Tamás Bakócz was the son of a serf, but during his long life he became astonishingly rich and tried to acquire the Papal tiara in 1513 by money, cunning and cleverness. If elected, he promised a crusade against the Ottoman Empire, but the Italian cardinals chose a Medici instead of him.
We do not know exactly when he was born, but Historians say that it was around 1442 in Erdőd. His father was a wagoner or a wheelmaker and worked for the famous Erdődy family as a serf. He had four brothers, and by the time he reached school entry age, his older brother Bálint had already obtained the rich provostship of Titel. Therefore, he could help Tamás to learn in the most renowned schools of Szatmárnémeti, Wroclaw, Padua, Cracow, and Ferrara.
helped him to get into the court of King Matthias.
He attracted the king's attention during a campaign in Silesia when he gave advice changing the odds in a critical situation. At first, he got only minor offices in the Chancellery as a notary and a drafter. But he was allowed to accompany Matthias on his foreign campaigns between 1475 and 1480 in Austria and the Balkans. In 1485, he became the bishop of Győr and a member of the Royal Council.
bartered Eger for Esztergom and the archdiocese.
He was the most powerful man in Hungary; according to the ambassador of Venice, he was called the country's "second king". However, his ambitions exceeded the borders of the country. With the help of Venice, he was elected a cardinal in 1500 and he became the Latin patriarch of Constantinople (the second most important position in the Roman-Catholic church) in 1510.
the young Italian cardinals who chose the very popular Giovanni de' Medici.
In short, they chose peaceful development symbolised by the future Leo X instead of war.
Bakócz was sent back to Hungary as a papal legate, bringing with him the bull of Leo X proclaiming a new crusade against the Ottoman Empire. However, the peasant-soldiers turned against their lords, which lead to one of the most significant peasant revolts in the Hungarian history lead by György Dózsa. This weakened his positions in the court. For example, the diet of 1514 accepted a bill forbidding a serf to become bishop or archbishop ever again in Hungary.
In 1519, he had a seizure and thus, he withdrew from politics. Bakócz died in 1521 and was buried in a separate chapel of the Esztergom Basilica built by him which is the most precious artwork of the Hungarian Renaissance.


I'm having an "I hate Google" moment- again! For the longest time now, I haven't been able to use the Google Friend Connect follow feature. This means that I can't follow awesome new blogs that I find along my internet travels. After nearly 3 months of this issue and countless attempts to find a solution, I'm throwing my hands up in utter frustration. Do you guys have any tips? It would make my day if I could fix this!
Hi Jen! Your blog is very nice. The images are very beautiful. God is Great. Best wishes.
I wanted to follow your blog but the widget is not working. I will try after sometime.
Till yesterday I was able to use friends connect. Are they disabling for excessive use?
my google has been weird too! My reader keeps freaking out!
Gahh, I know what you mean. SOmetimes the only thing I can do is just log out and log back in. Or refresh. :/ That's about it from me!
And I looove your blog! Cute!
Be sure and pop by and follow, if you'd like. :) I would be oh so happy.
Hello, just wanted to say how much fun I've had reading your posts. You have a lovely blog and I found out things I knew nothing about until now ! Thank you for sharing your pictures and thoughts.
I do know that there have been many issues with Google and Blogger that they have been "working on"....my list of blogs that I follow disappeared yesterday but they are back this morning. *shrug* Modern technology gives me a headache!!!!!!
not sure, I don't use google follow, but I do copy past blog links and just add to my dashboard list..haven't done it any other way...try that. good luck...recently no problems though, but I have heard of others who have had problems. Might be vista or a new upgrade maybe to IE?
oh no! I wish I knew the answer to that. How frustrating!
I has having that issue with my followers too. I did a little searching on the internet, and found that all I had to do was remove my followers widget from my layout, and then just add it back a few minutes later. It worked great for me, and I haven't had any problems with it since. Let me know if it works for you too!
Thanks for following me! how do you do it?! you have so many followers!
looking forward to more awesomeness on your blog!


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As always, you have a wide variety of options within the 2018 social tourism program: tourism on the peninsula, cultural circuits, nature tourism, etc. You can travel to destinations such as Andalusia, Cantabria, Navarra, Castilla La Mancha, Canary Islands, Balearic Islands or Valencian Comunicad.
• Formentera (Sant Francesc): 971 32 22 84 – formentera@esfreus.com C /. of Sant Joan (corner 8 d'Agost) 07860 Sant Francesc Xavier.
• Ibiza (Sant Joan): 971 33 36 20 – maria@esfreus.com C/ Sa Cala, 5 07850, Sant Joan de Labritja.
• Ibiza (Sant Jordi): 971 30 80 82 – santjordi@esfreus.com Residencial Luisa Oliver Local 1, Block 2 – 07817 Sant Jordi de Ses Salines.
You can also find us via e-mail at comunicacion@esfreus.com / 971 30 80 69.


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Learn how to make your holiday online shopping safe with helpful tech tips. See how to avoid fake websites and keep your personal information protected.
'Tis the season for cyber shopping. During the holidays, many of us prefer the convenience of online shopping to avoid the crowds and take advantage of deals for everyone on our shopping list.
 It's also an ideal time for cybercriminals looking to take advantage of unsuspecting online shoppers. When you share personally identifying information such as credit card information, birth dates and addresses online, you could be giving a cybercrook a very nice present.
Here are a few tips and tricks to use when doing your holiday shopping online.
How Should I Search For Deals?
It's a smart idea to avoid using generic search terms like "online holiday deals" in your preferred web browser. Criminals know how frequently people use such terms and populate search engines with such phrases that can lead unsuspecting shoppers to illegitimate websites.
Instead, go to websites you trust directly. The deals are likely to be prominently displayed on the retailers' pages.
Can I Trust Amazing Holiday Shopping Deals?
The adage about something being too good to be true is especially relevant during the holidays. If you find a site advertising a big-ticket item for hundreds of dollars below what every other site is advertising, be suspicious. Use common sense to determine whether an online deal seems far-fetched. In most cases, online retailers will be selling popular items for around the same price. An outlier is likely not legit.
How Can I Handle All the Holiday Shopping Emails?
The best thing you can do to manage your inbox during the holidays is not to click. Even if it's a trusted retailer that you regularly use, you can be tricked by phishing schemes into visiting sites that may look at first glance like the real thing. If you see something that catches your eye, go to the retailer's website directly.
One way to test if an email is legit is to hover over the From email address or the link itself. Phishers will make those hyperlinks seem like they're coming from a valid site and sender. But the reality is that the links go to sites that are not trustworthy.
Can I Tell If a Site Is Secure?
When shopping online, you always want to look for the lock. In the top left of the address bar, you want to see a closed padlock next to the URL. You 'll also want to be sure the web address starts with https, not just http. These indicators mean that your data is encrypted, able to be accessed only by the website and you. Any legitimate online commerce site will use these protocols when building their websites. Hackers are unlikely to do the same.
When Can I Know I'm on the Right Site?
Here's another trick to look for when doing your holiday online shopping: Check the spelling. Hackers love to create sites that add or subtract one letter from the URL name. Be sure you're not being tricked by going to Target or Amazon instead of the retailers you intended to browse.
If I'm Out and About, Is It Safe to Shop Online?
The network you use matters a great deal. Don't use a public network when you're on a mobile device and need to make a purchase. Public networks are not safe for online shopping. These networks are prime hunting grounds for cybercriminals looking to steal credit card information. Because public wireless networks are not encrypted, it's far easier to take credit card information in transit from your smartphone or tablet. Your chances of getting hacked are much more significant on these unsecured networks.
If you must shop on a public network, be sure to use a VPN, which will encrypt the traffic, before making a purchase.
Is My Device Safe to Use?
No matter when you're doing any online shopping, be sure your device is updated and secure. There should be anti-virus and anti-malware programs installed on any desktop computer, smartphone, tablet or laptop you're using. These programs should be set to scan continuously and update automatically. Otherwise, a hacker could gain access to personal information stored on the device or even record every keystroke you make.
Who Can Help Make Sure I'm Protected When Shopping Online?
Keeping your online shopping experiences safe means having the right tools and support. At LAN Infotech, we specialize in business security solutions that keep systems and devices protected during the holidays and throughout the year. To learn more about our security services, contact us today.


