Author: openjargon

• Social-media influencer is a highly sought-after job these days, especially among Gen Zers.
• The first step to becoming an influencer is posting consistently on apps like Instagram and TikTok.
• Creators also say media kits, membership groups, and talent managers have helped grow their brands.

Social media has created many new ways to make money, and over the past few years, it has led millions of people around the world to become influencers.

Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat have opened up doors for individuals who want to switch careers, become full-time creators, or supplement the income from their 9-to-5 jobs.

The most important step to getting started as an influencer is to pick a platform or two and begin posting consistently. While some creators eventually land on a specific content niche, such as fitness, beauty, fashion, or education, others post about many topics.

Creator Ayomi Samaraweera gained hundreds of followers a few weeks after uploading her first TikTok when one of her videos about resigning and applying for new jobs went viral.

"It was a lot of trial and error in the beginning," Samaraweera previously told Business Insider. "I wasn't really thinking about a niche or how my content could be unique. I just posted what I felt like at the moment."

Read more about how Samaraweera became a full-time content creator and got her first brand deal with 2,000 followers

A steady posting cadence has even helped some creators successfully launch companies, like Nadya Okamoto, who founded the period-care brand August in 2021. She first grew her TikTok following rapidly by posting 100 times a day about menstrual hygiene and her experience in reproductive healthcare.

"To me, the TikTok algorithm is like a lottery," she previously told BI. "The more lottery tickets you put in, the more chances you have of winning or, in this case, going viral."

Read more about how 2 Gen-Z entrepreneurs leveraged TikTok to launch and grow a period-care startup

Here's exactly how to become an influencer and start making money:

How many followers you need to be an influencer

Most brands take an influencer's audience size into account when considering them for a paid collaboration. As a result, influencers are categorized based on their follower count.

Nano influencers have only a few thousand followers, under 10,000, but can still partner with many different brands. California-based creator Stacy Kim had only around 4,200 followers on Instagram but landed more than 40 paid partnerships in over a year and a half with companies like Samsung and Clinique.

"My engagement on posts is really high, and I heard that most brands care more about that than the number of followers you have," she previously told BI.

Read more about how the nano influencer pitches sponsorship deals

The next category, micro influencers, are classified as social-media users with between 10,000 to 100,000 followers. For many brands, this is the preferred tier of creators to work with because they have a highly engaged audience but charge a lot less than celebrities or very well-known social-media personalities.

Maesha Shonar, a micro influencer with 24,000 followers on Instagram, previously told BI she had such a highly engaged audience. To stand out to brands, she created a pitch proposal, which outlined two sponsorship options the brand could choose from — each with specific timelines, deliverables, and rates — and case studies of her recent collaborations.

Read more about how the micro influencer gets brand deals

Influencers who have more than 100,000 followers are the next tier, followed by mega-influencers who have multiple millions.

Fashion influencer Nate White has 1.8 million followers on TikTok and earned six figures in 2022 by collaborating with companies like Verizon and Amazon Prime.

"The money's changed my life," he previously told BI. "I've been able to move out from the hood where I'm from … the kids in that neighborhood looked up to me and I miss that, but I did this for me."

Read more about how much the TikToker earns with 1.8 million followers

Meanwhile, YouTube star MrBeast, who has over 280 million subscribers, brought in $223 million in revenue in 2023 through various businesses, including his YouTube channels, sponsorships, and chocolate and snack brand Feastables.

Read more about YouTube star MrBeasts' business empire, which he expects to generate $700 million in 2024

How influencers get paid

After amassing an engaged audience, influencers can start making money directly through their respective app's monetization programs, by creating sponsored content for brands, or through affiliate marketing, among other revenue streams.

Pay can range from a few thousand dollars for an Instagram sponsorship to six figures a year for a full-time creator, such as photographer and videographer Tej Patel, who made $100,000 in 2022 through his photo and video work, sponsorships, and the TikTok Creator Fund, which has since been discontinued.

Brand deals are one of the most popular ways to earn money as an influencer since companies are always looking for talent to help promote their products or services. Some brands have earned a reputation for rolling out more inclusive campaigns by paying creators fairly and allowing more creative control.

Take a look at new data on influencer brand deals in 2024

Platforms also pay creators based on their video views and engagement.

In 2023, some creators earned tens of millions of dollars through TikTok's Creativity Program beta, now dubbed Creator Rewards, which pays influencers for TikToks over 60 seconds.

Read more about how TikTokers can score huge paydays for longer videos

On Snapchat, creators have had success making money from its ad-revenue program. In 2023, Gen-Z creator couple AJ and Grey made $84,000 and $21,000, respectively, from the program. The initiative allows creators with at least 50,000 subscribers on the platform to make money through the ads their followers are shown in between Snap stories.

