. With the acquisition, JobGet boasts in a news release that it now reaches over 100 million hourly workers, covering nearly the entire hourly workforce in the United States.

The two companies will have more than 100 employees when combined, according to Liu. “The majority of the employees have been brought on board to JobGet,” he said in a statement to Virginia Business.

A man wearing an Oxford shirt.
Tony Liu is cofounder and CEO of JobGet. Photo courtesy JobGet.

Snagajob, which briefly changed its name to Snag in 2018, had about 230 people working at the Innsbrook Corporate Center in 2019, according to one news report.

Liu said on Friday that JobGet is a remote-first company so there will not be a snagajob office in Glen Allen in the future. However, he wasn’t certain when the Virginia office would close or if it will close.

Snagajob’s CEO Keith Forshew and CFO Dan Li will work as advisors to JobGet, according to Liu. The company’s senior vice president of product and chief technology officer will join the team at JobGet, he added.

Founded in 2019, JobGet reports facilitating millions of hires for tens of thousands of businesses. Its features include job matching using artificial intelligence and instant job interview scheduling. In 2022, JobGet raised $52 million in Series B funding.

Snagajob, which launched in 1999, connects 6 million job seekers to employment opportunities each month and partners with 24 of the top 25 employers of hourly workers, as well as mid-market and small business employers.

“Since Snagajob was founded 25 years ago, the company’s mission of helping hourly workers find right-fit jobs has never wavered, and we’re confident that this mission will not only continue but thrive as part of JobGet,” Sangajob CEO Keith Forshew stated in a news release. “With access to the resources on JobGet’s platform, Snagajob’s job seekers and employers will continue to have a best-in-class experience and make meaningful employment connections.”

 

Babel Street acquires Ohio data insights firm

Reston-based data analytics and threat intelligence tech company Babel Street has acquired Vertical Knowledge, a data products, insights and intelligence company based in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.

The acquisition — which has already closed — expands Babel Street’s data sourcing, enrichment and analysis capabilities, according to a news release from the two companies. Babel Street has 228 employees and Vertical Knowledge has 128 employees.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“We are thrilled to welcome Vertical Knowledge and its talented team and robust products to Babel Street,” Babel Street CEO Michael Southworth said in a statement. “Together, we can offer our customers and partners unprecedented access to comprehensive, multilingual data assets enhanced by industry-leading natural language processing. This powerful combination of data and technology closes the Risk-Confidence Gap, empowering our customers to operate with greater efficiency, foresight and security.”

Babel Street acquired text analytics platform Rosette about a year ago.

“Joining forces with Babel Street supercharges our ability to equip customers with the intelligence needed to successfully tackle their most difficult problems,” Vertical Knowledge CEO Brian O’Keefe said in a statement. “Babel Street is the gold standard in identity resolution, risk identification and mitigation capabilities that perfectly complements Vertical Knowledge’s strengths in data collection and contextualization. We could not be more excited to fuse our talents and technologies to accelerate innovation in this space.”

 

Graham Media Group announces next president and CEO

Catherine Badalamente will be the next president and CEO of Arlington-based Graham Holdings Co.’s local media division, Graham Media Group. Her hiring follows current president and CEO Emily L. Barr’s Tuesday announcement that she would retire later this year.

Graham Holdings Co. is the family company of the late Katharine Graham, who was the former publisher and owner of The Washington Post. Along with Graham Media Group, its current holdings include online magazine Slate, digital marketing company Code3 (formerly SocialCode LLC) and higher education company Kaplan Inc.

“I could not be more pleased to appoint Catherine the new CEO of Graham Media Group,” Graham Holdings Co. CEO Timothy J. O’Shaughnessy said in a statement. “Catherine has helped keep GMG ahead of the curve in a rapidly changing industry. … As the next generation of Graham Media Group unfolds, we have a next generation leader to help steer the ship.”

Badalamente joined Graham Media Group — formerly Post-Newsweek Stations — in 2000. She has served in various executive leadership roles, most recently as vice president and chief innovation officer, and has spearheaded the organization’s digital work since 2009.

Badalamente serves as chair and treasurer of the Local Media Association Board of Directors and is immediate past chair of the National Association of Broadcasters Digital Officer Committee.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from John Carroll University.

Emily Barr photo courtesy Graham Media Group

Barr joined Graham Media Group in 2012 and took the organization from a broadcast-based model to seven local media hubs.

