Small Business Headlines from Skype, Web.com and More

Skype is one of the most popular tools for small businesses that need to communicate with remote workers, clients or others via video and voice chat. But the service experienced a global outage earlier this week, delaying some small business communications.

In addition, Web.com and other small business service providers also made headlines this week. Read on for more in this week’s Small Business Trends news and information roundup.

Technology Trends
Skype Experiences Global Outage; Service Restored After Three Hour Delay

Skype, Microsoft’s phone, chat and video conferencing service, experienced an outage this morning across parts of North and South America, the U.K., Europe and eastern Asia. But the platforms management team reported the Skype outage resolved within hours. An official announcement on Skype’s website confirmed reports.

Small Business News From Twitter, Kickstarter and More

Want to live stream video content for your business in 2017? If so, you just got another option. Recently, Twitter added a live broadcast feature to its iOS and Android apps.

And speaking of apps, Kickstarter just released open source versions of its iOS and Android apps to help independent developers and startups looking to build their own apps.

These headlines and more are included below in this week’s Small Business Trends news and information roundup.

Social Media
Twitter Adds Live Broadcast Feature to iOS and Android Apps

The new Go Live on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) is here. Just announced, the new feature looks to simplify the way you can broadcast live video straight from Twitter. This announcement comes as Vine is shutting down and Periscope is establishing itself as a live broadcasting alternative for Twitter after it purchased the company in 2015.

Small Business Optimism Rises, Positive Response to Gig Economy, Not So Much

Optimism among small businesses is at its highest level in more than a decade, according to the latest NFIB Optimism Index. But not every new change and concept is a positive one for small businesses. According to analysis from Cision, a decent portion of conversations surrounding the gig economy are negative.

You can read more about these items and more small business news below in this week’s Small Business Trends news and information roundup.

Economy
Small Business Optimism Skyrockets As Trump Prepares to Take Office

Optimism among America’s small businesses skyrocketed in December. A Optimism Index made up of 10 survey indicators rose 7.4 points to 105.8, its highest level since 2004, said the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). The December 2016 NFIB survey shows dramatic improvement in the economic prospects right after President Elect Donald Trump’s win.