Affiliate marketing is another popular way to make money after becoming an influencer. This revenue stream allows creators to link to products or services they use, and if a follower buys it through their customized link, they earn a commission.

In 12 months, influencer Janesha Moore made $100,000 just from affiliate links on platforms like Amazon, in addition to partnering with lifestyle and beauty brands. She also highlighted how it's easier for BIPOC creators like her to earn money through affiliate marketing than brand partnerships, where there is often a pay disparity.

"Affiliate marketing is such a powerful tool because everyone has the same percentage they make, so it's really just a matter of the strategies you put into place to make the money work for you," she said.

Read more about how Moore got started with affiliate marketing and made over $100,000 in a year

Learn more about how influencers make money on TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms and how many followers you need to get paid:

TikTok:

• How to start making money on TikTok from user-generated content, according to creators
• How much money TikTokers make, according to top creators
• How much TikTok pays for views, according to creators

Instagram

• How many followers you need on Instagram to get paid

YouTube:

• How much money YouTubers make and can earn, according to creators
• How much YouTube pays per view and what you can expect to earn for every 1,000 views
• How much YouTubers make for 1 million subscribers

Snapchat:

• How to make money on Snapchat, according to creators
• Snapchat creators are going on posting blitzes with hundreds of stories as they race to cash in on its new revenue program

How to contact brands and get paid for sponsorships

Email is how influencers usually first contact brands about working together. Most influencers who reach out to companies attach a media kit to display the value they would bring to a potential partnership. The document highlights information such as engagement analytics, audience makeups, and previous brand deals.

Read more about how to create a media kit and see examples from influencers

Creator Paulina Perez landed more than 20 paid partnerships in a year with global companies like Skims, Olay, and Sephora, all thanks to the media kit she created. She previously told BI that she's been fortunate to collaborate with so many brands because of her unique niche as a Hispanic creator who also posts videos in Spanish, and many of them have turned into long-term relationships.

"I still work with a lot of the companies that first took a chance on me," she said. "I just charge them more now because my engagement is higher and my audience has grown."

Check out the full 2-page media kit Perez she uses to land brand deals

Many creators also use Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn to direct message influencer marketers at brands who are looking for potential talent. Samaraweera, the creator who scored her first brand deal with 2,000 followers, Instagram DMed software company Fishbowl to land her first paid sponsorship.

"Timing is everything, so keep a lookout for brands who start engaging with your content because it's more than likely they're looking to work with you," she said.

See the email and DM templates influencers have used to reach out to brands

How influencers find jobs and get advice from other creators

Workplace communication platform Slack has surged in popularity in the past few years, so much so that those in the industry have started using the app to vent about their frustrations, land job opportunities, and connect with other creators, brands, and talent managers in the industry, with one labeling it a "gold mine" for opportunities.

"I had an influencer who really wanted to work with a certain brand, and I just asked in the channel and immediately got the contact info for the person in charge," talent manager Lissette Calveiro previously told BI.

Read more about how influencers use Slack to get brand deals

Many creators have also launched their own apps to help influencers get paid fairly by brands, like Christen Nino de Guzman's Clara for Creators and Samaraweera's Canopy for Creators. These apps, which are free to join for users, help creators compare rates and negotiate higher compensation. Nino de Guzman said she launched the app to help show others how easy it was to become an influencer and make money from social media.

"It used to be a typical kind of person, usually a middle-to-high class woman blogger who had access to video equipment and was traveling, but now anyone can be a creator," she said.

How to get a manager or publicist as an influencer

Once an influencer becomes more popular online and amasses a large following, they can choose to hire a talent manager and publicist to grow their brands even more. Talent managers can help creators with anything from starting a new company to negotiating higher rates for campaigns to generating content ideas.

Some talent management firms, like UTA or CAA, focus on representing the most well-known social media stars like Alix Earle. Others, like Kensington Grey and Society18, focus on creators from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds.

Explore BI's database of talent management firms and agencies that work with influencers

Talent managers previously told BI that they often get hired after a creator explodes online or goes viral and the creator feels overwhelmed with the incoming messages and offers to collaborate.

"Reinforcing that there's a reason this happened to them, it's all positive and they're safe and everything's good — that's probably the most time-consuming part of that first couple months of when someone blows up," said Danielle Pistotnik, a talent manager at Select Management Group.

Meanwhile, some influencers choose to hire publicists to help with their image, landing TV appearances or written features in prominent publications, and getting them on the list for exclusive industry events.

Read more about the top PR pros and publicists in the creator economy

• Stevan Ditter and Alara Taneri are one of the most consistent couples in "Perfect Match" season two.
• They've quickly become a fan favorite due to their loyalty to each other.
• Here's what we know about their relationship on the show and whether they are still together.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Perfect Match" season two.

Stevan Ditter and Alara Taneri may be the strongest couple in "Perfect Match" season two.