“Emily’s leadership has been critical to the company’s success. Graham Media Group has continued its tenure as a best-in-class operator, and Emily has led the organization to receive numerous awards and achieve record earnings,” O’Shaughnessy said in a statement.

Graham Media Group acquired Social News Desk, a social media management software provider, during Barr’s tenure. She also led the creation of Graham Digital, a Detroit-based digital media and technology development group.

Under Barr’s leadership, Graham Media Group won TVNewsCheck’s 2021 Broadcaster of the Year award as well as Broadcasting & Cable magazine’s 2016 Station Group of the Year. In 2020, Barr received the magazine’s Broadcaster of the Year award, and later this spring, she will be inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame. She was also elected to the 2021 class of The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation’s Giants of Broadcasting and Electronic Arts.

Media matters

It’s hard to have a conversation about anything in the headlines, especially anything to do with technology or politics, without some blame being assigned to “the media,” as if there were one enormous unified communications cloud shaping all our collective thoughts. That would be enormous for certain, but the media is perhaps more consolidated than one might think.

Thinking back, the early cable and pre-internet days seem like living in a land before time, when the economics of the media business were easy, and the industry was represented by voices aplenty.

In 1975, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules to prevent companies from owning newspapers and television stations in the same market.

In 1999, the FCC subsequently adopted an “eight voices” test to ensure that common ownership of media outlets in a single local market would not reduce diversity of opinion or minority opportunities. The underlying thesis was that multiple voices would promote competition and better serve the public interest.

After decades of litigation by broadcast groups and newspaper owners, the FCC ultimately eliminated these rules. Changes in technology and the overall media landscape have made them unnecessary. On appeal, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the FCC’s relaxation but was subsequently overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court in April 2021.

Looking back, the emphasis on local markets seems misguided. Nothing was done to curtail the growth of media conglomerates across multiple markets. In addition, the FCC regulations never applied to cable or internet companies. These alternatives originally were called the “500-channel universe.”

Today, traditional cable industry giants such as Comcast Corp., Warner Media LLC, Cox Communications Inc., ViacomCBS Inc., Hearst Communications Inc., Fox Corp. and The Walt Disney Co. all have revenue in the billions. And they’re on track to be superseded by a host of on-demand, streaming competitors such as YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+.

Meanwhile, local daily and weekly newspapers have become a vast wasteland.

According to a 2020 report by the University of North Carolina Hussman School of Journalism and Media, over 15 years the U.S. lost 2,100 daily and weekly newspapers — more than 25% — leaving 1,800 communities with no local news in print or online. From 2018 to 2020, 300 newspapers closed, 6,000 journalism jobs disappeared and local newspaper circulation declined by 5 million.

Anecdotally, we hear the loss of local business news has been even greater, as large media companies consolidate ownership of daily papers and cut coverage.

Alden Global Capital,* Lee Enterprises Inc. and McLean-based Gannett Co. Inc. collectively own more than one in six local newspapers in the U.S., with the lion’s share owned by Gannett.

This consolidation trend of media voices and ownership isn’t just happening in newspapers, though.

Nexstar Media Group Inc. and Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. each operate about 20% of the nation’s roughly 1,000 local television stations. Nexstar operates 199 stations in 116 U.S. markets, while Sinclair operates 185 television stations in 86 markets.

And none of these statistics include today’s largest purveyors of information, the so-called “technology companies” Meta Platforms Inc. (Facebook/Instagram), Twitter Inc. and Alphabet Inc. (Google/YouTube). Meta alone has nearly 4 billion users per month via Facebook and Instagram and brought in almost $86 billion in 2020 revenue.

In the U.S., these companies have remained virtually unfettered by regulation.

Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act grants these companies immunity for any third-party content published on their platforms, no matter how egregious.

Meanwhile, social media’s impact on civil discourse and democracy remains increasingly questionable.

Perhaps it’s by dumb luck, but at Virginia Business we’ve managed to remain fiscally and editorially healthy, both in print and online, despite — or perhaps because of — our lack of group ownership.

In any event, we are delighted to be here to serve your business information needs and grow with you in 2022.

Welcome to the new year and thank you for your support. 

Facebook removes Amanda Chase’s Senate page

Facebook appears to have permanently removed State Sen. Amanda Chase’s official state Senate page, according to email communications provided by the campaign.

