Connected Economy Today: Facebook Pilots NFTs

Today in the connected economy, Twitter is launching its brand-like feature for advertisers with audiences in the US, UK, Japan and Saudi Arabia.

Facebook is also launching an NFT pilot with Ethereum and Polygon, and the German security technology company Giesecke + Devrient (G + D) is acquiring the payment and identity solution business of Valid USA.

Twitter launches branded likes

Twitter is rolling out Branded Likes to all managed advertisers reaching consumers in the US, UK, Saudi Arabia and Japan.

“Expanding Twitter as a creative canvas for brands means improving the reach and effectiveness of some of our core brand solutions – like Takeover Ads – and introducing new formats that drive business results and help brands tell richer stories,” the platform said on its blog.

Branded Likes lets advertisers turn Twitter’s Like button into a custom animation. The feature is available as an add-on to the platform’s Timeline Takeover offering, an ad placement designed to ensure that a brand’s ad is the first ad to appear when a user logs into Twitter for the day.

Facebook is piloting Ethereum, Polygon NFTs with selected creators

Meta is piloting non-fungible tokens (NFT) with Ethereum and Polygon for some US creators on Facebook.

The move comes in the wake of the social media giant’s NFT support for selected creators on Instagram in May. Last week, Meta expanded its Instagram NFT pilot to allow more creators around the world to show their NFTs.

The Facebook test, which will soon include Solana and Flow, is similar to Instagram’s first pilot and allows creators to display NFTs on their profiles under a new tab. And like Instagram, the art will appear under a “digital collectibles” label.

Mollie and xentral announce collaboration

The Dutch payment service provider Mollie’s said that their services will be integrated into the German business resource planning platform provider xentral’s under a new collaboration.

The companies said the scheme is designed to provide small and medium-sized e-commerce businesses with “smoother” payment and order management services.

“Automatic processes between e-commerce platforms, warehouses and accounting systems have long been standard. That is why it is important to use a payment service provider (PSP) that is also directly integrated with an ERP system, says Annett Polaszewski-Plath, CEO of Mollie.

Security firm G + D Buys Valid Payment, ID Business

The Munich-based security technology company Giesecke + Devrient (G + D) acquires the payment and identity solution company Valid USA.

“With this step, G + D aims to accelerate growth in the United States, one of the world’s largest payment and identity markets,” the company said in a press release. “G + D customers will benefit from the expanded business size in the face of ongoing industry-wide supply chain challenges.”

The acquisition includes three of Valid’s US manufacturing facilities – two in Illinois and one in Indiana – which employ more than 400 people.