But it's unclear whether they're still together.

The pair originally appeared in two separate Netflix series, "Too Hot To Handle" and "Dated & Related."

"Perfect Match" series draws together contestants from across Netflix's reality show slate and gives cast members a second chance at love (or boosting their fame). Stevan and Alara seemed to be more focused on the love part.

The couple meet for the first time when they are paired on a date in episode three. At the time, Stevan was matched with another contestant, Xanthi Perdikomatis, but he immediately gels with Alara and chooses to match with her in the next coupling session.

Since then, the pair have been completely focused on each other, even when sent on dates with other contestants. The pair make it to the season two final together but are not chosen as the winning couple.

There is a chance they did not make it in the outside world. Here's why.

Stevan doesn't follow Alara on Instagram.

The biggest clue that Stevan and Alara are no longer seeing each other is who they're following on Instagram.

Alara follows Stevan, but Stevan does not follow her back even though he does follow some of his other "Perfect Match" costars.

"Perfect Match" contestant Harry Jowsey said on the latest episode of his podcast released on June 11, "Boyfriend Material with Harry Jowsey," that Stevan is currently dating someone.

Harry mentioned the girlfriend while apologizing for lying that Stevan had sex with Holly Scarfone while filming "Perfect Match" season two.

"He's also happily in a relationship, so I'm deeply sorry to his girlfriend for saying that," Harry said.

Harry didn't specify whether the girlfriend was Alara, which means they could have split.

Alara lives with another "Perfect Match" contestant in LA.

Initially, Stevan and Alara lived far from one another: she in London and he in Los Angeles.

On June 2, "Perfect Match" season two star Micah Lussier said in a TikTok video that she had moved to LA and was living temporarily with Alara.

It's unclear when Alara moved to LA or into the apartment with Micah.

But it is likely that Alara moved to LA after the show was filmed, since she said she lived in London on the show. This could mean that she moved to LA to get closer to Stevan and the pair are still dating.

• "Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini" tells the story of a kidnapping hoax.
• Sherri Papini faked her own kidnapping in 2016 and went missing for three weeks.
• The truth about her supposed ordeal came to light when she was arrested in 2020.

"Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini" tells the story of a woman who went missing on November 2, 2016, after she staged her own kidnapping.

The Hulu true crime docuseries details how Sherri Papini was found 22 days later in Yolo County, California, near Interstate 5, some 150 miles away from her home in Redding, California. Kidnappers appeared to have beaten and branded her, and broken her nose.

It later emerged she inflicted these injuries on herself while she was staying with her ex-boyfriend, James Reyes, in Costa Mesa — another Californian town connected to Interstate 5.

"Perfect Wife" is the second docuseries released in 2024 that bears a striking similarity to "Gone Girl," the movie that follows a writer as he tries to uncover why his wife faked being kidnapped.

Netflix's "American Nightmare" focused on Denise Huskins, who was falsely accused of staging a hoax kidnapping in 2015. Her abductor, Matthew Muller, was arrested in June 2015.

If the success of "American Nightmare," which was watched 21.4 million times on Netflix, is anything to go by, "Perfect Wife" has the potential to be equally huge for Hulu because of its similar tale.

Unlike Huskins, Papini maintained the lie after she returned home and kept it up for six years, claiming that two Hispanic women kidnapped her while she was out on a run.

Papini was arrested in March 2022 when the FBI found Reyes' DNA on her clothes. Her husband, Keith Papini, filed for divorce in April 2022 citing irreconcilable differences.

She signed a plea deal admitting that she had lied to the authorities and that the kidnapping never happened. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison in September 2022.

Papini was released from prison in 2023

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Papini was officially released from prison on September 29, 2023. She moved into a halfway house in Sacramento, California, but left the facility in October 2023, CBS News reported. She remains on supervised release until 2026.

According to local newspaper, Redding Record Searchlight, Papini currently lives in northern California and is writing a book.

In an interview with USA Today on June 20, Papini's ex-husband said that she has never directly apologized to him for the incident, or for continuing to lie for six years until she was charged.

"I feel there's absolutely zero remorse for what she has done," Keith Papini said. "I don't even think she understands how big of a lie — and I've used the term ripple effect — that she has caused throughout so many lives. I don't think she cares, personally."

People reported that he has custody of their two children Violet, 9, and Tyler, 11. The siblings see their mother for monthly supervised visits.

Keith Papini also told the outlet how the ordeal has affected his outlook on life.

"A lot of their childhood was, in my opinion, stolen from them," he said. "So my biggest goal is giving them a happy and healthy life and surrounding them with loving people."

He continued: "I ask more questions, and I'm probably more cautious, but I'm still finding people to be truthful. That's how I've lived my life and what I teach my kids."