After multiple unsuccessful attempts by her campaign to get her public page reinstated as recently as last week, Chase, R-Chesterfield, said Sunday that she is considering a national class action lawsuit against the social media giant on behalf of herself and others whose pages were restricted because of content related to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Chase added that she feels “singled out” by Facebook for her conservative politics, and that Facebook’s ban on her Senate page also has harmed her campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. According to Chase, she had 144,000 followers on the public page, where she frequently posted live videos and photos from events. Her personal Facebook page and a private Facebook group for supporters of her gubernatorial campaign are still active, however.

Chase’s Facebook ban — which started as a temporary restriction on new posts and livestreams on the Senate page in early January — occurred at the same time that then-President Donald Trump’s public Facebook page was banned indefinitely. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that in Trump’s case Facebook made the decision for public safety reasons. The Facebook Oversight Board, a high-profile group determining content moderation decisions, is currently considering whether to overturn Trump’s ban and also plans to examine Facebook’s policies on elected officials.

The Virginia GOP has scheduled its nominating convention for governor and other statewide offices for May 8, and Chase campaign worker John Findlay, a former executive director of the Republican Party of Virginia, attempted last week to get Chase’s Facebook page reinstated before the convention. The social media giant first restricted Chase from streaming live video, posting or commenting on the page for 30 days in early January, and it took down two videos Chase posted from the National Mall in Washington, D.C., during a pro-Trump rally that took place a few hours before the violent takeover of the Capitol.

On March 11, Findlay, whose wife is also part of Chase’s campaign staff, emailed Facebook employee Rachel Holland, who is responsible for U.S. politics and government outreach. Findlay’s email to Holland was conciliatory, writing that Chase was “more than willing to comply” with Facebook’s requests, including deleting posts and “avoiding forbidden content.” Findlay added that Chase “would like to do a great deal of advertising” on Facebook. He said in an interview Sunday that he considered the request “likely a longshot, but it was a distinct possibility,” noting that Chase and Trump are the only high-profile political figures whose pages have been removed by Facebook.

However, Facebook did not change its mind. Reiterating a Jan. 19 communication with Chase’s campaign, Holland wrote in a March 16 email that Chase’s Senate page “was correctly disabled upon incurring multiple violations of our Community Standards which resulted in content removal. … Due to the potential for real-world harm, we do not allow exceptions [to] this policy.”

Two months earlier, Holland had explained in an email to Chase’s campaign that Facebook restricts and disables pages that are tied to violent groups, including U.S.-based militias and QAnon followers, and limits other content that includes “praise and support of the storming of the U.S. Capitol, calls to bring weapons to locations across the U.S. — not just in Washington but anywhere in the U.S. — including protests, incitement or encouragement of the events at the Capitol, including videos and photos from the protestors.”

Chase said Sunday she’s strongly considering bringing a lawsuit against Facebook and believes she and other pro-Trump partisans are being punished for their political beliefs. “You don’t adopt un-American policies, Facebook,” Chase said. “This is all a target on conservative Republicans. This has lit a fire under me. I will put Facebook out of business.”

Findlay said Sunday that although Chase is interested in suing Facebook, he’s not confident that a lawsuit would be resolved in time for the May 8 convention. “I think she’s still the overwhelming favorite” in the Republican gubernatorial field, despite the ban, he added.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Va. candidates and groups drop $12M+ on Facebook ad spending

RICHMOND, Va. — In an election forecasted to have record voter turnout, political campaigns have deployed a multiplatform media blitz.

Facebook is for more than likes these days, with the platform getting its share of Virginia political and issue spending to the tune of over $12.7 million in a recent three-month period, according to the social media platform.

Tobe Berkovitz, an advertising professor at Boston University who has worked as a political media consultant on election campaigns, said campaigns advertise on social media for the same reasons that consumer advertising is used.

“It’s where a lot of either voters or consumers are getting their information,” Berkovitz said. “You can specifically develop messages for individuals and smaller groups and you can very tightly target who it is that you want to reach.”

Democratic groups or candidates dominated the top 10 when ranking the largest political Facebook ad spending in Virginia. Those organizations spent a combined amount over $2.4 million. That’s excluding the money Facebook and Instagram have put into political advertising.

Facebook tracks advertising spending on issues, elections and politics in its Ad Library. The data show that over a recent 90-day period, about 2,700 groups or candidates, including Facebook and Instagram, spent over $12.7 million on Facebook ads in Virginia. During a comparable period before the election last year, Facebook ad spending totaled $5.5 million, according to a previous Capital News Service report.