text:
Q: Algorithmic Reduction (Median of medians, quicksort) I'm trying to better understand reduction, and I'm currently looking at the two algorithms, "Median of medians" and Quicksort.
I understand that both algorithms use a similar (effectively identical) partition subroutine to help solve their problems, which ends up making them quite similar.
Select(A[1...n],k):  // Pseudocode for median of medians
  m = [n/5]
  for i from 1 to m:
    B[i] = Select(A[5i-4..5i],3)
  mom = Select(B[1..m],m/2)

  r = partition(A[1..n],mom)  // THIS IS THE SUBROUTINE

  if k < r:
    return Select(A[1..r-1],k)
  else if k > r:
    return Select(A[r+1..n],k-r)
  else
    return mom

So does the term "reduction" make any sense in regards to these two algorithms?  Do any of the following make sense?

*

*Median of Medians/Quicksort can be reduced to a partition subroutine

*Median of medians reduces to quicksort

*Quicksort reduces to median of medians

A: This really depends on your definition of "reduction."
The standard type of reduction that's usually discussed is a mapping reduction (also called a many-one reduction). A mapping reduction from problem X to problem Y is the following:

Given an input IX to problem X, transform it into an input IY to problem Y. Then, run a solver for problem Y on IY and output that answer.

In a mapping reduction, you get to make exactly one call to a subroutine that solves problem Y and you have to output whatever answer you get back from that subroutine. For example, you can reduce the problem of "is this number even?" to the problem of "is this number odd?" by adding one to the number and outputting whether the resulting number is odd.
As a non-example of a mapping reduction, consider these two problems: first, the problem "is every boolean in this list true?," and second, the problem "is some boolean in this list false?" If you have a solver for the second problem, you can use it to solve the first by running the solver for the second problem and outputting the opposite result: a list of booleans has some element that's false if and only if it's not the case that every element of the list is true. However, this reduction isn't a mapping reduction because we're flipping the result produced by the subroutine.
A different type of reduction that's often used is the Turing reduction. A Turing reduction from problem X to problem Y is the following:

Build an algorithm that solves problem X assuming that there is a magic black box that always solves problem Y.

All mapping reductions are Turing reductions, but not the other way around. The above reduction from "is everything true?" to "is something false" is not a mapping reduction, but it is a Turing reduction because you can use the subroutine for "is something false?" to learn whether or not the list contains any false values, then can output the opposite.
Another major difference between mapping reductions and Turing reductions is that in a Turing reduction, you can make multiple calls to the subroutine that solves problem Y, not just one.
You can think of both quicksort and median-of-medians as algorithms that use partitioning as a subroutine. In quicksort, that subroutine does all the heavy lifting required to sort everything, and in median-of-medians it does one of the essential steps to shrink down the input. Since both algorithms make multiple calls to the subroutine, you can think of them as Turing-style reductions. Quicksort is a reduction from sorting to partitioning, while median-of-medians is a reduction from selection to partitioning.
Hope this helps!

