 |
Thursday, January 10, 2019
 |
Breaking news that isn’t breaking, readers who aren’t reading: Some 2019 predictions about social media“What’s the return on investment here? For each hour spent using social media for work, what, precisely, is gained? And what is lost?” By Joshua Benton. |
 |
Nearly a third of publishers agree: No one’s coming to help themWell, except maybe Google. By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
Piano
Paywall provider Piano raises $22 million →
“In just three years it has grown to power over a thousand premium media brands including Business Insider, The Economist, Bloomberg, Men's Health, AdAge, Digiday, The Chive and more.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Matthew Kassel
How local journalists are facing the media’s hostile environment →
“Beto O'Rourke, the upstart Democratic congressman, gave the Dallas Observer no interviews while he was campaigning for Ted Cruz's senate seat, according to Observer editor Patrick Williams. In addition, Hillary Borrud, a reporter for the Oregonian who covers state politics and government, said she struggled to get access to Governor Kate Brown's campaign, which made it difficult to hold her positions and policies to account.”
WWD / Kali Hays
Refinery29 becomes the latest digital outlet to unionize →
“The site's organizing committee cited the ethos behind the editorial brand they work for as part of the inspiration for the effort to unionize. But as last year made clear — with reductions in staff at Refinery29 and a host of other digital media companies facing the end of a nearly decade-long industry bull run — there are things to fear.”
Harvard Business Review / Marick F. Masters and Raymond F. Gibney
The tactics media unions are using to build membership →
“Discontent is not enough to cause the leap in organizing that we've seen in the media industry. So how have organizers changed the equation? First, they have convinced workers that having a union as a bargaining representative will actually help workers do better.”
The Verge / Casey Newton
People older than 65 share the most fake news →
“Facebook users ages 65 and older shared more than twice as many fake news articles than the next-oldest age group of 45 to 65, and nearly seven times as many fake news articles as the youngest age group (18 to 29).”
Digiday / Tim Petersen
What Facebook’s telling marketers about its ad platform clean up at CES →
“‘There's no alternative to Facebook yet. It's easy to be principled when there's an alternative.’ — Agency exec on why advertisers aren't pushing back against Facebook over its privacy issues”
The Hollywood Reporter / Jeremy Barr
Stop Following This: BuzzFeed’s Netflix show will not return for a second season →
“While it’s not uncommon for shows to not last a second season, Netflix renewed the Vox Media show Explained, which beat BuzzFeed’s show [Follow This] to market, for another season in November.”
The Engaged Journalism Accelerator / Ben Whitelaw, Madalina Ciobanu, Kathryn Geels
Behind the scenes of The Correspondent’s email-focused crowdfunding campaign →
“10 people worked full-time on the campaign from the start of November, including an operations lead, engagement editor, operations assistant, developer, designer, and project manager. They also had support from creative partner Momkai, campaign specialists Blue State Digital, Baratunde Thurston and The Correspondent's Dutch newsroom.”