• Over the last three decades, Hollywood has leaned into sequels.
• Now, sequels regularly make more at the box office than the original movies.
• "Inside Out 2" made $295 million worldwide on its first weekend. The first film made $130.7 million.

If you look at the top 20 highest-grossing movies of the 21st century, 13 are sequels.

At this point, if a sequel doesn't make more than the original, it could even be considered a failure.

But Hollywood wasn't always this way. "Star Wars," for example, was a huge phenomenon when it came out in 1977, making $307 million domestically for its initial release, according to Box Office Mojo. But even though they were also huge hits, making $209 million and $252 million respectively, neither "The Empire Strikes Back" nor "Return of the Jedi" was able to outgross it.

But the sequels on this list are part of why the expectation has now changed.

Here are some of the most iconic sequels that outperformed the originals.

"Inside Out 2" made significantly more than "Inside Out" did its opening weekend.

"Inside Out 2" has been huge for Pixar, which has been struggling since 2020 and the pandemic. The film, which is a sequel to the 2015 film "Inside Out," has also been a much-needed boost for the 2024 box office.

In fact, "Inside Out 2" had the best opening weekend since "Barbie" in July 2023. As BI previously reported, "Inside Out 2" made an estimated $295 million worldwide. Its predecessor debuted to $90 million.

We don't know yet if this sequel will outperform the first film, which grossed a massive $858 million worldwide, but it's certainly on track.

"Incredibles 2" made almost double what "The Incredibles" did.

The last huge Pixar sequel was 2018's "Incredibles 2," the long-awaited sequel to the 2004 film "The Incredibles."

Perhaps the wait was why the second movie made a whopping $1.24 billion at the box office, while "The Incredibles" made $631 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

However, only the 2004 original won the Academy Award for best animated feature. "Incredibles 2" lost to "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse."

"Top Gun: Maverick" made four times as much as the original "Top Gun."

When "Top Gun" was released in 1986, it was a hit. It made $357 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, making it the No. 1 movie of the year, and won an Academy Award for its song "Take My Breath Away."

But nothing could have prepared us for what happened 36 years later, when "Top Gun: Maverick" brought Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (played by Tom Cruise) back to our screens.

"Maverick" reportedly grossed a staggering $1.49 billion — over four times as much as the original. It was the second-highest-grossing film of 2022, the highest-grossing Tom Cruise film, and was nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards.

All four sequels to "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" outperformed the original.

To put it simply: People did not think the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" was going to work. It was based on a creaky old ride at Disney World that had no story or recognizable characters. But with the introduction of Captain Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp, the first movie made $654 million upon its release in 2003, according to Box Office Mojo.

But would Disney be able to replicate the success? Yes, and then some. "Dead Man's Chest," released in 2006, made $1 billion. The 2007 sequel, "At World's End," made $961 million.

The franchise took a break and got a new director, but that didn't stop audiences. The 2011 sequel "On Stranger Tides" made another $1 billion, per Box Office Mojo.

And even though it may feel like not many people cared about 2017's "Dead Men Tell No Tales," it still reportedly made $795.9 million.

Only "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2" managed to outgross "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

"Harry Potter" was the rare modern franchise where the subsequent films never outgrossed the original — until the epic 2011 conclusion, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2," which earned $1.34 billion worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.

It took 10 years to topple the $974 million gross of 2001's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," which has reached $1 billion after years of re-releases. "Chamber of Secrets, "Prisoner of Azkaban," "Goblet of Fire," "Order of the Phoenix," "Half-Blood Prince," and "Deathly Hallows — Part 1" all came close, but couldn't quite do it.

"Twilight" made $408 million at the box office. The next film, "New Moon," made $711 million.

Summit may have underestimated the power of the Twihards when the studio commissioned a film adaptation of the popular YA novel, "Twilight." The budget was just $37 million, Entertainment Weekly reported. It went on to make $408 million upon its release in 2008, as reported by Box Office Mojo.

That's nothing compared to what came next. The budget went up to $50 million for 2009's "New Moon" … and the gross went up to $711 million.

It didn't end there. The 2010 sequel "Eclipse" made $698 million, 2011's "Breaking Dawn — Part 1" made $712 million, and the epic conclusion, 2012's "Breaking Dawn — Part 2," made $848 million.

"The Best Man Holiday" reunited the cast of "The Best Man" to great financial success.

When the rom-com "The Best Man" was released in 1999, it was a modest hit, making $34.5 million at the box office, according to Box Office Mojo.

It wasn't a no-brainer to make a legacy sequel 14 years later in 2013, called "The Best Man Holiday," but we bet Universal is pleased it did since that film earned $72.8 million, making twice as much as the original.

Both "The Dark Knight" and "The Dark Knight Rises" crossed the billion-dollar threshold. But the first movie, "Batman Begins," couldn't crack $375 million.

