Ever since the paywall model for online journalism was introduced about five years ago, news consumers have spent just as much time figuring out how to avoid paying for content as they have paying for it. But what if you only had to shell out a measly quarter to read one article instead of paying an expensive monthly subscription fee? Quarter for your thoughts.

In October, Tastemade’s main Instagram channel generated 20 million views on its Instagram Stories content. The account, which publishes three to four stories per week, is consistently getting more than a million views per story. That’s the good news. The bad news: Tastemade isn’t making any money off any of these views. Instagram doesn’t offer the opportunity for publishers to run ads in Instagram Stories, and Tastemade hasn’t tried any brand integrations yet. No dollars for you.

Today, Instagram is adding three new features to Stories in what they are calling the biggest update to Stories since its launch, including letting creators add URL links. One of the biggest gripes with Snapchat has been creators can’t add links to their Snaps and Stories, meaning their viewers are stuck inside the Snapchat ecosystem. This makes it extremely hard for creators (and brands) to monetize. Your move, Snapchat.

Twitter's board met yesterday to discuss future options for the company, including its possible sale. It’s a critical moment for the company right now – revenue is tight and options to save money include more layoffs, or selling their ad tech. Waste time wisely.

After years of guzzling at the platforms’ traffic spigot, publishers’ worst fears are coming true. The platforms have inserted themselves between publishers and their readers, making it harder for publishers to make money off them. To counter, publishers are getting smarter about striking direct connections with readers, getting people to come to their sites where they have full control over audience data and monetization. Play by the rules, or not.

In an about-face that rankled many of its core users this week, WhatsApp announced it would relax its strident privacy restrictions. The company will soon begin sharing some of its users’ information — such as their phone numbers — with Facebook, which bought WhatsApp in 2014. What’s more, brands will be able to deliver WhatsApp users receipts, shipping updates and urgent messages — for example, information about a delay to their upcoming flight. A risk they can't afford to miss.

Facebook is preparing to enter the search advertising business supported by the company's more than 2 billion daily searches. During their second-quarter earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg called out three stages of the strategy. Today, Zuckerberg believes Facebook sits firmly in the second phase: the ability to search for people, pages and groups. The third stage will likely focus on commercial and monetizable search features. The beast gets bigger.

Apple reported lackluster earnings on Tuesday as the company’s iPhone sales continued to slide. The numbers make it clear that the future of the consumer products behemoth is no longer in its consumer products. The fix? Apple should release a version of iOS for non-Apple devices. This suggestion will seem like heresy to the brand’s loyalists, but it may be necessary for the success of the company. What a conundrum.

Should you give away free stuff to get customers? Does it work in the retail environment, in software sales, or even when selling your services? Could people value something they get for free? The answer is as unique as your business.

This week Nintendo’s stock price surged, raising its total market cap to $28 billion as a close of training on the Tokyo Stock Exchange today. The value is expected to climb higher still as Pokémon Go is released in additional regions, including the UK, Europe and Japan. Just how well has Pokemon Go done?