A: I don't think either can be reduced to the other (in any meaningful way, anyway). You could use the median of medians to choose the pivot for a Quicksort (but nearly nobody actually does). A Quicksort still has to carry out some other steps based on the pivot element though (specifically, partitioning the data based on the pivot).
Likewise, median of medians can't be reduced to Quicksort because a Quicksort does extra work that (among other things) prevents it from meeting the complexity guarantee of the median of medians.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Tumblr's subscription product Post+ enters open beta after much scrutiny from users
Tumblr is entering open beta for its subscription product Post+, meaning that all U.S. users can now try out the monetization feature. The product launched in closed beta in July, allowing users hand-picked by Tumblr to place some of their content behind a monthly paywall. This marked the first time that Tumblr allowed bloggers to monetize their content directly on the platform, but the feature was met with backlash from users who worried about how the feature would change the site's culture.
Now, Tumblr has responded to user feedback by removing the blue Post+ badge that appeared next to the names of users who enabled the feature. Tumblr differentiates itself from other sites by not revealing users' follower and following counts, so users were concerned that this distinction, which looked like a Twitter verification badge, contradicted that key aspect of Tumblr culture. Tumblr is also adding a $1.99/month price point in open beta — before, subscriber-only content could be priced at $3.99, $5.99, and $9.99. Tumblr will only take 5% of creator profits — comparatively, Patreon takes between 5% and 12% depending on the tier. Payments will be processed through Stripe.
Trouble in fandom paradise: Tumblr users lash out against its beta subscription feature
Still, Tumblr users were dismayed by the way Post+ was rolled out. Many bloggers were concerned that in the closed beta, Post+ users didn't have the ability to block paying subscribers without first contacting support — this could potentially expose users to harassment without the tools to manage it. Tumblr corrected that mistake in the open beta, so now, users can block subscribers themselves. Creators can also put existing content behind the Post+ paywall.
Some users upset with the Post+ rollout staged a protest, which — with over 98,000 notes — is the first thing that shows up when you search "post plus" on Tumblr. Many people on Tumblr have amassed followings by posting iterative fan content, like fanfiction. Tumblr cited fanfiction as an example of the kind of content that creators can put behind a paywall, but users remain concerned that they will be subject to legal action if they were to do so. Archive of Our Own, a major fanfiction site, prohibits its users from linking to sites like Patreon or Ko-Fi, since some intellectual property rights holders can be litigious about the monetization of fanfiction. While it's considered fair use to make fan content, profiting from it can be considered a violation of copyright.
When Tumblr banned pornographic content in 2018, monthly page views decreased by 29% — to date, the blogging platform hasn't regained that traffic. After being sold to Automattic in 2019, Tumblr has committed to capturing the attention of Gen Z audiences, who the platform says make up about 48% of its users. Tumblr says it's catering Post+ to serve Gen Z audiences, but the results of the open beta will begin to reveal whether or not this is what users on the platform want.
Posted on September 21, 2021 Author Amanda SilberlingCategories Venture CapitalTags apps, automattic, blogging, monetization, Social Media, Tumblr, wordpress
Paralympians bring home gold medals, but we're failing them on web accessibility
Joseph Wengier Contributor
Joseph Wengier competed in five Paralympics and won nine gold medals. He promotes the advancement of a more inclusive internet as an ambassador for accessibility technology company UserWay.
After winning my first gold medal in the 1972 Paralympics, I went out with the swim team for a celebratory dinner. I'll never forget the paradoxical sight of my teammates — all world-class athletes — being carried in their wheelchairs up the few steps into an inaccessible restaurant. While far from a rare occurrence at the time, the stark contrast between that moment and our victory in the pool earlier that day made it stand out.
As I strapped on my braces and slowly made my way up the stairs, I reflected on the irony of the situation. As Paralympic champions, we were sources of inspiration to millions. We were breaking down stereotypes and changing perceptions about what disabled people could accomplish. Yet while we were celebrated by society, we were not accommodated by it.
Accessing many basic goods and services required herculean feats of strength and agility. Attempts at participating fully in the physical world were met with hurdles and obstacles. At that time, it was clear that for the Paralympic movement, which strived to promote disability rights through Paralympic sport, the work was not yet done. In fact, it was just beginning.
Over the subsequent four Paralympic games that I participated in, we began to see the gradual shift toward more accessible cities. The Paralympic movement played no small part in that advancement. By putting a wide range of disabled people on TV around the world, it brought the need for equal access from the shadows into the spotlight.
Joseph Wengier and his teammates at the 1980 Paralympics. Wengier is second from left. Image Credits: Joseph Wengier.
The Paralympics also demanded host cities do better, requiring meaningful and lasting improvements to the accessibility of cities' infrastructure. Today, while there is certainly still much room for improvement, disabled people have found solutions for most problems and are able to participate in society more than ever before.
Yet with the internet taking an increasingly central part in our daily lives, we are seeing the same exclusionary practices that we experienced — and fought against — all those years ago reappearing in a new form. A recent study reviewed the world's top 1 million websites and found accessibility issues on the homepages of more than 97% of them.
A restaurant website that lacks support for keyboard navigation or does not work properly with screen readers can prevent a person who relies on these technologies from ordering food, similar to the way that lack of wheelchair access can prevent them from entering the establishment.
Now, with COVID-19 upending our daily routines, the shift online has accelerated. More and more businesses are going digital, with their website being the only way to schedule an appointment, buy groceries or apply for a job. This makes the need for accessible websites more critical than ever. It is not a matter of a minor inconvenience or an inability to access a new technology or service. We are seeing basic day-to-day needs moving online and becoming less accessible in the process. It is this slide backward that has compelled me to speak up and share my story.
As we go online to watch the highlight clips of our favorite athletes' performances in Tokyo, take to social media to congratulate them, or visit our favorite sports site to read the coverage of the events, let's demand that these businesses make their websites accessible so that Paralympic champions can do the same.
A recent image of Joseph Wengier at his computer with his medals in the background. Image Credits: Joseph Wengier.
Posted on September 20, 2021 Author Annie SaundersCategories Venture CapitalTags Social Media
Study finds half of Americans get news on social media, but percentage has dropped
A new report from Pew Research finds that around a third of U.S. adults continue to get their news regularly from Facebook, though the exact percentage has slipped from 36% in 2020 to 31% in 2021. This drop reflects an overall slight decline in the number of Americans who say they get their news from any social media platform — a percentage that also fell by 5 percentage points year-over-year, going from 53% in 2020 to a little under 48%, Pew's study found.
By definition, "regularly" here means the survey respondents said they get their news either "often" or "sometimes," as opposed to "rarely," "never," or "don't get digital news."
The change comes at a time when tech companies have come under heavy scrutiny for allowing misinformation to spread across their platforms, Pew notes. That criticism has ramped up over the course of the pandemic, leading to vaccine hesitancy and refusal, which in turn has led to worsened health outcomes for many Americans who consumed the misleading information.
Despite these issues, the percentage of Americans who regularly get their news from various social media sites hasn't changed too much over the past year, demonstrating how much a part of people's daily news habits these sites have become.
Image Credits: Pew Research
In addition to the one-third of U.S. adults who regularly get their news on Facebook, 22% say they regularly get news on YouTube. Twitter and Instagram are regular news sources for 13% and 11% of Americans, respectively.
However, many of the sites have seen small declines as a regular source of news among their own users, says Pew. This is a different measurement compared with the much smaller percentage of U.S. adults who use the sites for news, as it speaks to how the sites' own user bases may perceive them. In a way, it's a measurement of the shifting news consumption behaviors of the often younger social media user, more specifically.
Today, 55% of Twitter users regularly get news from its platform, compared with 59% last year. Meanwhile, Reddit users' use of the site for news dropped from 42% to 39% in 2021. YouTube fell from 32% to 30%, and Snapchat fell from 19% to 16%. Instagram is roughly the same, at 28% in 2020 to 27% in 2021.
Only one social media platform grew as a news source during this time: TikTok.
In 2020, 22% of the short-form video platform's users said they regularly got their news there, compared with an increased 29% in 2021.
Overall, though, most of these sites have very little traction with the wider adult population in the U.S. Fewer than 1 in 10 Americans regularly get their news from Reddit (7%), TikTok (6%), LinkedIn (4%), Snapchat (4%), WhatsApp (3%) or Twitch (1%).
There are demographic differences between who uses which sites, as well.
White adults tend to turn to Facebook and Reddit for news (60% and 54%, respectively). Black and Hispanic adults make up significant proportions of the regular news consumers on Instagram (20% and 33%, respectively.) Younger adults tend to turn to Snapchat and TikTok, while the majority of news consumers on LinkedIn have four-year college degrees.
Of course, Pew's latest survey, conducted from July 26 to Aug. 8, 2021, is based on self-reported data. That means people's answers are based on how the users perceive their own usage of these various sites for newsgathering. This can produce different results compared with real-world measurements of how often users visited the sites to read news. Some users may underestimate their usage and others may overestimate it.
People may also not fully understand the ramifications of reading news on social media, where headlines and posts are often molded into inflammatory clickbait in order to entice engagement in the form of reactions and comments. This, in turn, may encourage strong reactions — but not necessarily from those worth listening to. In recent Pew studies, it found that social media news consumers tended to be less knowledgeable about the facts on key news topics, like elections or Covid-19. And social media consumers were more frequently exposed to fringe conspiracies (which is pretty apparent to anyone reading the comments!)
For the current study, the full sample size was 11,178 respondents, and the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.