When you think of Christopher Nolan's "Batman" films, the first you probably think of is 2008's "The Dark Knight," which was a full-blown phenomenon, grossing $1 billion worldwide and earning Heath Ledger a posthumous Oscar for his turn as the Joker.

But don't forget it's a sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins," which made a respectable $375 million (even though, now, a comic-book film making less than $500 million is considered a catastrophe).

According to Box Office Mojo data, the 2012 sequel to "The Dark Knight," "The Dark Knight Rises" also cracked $1 billion.

After a dip with "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," the third "Indy" movie was able to surpass "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

"Indiana Jones" is one of the most beloved film franchises of all time, led by one of the most beloved movie stars ever, Harrison Ford. The first film about Jones's adventures, 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark," earned $389 million around the world, per Box Office Mojo.

While the 1984 sequel, "Temple of Doom," was highly anticipated, it fell slightly short of its predecessor, earning $333 million.

However, with the addition of Sean Connery, the 1989 trilogy capper, "Last Crusade," earned $474 million.

The first "Fast and Furious" movie in 2001 made a respectable $207 million. By 2015, "Furious 7" made $1.5 billion.

Much like the subject matter, the budgets and box-office grosses of "The Fast and the Furious" films have spiraled out of control.

The first installment, released in 2001, was a simple story about an undercover cop infiltrating a gang of street racers. According to Box Office Mojo, it made $207.3 million.

By 2015, there had been six more films, with almost all drastically outperforming the original. "Furious 7" sees the family playing defense as an international super-spy seeks revenge for the team almost killing his brother.

Their cars get parachuted off planes, they drive from one ultra-high-rise to another in Abu Dhabi, and the Rock flexes so hard his cast pops off. It made $1.5 billion.

Subsequent sequels ("The Fate of the Furious," "F9," and "Fast X") have all made money, but none as much as "Furious 7."

• Russia appears to have used its 6,600-pound glide bomb in Ukraine for the first time.
• Battlefield footage captures the moment the FAB-3000 strikes in the Kharkiv region. 
• War analysts say this highly destructive capability could be a huge problem for Ukrainian forces.

New video footage appears to capture the first combat employment of Russia's 6,600-pound glide bomb in Ukraine, a highly destructive capability that analysts say could be a tremendous problem for Kyiv.

Russian sources published footage to the Telegram messaging app purportedly showing a FAB-3000 M-54 bomb strike Ukrainian positions in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Thursday.

The munition was outfitted with a unified planning and correction module that turns it into a glide bomb, meaning it could have been air-launched from far away.

Upon impact, the bomb causes a massive fireball. With a large blast radius, the explosion rips through just about everything in its path — though it's mostly rubble from previous fighting.

One Russian milblogger, Fighterbomber, noted that the strike actually missed its target by a few meters, but the devastating blast radius makes up for any inaccuracies. Fragments from the explosion can travel more than 4,000 feet out, the channel suggested.

In March, Russia's defense ministry announced increased production of the FAB-3000 — and several other munitions, like the 1,100-pound FAB-500 and 3,300-pound FAB-1500. All three of these can be modified and turned into glide bombs, but it was unclear whether the heaviest one would be an issue for aircraft to carry.

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War think tank said the use of the FAB-3000 bomb awards Russia a new weapon that carries a "high potential for destruction" if it can be launched with impunity.

"The fact that Russian forces have figured out how to launch FAB-3000s is a significant development and will increase the destructive potential of Russia's ongoing glide bomb attacks against Ukrainian forces and infrastructure," the analysts wrote in a Thursday assessment.

"Russian forces have already increased guided and unguided glide bomb use against Ukraine, particularly in Kharkiv Oblast, to devastating effect," they said.

"Should Russian forces be able to launch massive barrages of FAB-3000s (or even heavier guided glide bombs), they will be able to cause even more widespread damage to Ukrainian frontline positions and critical infrastructure," the analysts added.

Russia's glide-bomb strikes have caused headaches for Ukraine throughout the war, but these munitions have been especially problematic over the past few months. Unlike conventional gravity bombs, glide bombs have flight control surfaces and are standoff weapons. Attacking aircraft can release them at a distance — in many cases, well beyond the reach of Ukraine's air-defense systems.

Because these munitions have short flight times, small radar signatures, and non-ballistic trajectories, they are extremely difficult to intercept. The only way to really defeat them is by either intercepting the aircraft mid-flight or destroying it at its base.

With the Kharkiv region bearing the brunt of Moscow's glide-bomb strikes in recent months, Ukrainian officials called for Western countries to relax restrictions on Kyiv using their weapons to strike inside Russian territory so that the country could better tackle this deadly and destructive threat. Some of those restrictions have since been lifted.