The most spending from Aug. 2 to Oct. 30 went toward candidates at the top of the ballot. Over $2.2 million was spent by the two fundraising committees associated with President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Biden’s campaign fundraising arm The Biden Victory Fund invested more than Trump’s fundraising committee. The Biden Victory Fund spent more than $1.1 million between the pages of Biden, Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party. Over $1 million was spent on candidate Biden.

Trump’s fundraising committee The Trump Make America Great Again Committee closely trailed the Biden camp. Trump’s campaign spent just shy of $1.1 million over eight Facebook pages, including the pages of Black Voices for Trump, Mike Pence and Women for Trump. Over $750,000 of that total went to Trump’s re-election campaign.

Berkovitz said social media advertising is becoming more popular because of the analytics that are available to the campaigns.

“It provides a lot of information about the people you’re trying to reach, the people you do reach, how your message is working, what types of messages do work for them and you just have a lot more data to go on,” Berkovitz said. “We’re in a world where everything is data driven now.”

Over $1.2 million was spent on contested Virginia Congressional races and a South Carolina Senate race. Democratic incumbent in the 2nd District U.S. House race, Elaine Luria’s campaign spent more than $207,000. That lands her in the No. 4 spot. Her opponent Scott Taylor’s fundraising committee spent just shy of $62,000. Taylor previously held the seat and the election is a rematch between the two candidates.

The 7th District U.S. House race accounts for more than $15.5 million spent on all media advertising during the election season, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic incumbent, spent almost $193,000 on Facebook advertising in the last 90 days. Nick Freitas, Spanberger’s Republican opponent, spent just shy of $24,000 in the same time span. Most of the money for this closely watched race has been spent on broadcast and cable TV advertising.

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner’s fundraising committee spent over $186,000 in the effort to keep his 1st District U.S. Senate seat. Daniel Gade, his Republican challenger, spent significantly less through his campaign arm, investing just under $42,000.

A South Carolina Senate race between Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and his Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison landed in the No. 8 and No. 9 slots, spending a combined amount of over $310,000. Jaime Harrison for U.S. Senate spent over $156,000. Team Graham Inc. spent just shy of $154,000.

Advocacy groups turn to the platform for the same reason as politicians. Stop Republicans, a self-described accountability campaign of the Progressive Turnout Project, made the No. 3 spot with just under $230,000 spent targeting Virginians through Facebook. The Progressive Turnout Project ranks No. 7 with $164,000 spent during the last 90 days.

The Service Employees International Union Committee on Political Education rounded out the top 10, spending just over $151,000. SEIU is a labor union representing workers in the healthcare industry, public sector and property services. The organization spent millions nationwide this election cycle to get out the vote, target infrequent voters and promote progressive candidates.

The political advertising total in Virginia is lower compared to Florida, where almost $85 million was spent in the same 90-day period. In swing state Pennsylvania just over $57 million was spent. Over $45.2 million was spent in targeted Facebook advertising in neighboring North Carolina.

Facebook isn’t oblivious to the influence its platform has. The company recently imposed a ban on new political ads from being placed leading up to Election Day.

Judi Crenshaw, who teaches public relations at Virginia Commonwealth University, said Facebook’s ban was “an effort to put the brakes on this influence and this disinformation leading up to the election.”

“I don’t know what else to call it except for an attempt,” Crenshaw said. “It’s a last minute attempt and it certainly is a very limited attempt when ads that were placed before this period of time are still allowed to run.”

Political Ads on Facebook
Infogram

Babel Street gains AI, machine learning capabilities

Reston-based Babel Street Inc., a web and social media monitoring company, announced Monday it has acquired the intellectual property assets of Overland Park, Kansas-based Dunami, an artificial intelligence and machine learning analysis company.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Babel Street acquired Dunami’s AI and machine learning assets, which automatically illustrate relationships between networks and audiences. The company said in a release that this acquisition will help users identify trends from publicly available information.

“This technology is a natural complement to our features and functionality as well as our diverse data offering,” Babel Street Founder and CEO Jeff Chapman said in a statement. “We are proud to bring our clients these advanced capabilities that will enhance the speed and quality of their decision making.” 

The new AI and machine learning components will be integrated into two of the company’s products: Babel X and Babel BOX, used by public relations, crisis management, audience insight, influencer marketing and insider threats professionals.

Founded in 2009, Babel Street offers web and social media monitoring platforms, which currently tracks data in more than 200 languages and can recognize emojis. 

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.