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Tuesday, January 2, 2018
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Cross-examining the network: The year in digital and social media researchJournalist’s Resource sifts through the academic journals so you don’t have to. Here are what they consider 10 of the most important pieces of new research into digital and social media published in 2017. By Denise-Marie Ordway. |
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Apple Podcast Analytics is finally live (and with it, the ability to see how many people are skipping ads)Plus: What to track in podcasts this year, a tribute to Combat Jack, and BuzzFeed casts off Another Round. By Nicholas Quah. |
What We’re Reading
The New York Times / Benedict Carey
The Verge / Kaitlyn Tiffany
Why tiny, weird online communities made a comeback in 2017 →
From finstagrams to Patreon: “Rather than the enormous platforms that couldn't decide if, let alone how they had contributed to the election of a deranged narcissist or the rise of the virulently racist alt-right or a pending nuclear holocaust, why not something smaller, safer, more immediately useful?”
BBC
Germany starts enforcing the hate speech law that could come with a €50 million price tag →
“Facebook has reportedly recruited several hundred staff in Germany to deal with reports about content that breaks the NetzDG and to do a better job of monitoring what people post. The law has been controversial in Germany with some saying it could lead to inadvertent censorship or curtail free speech.”
Bklyner / Liena Zagare
After a plea for subscribers, local news site Bklyner is staying open →
The site had warned it would shut down if 3,000 people did not sign up for $5 monthly subscriptions. It gained more than 1,600 supporters but vowed to press on.
Axios / Sara Fischer
Microsoft and others are creating a coalition for expanding rural access to broadband →
The Federal Communications Commission’s chair Ajit Pai had pointed to declining investment in broadband as a factor in repealing net neutrality rules.
Digiday / Lucia Moses
Reporters, once set against paywalls, have warmed to them →
"I'm finding myself telling reporters, 'You drove subscriptions,'" said Rick Berke, Stat's executive editor. "This is the new world we're in. They like it. I don't say, 'Do this story because people will subscribe.' You want them to think about the quality of what they're doing and not get caught up in the numbers. But we're looking at the data to see which are most popular."
Bloomberg / Jen Skerritt
A trade spat between the U.S. and Canada could increase the cost of printing newspapers →
“A metric ton of newsprint in the U.S. cost about $570 as of Dec. 26, according to FOEX Indexes Ltd., a provider of global pulp and paper data. Prices are the highest since December 2014 and are up 4.8 percent since Oct. 3, after the U.S. began investigating imports of Canadian newsprint.”
The New York Times / A. G. Sulzberger
A note from the New York Times’ new publisher →
“In 1896 my great-great-grandfather left his hometown, Chattanooga, and traveled north to purchase a small, fading newspaper in New York. The moment was not unlike our own.”