I made $10,000 a month chatting with guys on dating apps. I got some weird requests, but most men just want to feel like someone cares.

Nicole Miranda.

Courtesy of Nicole Miranda

• Nicole Miranda made up to $400 a day speaking to men on the dating apps Meete and ToChat.
• She used to spend all her time on the apps, but now she markets them on TikTok for referrals.
• She says that the key to making TikToks go viral is using trends and making up to 20 posts per day.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Nicole Miranda, a 32-year-old affiliate marketer from Alburtis, Pennsylvania. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I have bipolar disorder, so I've always struggled at regular jobs. Before the pandemic, I worked for Verizon as a saleswoman and was living paycheck to paycheck. When the pandemic happened, I took a year off because I was feeling so burned out.

When unemployment started running out, I really didn't want to go back. Customers are ruthless. Every single day you're dealing with angry people, and it's usually not because of anything you did wrong.

I was scrolling on TikTok one day when I came across a video of a girl talking about an app where guys pay to talk to you. That sounded interesting, so I downloaded Meete and started using it.

When I first downloaded the app, I was literally on it 24/7. I was lonely and depressed, so I'd spend all day trying to make money.

Now I use both Meete and another app made by the same company called ToChat to make cash-out points, which I earn by interacting with men, of up to $200 per app per day. I make around $10,000 every month.

These apps are not as easily usable as Tinder or Bumble, so you need to learn how they work

The basis of both of them is talking to guys. They have to buy coins through the app and then spend those coins to talk to you, which then turn into points that you can cash out for money. Ten points is equal to $1.

You can also get more points by sending content such as a selfie. You can send whatever you're comfortable with. The image is blurred and you set the coin amount they need to pay to see it.

These apps also have referral programs. They might run a banner on the app for six weeks with a special promotion to encourage you to sign up more people with your promotion code.

You can also advertise special gifts, like sending pictures and videos at a certain "gift" price like 399 points. The app also allows you to track your performance, and I was always in the top five or 10, which helped me get coin bonuses.

When I started out, there wasn't much content online about how to succeed

I made a YouTube channel and posted some tutorials with the answers to some of the questions I had. I started posting similar content on TikTok, too.

Once I started getting a lot of referrals from TikTok, I downgraded from being on the apps all the time to spending about 10 to 15 hours a week talking to a handful of guys who I offered a "girlfriend experience" — meaning I would always be available to chat with them.

Most of the men just want to feel like someone cares 

A lot of them just make small talk with you in the same way they would on any other dating app. I find just being myself and showing compassion works pretty well.

Some guys will ask if you want to go on a real date with them, but I always politely decline. These are men who are willingly paying to talk to women, so I wouldn't meet up with any of them because I'm sure they would be expecting more than just a regular date.

If guys are annoying or try to cross a line, I block them immediately. I don't give them a warning because I learned that if I do, they'll eventually push the line again.

I've had guys claim they don't know they're paying to talk to girls on the app and get upset about it

They're fine with giving their money to random app developers in a foreign country, but as soon as they find out that same money is actually going to the girls they're talking to, it becomes a problem.

The weirdest request I've gotten was from a guy who wanted a picture of my feet holding a remote control. I made a ton of money off of him. He always wanted to talk and always wanted more weird feet content, including standing on tiptoes and touching random objects with my feet.

Another guy would ask me to send him videos of me spitting food on the floor and telling him to eat it. He also liked when I demanded that he pay me.

Viral videos promoting the apps get you bonuses 

Bonuses start at $30 for 50,000 views and go all the way to $1,000 for 2 million-plus views. I've had more than 50 TikToks go viral.

Going viral is really easy — you just need to create as much content as you can and post 10 to 20 times a day.

When I'm on TikTok, I look for trending sounds and then twist them to my style. As soon as I come across a sound that I like, I create a video right then and there. Most of my videos are just me with text over my face.

I've found that hashtags aren't as important as using trends and putting out a lot of content.

When people ask me what I do, I say affiliate marketing 

About a year ago I pivoted, so I don't use the app to talk to guys at all anymore. Once I learned how to market the apps really well, I stopped hustling the guys for money because it was a lot of work and mentally exhausting. I was making so much off of referrals that I didn't need to do both.

Every time somebody signs up and uses my promo code, I make a few cents, and it goes up slightly for every 100 people you refer. My links usually get 200,000 to 300,000 clicks per month, which I measure on Linktree. From those clicks, I get around 5,000 referrals a month.

There are plenty of girls on the app still making thousands a month talking to guys, but for me, it's turned into an affiliate-marketing career. I want to be an advocate for people who struggle with mental illness to let them know there are other ways to make money besides working a nine-to-five.

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ChatGPT and Generative AI for Social Media Marketing: Reality, Hype, What's Next, and How to Prepare

Many social media marketers are already experimenting with generative AI tools. However, these fascinating new tools aren't the solution for every marketing scenario. 

Insider Intelligence

Social media managers and their agency partners who are responsible for social marketing are able to quickly develop content for a long list of platforms and navigate ever-changing rules and tools. Of the responsibilities these managers face, generative AI could help most with brand marketing, creative development, and customer service. The most promising use cases for the tools are in kick-starting the creative process, creating assets, and repurposing content. 

However, when navigating this new technology, there are limitations to keep in mind prior to a full rollout. Generative AI is not plug-and-play and requires training as well as a great deal of oversight. It also won't resolve the biggest pain points of keeping up with evolving formats, new platforms, and algorithm changes. Additionally, due to the negative perception from consumers, it is unlikely that they will be receptive and trusting of generative AI use in social media. 

Since this technology is evolving quickly, some companies feel like they'll be left behind if they don't experiment. Want to learn more about actionable steps for brand-side social media leaders and the agencies that support them? Click here to purchase this report directly and use code CHATGPT100 for $100 off.

