Tech Roundup, Jan. 17, 2020 | The face of Brazilian digital marketing in 2020

The survey involved 337 decision-makers and C-level executives.</p> <p><strong>Why it matters.</strong> Brazilians rank second in time spent on the internet, surfing for about 9 and a half hours per day. They are also second worldwide in time spent on social media—over 3 hours—and third in times spent using apps—3 hours and 45 minutes. It should go without saying in 2020, but having a strong digital presence is a must for companies who want to gain market share.</p> <p><strong>Results.</strong> The study shows companies as more willing to invest in strategies of branded content—that is, producing content to add value to the brand—and search engine optimization, consisting of making your company easier to find on Google. LinkedIn has also emerged as a social network where people go to find high-quality content, and has been considered by companies as the main lead-generating platform.</p> <p>YouTube is also key to reaching Brazilian consumers. No less than <a href="https://brazilian.report/tech/2019/11/26/youtube-curb-misinformation-brazil-not-exactly/">95 percent of Brazilians watch YouTube videos</a> at least once a month—and 60 percent of them say they have already bought products after seeing them on the video-sharing website. Here are other results:</p> <div class="flourish-embed" data-src="visualisation/1247670"></div><script src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/embed.js"></script> <div class="flourish-embed" data-src="visualisation/1248023"></div><script src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/embed.js"></script> <hr class="wp-block-separator"/> <h2>Brazilian AI diagnoses skin cancer cases missed by doctors</h2> <p>Around the world, researchers have studied how to use artificial intelligence to help diagnose and treat several types of diseases. Scientists from the University of Campinas have used machine-learning techniques to perform melanoma diagnoses. Melanoma is the deadliest, most aggressive kind of skin cancer.</p> <p><strong>How it works. </strong>Through a sophisticated technique using artificial neural networks, the researchers developed an algorithm with an 86-percent accuracy rate in melanoma diagnosis. Doctors had a rate of 67 percent. Even when substantial parts of the lesions were removed from the image, the software was spot on in 71 percent of cases.</p> <p>Artificial neural networks are computer models inspired by how human neurons work. They are able to identify patterns and self-adjust their algorithm to improve their abilities. The main hurdle for the skin cancer diagnosis system is that international image banks of melanomas remain limited.</p> <p><strong>Why it matters.</strong> If melanoma is detected at early stages, chances of a cure are of over 90 percent—but when the cancer is spotted late, those chances drop to just 14 percent. While melanomas make up only 3.6 percent of all skin cancer cases—with 6,260 new reports each year—they account for 43-percent of skin cancer deaths.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Limits.</strong> Experts have welcomed the new technologies—but say they won&#8217;t replace doctors. Some also warn to the fact that <a href="https://brazilian.report/tech/2019/11/29/tech-roundup-brazil-facial-recognition-make-arrests/">algorithms must be trained</a> with image banks as diverse as the Brazilian population—as melanomas may present varying characteristics in patients with different skin tones.</p> <p><strong>Award.</strong> The project was one of the winners of Google&#8217;s 7th Latin America Research Awards, which gives grants to projects tackling everyday problems. It was one of the few to be picked up for two straight years.</p> <hr class="wp-block-separator"/> <h2>Delivery apps to use people&#8217;s data to finance new restaurants</h2> <p>Have you ever gotten a push notification from your <a href="https://brazilian.report/business/2019/07/10/pizza-boom-delivery-apps-brazil-market/">food delivery app</a> of choice right around the time you usually eat, with an enticing ad that makes your mouth water? It&#8217;s unsurprising that these apps analyze our eating habits to make us purchase more—but Brazilian delivery app iFood is taking it to the next level. The company is mapping the dishes of choice in different neighborhoods of cities, in order to help fund the opening of new restaurants—or the expansion of existing ones—in order to better cater to local demand.</p> <p><strong>How it works. </strong>Movile Pay, a payments company under the same umbrella as iFood, makes the bridge between restaurants and lenders. The loan is then repaid directly from sales made through the app, in the same manner as automatic-paycheck-deduction loans.</p> <p>One example is a pizza delivery restaurant in the city of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais. Only having the capacity of hosting 50 clients and making 300 pizzas per day, the owner had to switch off the restaurant&#8217;s iFood service several times during the day, due to intense demand. By way of Movile Pay, the company received a BRL 200,000 loan and has more than tripled its production capacity.</p> <p><strong>Why it matters.</strong> According to the Movile Pay, the biggest hurdle faced by entrepreneurs is narrow access to lines of credit.</p> <p><strong>User data.</strong> When it comes to the use of consumers&#8217; data, Movile Pay says the data they use belongs to restaurants, not users. Later this year, Brazil will introduce a new Data Protection Law which states that any personal data concerning an individual is the property of that person, which could complicate matters for companies such as Movile Pay.</p> <hr class="wp-block-separator"/> <h2>Take note</h2> <p><strong>Investigation.</strong> The Parliamentary Hearings Committee investigating the use of fake news for political gain in Brazil have had access to the <a href="https://noticias.uol.com.br/politica/ultimas-noticias/2020/01/16/cpmi-fake-news-whatsapp-25-numeros-linhas-internacionais-disparo-em-massa.htm?utm_campaign=resumo-do-dia-edicao-da-manha&amp;utm_content=hyperlink-texto&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=newsletter">main cellphone numbers used to spread misinformation</a>. The phone numbers associated with these profiles—potentially operated by bots—came from the U.S., Vietnam, England, and Brazil. However, internet protocols show that, despite the prevalence of foreign phone numbers, all messages were sent from within Brazil.</p> <p><strong>Private data.</strong> After a study by the Norwegian Consumer Council revealed that <a href="https://brazilian.report/society/2019/10/02/tinder-like-app-left-wing-brazil/">dating apps</a> Grindr, Tinder, and OkCupid share users&#8217; private data with third parties, Brazil&#8217;s Justice Minister opened an investigation into these companies. They have 10 days to present their case to authorities—penalties could reach BRL 9 million.</p> <p><strong>Phones. </strong>Samsung&#8217;s Galaxy Fold is the first foldable phone to reach the Brazilian market—and it will cost BRL 12,999—nearly 13 times the minimum wage.&nbsp;