Posted on September 20, 2021 Author Sarah PerezCategories Facebook, News, Twitter, Venture CapitalTags Instagram, media, reading, social, Social Media, software, YouTube
Cameo launches Cameo Calls, a service for fans to video chat with celebs
If you really want to video chat tonight with William Hung of retro American Idol fame… got twenty bucks to spare? Yesterday, Cameo launched its Cameo Calls products, which lets fans video chat for up to 15 minutes one-on-one with their favorite influencers and celebrities. The talent sets the duration, time, and price of their call, which Cameo says averages around $31.
To book a call, users can go to Cameo's website or app to see a schedule of upcoming Cameo Calls that they can buy. These also appear on individual talent's Cameo pages. When you purchase a Cameo Call, you get a unique ticket code that you enter on the app to join your call.
In June 2020, Cameo enabled users to book Zoom calls with celebrities as lockdown became a global norm, but Cameo phased out that feature in April. Instead, Cameo Calls now offers a native experience in the app, rather than relying on third-party software. The downside for consumers, though, is that this makes it more difficult to invite your favorite reality star to your office's Zoom happy hour. But on the bright side, the Cameo Calls includes a dedicated photo opp at the end of the call, so you can get your celebrity selfie without dealing with the awkwardness of asking to take a photo.
Experiences like Cameo Calls make sense in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, when celebrity meet-and-greets might not be safe in many places. But Cameo also thinks this product can stand in for a typical meet and greet even in "normal" times. Often, celebrity meet-and-greets require waiting in a long line to only have 5 or 10 seconds of time with the talent. Even though many Cameo Calls sessions are only a few minutes long, you might be able to get a more personal experience than if you were the 100th fan in a long line in person.
"We foresee Cameo Calls replacing meet and greets at music festivals and world tours, fan conventions, sporting events, and more," said Cameo Co-founder & CEO Steven Galanis.
Cameo says it tested this product with over 3,000 calls — during testing, talent-hosted themed meet-and-greets, coffee chats, private concerts, and tarot card readings. Some performers who tested the feature include James and Oliver Phelps, who played the Weasley twins in the Harry Potter movies, and David Henrie, a former Disney Channel star.
Posted on September 17, 2021 Author Amanda SilberlingCategories Venture CapitalTags apps, mobile, social, Social Media
Demand Curve: How to get social proof that grows your startup
Nick Costelloe Contributor
Nick writes actionable growth marketing insights as head of content at Demand Curve.
More posts by this contributor
Demand Curve: How to double conversions on your startup's homepage
Demand Curve: 10 lies you've been told about marketing
When people are uncertain, they look to others for behavioral guidance. This is called social proof, which is a physiological effect that influences your decisions every day, whether you know it or not.
At Demand Curve and through our agency Bell Curve, we've helped over 1,000 startups improve their ability to convert cold traffic into repeat customers. We've found that effectively using social proof can lead to up to 400% improvement in conversion.
This post shares exactly how to collect and use social proof to help grow your SaaS, e-commerce, or B2B startup.
Surprisingly, we've actually seen negative reviews help improve conversion rates. Why? Because they help set customer expectations.
How businesses use social proof
Have you ever stopped to check out a restaurant because it had a large line of people out front? That wasn't by chance.
It's common for restaurants to limit the size of their reception area. This forces people to wait outside, and the line signals to people walking past that the restaurant is so good it's worth waiting for.
But for Internet-based businesses, social proof looks a bit different. Instead of people lining up outside your storefront, you're going to need to create social proof that resonates with your target customers — they'll be looking for different clues to signal whether doing business with your company is "normal" or "acceptable" behavior.
Social proof for B2B
People love to compare themselves to others, and this is especially true when it comes to the customers of B2B businesses. If your competitor is able to get a contract with a company that you've been nurturing for months, you'd be upset (and want to know how they did it).
Therefore, B2B social proof is most effective when you display the logos of companies you do business with. This signals to people checking out your website that other businesses trust you to deliver on your offer. The more noteworthy or respected the logos on your site, the stronger the influence will be.
Social proof for SaaS
Depending on the type of SaaS product or service you're selling, you'll either be selling to an individual or to a business. The strategy remains the same, but the channels will vary slightly.
The most effective way to generate social proof for SaaS products is through positive reviews from trusted sources. For consumer SaaS, that will be through influential bloggers and YouTubers speaking highly of your product. For B2B SaaS, it will be through positive ratings on review sites like G2 or Capterra. Proudly display these testimonials on your site.
Social proof for e-commerce brands
E-commerce brands will typically sell directly to an individual through ads, but because anyone can purchase an ad, you're going to need to signal trust in other ways. The most common way we see e-commerce brands building social proof is by nurturing an organic social media following on Instagram or TikTok.
This signals to new customers that you've gotten the seal of approval from others like them. Having an audience also allows you to showcase user-generated content from your existing customers.
How to collect social proof
There are five avenues startups can tap to collect social proof:
Public relations and earned media
Social media and community
Here are a few tactics we've used to help startups build social proof.
Posted on September 17, 2021 Author Ram IyerCategories Venture CapitalTags cloud, e commerce, ecommerce, marketing, saas, Social Media, startups
Facebook knows Instagram harms teens. Now, its plan to open the app to kids looks worse than ever
Facebook is in the hot seat again.
The Wall Street Journal published a powerful multi-part series on the company this week, drawing from internal documents on everything from the company's secretive practice of whitelisting celebrities to its knowledge that Instagram is taking a serious toll on the mental health of teen girls.
The flurry of investigative pieces makes it clear that what Facebook says in public doesn't always reflect the company's knowledge on known issues behind the scenes. The revelations still managed to shock even though Facebook has been playing dumb about the various social ills it sows for years. (Remember when Mark Zuckerberg dismissed the notion that Facebook influenced the 2016 election as "crazy?") Facebook's longstanding PR playbook is to hide its dangers, denying knowledge of its darker impacts on society publicly, even as research spells them out internally.
That's all well and good until someone gets ahold of the internal research.
One of the biggest revelations from the WSJ's report: The company knows that Instagram poses serious dangers to mental health in teenage girls. An internal research slide from 2019 acknowledged that "We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls" — a shocking admission for a company charging ahead with plans to expand to even younger and more vulnerable age groups.
As recently as May, Instagram's Adam Mosseri dismissed concerns around the app's negative impact on teens as "quite small."
But internally, the picture told a different story. According to the WSJ, from 2019 to 2021, the company conducted a thorough deep dive into teen mental health including online surveys, diary studies, focus groups and large-scale questionnaires.
According to one internal slide, the findings showed that 32 percent of teenage girls reported that Instagram made them have a worse body image. Of research participants who experienced suicidal thoughts, 13 percent of British teens and 6 percent of American teens directly linked their interest in killing themselves to Instagram.
"Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression," another internal slide stated. "This reaction was unprompted and consistent across all groups."
Following the WSJ report, Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) announced a probe into Facebook's lack of transparency around internal research showing that Instagram poses serious and even lethal danger to teens. The Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security will launch the investigation.
"We are in touch with a Facebook whistleblower and will use every resource at our disposal to investigate what Facebook knew and when they knew it – including seeking further documents and pursuing witness testimony," Senators Blackburn and Blumenthal wrote. "The Wall Street Journal's blockbuster reporting may only be the tip of the iceberg."
Blackburn and Blumenthal weren't the only U.S. lawmakers alarmed by the new report. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), and Lori Trahan (D-MA) sent Facebook their own letter demanding that the company walk away from its plan to launch Instagram for kids. "Children and teens are uniquely vulnerable populations online, and these findings paint a clear and devastating picture of Instagram as an app that poses significant threats to young people's wellbeing," the lawmakers wrote.
Big Tech has become the new Big Tobacco.
Facebook is lying about how their product harms teens. https://t.co/85oo3B9oO0
— Rep. Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) September 14, 2021
Facebook gobbled up Instagram because they were too chicken to compete against them fair & square for younger users. When there's one big game in town, there's a whole lot less pressure to offer the best service—or do the least damage. #BreakUpBigTechhttps://t.co/mIyHQ2iPs8
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) September 16, 2021
In May, a group of 44 state attorneys general wrote to Instagram to encourage the company to abandon its plans to bring Instagram to kids under the age of 13. "It appears that Facebook is not responding to a need, but instead creating one, as this platform appeals primarily to children who otherwise do not or would not have an Instagram account," the group of attorneys general wrote. They warned that an Instagram for kids would be "harmful for myriad reasons."
In April, a collection of the same Democratic lawmakers expressed "serious concerns" about Instagram's potential impact on the well-being of young users. That same month, a coalition of consumer advocacy organizations also demanded that the company reconsider launching a version of Instagram for kids.
According to the documents obtained by the WSJ, all of those concerns look extremely valid. In spite of extensive internal research and their deeply troubling findings, Facebook has downplayed its knowledge publicly, even as regulators regularly pressed the company for what it really knows.
Instagram's Mosseri may have made matters worse Thursday when he made a less than flattering analogy between social media platforms and vehicles. "We know that more people die than would otherwise because of car accidents, but by and large, cars create way more value in the world than they destroy," Mosseri told Peter Kafka on Recode's media podcast. "And I think social media is similar."
Mosseri dismissed any comparison between social media and drugs or cigarettes in spite of social media's well-researched addictive effects, likening social platforms to the auto industry instead. Naturally, the company's many critics jumped on the car comparison, pointing to their widespread lethality and the fact that the auto industry is heavily regulated — unlike social media.