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An ex-GOP Florida congressman who opposed Trump says DeSantis would be 'far more dangerous' if elected president

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; former President Donald Trump.

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• Ron DeSantis is "far more dangerous" than Donald Trump, an ex-GOP Florida congressman said on MSNBC.
• Former Rep. David Jolly called DeSantis "a cultural warrior who wants to take us back 100 years."
• Jolly, who represented Florida's 13th congressional district from 2014 to 2017, has vehemently opposed Trump.

An ex-GOP Florida congressman who has vehemently opposed Donald Trump said the former president's top Republican rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis, would be "far more dangerous" for the United States than Trump. 

"I say this with conviction — I think Ron DeSantis is far more dangerous than Donald Trump for a very specific reason," former Rep. David Jolly said Sunday on MSNBC's, "The Mehdi Hasan Show."

"Donald Trump is willing to ignore the rules, ignore the Constitution, and frankly lead to the incitement of January 6th," said Jolly, who is a political contributor for MSNBC. "But Donald Trump is a transactional figure and he'll do whatever it takes to win."

Jolly said that he believes DeSantis, the Florida governor, "is a cultural warrior who wants to take us back 100 years and believes he can use the Constitution to that end and ultimately has a very dark vision of what America will be."

The former congressman — who represented Florida's 13th congressional district from 2014 to 2017 — called DeSantis "a very dark figure on the political landscape."

DeSantis formally announced that he is running for president in the 2024 election last week. DeSantis is widely regarded as the top contender against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.

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Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is set to report to prison. Here's a timeline of her relationship with her co-defendant and ex-boyfriend, Sunny Balwani.

Elizabeth Holmes and Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani.

Philip Pacheco/Getty Images; Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

• In 2002, Elizabeth Holmes, then 18, met Sunny Balwani, then 37, in Beijing, China.
• Balwani became her long-term boyfriend and, later, the COO of her startup, Theranos.
• Both were sentenced to more than a decade behind bars. Holmes is set to report to prison Tuesday.

Elizabeth Holmes and Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani engaged in a years-long workplace relationship that ended when he left their company, Theranos, in 2016.

As the former CEO and COO of Theranos, respectively, Holmes and Balwani are now notorious for their failed medical startup that collected hundreds of millions of dollars from investors under false pretenses. 

In January 2022, following a four-month trial, Holmes was found guilty on three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy, and she was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison, with three years of supervised release. She was scheduled to report for her sentence in April, but it was delayed by appeals to her conviction.

However, Holmes is expected to report to prison on Tuesday to finally begin her sentence. 

After Balwani was found guilty on 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy in July 2022, he was sentenced to almost 13 years in prison, with three years of probation. His sentence was also delayed by an appeal, but in April, he reported to a low-security federal prison in California to begin the sentence, Insider's Sarah Jackson and Áine Cain reported.

Here's a timeline of their relationship.

2002: Elizabeth Holmes, then an 18-year-old college student, met millionaire Sunny Balwani, then 37, while they both studied in Beijing, China.

Beijing.

Jason Lee/Reuters

Despite their different upbringings — Balwani was born in Pakistan before moving with his parents to India and then the US, while Holmes mostly grew up in Houston, Texas — their paths converged while they were enrolled in Stanford University's Mandarin Program. 

Holmes was about to start her freshman year at Stanford University at the time of their meeting, according to The Cut, citing "Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup," by journalist John Carreyrou.

Balwani, on the other hand, was in an MBA program at the University of California, Berkeley.

A few years earlier, in 1999, he had joined a software-development startup, CommerceBid, as president, and the following year, it was acquired by another company, Commerce One, for $225 million. The company swiftly went bust, but Balwani was able to walk away with $40 million, The New York Times reported.

At the time of meeting Holmes, he was married to Japanese artist Keiko Fujimoto, but she filed for divorce in 2002. At first, Balwani and Holmes were just friends.

2004: Around the time Holmes dropped out of Stanford to work on her tech startup, Theranos, full-time, their relationship became romantic.

Holmes dropped out of Stanford, left.

David Madison/Getty Images; Kimberly White/Getty Images

In 2003, Holmes founded Theranos, a medical technology company that sought to create a device that would quickly and accurately test patients' blood using only a small fraction of the amount of blood drawn in a traditional blood test. 

Soon after she started the company, Holmes abruptly left Stanford to develop and run Theranos.

While it's not clear exactly when her relationship with Balwani became romantic, Insider previously reported it appeared to be around the time she dropped out of Stanford.

Also around the same time, Balwani enrolled at Stanford to study computer science, but he would ultimately also drop out in 2008.

2005: Balwani and Holmes moved into their first home together in Palo Alto.

Homes in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sundry Photography/Getty Images

By the summer of 2005, they were living together in a condo (not pictured) in Palo Alto, Insider previously reported, citing the "Bad Blood" podcast.

In a recording shared by ABC News of his 2017 deposition with Securities and Exchange Commission attorneys, Balwani said the two lived together for a majority of their relationship.

2009: After dropping out of Stanford, Balwani lent Theranos millions of dollars to keep the company afloat, and he became its president and COO.

Sunny Balwani in 2019.

Stephen Lam/Reuters

In 2008, Theranos' board wanted to replace Holmes with someone more experienced. But, promising to bring on Balwani, she convinced its members to let her stay. 

Balwani lent Holmes' then-financially insecure company $13 million, according to Crunchbase, and about six months later, he became the president and COO of Theranos.

Tapes of the couple's 2017 deposition shared by ABC News reveal that the they did not disclose their romantic relationship to Theranos investors.

