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Monday, March 26, 2018
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Will news organizations face Facebook-fueled blowback for using third-party tracking on their own sites?“The sins are different; but they are still sins, just as apples and oranges are still both fruit. Exposing readers to data vampires is simply wrong on its face, and we need to fix it.” By Christine Schmidt. |
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Recirculate! Vox Media’s new structure for story packages gives readers context (and helps them stick around)With Facebook turning down the traffic firehose, it’s more important than ever to convert those all one-pageview visits into two- and three-pageview visits. By Christine Schmidt. |
What We’re Reading
Axios / Sara Fischer
Bustle acquires The Zoe Report, suggests more acquisitions to come →
Fashion and lifestyle site The Zoe Report is joining Bustle, Romper, and Elite Daily as the fourth major brand in the Bustle Digital Group.
Digiday / Tim Peterson
Apple is expanding the number of publishers that can serve ads into Apple News articles →
"Apple is all-in on the publisher charm offensive right now," a source said. "They're determined to be the non-Facebook."
Buzzfeed / Delia Cai
When it comes to feminist content around the world, here’s how BuzzFeed’s international editions drive the conversation →
“More fans than haters (probs 70/30), but the ‘machismo culture’ is VERY clear in the comments section. They are so very loud.”—Bibine Barud // BuzzFeed Mexico
Columbia Journalism Review / Andrea Wenzel, Anthony Nadler, Melissa Valle, Marc Lamont Hill
Listening is not enough: Mistrust and local news in urban and suburban Philly →
“While many today point to the promise of local news as a means for building trust with communities, its existence alone is not enough—and it's certainly not a one-size-fits-all solution.”
Reuters / Chris Kahn and David Ingram
Fewer than half of Americans trust Facebook to obey U.S. privacy laws →
A new poll from Reuters/Ipsos finds that fewer Americans trust Facebook than other tech companies that also gather user data, like Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Yahoo, and 46 percent of those polled said they want more government regulation in overseeing the industry’s handling of user information (17 percent want less).
Rita Allen Foundation
The Rita Allen Foundation and RTI International launch a call for ideas to curb the spread of misinformation →
“Up to five ideas will be selected to be featured in the Misinformation Solutions Forum, October 4, 2018, at the Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C. At the forum, the ideas will be further developed with input from academic researchers, technologists, data scientists, journalists, educators, community leaders and funders. To catalyze further development and deployment of solutions, as part of the forum two of the participating teams will be selected to receive Misinformation Solution Prizes, with a top prize of $50,000 and an additional prize of $25,000.”
Facebook Newsroom / Alex Hardiman and Campbell Brown
Facebook is rolling out its boost for local publishers globally →
“With this update, we're helping local publishers who cover multiple, nearby cities reach audiences in those cities. We'll consider a publisher as local to multiple cities if the people in those cities are more likely than the people outside of those cities to read articles from the publisher's domain. By expanding the scope of what may be considered local to people, we're including other cities that people may care about and connecting people to local publishers from those cities.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Meg Heckman
How two local news organizations are using chatbots to build rapport with audiences →
"As long as you're forthright about what you're doing and who they're talking to…you can still create that authentic relationship through something that's artificial."
Bloomberg / Tara Lachapelle
TV’s death by a thousand streaming apps: Are media companies’ online-video services actually making money or meeting consumers’ needs? →
“The TV giants are turning more insular and protectionist of their content, which The Diffusion Group refers to as “media tribalism.” For example, Disney will no longer supply content to Netflix that it will put on its own apps. Meanwhile, consumers are headed the other direction, attached to certain binge-worthy TV series and agnostic as to the network brands producing them. (One exception may be HBO because of the belief that generally everything on HBO is good.) Consumers hoped for a-la-carte packages, but instead will probably have to subscribe to multiple apps as companies increasingly reserve their content for their own direct-to-consumer offerings.”
Journalism.co.uk / Catalina Albeanu
A Polish daily newspaper surpassed its digital subscriptions target by refreshing its approach on Facebook and developing staff skills →
“We carefully select target groups based on our customer base and all options that Facebook ad manager gives us. But the most important on this customer journey is the article itself. When it drives conversions, we keep promoting the text. The golden rule is always to earn more – attract more clients – than spend on Facebook ads.”