Consumer groups and child development experts petition Facebook to drop 'Instagram for kids' plan
Lawmakers press Instagram for details on its plans for kids
Posted on September 16, 2021 Author Taylor HatmakerCategories Facebook, Venture CapitalTags Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg, social, Social Media
4 ways to leverage ROAS to triple lead generation
Xiaoyun TU Contributor
Xiaoyun TU is the global director of demand generation at Brightpearl, a leading retail operating system. She is passionate about setting up innovative strategies to grow sales pipelines using data-driven decisions.
Businesses that don't invest in their future may not have a future to look forward to.
Whether you're investing in your human resources or in critical tech, some outlay in the short term is always needed for long-term success. That's true when it comes to marketing as well — you can't market your product or service without investing in advertising. But if that investment isn't turning into leads and conversions, you're in trouble.
A "good" ROAS score is different for each company and campaign. If your figure isn't where you'd like it to be, you can leverage ROAS data to create targeted campaigns and personalized experiences.
It's vital to identify and apply the most suitable metrics based on business goals, and there's no one best practice or one-size-fits-all method.
However, smart use of the return on advertising spend (ROAS) data can triple lead generation, as I discovered when I joined Brightpearl to restructure the marketing campaigns. Let's take a look at some of the ways Brightpearl used ROAS to improve campaigns and increase lead generation. The key is to work out what represents a healthy ROAS for your business so that you can optimize accordingly.
Use the right return metric
It is paramount to choose the right return metric to calculate your ROAS. This will depend partly on your sales cycle.
Brightpearl has a lengthy sales cycle. On average it's two to three months, and sometimes up to six months, meaning we don't have tons of data on a monthly basis if we want to use new customer's revenue data as the return metric. A company with a shorter sales cycle could use revenue, but that doesn't help us to optimize our campaigns.
We chose to use the sales accepted opportunity (SAO) value instead. It usually takes us about a month to measure, so we can get more ROAS data at the same time. It's the last sales stage before a win, and it's more in line with our company goal (to grow our recurring annual revenue), but takes less time to gather the data.
By the SAO stage, we know which leads are good quality — they have the budget, are a good fit, and our software can meet their requirements. We can use them to measure our campaign performance.
When you choose a return metric, you need to make sure it matches your company goal without taking ages to get the data. It also has to be measurable at the campaign level, because the aim of using ROAS or other metrics is to optimize your campaigns.
Accept that less is more
I've noticed that many companies harbor a fear of missing out on opportunities, which leads them to advertise on all available channels instead of concentrating resources on the most profitable areas.
Prospects usually do their research on multiple channels, so you might try to cover all the possible touch points. In theory, this could generate more leads, but only if you had an unlimited marketing budget and human resources.
Posted on September 16, 2021 Author Ram IyerCategories Venture CapitalTags customer relationship management, marketing, Social Media, startups
Facebook revamps its business tool lineup following threats to its ad targeting business
Facebook today is announcing the launch of new products and features for business owners, following the threat to its ad targeting business driven by Apple's new privacy features, which now allow mobile users to opt out of being tracked across their iOS apps. The social networking giant has repeatedly argued that Apple's changes would impact small businesses that relied on Facebook ads to reach their customers. But it was not successful in getting any of Apple's changes halted. Instead, the market is shifting to a new era focused more on user privacy, where personalization and targeting are more of an opt-in experience. That's required Facebook to address its business advertiser base in new ways.
As the ability to track consumers declines — very few consumers are opting into tracking, studies find — Facebook is rolling out new features that will allow businesses to better position themselves in front of relevant audiences. This includes updates that will let them reach customers, advertise to customers, chat with customers across Facebook apps, generate leads, acquire customers and more.
The company earlier this year began testing a way for customers to explore businesses from underneath News Feed posts by tapping on topics they were interested in — like beauty, fitness, and clothing, and explore content from other related businesses. The feature allows people to come across new businesses that may also like, and would allow Facebook to create its own data set of users who like certain types of content. Over time, it could possibly even turn the feature into an ad unit, where businesses could pay for higher placement.
But for the time being, Facebook will expand this feature to more users across the U.S., and launch it in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, and the U.K.
Image Credits: Facebook
Facebook is also making it easier for businesses to chat with customers. They're already able to buy ads that encourage people to message them on Facebook's various chat platforms — Messenger, Instagram Direct, or WhatsApp. Now, they'll be able to choose all the messaging platforms where they're available, and Facebook will default the chat app showcased in the ad based on where the conversation is most likely to happen.
The company will tie WhatsApp to Instagram, as well, as part of this effort. Facebook explains that many businesses market themselves or run shops across Instagram, but rely on WhatsApp to communicate with customers and answer questions. So, Facebook will now allow businesses to add a WhatsApp click-to-chat button to their Instagram profiles.
This change, in particular, represents another move that ties Facebook's separate apps more closely together, at a time when regulators are considering breaking up Facebook over antitrust concerns. Already, Facebook interconnected Facebook's Messenger and Instagram messaging services, which would make such a disassembly more complicated. And more recently, it's begun integrating Messenger directly into Facebook's platform itself.
In a related change, soon businesses will be able to create ads that send users directly to WhatsApp from the Instagram app. (Facebook also already offers ads like this.)
Separately from this news, Facebook announced the launch of a new business directory on WhatsApp, allowing consumers to find shops and services on the chat platform, as well.
Another set of changes being introduced involve an update to Facebook Business Suite. Businesses will be able to manage emails through Inbox and sending remarketing emails; use a new File Manager for creating, managing, and posting content; and access a feature that will allow businesses to test different versions of a post to see which one is most effective.
Other new products include tests of paid and organic lead generation tools on Instagram; quote requests on Messenger, where customers answer a few questions prior to their conversations; and a way for small businesses to access a bundle of tools to get started with Facebook ads, which includes a Facebook ad coupon along with free access to QuickBooks for 3 months or free access to Canva Pro for 3 months.
Facebook will also begin testing something called "Work Accounts," which will allow business owners to access their business products, like Business Manager, separately from their personal Facebook account. They'll be able to manage these accounts on behalf of employees and use single-sign-on integrations.
Work Accounts will be tested through the remainder of the year with a small group of businesses, and Facebook says it expects to expand availability in 2022.
Other efforts it has in store include plans to incorporate more content from creators and local businesses and new features that let users control the content they see, but these changes were not detailed at this time.
Most of the products being announced are either rolling out today or will begin to show up soon.
Posted on September 16, 2021 Author Sarah PerezCategories Facebook, Venture CapitalTags App Store, Australia, Canada, Instagram, social, Social Media, software, technology
In growth marketing, signal determines success
Jonathan Martinez Contributor
Jonathan Martinez is a former YouTuber, UC Berkeley alum and growth marketing nerd who's helped scale Uber, Postmates, Chime and various startups.
Early-stage brands should also unlock the power of influencers
In growth marketing, creative is the critical X factor
Unlike a weak phone signal solely causing a grainy sound, in growth marketing, it can mean the difference between a successful program or a massive cash bleed. As we move toward an increasingly privacy-centric world, it is even more necessary for companies to nail down signal early on.
So what exactly is "signal" in growth marketing? It can carry many different meanings, but holistically speaking, it's the event data in our arsenal to help guide decisions. When it comes to paid acquisition, it's vital to optimize and pass back the correct event data to paid channels. This is so that targeting and bidding algorithms have the most enriched data to utilize.
I've seen startups spend thousands of dollars inefficiently as a result of not having optimal signal in their paid acquisition campaigns. I've also spent millions at companies such as Postmates refining our signal to the best possible state. I'd like every startup to avoid the painful mistake of not having this set up correctly, instead making the most of every important ad dollar.
When starting out, it may seem obvious to optimize toward a north-star metric such as a purchase. If spend is very minimal, that could mean that the conversion volume will be low across campaigns. On the flip side, if the optimization event is set at a top-of-funnel event such as a landing page view, the signal strength may be very weak. The reason that the strength may be weak is due to passing back a low-intent event as successful to the paid channels. By marking a landing page view as successful, paid channels such as Facebook will continue to find users that are similar to these lower-propensity users that are converting.
Let's take an example of a health-and-wellness app with a goal of driving memberships to their coaching program. They're just starting out with exploring paid acquisition and spending $5,000 per week on Facebook. Below is a look at their events in the funnel, weekly volume and cost per event:
Example of a health-and-wellness app and their weekly conversion volume at $5,000 spend. Image Credits: Jonathan Martinez
In the above example, we can see that there's significant volume for landing page views. As we go down the simplified flow, there is less volume as users drop off the funnel. Almost everyone's instinct would be to optimize for either the landing page view, because there's so much data, or the subscription event, because it's the strongest. I would argue (after extensive testing across multiple ad accounts) that neither of these events would be the correct pick. With landing page views as an optimization event, the users have an egregiously low propensity since the landing page view to subscription conversion rate is 0.61%.
The correct event to optimize for here would either be sign up or trial start because they have sufficient enough volume and are strong signals of a user converting to the north-star metric (subscription). Looking at the conversion rate between sign up and subscription, it's a much healthier 10.21%, versus the 0.61% from landing page view.