Although the two intended to keep their romance a secret from their staff as well, ex-employees interviewed in HBO's 2019 documentary "The Inventor," said the couple didn't do a great job at hiding their relationship — Balwani and Holmes showed up to work together every day.

Carreyrou, the then-Wall Street Journal reporter who eventually broke the story of the company's fraudulent practices, told Business Insider in 2019 that one of his sources "painted the portrait of this fraud being run by a couple."

2013: The couple bought a $9 million home together in one of America's wealthiest neighborhoods.

Former home of Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani in Atherton, California.

Google Maps

According to a 2022 New York Post report, their shared home contained "five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a stone courtyard, swimming pool, French provincial architecture, a gated entrance, crystal chandeliers, manicured gardens and a one-bedroom guest house."

The property is in Atherton, California, which has consistently been named one of America's most expensive zip codes. Other tech execs, such as Sheryl Sandberg and Eric Schmidt, have also lived in the neighborhood.

The couple bought the property as Holmes continued her public meteoric rise. The following year, in 2014, Forbes named Holmes, then 30, the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire, worth an estimated $4.5 billion.

Balwani, who bought Holmes out of her share of the Atherton property in 2018, sold it in 2022 for $15.8 million, according to the Post, citing The Information.

2016: Balwani left Theranos amid scrutiny from the FDA, SEC, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the couple broke up.

Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani in 2019.

REUTERS/Stephen Lam

In 2015, The Wall Street Journal published a report by Carreyrou revealing that Theranos was struggling with its tests, marking the beginning of the company's downfall.

In the spring of 2016, Balwani — who had a reputation within the company of being its "enforcer," Carreyrou told Insider in 2019 — left Theranos. The company referred to his departure as a retirement.

In 2018, Carreyrou took to Reddit, where he told users, "When it started becoming apparent to [Holmes] that she would have no chance of persuading people she was really trying to change the company's culture and fix its problems, she threw Sunny under the bus."

"[Holmes] fired him and broke up with him. His departure was dressed up in a press release as voluntary retirement, but it wasn't," Carreyrou wrote.

2017: Holmes met Billy Evans, her current husband and the father of her two young children.

Elizabeth Holmes and Billy Evans in 2023.

Philip Pacheco/Getty Images

Soon after Theranos' downfall, Holmes began dating Billy Evans, who comes from a wealthy family in the hospitality industry, according to People. 

The couple met at a party in 2017 when Evans was 25 and Holmes was 32.

"To say we immediately fell in love isn't an overstatement," Evans told The New York Times in 2023.

The couple secretly got married just two years later, in 2019. They now have two children together. Holmes gave birth to their first child in July 2021 while she awaited her trial, and their second arrived in 2023.

2018: Both Balwani and Holmes were indicted on crimes related to malpractice at Theranos, and the company shuttered.

Elizabeth Holmes in 2018.

REUTERS/Stephen Lam

In March 2018, Holmes was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with what it called an "elaborate, years-long fraud." According to the SEC, Balwani, Holmes, and Theranos collected over $700 million from investors under false pretenses that their machinery was not only functional, but groundbreaking. 

Although she agreed to pay a fine of $500,000 and accept a 10-year ban on serving as either an officer or director of a public company, Holmes declined to confirm or deny her culpability, according to The Washington Post. 

Then, in June 2018, a federal grand jury indicted both Holmes and Balwani on nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Both pleaded not guilty. 

According to CNN, the US Attorney's office said the couple knew that Theranos tests had "accuracy and reliability problems," and that they were well aware that their technology  "could not compete with existing, more conventional machines."

Immediately before the indictment was publicized, Theranos announced that Holmes would be stepping down as the company's CEO. 

In September 2018, the company ceased operations.

2021: Holmes alleged that Balwani abused her psychologically, physically, and sexually throughout their romantic relationship. He denied those claims.

Elizabeth Holmes and her boyfriend, Billy Evans, in 2021.

Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/The Mercury News/Getty Images

In December 2021, during Holmes' fraud trial, she claimed that her relationship with Balwani was abusive. 

According to CNBC, her attorneys said in court filings that Balwani inflicted a "decade-long campaign of psychological abuse" against Holmes. 

"Balwani's control [over Holmes] included monitoring her calls, text messages, and emails; physical violence, such as throwing hard, sharp objects at her, restricting her sleep, monitoring her movements; and insisting that any success she achieved was because of him," Holmes' attorneys wrote. 

In Holmes' testimony, she said, "[Balwani] would get very angry with me and then he would sometimes come upstairs to our bedroom and force me to have sex with him when I didn't want to because he wanted me to know that he still loved me."

Referring to her accusations as "false and inflammatory," Balwani "categorically" denied allegations of abuse, according to Reuters.

Holmes also submitted texts between the former couple as evidence of Balwani's control over her actions. But, in 2021, forensic psychologist Ziv Cohen told Business Insider, "I think this is weak tea for building a case of emotional abuse that would make someone not responsible for their behavior."

2022: Balwani was given an almost-13-year prison sentence.

Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani and his legal team in 2022.

David Odisho/Getty Images

In December 2022, Balwani was sentenced to just under 13 years in prison. While Holmes was convicted on four counts of fraud, Balwani was convicted on 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. 

The New York Times reported that Balwani's longer sentence is largely due to his responsibility, and ultimate failure, to ensure the success of lab operations. He oversaw Theranos' lab despite his lack of experience in medical science, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"Mr. Balwani had significant autonomy in running the lab. He made decisions that directly impacted the information that was communicated to patients," said Jeffrey Schenk, the lead prosecutor in the case, told The New York Times in 2022. The lab was the source of "some of the greatest harm," according to Schenk.

He began serving his sentence in April 2023, although he is appealing his conviction.

2022: Holmes was sentenced to over 11 years.

Elizabeth Holmes with her mother, Noel Holmes, and partner, Billy Evans, in 2023.