• A Philippine general called China's coast guard pirates after a violent confrontation.
• China's Coast Guard disrupted a Philippine resupply mission at Second Thomas Shoal.
• Experts say it's not piracy, but it's a troubling escalation all the same.

The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines accused China of behaving like pirates after members of China's coast guard aggressively clashed with Philippine vessels running a resupply mission on Monday, wielding bladed weapons.

"Only pirates do this," General Romeo Brawner Jr. said in a social media post regarding the recent actions of the Chinese coast guard. "Only pirates board, steal, and destroy ships, equipment, and belongings."

Beijing has blamed the Philippines for the incident, with a foreign ministry spokesperson saying Thursday that "the Philippine side has been calling white black and falsely accusing China."

Footage of the encounter showed China's Coast Guard fleet surrounding Philippine vessels in the South China Sea that were in the process of conducting a resupply and rotation mission. The Chinese vessels closed in and tensions flared. The incident marked an escalation amid months of confrontations in the area.

Members of the Coast Guard are seen in the videos wielding blades and removing objects from the Philippine vessel.

The Philippine general added that the crew members aboard the ambushed vessels were outnumbered and "fought with bare hands" against the Chinese coast guard personnel.

Though the Chinese coast guard behavior documented by the Philippines is aggressive, it's not piracy, an expert explained, but it's still a serious problem.

The Chinese coast guard might have used pirate-like tactics, but it's not legally piracy. The incident wasn't on the high seas beyond a country's jurisdiction, and as Harrison Prétat, deputy director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, told Business Insider, it wasn't for monetary gain.

The Chinese Coast Guard is "trying to prevent the Philippines from resupplying the BRP Sierra Madre, a ship grounded on Second Thomas Shoal since 1999 where the Philippines maintains a garrison of marines," Prétat explained.

He added that the Permanent Court of Arbitration declared in 2016 that Second Thomas Shoal was a part of the Philippines' exclusive economic zone. Therefore, the Philippines should be able to access Second Thomas and even build artificial structures there in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which China is a signatory.

Although the country is a signatory, "China rejects the 2016 ruling and is attempting to enforce its control over maritime activity within its nine-dash line claim," Prétat said. The nine-dash line is a map marking designating China's sweeping and controversial claims to the South China Sea.

This isn't the first time China's coast guard has acted aggressively toward the Philippines at sea, especially over parts of the hotly contested Spratley Islands. In recent months, Chinese ships have also fired water canons at Philippine vessels and even rammed them. Equipment has been damaged, and crew members have been injured. But this week's incident was notable, reaching a new level.

Per other reporting on the incident, Brawner said that the Chinese guardsmen "took guns and other equipment, destroyed our equipment onboard, including the motors. They punctured our rigid-hulled inflatable boats." One of the Filipino crewmembers even lost his thumb in the incident.

"This latest incident is a significant escalation from recent tensions, which previously involved water cannons targeting Philippine civilian boats—this time, the inflatable boat that was boarded and destroyed by Chinese personnel was a Philippine Navy vessel," Prétat said. That raises the stakes.

The maritime expert noted that the attack "could trigger US obligations under the Mutual Defense Treaty." Prétat said it could raise the risk of a conflict between the US and China. Manila does not, however, plan to invoke the treaty. It's a means to prevent further escalation, but the Philippines is demanding China return seized equipment and pay for damages.

US ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson said this week in a post on X that the US "condemns the PRC's aggressive, dangerous maneuvers," referring to China by the acronym for People's Republic of China.

• Perplexity's CEO Aravind Srinivas recently shared his advice for founders on startup success.
• Srinivas emphasized creating products based on personal passion over market trends.
• Founders should understand what gives them "dopamine hits," he said.

Perplexity's CEO may be weathering a current controversy over the way his startup's AI product produces content online, but he also has some advice for people starting their own company — and it involves understanding your "dopamine system."

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas recently sat for an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman that was published Wednesday and acknowledged that the traditional business wisdom still applies: relentless determination, grit, and believing in yourself.

However, Srinivas also stressed working on ideas you are passionate about — not just what the market wants, or what you think will get you VC funding.

"If you work from that perspective, I think you'll give up beyond a point because it's very hard to work toward something that isn't truly important to you," Srinivas said. "Like, do you really care?"

Srinivas said founders should start with something that they personally love and use, rather than what they think is most likely to be profitable. If you attempt to mold your interests into what you think will be lucrative, he said, "eventually you'll give up, or you'll be supplanted by someone who actually has a genuine passion for that thing."

"If you're not a person who gets that and you're really only getting dopamine hits from making money, then it's hard to work on hard problems," he said.

Srinivas said he and his Perplexity cofounders, Denis Yarats and Johnny Ho, were already "obsessed" with search and knowledge-based products even prior to starting Perplexity, including work at Quora.