I'm always a huge proponent of testing all events, as there can definitely be big surprises in what may work best for you. When testing events, make sure that there's a stat-sig baseline that's being followed to make decisions. Additionally, I think it's a great practice to test events regularly early on because conversion rates can change as other channel variables are adjusted.
Flow adjustments
In certain cases, the current events that are set up aren't optimal for paid acquisition campaigns. I've seen this happen frequently with startups that have long windows of time between conversion events. Take a startup such as Thumbtack, which provides a marketplace of providers who can help with home repairs. After someone signs up to their app, the user may place a request but not hire someone until a few weeks later. In this case, making flow adjustments could potentially improve the signal and data that you collect from users.
A solution that Thumbtack could implement to gather a stronger signal would be to add another step between the request being placed and hiring someone. This could potentially be a survey with propensity check questions that could ask how soon the user needs help or how important their project is from a 1–10.
Example of in-app survey responses to "How important is your project?" Image Credits: Jonathan Martinez.
After accumulating the data, if there's a high correlation between survey answers and someone starting their project, we can start to explore optimizing for that event.
In the above example, we see that users who responded with "9" have a 7.66% likelihood to convert. Therefore, this should be the event we optimize for. Artificially adding steps that qualify users in a longer flow can help steer optimization targeting in the right direction.
Enhancing signal
Let's imagine that you have the most ideal flow that captures large volumes of event signal without much of a delay to your optimization event. That's still far from perfect. There are myriad solutions that can be implemented to further enhance the signal.
For Facebook specifically, there are connections such as CAPI that can be integrated to pass back data in a more accurate way. CAPI is a method of passing back web events server-to-server rather than relying on cookies and the Facebook pixel. This helps mitigate browsers that block cookies or users who may delete their web history. This is just one example. I won't run through all the channels, but each has its own solution to help enhance event signal being passed back to it.
iOS 14 signal
This wouldn't be a column written in 2021 without mention of iOS 14 and the strategies that can be leveraged for this growing user segment. I've written another piece about iOS-14-specific tactics, but I'll cover it here on a broad level. If the north-star metric (i.e., purchase) event can be triggered within 24 hours of the initial app launch, then that's golden.
This would bring large volumes of high-intent data that would not be at the mercy of the SKAD 24-hour event timer. For most companies, this may sound like a lofty goal, so the target should be to have an event fire within 24 hours that is a high-likelihood indicator of someone completing your north-star metric. Think of which events happen in the flow that lead to someone eventually purchasing. Maybe someone adding a payment method happens within 24 hours and historically has a 90% conversion rate to someone purchasing. An "add payment info" event would be a great conversion event to use in this case. The landscape of iOS 14 is constantly changing but this should apply for the immediate future.
Incrementality and staying ahead
As a rule of thumb, incrementality checks should constantly be performed in growth marketing. It gives an important read on whether advertising dollars are bringing in users that wouldn't have converted had they not seen an ad.
When comparing optimization events, this rule still applies. Make sure that costs per action aren't the only metric that's being used as a measure of success, but instead, use the incremental lift on each conversion event as the ultimate key performance indicator. In this piece, I detail how to run lean incrementality tests without swarms of data scientists.
So how do you stay ahead and continue moving the needle on your growth marketing campaigns? First and foremost, constantly question the events you're optimizing for. And second, leave no stone unturned.
If you're using the same optimization event forever, it will be a disservice to your campaign performance potential. By experimenting with flow changes and running tests on new events, you'll be way ahead of the curve. When iterating on the flow, think about user behavior and events from the user's perspective. Which flow events, if added, would correlate to a high propensity conversion segment?
Posted on September 15, 2021 Author Annie SaundersCategories Facebook, Venture CapitalTags marketing, online advertising, Social Media, startups
The FDA should regulate Instagram's algorithm as a drug
Daniel Liss Contributor
Daniel Liss is the founder and CEO of Dispo, the digital disposable camera social network.
Move fast and break Facebook: A bull case for antitrust enforcement
Today's real story: The Facebook monopoly
The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday reported Silicon Valley's worst-kept secret: Instagram harms teens' mental health; in fact, its impact is so negative that it introduces suicidal thoughts.
Thirty-two percent of teen girls who feel bad about their bodies report that Instagram makes them feel worse. Of teens with suicidal thoughts, 13% of British and 6% of American users trace those thoughts to Instagram, the WSJ report said. This is Facebook's internal data. The truth is surely worse.
President Theodore Roosevelt and Congress formed the Food and Drug Administration in 1906 precisely because Big Food and Big Pharma failed to protect the general welfare. As its executives parade at the Met Gala in celebration of the unattainable 0.01% of lifestyles and bodies that we mere mortals will never achieve, Instagram's unwillingness to do what is right is a clarion call for regulation: The FDA must assert its codified right to regulate the algorithm powering the drug of Instagram.
The FDA should consider algorithms a drug impacting our nation's mental health: The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act gives the FDA the right to regulate drugs, defining drugs in part as "articles (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or other animals." Instagram's internal data shows its technology is an article that alters our brains. If this effort fails, Congress and President Joe Biden should create a mental health FDA.
Researchers can study what Facebook prioritizes and the impact those decisions have on our minds. How do we know this? Because Facebook is already doing it — they're just burying the results.
The public needs to understand what Facebook and Instagram's algorithms prioritize. Our government is equipped to study clinical trials of products that can physically harm the public. Researchers can study what Facebook privileges and the impact those decisions have on our minds. How do we know this? Because Facebook is already doing it — they're just burying the results.
In November 2020, as Cecilia Kang and Sheera Frenkel report in "An Ugly Truth," Facebook made an emergency change to its News Feed, putting more emphasis on "News Ecosystem Quality" scores (NEQs). High NEQ sources were trustworthy sources; low were untrustworthy. Facebook altered the algorithm to privilege high NEQ scores. As a result, for five days around the election, users saw a "nicer News Feed" with less fake news and fewer conspiracy theories. But Mark Zuckerberg reversed this change because it led to less engagement and could cause a conservative backlash. The public suffered for it.
Facebook likewise has studied what happens when the algorithm privileges content that is "good for the world" over content that is "bad for the world." Lo and behold, engagement decreases. Facebook knows that its algorithm has a remarkable impact on the minds of the American public. How can the government let one man decide the standard based on his business imperatives, not the general welfare?
Upton Sinclair memorably uncovered dangerous abuses in "The Jungle," which led to a public outcry. The free market failed. Consumers needed protection. The 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act for the first time promulgated safety standards, regulating consumable goods impacting our physical health. Today, we need to regulate the algorithms that impact our mental health. Teen depression has risen alarmingly since 2007. Likewise, suicide among those 10 to 24 is up nearly 60% between 2007 and 2018.
It is of course impossible to prove that social media is solely responsible for this increase, but it is absurd to argue it has not contributed. Filter bubbles distort our views and make them more extreme. Bullying online is easier and constant. Regulators must audit the algorithm and question Facebook's choices.
When it comes to the biggest issue Facebook poses — what the product does to us — regulators have struggled to articulate the problem. Section 230 is correct in its intent and application; the internet cannot function if platforms are liable for every user utterance. And a private company like Facebook loses the trust of its community if it applies arbitrary rules that target users based on their background or political beliefs. Facebook as a company has no explicit duty to uphold the First Amendment, but public perception of its fairness is essential to the brand.
Thus, Zuckerberg has equivocated over the years before belatedly banning Holocaust deniers, Donald Trump, anti-vaccine activists and other bad actors. Deciding what speech is privileged or allowed on its platform, Facebook will always be too slow to react, overcautious and ineffective. Zuckerberg cares only for engagement and growth. Our hearts and minds are caught in the balance.
The most frightening part of "The Ugly Truth," the passage that got everyone in Silicon Valley talking, was the eponymous memo: Andrew "Boz" Bosworth's 2016 "The Ugly."
In the memo, Bosworth, Zuckerberg's longtime deputy, writes:
"So we connect more people. That can be bad if they make it negative. Maybe it costs someone a life by exposing someone to bullies. Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools. And still we connect people. The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply that anything that allows us to connect more people more often is de facto good."
Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg made Bosworth walk back his statements when employees objected, but to outsiders, the memo represents the unvarnished id of Facebook, the ugly truth. Facebook's monopoly, its stranglehold on our social and political fabric, its growth at all costs mantra of "connection," is not de facto good. As Bosworth acknowledges, Facebook causes suicides and allows terrorists to organize. This much power concentrated in the hands of one corporation, run by one man, is a threat to our democracy and way of life.
Critics of FDA regulation of social media will claim this is a Big Brother invasion of our personal liberties. But what is the alternative? Why would it be bad for our government to demand that Facebook accounts to the public its internal calculations? Is it safe for the number of sessions, time spent and revenue growth to be the only results that matters? What about the collective mental health of the country and world?
Refusing to study the problem does not mean it does not exist. In the absence of action, we are left with a single man deciding what is right. What is the price we pay for "connection"? This is not up to Zuckerberg. The FDA should decide.
Posted on September 15, 2021 Author Annie SaundersCategories Facebook, Venture CapitalTags government, health, Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg, policy, social, Social Media