Philip Pacheco/Getty Images

In November 2022, Holmes was given an over-11-year sentence to federal prison for defrauding hundreds of millions of dollars from her company's investors. 

After completing her prison sentence, Holmes will be subject to three years of supervision.

In February 2023, Mercury News confirmed that she and her legal team were making an active effort to postpone her prison sentence, in part by citing the fact that she has "two young children."

May 30, 2023: Elizabeth Holmes is set to report to federal prison in Texas.

Elizabeth Holmes hugging her father, Christian Holmes IV as her mother, Noel Holmes, looks on in March 2023.

Philip Pacheco/Getty Images

Holmes is set to begin her 11-year prison sentence at Camp Bryan in Texas on May 30, 2023. The 37-acre, all-female facility, which is located approximately 100 miles from Houston, currently holds 650 women serving sentences for a variety of white-collar crimes, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. 

According to the BBC, people detained at Camp Bryan must work at the facility, and receive between 12 cents and $1.15 per hour. According to the BBC, Holmes is obligated to give half of her minimal earnings to victims of Theranos' faulty technology. 

Her punishment will continue beyond her prison sentence. After her release, Holmes will be prohibited from purchasing large assets (including a home) without the federal government's intervention.

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China's markets for obscure commodities point to a sluggish economy and a weak rebound

A woman shops at a supermarket in Beijing, China, October 15, 2015.

REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

• China's economy isn't bouncing back as expected, and it's showing up in diverse corners of its markets.
• Commodities like glass, styrene, and corn starch show the rebound remains sluggish, per Bloomberg data.
• Trucked LNG prices have dropped to their lowest level in nearly two years as demand falters.

China's economic rebound isn't panning out as well as expected, and weak demand is showing up across obscure corners of its commodities market, according to Bloomberg data. 

For example, glass futures on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange have declined almost 20% in the past month. 

China accounts for over half of the world's plate glass production, which has declined over recent months amid low margins, oversupply, and a faltering property market.

Styrene, a material used for the plastics in home appliances, has also suffered from a weak housing market and retail sales of appliances. China has offered the world's fastest growing styrene market over the last decade.

And pulp has seen prices decline. The packaging commodity, for which China is the biggest producer and consumer, saw futures plunge in February after a sharp recovery in production that domestic demand couldn't match.

Meanwhile, prices on trucked liquefied natural gas — which covers the last few miles of consumer delivery for the key fuel — have tumbled to their lowest mark in nearly two years. Demand has weakened to such an extent that top importers for seaborne LNG have started to offer to resell shipments overseas, Bloomberg reported.

And corn starch, too, has faced headwinds. China produces almost 50 million tons of the commodity per year. Since it's used in baby food, falling demographic numbers have weighed on corn starch demand and prices. 

High expectations for a robust post-COVID rebound have largely failed to materialize, and financial markets have been raising red flags in the stock, currency and metals markets.

Yet, analysts have cautioned that Wall Street shouldn't be too near-sighted about the world's second-largest economy.

The growing pessimism on China, according to Nicholas Lardy of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, stems from Wall Street's tendency to prioritize immediate metrics over long-term outcomes.

"I feel sorry for these people in some ways, because every time the Chinese release some data, they have to say something about it," Lardy told Insider.

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Nvidia is 'priced ahead of the curve' says Cathie Wood — as ARK Invest sold most of its stake in the company ahead of a bumper rally

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest sold nearly 1 million shares of Nvidia before their recent rally.

Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images

• ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood tweeted that Nvidia's shares are too expensive.
• Nvidia shares are up 167% this year due to the boom in generative AI.
• But ARK Invest sold nearly 1 million shares of Nvidia between early October and Friday — missing out on their massive rally.

Cathie Wood — whose ARK Invest sold the bulk of its Nvidia stake ahead of the stock's massive rally last week — thinks the chipmaker's shares are too expensive.

"Since 2014, @ARKInvest has believed that Nvidia saw the AI future before most other chip companies, and now we believe it will continue to power the AI age," she tweeted on Monday.

However, the stock is now "priced ahead of the curve," she added, stating that it reflected a market valuation of 25 times its estimated sales for the current fiscal year. 

—Cathie Wood (@CathieDWood) May 29, 2023

 

Wood's comments came after the chipmaker's shares surged nearly 25% on Friday following its blockbuster first-quarter results from the generative artificial intelligence boom.

The stunning rally sent Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's net worth soaring by almost $7 billion last week, per Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 

Given that the ARK Invest CEO has been anticipating the AI boom, her comments may seem unusual.

ARK Invest sold nearly 1 million shares of Nvidia between early October and Friday — before their massive rally.

Ballpark calculations by Insider suggest Ark Invest lost out on more than $200 million in potential profits when it sold down its Nvidia stake throughout the end of last year, Matthew Fox reported on Friday. 

But Wood sees opportunities elsewhere, adding Nvidia isn't the only AI play.

"Other companies with visionary leaders, strong global distribution and, perhaps most important, large high-quality pools of proprietary data should be big #AI winners," she added in her tweet thread.

She pointed to electric vehicle maker Tesla — although there are "dozens" more AI winners, she added.

Nvidia's share price extended gains to close 2.6% higher at $389.46 on Friday. The stock is up 167% this year so far. The US markets were closed Monday for a public holiday.

ARK Invest did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

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What to do if you see an alligator and how to survive an attack, according to a wildlife expert who keeps pet gators

Alligators don't dine on humans, but if you enter their territory you might be in trouble.

lathuric / Getty Images

• If an alligator charges you, run away as fast as you can in a straight line. Don't zig-zag.
• If an alligator bites you, don't try to pry its jaws open. Instead, smack its snout or go for its eyes.
• Whatever you do, don't play dead or you might end up dead.