Having already cultivated a passion for improving search quality made it easier for them to work on Perplexity without any "immediate dopamine hits."

"It's important to know what your dopamine system is — where do you get your dopamine?" Srinivas said.

Most startups fail. And with their fickle nature, Srinivas said support systems are necessary to avoid getting discouraged. He also encouraged people, especially those in their late teens to mid-twenties, to relentlessly pursue their passions while they have the time and energy.

"If there is a certain idea that really just occupies your mind all the time," Srinivas said. "It's worth making your life about that idea."

• Prosecutors urged Donald Trump's hush-money judge to keep most of his gag order.
• But they agreed that Trump could now attack witnesses like Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels.
• They warned Trump could still be found liable for defamation, citing the two E. Jean Carroll verdicts against him.

The prosecutors in Donald Trump's criminal hush-money case say they're OK with the former president resuming his attacks on Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, and other witnesses in the case — but that they want the judge to maintain other parts of his gag order.

In a court filing Friday morning, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office urged the judge overseeing the case not to terminate the gag order ahead of Trump's July 11 sentencing hearing.

Trump shouldn't be able to freely attack jurors, court staff, prosecution staff, and their families — all of whom have been the subject of numerous violent threats, they wrote.

But they agreed with Trump's lawyers that he should no longer be banned from talking about trial witnesses, which included nemeses like Cohen and Daniels, now that the trial is over.

"Now that the jury has delivered a verdict, however, the compelling interest in protecting the witnesses' ability to testify without interference is no longer present," prosecutors wrote.

A jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in May, finding he illegally disguised hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who says she had an affair with him, ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Ahead of the trial, the presiding judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, issued a gag order restricting how Trump could talk about the case in public. They forbade Trump from talking about court staff, prosecution, staff, their families, jurors, witnesses, and people who would likely be called to the witness stand.

Merchan found that Trump violated the orders on 10 different occasions during the trial, and threatened him with jail if he did it again.

"You are the former President of the United States and possibly the next President, as well," Merchan told Trump at a hearing. "There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for me. To take that step would be disruptive to these proceedings, which I imagine you want to end as quickly as possible."

After the jury verdict, Trump's lead defense attorney, Todd Blanche, asked for the gag order to be lifted, saying the First Amendment's protections should take precedence.

Blanche claimed the order prevented Trump from responding to social media criticism from Daniels and Cohen — Trump's former personal lawyer who was the key witness in the trial — as well as President Joe Biden as the June 27 presidential debate looms.

"Predictably, Cohen and Daniels have continued to assail President Trump, and his qualifications for office in an election he is winning, based on their deeply biased views about the evidence and to make even more money for themselves," Blanche wrote. "More troubling, President Biden, his campaign staff, and his surrogates have gleefully entered the fray by commenting on this case and the jury's verdict in a course of conduct that Biden initiated outside the courthouse during defense summations."

In Friday's filing, prosecutors for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said Blanche's claim that Trump couldn't respond to Biden's political attacks was "categorically false."

(Trump criticized Biden in near-daily courthouse hallway speeches during the trial.)

They also wrote that violent threats from Trump's supporters to district attorney staff members have continued to flow.

According to an affidavit from a New York Police Department officer, included as an exhibit in Friday's motion, police have logged 61 "actionable threats" against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, his family, and other staff members of the district attorney's office between April and June, in addition to hundreds of emails. The prosecutors in the case will continue to be engaged in Trump's appeal, so they should continue to be protected by the gag order, prosecutors wrote.

Just because the gag order should no longer restrict Trump's attacks on witnesses doesn't mean they won't have other protections, prosecutors wrote.

Trump could still be liable for harassment or defamation, they noted, citing his court losses against E. Jean Carroll, and Rudy Giuliani's defamation trial loss at the hands of two Georgia election workers.

"This change of circumstance does not mean that defendant has carte blanche to resume his reprehensible practice of publicly attacking individuals involved in litigation against him," they wrote.

"But protections against such attacks will now derive from separate criminal-law protections against harassment or similar misconduct," prosecutors continued, citing the relevant legal statute, "as well as the prospect of civil liability for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, or similar claims."

• Many people report feeling lonely and isolated, especially after the pandemic.
• The 5-3-1 rule helps you reflect on the quality and quantity of your social interactions.
• Just like drinking 8 glasses of water or walking 10,000 steps daily, it's a guideline more than a hard rule.

Loneliness is considered an epidemic, with an estimated quarter of the world feeling lonesome. Post-pandemic, some people feel more isolated than ever, whether they work fully remote or have gotten into the habit of foregoing weekend plans.

Kasley Killam, author of "The Art and Science of Connection," told Business Insider that she can relate to loneliness sneaking up on her, "as someone who's introverted and will happily stay at home by myself or with my husband."

In researching the habits of socially healthy people, she was struck by how often they reach out to others and how deep their relationships are.