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John Michael Hooker (October 9, 1953 – March 25, 2003) was an American serial killer who killed his girlfriend and her mother in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1988, after having served time for a manslaughter conviction as a teenager. For the latter crimes, Hooker was convicted, sentenced to death and executed in 2003.

First killing
On February 13, 1971, the 17-year-old Hooker was attending a party at the Hamilton Courts neighborhood when he got into an argument with one of the guests. In the resulting scuffle, he pulled out a gun and opened fire, killing 18-year-old Alta K. Lang and injuring two others, the 20-year-old host Claudia Boyce and 17-year-old Charles Edwards Nathenia. The resulting disturbance was quickly reported to local police, who broke up the party upon arrival and booked four men into custody, including Hooker, on a variety of charges. However, upon conducting a test on Hooker's hands using paraffin wax, authorities were able to determine that he had recently fired a weapon, and subsequently charged him with Lang's murder.

As witnesses were uncooperative with police, who were unable to determine whether this was a targeted shooting or not, the charges were reduced to manslaughter. Hooker was convicted of this charge and served time in prison.

Release and double murder
Sometime after his release, Hooker began a relationship with a woman named Sylvia C. Stokes, with whom he had several children but never officially married. Their relationship proved to be troublesome, as Hooker was physically abusive towards her, forcing Stokes to file a restraining order against him. During the hearings, she pleaded with the judge to keep him away from her, saying that she "[did not] want to be like the others – dead", referring to an unrelated series of murders of women who had also filed restraining orders at the time.