This article is primarily transcribed from a 2018 Insider video on "How to survive an alligator attack." Some of the information has been updated.

For years, Hollywood movies have shown humans at war with alligators and their crocodilian cousins. Either they're attacking us, or we're attacking them.

But, in reality, alligators don't often attack humans. That said, it does happen, and if one attacks you, what should you do? And perhaps more importantly, what shouldn't you do? 

Alligators don't eat people

Alligators have been lurking in Earth's waters for tens of millions of years.

Corey Ford/Stocktrek Images/Getty Images

American alligators have been around for as long as the dinosaurs — over 150 million years. But unlike dinosaurs, alligators stuck around.

There are nearly 5 million alligators in the United States. They live throughout the Southeast, from Texas to North Carolina. But most of them are concentrated in Florida.

In fact, the Sunshine State is home to around 1.3 million alligators, and that's where the majority of alligator attacks take place.

As of 2022, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has reported 453 alligator attacks on humans in the state and 26 fatalities since it started keeping records in the late 1940s.

"You're more likely to be attacked by a dog or even killed by a cow than have an encounter, a negative one, with an alligator," Corbin Maxey — a biologist and wildlife expert who keeps pet alligators of his own — told Insider for a video in 2018.

"Alligators, they can be dangerous, but just like with wildlife, if you leave them alone, they will more than likely want to leave you alone," Maxey said.

How alligators hunt prey

Alligators are sneak-attack predators that pounce on their prey at the last second with lightning speed.

Daniela Duncan/Getty Images

Sure, alligators can be vicious, technically they're apex predators, albeit very patient ones.

"They're ambush predators, usually all you'll see, if you're really even lucky to see, 'cause they're so good at camouflage, are the little eyes above the water. They would be eating mammals like raccoons, waterbirds, turtles, and deer on occasion. And they literally will sneak up to their prey and then whack! The prey won't even know usually what gets it, but they are incredibly fast," Maxey said.

Alligators are usually pretty chill, as long as you respect their space.

"There are rare instances, of course, where females might be guarding a nest, and if you're in Florida, or you're in an area where alligators are found, and you come across a nest with a female, she is going to be angry, and she will come after you," Maxey said.

How to fight an alligator

Uh, don't do this. This is a great example of what NOT to do. This guy is on a gator farm and (hopefully) knows what he's doing.

Tony Anderson/Getty Images

If an alligator charges after you, the first step you should take is to run. Run in a straight line as far and fast from the gator as possible. Don't try to run in a zig-zag pattern, as that'll just take you longer to go farther.

Alligators are quick and can run up to a speed of 11 mph, but they can't sustain that very long.

But what if it's too late? And that gator sinks its teeth into you? Fight back!

"You want to fight back, you want to give it your all, because that will more than likely allow the alligator to release you — they're going to realize, oh gosh, I don't want to deal with this," Maxey said.

Don't try to pry open the jaws. You're dealing with a bite force of 3,000 pounds. 

Some experts say that while fighting back, you should smack the gator's sensitive snout, and also try to gouge the gator's eyes.

"I feel like that's easier said than done. When you have something sudden happen to you, it's going to be very hard to be like, 'Oh wait, where are the eyes?' you know?" Maxey said. "So I think the best thing to do would be to fight back, put up a fight, definitely don't play dead. If you play dead, you might become dead," Maxey added.

But perhaps most important, stay out of their territory.

"When alligators do attack humans or bite them, it's mainly by mistake, and then usually they'll let go, 'cause they'll realize, ah, this isn't a deer, this isn't a raccoon, this is foreign object, this is not something that I would want to eat," Maxey said.

Lucky us.

Watch the original video here:

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How TikTok is shaking up the entertainment business and changing power dynamics, according to dozens of authors, comedians, dancers, music-industry professionals, and more

iStock; Robyn Phelps/Insider

• TikTok has become a de facto audition stage for musicians, dancers, comedians, and even authors.
• Choreographers, A&R leads at record labels, and comedy scouts use the app to find new talent.
• Our CultureTok series digs into TikTok's impact on the entertainment business.

This story is part of a series examining TikTok's influence on the entertainment business. Welcome to the era of CultureTok.

TikTok is a titan in the entertainment industry.

Its powerful recommendation algorithm and quick-bite videos have shifted viewing habits across media, making it a real competitor for attention time to incumbents like YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify.

Publishing houses and book retailers have embraced BookTok as a powerful tool for promoting authors' work. Music marketers have similarly leaned into the app as a way to push songs into the mainstream. 

The platform has become a launching-off point for undiscovered creatives in music, dance, comedy, and writing — a de facto global talent show for dancers and musicians, as Broadway choreographers, record-label A&R specialists, and more scour the app for untapped talent.

As TikTok's influence on entertainment grows and it draws increased scrutiny from US lawmakers around its ties to China, Insider examined how the app has changed various corners of the industry.

Dancers are among the artists benefiting the most from TikTok. Some have used the app to get noticed by casting agents. Professional dance companies like the American Ballet Theatre have turned to TikTok as a branding and recruitment tool, too.

"This app is a gold mine for artists like me who are still looking for their big break," said Neha Dharmapuram, a TikTok creator and dancer who used the app to score an audition for the Broadway-bound musical, "Come Fall In Love — The DDLJ Musical."

Read more about how TikTok has helped dancers get discovered and build new careers

The company's cultural cachet in entertainment, particularly among young people, has sparked concerns among US state and federal politicians that the app, which is owned by the China-based company ByteDance, could be used as a propaganda tool by the Chinese Communist Party.

In addition to butting heads with Washington, the company's relationship with the entertainment industry isn't all sunshine and daisies. It's developed a "frenemies" relationship with record labels as it begins to encroach on their territory by offering services directly to artists.

