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Wednesday, March 23, 2016
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GroundSource is trying to help news sites build community through text-message conversations“I can’t imagine many stronger indications of one’s desire to engage with a news organization than adding it as a contact in their address book.” By Joseph Lichterman. |
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Jeff Israely: What are the news products today’s young adults will want to consume in 10 or 20 years?“One thing we tend to forget in this pile-on pursuit of eternal youth is that our target demographic of the moment is bound to grow older.” By Jeff Israely. |
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Testing its pay-per-article model in English, Blendle launches in the United States with 20 publishersThe Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Time, and more are now publishing on the Netherlands-based micropayment platform. Will a market awash in free content be interested? By Joseph Lichterman. |
What We’re Reading
The New Yorker / Fabio Bertoni
The New Yorker’s general counsel on the Hulk Hogan ruling →
“If the Hogan verdict stands, would a media outlet that published that video be at risk of being put out of business? Would we be worse off if no one were willing to publish such a video? You don't have to be a First Amendment absolutist, in favor of the unlimited publication of sex tapes, to believe that we would.”
Medium / Cory Bergman
How multinational corporations use the Breaking News app to keep their employees safe →
“‘Breaking News is first kit,’ one security manager told us, explaining his multinational company uses BreakingNews.com and app as a front-line tool to discover verified stories. Once they know a story is legit, they drill down with social search tools for more on-the-ground intelligence.”
TechCrunch / Sarah Perez
Google is opening access to its speech recognition API →
And it’ll be free, at least at first — could be useful for a lot of journalism projects.
The Washington Post / Paul Farhi
NPR starts “Trump Training” to deal with threats →
“NPR has sent its political reporters to 90-minute hostile-environment awareness training, which in its typical form lasts a few days and prepares journalists for covering war zones or regions where terrorists are active.”
Medium / Anil Dash
Social media analytics tool ThinkUp is looking for a new home →
“…we're not able to give ThinkUp the time and attention it needs to grow, so we've started the process of finding a way to keep it running while maintaining the same respect for our users that we've had from the start. If you're a company that sees value in ThinkUp's unique features and amazing community, let's talk.”
Business Insider / Lara O'Reilly
CEO and COO of millennial lifestyle site Elite Daily step down →
The Daily Mail owner DMG Media acquired Elite Daily last year and “the departures were planned as part of the acquisition.”
The Baffler / Jacob Silverman
The Rest Is Advertising: Confessions of a sponsored content writer →
“I should have emerged from my sponsored content gig with the kind of relieved rededication to my craft that would overcome, say, a new driver reeling from the adrenaline surge of his first head-on near-miss. Instead, though, my tour of the sponsored content waterfront permanently altered my own vision of journalism's future—and not at all in a good way.”
Digiday / Lucinda Southern
For France’s Libération, Facebook Instant Articles drives a 33 percent increase in time spent →
“According to Facebook's analytics, the time spent on articles has increased 33 percent to 4 minutes 40 seconds. Grangier ventures this could be because readers prefer the format of Instant Articles, or because pages load faster so they stick around for longer.”
The Guardian / Jasper Jackson
How fake YouTube videos of Brussels attacks tried to confuse web users →
“The misleading videos are examples of a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly common during almost every major news story featuring violent, fast-moving events. False or misleading reports spread rapidly across social media and are picked up by reputable news organisations, further obscuring an already incredibly confusing picture.”
GQ / Freddie Campion
This is why Taye Diggs follows you on Twitter →
Meet Lance Laifer, “the 51-year-old former hedge fund manager from Long Island who also happens to be the brains behind one of the Internet's greatest mysteries”
Alaska Dispatch News / David Hulen
Alaska Dispatch News is now using Civil Comments →
It’s the third outlet now using the crowd-source comment platform. We profiled Civil earlier this week.
The Drum / Jennifer Faull
Johnston Press plans to cull 59 local newspapers →
"We have identified a number of newsbrands that are now considered non-core and such will be either divested or run with less costs, reflecting the medium-term outlook for the identified assets that fall into this category.”
Digiday / Sahil Patel
Huffington Post finds feel good videos perform best on Facebook →
Videos posted on The Huffington Post’s life-solutions vertical had four times more views, six times more shares, three times more likes and two times more comments.
Gawker / Nick Denton
Nick Denton responds to the $140 million Hulk Hogan verdict →
“So constitutional issues aside, we now know that the trial was a sham from the start.”
From Fuego
NPR starts ‘Trump Training’ to deal with threats —www.washingtonpost.com
Smartwatch company Pebble is laying off 25% of its staff —www.techinsider.io
The Stakes in Hulk Hogan’s Gawker Lawsuit – The New Yorker —www.newyorker.com
How fake YouTube videos of Brussels attacks tried to confuse web users —www.theguardian.com
Fuego is our heat-seeking Twitter bot, tracking the stories the future-of-journalism crowd is talking about most. Usually those are about journalism and technology, although sometimes they get distracted by politics, sports, or GIFs. (No humans were involved in this listing, and linking is not endorsing.) Check out Fuego on the web to get up-to-the-minute news.