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Thursday, July 28, 2016
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Purple, the news startup built around SMS, is leaving it behind for Facebook Messenger“I think being in the Messenger ecosystem makes it much easier for people to share Purple and to share really interesting and important content that we’re talking about with their friends.” By Taylyn Washington-Harmon. |
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How Vox Media’s new Storytelling Studio thinks of stories as productsVox wants to move beyond the web page to tell compelling stories. By Taylyn Washington-Harmon. |
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Pay it forward: LaterPay, a German payment infrastructure company, offers micropayments with a twistRead now, buy later: “We defer the time when you have to register and pay to a later stage, letting you convince yourself of the content, of the quality of the content, of the benefits that are offered to you.” By Shan Wang. |
What We’re Reading
The Drum / Ian Burrell
The Times of London’s editor on possible international expansion →
“The next big thing we are going to look at is the international expansion, where we can actually use as a positive ‘The Times of London,’ saying ‘Do you want to know what’s happening in London, one of the big financial centres?'”
The Wall Street Journal / Shalini Ramachandran and Daisuke Wakabayashi
Apple’s hard-charging tactics have hurt its attempts at a TV bundle →
“In online TV, Apple wants to combine a selection of popular live channels with an on-demand library stockpiled with full seasons of hit shows. The streaming TV service pitched to Disney would have cost $30 a month.”
Digiday / Lucia Moses
#IBTWTF: IBT Media faces accusations of failing to pay staffers, severance – Digiday →
“Twitter users are alleging that the company laid off people with no notice, hasn't paid its international staff, has refused to pay severance, hasn't sent people their personal belongings from the offices and is not answering inquiries.”
Univision
Univision launched a digital tool to help its audience prepare for the U.S. Naturalization Exam →
“The Citizenship Exam Tool provides a practice test featuring the 100 questions that appear on USCIS's actual examination. Users can take the test as many times as they want, in English or Spanish.”
The New York Times / Sydney Ember
New York Times Co. reports a loss, and a fall in digital ad revenue →
“The Times continued to struggle with declining advertising revenue, which fell about 12 percent, to $131 million. Print advertising revenue slid 14 percent in the quarter, and digital advertising revenue dropped 7 percent, to $45 million. Digital advertising revenue now represents more than a third of the company's total ad revenue.”
The New York Times / Sydney Ember
Melissa Bell is Vox Media’s new publisher →
“In her new role, Ms. Bell, who left The Washington Post in early 2014 to help start Vox.com with Ezra Klein, will help develop the company's brands and identify opportunities to build its audience on its sites and across different platforms, such as Snapchat and Facebook. She will work not only with the company's sales and product teams, but also with its editorial team.”
Digital Content Next / Jim Brady
Why journalistic ethics don’t have to conflict with business success →
“But there are still way too many journalists who throw their hands up at the first discussion of money, muttering, "This isn't my problem. I just do the journalism." Personally, I think that's an ignorant point of view, one at the root of many of the cultural problems inside legacy news organizations”
TechCrunch / Sarah Perez
Twitter’s stickers go live for all →
“Stickers could impact Twitter's bottom line if it chooses to venture into brand-sponsored sticker packs or paid downloads.”
Deadspin / Kevin Draper
Sports Illustrated redesigned its website →
“Sports Illustrated launched a newly redesigned website this morning, and while it's only been a couple of hours, it seems like you can once again visit SI.com without it turning your computer or phone into a brick.”
The Guardian / Sarah Marsh and James Walsh
A debate on how the media should cover terror attacks →
“You are trying to tell an uncertain story as succinctly as possible in a limited amount of characters, but you know that every word choice is loaded with meaning for certain sections of the audience.”
The Guardian / Roy Greenslade
Another U.K. print newspaper gets launched, then shut down quickly →
“Will publishers never learn how flawed it is to rely on such research? Go into any street anywhere and ask people if they would like a new newspaper and the majority will say yes. Then ask them if they will buy it, and again they'll say yes. The reality, however, is that they don't.”
Journalism.co.uk / Thalia Fairweather
5 tips for using analytics in the newsroom →
"’Pageviews do not reveal any user intent,’ [David] Brauchli pointed out. ‘Only using pageviews makes it difficult to see if users are actually engaging with the content. These numbers alone cannot prove if readers actually liked the piece, or learnt anything from it.'”
AdWeek
Time Inc. nixes the role of publisher in ad sales reorganization →
“Chief revenue officer and evp, global advertising Mark Ford unveiled a new sales structure that has the company’s top executives overseeing groups organized around advertising categories, brands or digital sales rather than on individual titles.”