"TikTok has to find that balance with not pissing off the major labels," a music marketer told Insider.

Some music artists have also expressed TikTok fatigue, as the need to balance content creation with their standard work of recording songs and touring has become "exhausting."

Still, the app is essentially unskippable for up-and-coming performers looking to launch their careers.

"It's the most important thing that's happened in the music industry in a long time," Jonny Kaps, cofounder and CEO of the independent label +1 Records, told Insider. "It just allows us to build a new artist audience in a way that we've never really been able to do before."

Read more about how TikTok has begun encroaching on record labels' territory

In the comedy world, TikTok has offered a resource for comedians to pay their bills through brand deals and other paid opportunities, while using the app to build a recognizable brand.

Laughs on TikTok can translate into business opportunities elsewhere, be that on the stand-up stage or the SNL writers' room.

Zarna Garg in front of a live audience at Carolines on Broadway, a comedy club in New York City

Zarna Garg

"TikTok has opened the world to a whole new type of comic because before, everything was controlled by gatekeepers," Zarna Garg, a TikTok comedian with around 700,000 followers, told Insider. "A 48-year-old woman like me wouldn't have been able to get past them, but now the people in charge take one look at my following and give me a shot."

Read more to learn how 20 comedians and entertainment insiders think about TikTok's influence over comedy

Book authors and their publishers have also turned to the platform for marketing, using TikTok to promote old and new books and drive real sales.

Some authors have even begun to feel pressure to include TikTok-friendly "tropes" in their stories as a way to boost attention on their work.

Launching a writing career via the app is real if an author can get enough attention on their videos, writers told Insider. Author Alex Aster used TikTok to post about her book idea and ultimately scored a publishing deal that ended up being worth $460,000.

"That's the power of TikTok," she told Insider. "People find out about my book every week, word of mouth is so powerful … It changed my entire life, it changed my career."

Read more about how TikTok has influenced nearly every aspect of publishing

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Sales of metallic boots and sequin dresses are soaring as fans dress up for Taylor Swift's Eras tour

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• Taylor Swift's Eras tour has pushed up demand for metallic boots and sequin dresses, CNN reported.
• #erastouroutfits has nearly 700 million views on TikTok as influencers share style inspiration.
• Retailers are actively targeting Eras attendees with dedicated store displays and specific webpages.

Taylor Swift's Eras tour has led to a spike in sales of apparel like metallic boots and sequin dresses, CNN reported.

Swift's impact on culture has extended beyond her musical legacy. The pop star is renowned for her sense of style, and Swifties have been rushing to curate the perfect outfit to wear for her Eras tour, her first concert tour in five years. Influencers have been sharing fashion inspiration online, and on TikTok #erastouroutfits has nearly 700 million views.

Many fans have been making their own outfits, but the less hardcore have turned to retailers for a quicker fix.

At fashion chain Francesca's, store sales of ruffle, prairie, baby doll, and bow-back style dresses jump around 30% when Swift performs nearby, Leanne Neale, its vice president of concept and creative, told CNN.

Altar'd State, a fashion retailer with more than 100 locations, is similarly seeing a surge in sales for Swift-inspired looks. Items including sundresses, metallic boots, long dresses, tulle tops, and fringed clothing are currently in high demand, Callie Lewis, the company's chief merchandising officer, told the outlet.

Taylor Swift fans arrive at Gillette Stadium for her concert in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Retailers are carefully marketing their products to actively targeting Eras attendees.

Altar'd State, for example, has curated displays of Swift-inspired looks in its stores.

The retailer has also has picked out items from its collection inspired by each of Swift's first nine albums. If you want to dress like "Reputation" era Swift, for example, the brand has picked out items including a black satin corset top and black, high-waisted fake leather shorts, whereas for "Folklore" and "Evermore" it recommends long, flowy dresses in soft colors and mirror ball earrings.

In a collection on its website called "The Eras Shop," Altar'd State has highlighted 98 Swift-inspired items. Fashion rental site Bipty has also created a webpage dedicated to items it recommends for the Eras tour, largely featuring items with sequins and feathers.

Bipty has compiled a collection of Taylor Swift Eras looks.

Bipty

And online fashion retailer Hazel & Olive have started selling a $129 sequin fringe dress in various colors named for Swift's Eras tour. Sales of rhinestone boots and cowboy hats have also boomed, CEO Taylor Johnson told CNN, adding that the hype was helping the retailer to its "biggest sales year yet."

A pair of women take a selfie while riding on the commuter line to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts to see Taylor Swift in concert.

Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Vogue Business reported that while festival fashion has become somewhat more muted in recent years, there's been a huge spike in the number of people dressing up for concerts.

Attendees at Harry Style and Beyonce concerts, for example, don items including cowboy hats, feather boas, face glitter, and colorful sunglasses.

Chelsea Rice, director of creative at youth culture agency Archrival, told Vogue Business that compared to festivals, a concert is "close to home and lasts only a few hours — meaning you can survive wearing the knee-high sparkly boots for the sake of fashion."

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Meet the average American millennial, who's a parent and homeowner with a net worth of $128,000 and hoping for student-debt relief

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• The average American millennial is better off financially than they were five years ago.
• Higher salaries have allowed many to grow their wealth and buy homes.
• Under the weight of student debt and childcare, they may still be worse off than prior generations.

This story is kicking off a series called Millennial World, which looks at the state of the generation around the globe.

Millennials are growing up.

The oldest of the generation, which includes anyone born between 1981 and 1996, is now past the age of 40. In recent years, many have checked off major life milestones including buying a home and having children, and some could even be on the verge of a midlife crisis. 

But getting older has already come with some growing pains. 