Killam wanted to create a structure to make sure she was getting enough meaningful social interaction in her life. Her research inspired her to create the 5-3-1 rule, a guideline for measuring social health. "We need to be intentional about connection, just like we are with exercise and eating healthy foods," Killam said. As with skipping sleep or not moving your body enough, avoiding meaningful social interaction can snowball into adverse health consequences.

"If I get three workouts in, I know I'm going to feel super good," Killam said of physical exercise. "If I get just one in or none at all, I'm immediately going to feel the effects on my body." The same could be said for socializing.

Killam broke down the 5-3-1 rule — and what to do if you find it hard to follow.

Spend time with five different people a week

According to a 2022 Harvard Business School study, more diverse social connections were linked to higher well-being.

Killam told Business Insider that these people can include "friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors," and that it's good to prioritize a diverse range of interactions, from long walks with a best friend to brief chats with acquaintances at your gym.

To branch out of your immediate family or friend circle, you can join groups around your hobbies to meet new people or talk to more strangers.

Nurture at least three close relationships

While it's great to expand your social network, Killam stressed the importance of focusing on about three deep relationships, based on her research of socially happy people across various cultures. "We need a few people who we can reach out to for support," she said.

In the book, she said a good way to gauge who these people are is to think of who tends to be at the top of your phone messages or who you'd list as an emergency contact.

Aim for one hour of quality connection every day

The last step is to shoot for one hour of social interaction each day. "That doesn't have to be all at once," Killam said, " It could be 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there."

If you're pressed for time, you can always run an errand with a friend or hop on a short call with a parent. The only hard rule is it has to feel meaningful.

Use 5-3-1 as a rule of thumb

If you feel like you're great at talking to seven people a day but only have two very close relationships, Killam said not to worry — the 5-3-1 rule is more of a rule of thumb.

"There is no exact number that's right for any given person," she said, comparing the rule to drinking eight glasses of water a day or aiming to walk 10,000 steps daily. Depending on your social style, you might yearn for more than three close relationships or be fine with less than one hour of chatting a day sometimes.

Killam struggles the most with getting one hour of socializing a day because she works from home. "I'm guaranteed to see my husband, but not necessarily friends or other people," she said. "That anchor point has helped me be more intentional about FaceTiming with a family member or calling a friend when I go for a walk."

In the end, Killam said the goal is to help you be more aware of the relationships in your life. If you've felt lonely but haven't known how to address it, the 5-3-1 rule can help you pinpoint where to start.

• Neuralink's first human patient discussed hacking concerns on Joe Rogan's podcast.
• Noland Arbaugh said a hacker could, in theory, see his brain data or access his PC by controlling a cursor.
• However, Arbaugh said he isn't too worried about getting hacked.

Neuralink's brain chip has already shown promising results for its first recipient Noland Arbaugh, since he received it in January.

But is it possible the chip could be hacked?

"The short answer is yes," Arbaugh said in a podcast interview with Joe Rogan released Thursday.

While Rogan lightheartedly discussed the possibility of humans being hijacked and becoming cyborgs, Arbaugh said hacking his brain implant wouldn't do much — at least at this point.

"You might be able to see like some of the brain signals," Arbaugh said. "You might be able to see some of the data that Neuralink's collecting."

It's unclear what this kind of data would look like. The Neuralink chip, which is about the size of a coin, contains thousands of electrodes that monitor and stimulate brain activity. The information is then digitally transmitted to researchers.

Arbaugh, a 29-year-old quadriplegic, previously told Business Insider that the brain chip has given him more independence and helped him reconnect socially.

The chip allows him to control a cursor on his computer using only his brain.

"I've been using it to message people on X, use Instagram, reply to emails, play fantasy sports, read comics online, and access a site I use to learn Japanese," he said. "I also used it to book a hotel for when I visited Neuralink's headquarters."

Arbaugh told Rogan that if he was connected to his computer at the time of the hacking, someone could steer and control his mouse cursor. They could also potentially access his messages and emails by getting into his computer, Arbaugh said.

The possibility of hacking isn't a taboo subject for Arbaugh, though. He said he was warned about the risk before he started the study, but he's not worried about it.

"It is what it is," Arbaugh said. "I think if it happens, it happens."

The current focus on Neuralink is for medical uses.

Neuralink founder Elon Musk has predicted the chip will one day be able to "solve" mental conditions like autism and schizophrenia. That's been contested by some neuroscientists who don't think the chip will be able to change the developmental structure of the brain impacted by certain conditions. But the technology may be able to help paralyzed patients like Arbaugh experience improved movement.

Eventually, though, Musk hopes to make Neuralink chips mainstream and turn them into a "Fitbit in your skull." If that becomes a reality, hacking concerns might be more pressing.

Check out the full interview below.