The pair attempted to reconcile on at least one occasion, with Hooker even offering to marry her, but this arrangement did not work out, with Stokes later moving out to live with her mother at an apartment in Providence Apartments. Enraged by this, Hooker decided to kill her, with one friend claiming that he had repeatedly stated his intention to do so. On March 27, 1988, Hooker armed himself with a butcher knife and broke into Stokes' apartment, where he proceeded to stab her to death. Not long after, Stokes' mother, 53-year-old Drusilla Morgan, went to see check what was going on, but was herself attacked and stabbed to death as well. With his clothes still visibly bloodied, Hooker calmly left the crime scene and returned to his own apartment.

Approximately nine days later, with the help of witness testimony and examining bloody footprints, authorities arrested Hooker for the double murder. At the time of his arrest, his pants still had patches of blood left on them, and one of the arresting police sergeants would later claim that he showed no remorse for the crime and acted cockily the entire time.

Trial, imprisonment and execution
Due to the overwhelming amount of evidence against him, with his previous convictions being a further aggravating factor, Hooker was found guilty and swiftly sentenced to death. The sentence was met with praise from the victims' family members, all of whom stated before the press that he should be executed. Hooker himself, who did not testify at the trial, later told prison guards that he expected to be sentenced to death and that he did not remember how he carried out the killings.

Over the years, Hooker repeatedly filed appeals against his death sentence, all of which were rejected by the courts. His guilt briefly came into question in 2001, when the FBI accused forensic chemist Joyce Gilchrist of falsifying evidence in favor of the prosecution, due to which the Attorney General's Office was ordered to re-examine the cases of three death row inmates; one of them being Hooker. DNA tests conducted on his bloodstained pants proved that he was indeed the killer, pointing out that his blood type group, O, was present on the victims' bodies, both of whom were Type B.

After having his final appeals, a stay of execution and a habeas corpus denied by the Supreme Court, Hooker was executed via lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester on March 25, 2003. After consulting with his spiritual advisor, Hooker readied himself on the gurney and smiled at the witnesses, informing them that he was at peace. His final words were "Y'all stay up. I'm out."

Gilchrist would later be dismissed from her position due to "flawed casework analysis" and "laboratory mismanagement". She denied any wrongdoing until her death in 2015, claiming that the true reason for her dismissal was a complaint for sexual assault against her supervisor.

See also
 Capital punishment in Oklahoma
 List of people executed by lethal injection
 List of people executed in Oklahoma
 List of people executed in the United States in 2003
 List of serial killers in the United States

References

External links
 Hooker v. State (1994)
 Hooker v. Mullin (2002)

1953 births
2003 deaths
20th-century American criminals
21st-century executions by Oklahoma
American male criminals
American people convicted of manslaughter
Criminals from Oklahoma
Executed American serial killers
Male serial killers
Minors convicted of murder
People convicted of murder by Oklahoma
People executed by Oklahoma by lethal injection
People from Oklahoma City

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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