Over the past decade — and longer for some — many millennials have faced high costs of housing and childcare, staggering student-loan debt, and the Great Recession's impact on the job market. This trifecta hit older millennials the hardest and continues to have lingering effects.

Despite these obstacles, the average millennial is faring better financially than they have in the past. And while some of this may simply be a byproduct of getting older — people tend to earn more over the course of their careers — some experts have argued that even compared to past generations, millennials are doing pretty well financially these days.

From saving to spending and financial behaviors in between, here's what life is like for the average American millennial.

The typical US millennial makes between about $52,000 and $62,000 a year.

Jean Twenge

The Great Recession took a financial toll on millennials and their salaries. By 2014, the median household income of millennials aged 25 to 34 had fallen by more than 10% since 2000 when adjusted for inflation, according to Census Bureau data. 

But things have improved in recent years. By 2019, the same age group had a median household income of $70,283. By 2021, it was $74,862. 

Older millennials have seen income gains as well. The median income for millennials aged 35 to 44 has risen from $66,693 in 2014 to $90,312 in 2021. 

This growth holds up well when adjusted for inflation — even compared to past generations. As of 2019, the median millennial household income, when adjusted for inflation, was roughly $10,000 higher than those of median Gen X and boomer households at the same age, according to the Current Population Survey. 

According to a SmartAsset analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics from the third quarter of last year, the median salary of a US adult aged 25 to 34 is $52,156. The median salary of an adult aged 35 to 44 is $62,444. At this point, millennials will be anywhere from 26 to 42 years old. 

American millennials' average net worth has grown considerably in recent years and now sits at about $127,793.

jacoblund / Getty Images

The average US millennial's net worth more than doubled between the first quarter of 2020 to $127,793 as of the first quarter of 2022, according to a MagnifyMoney analysis of Federal Reserve data.

Older millennials appear to be driving the gains. A December Forbes analysis of Federal Reserve data found that the average net worth of Americans under age 35 was $76,300, compared to $436,200 for those aged 35 to 44. 

It's taken some time for millennials to catch up to prior generations when it comes to wealth. A Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis analysis of 2016 data found that the families of older millennials had a median wealth about 34% percent lower than people of prior generations at the same age. But by the time 2019 data was available, the gap had shrunk to 11%. More recently, a St. Louis Fed's analysis of 2022 data found that "young Americans" — a group with an average age of 33 to 34 — had roughly the same average wealth adjusted for inflation as Gen X did at the same age. 

The fact that some millennials may be doing just as well — but not a lick better — than older generations arguably isn't worthy of much celebration in a country where parents want their children's lives to be better than their own. But at least they no longer appear to be trailing so far behind. 

Almost half of millennials have student-loan debt and are, on average, $40,614 in the hole.

Student-loan borrowers and advocates gather for the People's Rally for Student Debt Cancellation during the Supreme Court hearings on student-debt relief on February 28, 2023, in Washington, DC.

Jemal Countess/Getty Images for People's Rally to Cancel Student Deb

In 2020, Insider reported that nearly 45% of millennials had student-loan debt. 

As of June 2022, 43.5% of older millennials aged 36 to 41 had a student-debt balance of $20,000 or less, according to the St. Louis Fed. The average millennial with student debt had a balance of $40,614, according to an Experian analysis of internal data.  

While the cost of college has been one of millennials' key financial obstacles, those with federal student debt could be set to have up to $20,000 of their debt canceled as part of a Biden administration plan. Currently, the debt-relief proposal is paused due to two conservative-backed lawsuits that blocked the implementation of the relief in November, and borrowers are awaiting a Supreme Court decision on the legality of the relief, expected by the end of June. 

A Morning Consult and Politico poll of over 2,000 registered voters last June found that 65% of respondents aged 18 to 34 supported Biden forgiving $10,000 per borrower; 61% of respondents aged 35 to 44 thought the same. 

More than half of millennials have now managed to buy a home.

A couple moving into a new home.

Getty Images

Millennials crossed a notable threshold in 2022. By the end of the year, a majority of them — about 51.5% — owned a home, a RentCafe report that analyzed housing data from the Current Population Survey for each generation across 260 US metro areas found. 

The average millennial was 34 years old when the generation reached this milestone. Gen X and Boomers were 32 and 33 years old respectively when their generations became majority owners. 

The millennial generation has been on a homebuying spree in recent years. Seven million of the 10.8 million new millennial homeowners gained over the past decade bought their homes over the past five years, RentCafe reported. 

Low interest rates provided a great buying opportunity for many millennials during the early days of the pandemic. But the Federal Reserve has since raised rates to combat inflation, leaving millennials that didn't jump in on the homebuying spree with a much more challenging landscape today. 

In July 2020, the typical annual US mortgage payment was 27.5% of the median American's household income — the lowest figure since 2013 — according to the Atlanta Fed. 

As of last September, this figure rose to 43.7%, the highest level since at least 2006, when the Fed's data begins. As of March, the median annual mortgage payment was 39.9% of the median household income. 

The typical millennial is a parent but has been slower than past generations to grow their families.

Getty

While many millennials have managed to buy a home, they have been slow to fill them up with children. As of 2018, 55% of surveyed 22-  to 37-year-old millennial women had given birth to a child, according to a Pew Research survey that spanned both Gen Z and millennials, compared to 62% of Gen X and 64% of boomers at the same age. 

After hitting a record low in 2020, the US birth rate rose for the first time in seven years in 2021, but it remained near the record low reached the year prior. The birth rate was reported as 1.66 births per woman, a decline from 2.12 in 2007, and the rate of 2.1 needed for the population to naturally replace itself.

There's evidence that many millennials are open to having more children, but haven't ultimately done so due to a variety of factors. One could be the high childcare costs many millennial parents face. 

National childcare costs average between $9,000 and $9,600 annually, per the advocacy organization Child Care Aware, a rate that's unaffordable for nearly two-thirds of working parents in the US — and the cost could shoot even higher over the next year as federal funds dry up.  

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"Some people are like 'I want to be her friend,' says an inmate at a Texas federal prison camp ahead of Elizabeth Holmes' arrival: WSJ

Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is scheduled to start her prison term on Tuesday.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

• Inmates at a Texas federal prison camp are looking forward to Elizabeth Holmes' arrival, per WSJ.
• Holmes is scheduled to start serving her 11-year sentence at the federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas on Tuesday.
• The Bryan prison camp is a minimum security, all-female facility about 100 miles from Houston.

Inmates at a Texas federal prison camp are looking forward to Elizabeth Holmes' arrival, according to a Sunday report from The Wall Street Journal.

The founder of Theranos — who was convicted of four counts of fraud-related charges — is scheduled to start serving her 11-year sentence at the federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas on Tuesday.

The judge in her case, District Judge Edward Davila, had ordered Holmes to report to prison by 2 p.m. on May 30.

"Some people are like 'I want to be her friend,'" Tasha Wade, a current inmate at the facility, told the Journal

"But other people are like, 'I can't believe that's all she got for taking all that money," Wade added. 

Another unnamed inmate told the media outlet that a corrections officer joked about ordering Holmes to scrub pans.

One inmate who was released in March told the Journal a copy of John Carreyrou's 2018 book "Bad Blood" — which chronicles the rise and fall of Theranos — was spotted in the prison camp's library earlier this year.

The Bryan prison camp is a minimum security, all-female facility about 100 miles from Houston. It houses about 655 inmates right now, which is about 90% of its capacity, per WSJ.

Inmates here have mostly been convicted of white-collar crimes, low-level drug offenses, and for harboring illegal immigrants, WSJ reported, citing the Federal Bureau of Prisons, or BOP, as well as current and former inmates.

Holmes can expect daily 6 a.m. wake-up calls at the facility, according to an inmate handbook. She would also have to comply with a litany of rules — including making her bed daily in a prescribed manner.

The BOP and Holmes' representatives did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

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This frequent flyer who's been 'skiplagging' for a decade says she has 'no remorse and no angst'

Airlines have banned some passengers for "skiplagging."

Johan Marengrd/Getty Images

• A  "skiplagging" passenger said she has "no remorse" because of what airlines charge for flights.
• Sophie Partlow said the approach gives travelers more control and she's never faced any backlash. 
• She believes that airlines are cracking down more and that passengers should be aware of the risks. 

A frequent flyer who's been "skiplagging" for more than a decade said she doesn't feel guilty because airlines have a "chokehold on prices." 

Skiplagging — or "hidden-city" ticketing — is a practice where travelers book flights with a layover in a city they want to visit and then don't take their second flight to the supposed final destination.

Sophie Partlow first found out about the approach from an article and started using the flight-booking website Skiplagged.com. She said she's been using it for many years and has saved hundreds of dollars on flights. 

"Ultimately I have no remorse and no angst about using hidden-city tickets," she told Insider. "I feel like because of the fact that airlines have had a chokehold on prices and availability for as long as they have, then more power to Skiplagged for giving some of that control back to the travelers." 

Partlow recently paid $71 for a "hidden-city" flight from New York to Savannah, Georgia with a connection in Charlotte, North Carolina. Insider has viewed documentation showing what she paid for the flight.

Skiplagging has its risks, however. Insider's Taylor Rains pointed out that airlines hate it, and some have even canceled return journeys, taken away miles, and banned passengers from future flights.

Partlow said she's never been caught or faced any backlash for skiplagging, but as a frequent flyer, she's aware that airlines are trying to clamp down on it. 

"They really try to get you if you're getting a hidden-city ticket," she said. "You need to know what you're facing when you do it."

Partlow, who's still in Charlotte, said some airline staff will compare your destination with the address on your ID.

"If it matches with the connecting flight and not your final destination, you're gonna get grilled whether you bought a hidden-city ticket or not," she said.

If that happens, Partlow said she tells customer agents that she's traveling to the final destination on her ticket if they ask where she's headed.

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Workers value paid time off more than health insurance, survey suggests

Paid time off is important to many workers.

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• More workers said paid leave was extremely important to them than those valuing health insurance.
• That was one finding of a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. 
• Almost half of workers who get paid time off don't usually use up all their allocation, it found.

Workers appear to value paid time off even more than having employer-funded health insurance, a recent study found.

The Pew Research Center report called "How Americans view their jobs" found 62% of the 5,900 people surveyed felt it's "extremely" important to have paid time off for vacations or minor illness, with a further 27% saying it's "very" important.

That's higher than the 51% who said employer-funded health insurance was extremely important, with 28% saying it's very important. 

The study also found that almost half of workers who get paid time off don't usually use up all their allocation.

Reasons include not wanting to burden colleagues with additional tasks, or potentially falling behind.

Just over 90% of upper-income workers surveyed by Pew had employer-funded health insurance, dipping to 82% for middle-income workers and just 60% for those on lower incomes. 

Only about half of the workers surveyed said they were extremely or very satisfied with their job, with just 34% happy with how much they're paid.

However, two-thirds (67%) said they're either extremely or very satisfied with their relationship with colleagues, with 65% saying they have at least one close friend at work.

Almost 80% say they're treated with respect at work, while 65% their contributions were valued a great deal or a fair amount.

Workers above aged 65 and above were the most likely to be extremely or very satisfied with their job (67%), with those under 30 the least likely (44%).

The nationally representative survey of 5,902 workers, including 5,188 not self-employed, was conducted between February 6 and 12 using Pew's American Trends Panel. 

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