Lessons in third-party platform promises, this time from Snap Inc.
As if we needed another lesson in the downsides of the media shackling their business models to third-party platforms, Snap Inc.—the company behind the popular Snapchat messaging app—is reportedly changing the terms of how it compensates publishers who use its Discover feature, a kind of newsstand where partner media companies can post short videos. According to Digiday, […]
A look at the platform-publisher ecosystem, and a surprise at the Times
Matt McAlister has been working in digital publishing for a long time now, including a stint at The Guardian as director of digital strategy, so he has a long memory when it comes to the relationship between publishers and platforms like Google and Facebook. McAlister now runs a media research company called Kaleida, which just […]
Zuckerberg cares about journalism, but says he doesn’t want to pay for it
The news is important, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at an invitation only event in Menlo Park, Calif. following the company’s F8 conference on Tuesday. The event was an off-the-record briefing that Zuckerberg chose to turn into an on-the-record interview with editors and reporters from a number of leading media organizations, including The New York Times, […]
Campbell Brown on Facebook’s plans to decide what news is trustworthy
In interviews following the F8 developer conference in San Jose on Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he believes that journalism is “incredibly important to society and democracy,” but at the same time noted it is a tiny fraction of what happens on the giant social network. That tension runs through all the ways in […]
British MPs say they may try to compel Zuckerberg to testify
Britain failed in its attempts to get Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to come and testify before a committee looking into the problem of fake news and user privacy following the Cambridge Analytica leak, but it seems the British parliament hasn’t given up quite yet. Damian Collins, the head of the parliamentary committee on digital culture […]
Do people really want to watch a Netflix show about BuzzFeed journalism?
Netflix announced on Wednesday that it is rolling out a new short-form series called Follow This, which will profile writers who work at BuzzFeed News and the stories they are working on, in 15-minute weekly segments (so no binge watching). For example, a promo for the series features BuzzFeed reporter Scaachi Koul talking about a story […]
Conference in Perugia takes the pulse of journalism worldwide
Every year for the last 12 years, some of the top thinkers in journalism, as well as many CEOs of media companies, publishers and startups, have gathered in the Italian city of Perugia for a one-of-a-kind conference called the International Journalism Festival. The summit offered an eyeopening, global perspective on topics that continually confound US journalists. […]
Zuckerberg is trying hard to get out in front of the regulatory wave
Like blind men trying to describe an elephant, everyone describing the Zuckerberg 2018 Apology Tour seems to have found whatever they wanted to find. Some members of Congress clearly believe they confronted the arrogant young billionaire and asked him the tough questions, while many observers—especially those in Silicon Valley—saw Congress demonstrating its ignorance about how Facebook works on even a […]
A special privacy feature available only to Facebook executives
One thing about Facebook is it’s very difficult to get rid of things once they are on the social network. Even if you delete your profile, for several days it exists in a state of limbo, not truly deleted but merely hidden from view, in case you change your mind. And still, your data will remain […]
Could we build the Facebook-era equivalent of public broadcasting?
As Mark Zuckerberg continues his 2018 apology tour by admitting that Cambridge Analytica may have illicitly acquired personal data on as many as 87 million Facebook users, instead of the previous estimate of 50 million, the chorus of voices saying we need to reject the social network (the #DeleteFacebook movement) grows louder. In a New […]
‘We didn’t spend enough time thinking about the risks,’ Zuckerberg admits
When Mark Zuckerberg talks about something that has gone wrong at Facebook—which happens rather frequently—he almost always comes off as concerned and apologetic, and his latest interview on Vox Media’s “The Ezra Klein Show” on Friday, March 30th (a transcript of which was published this morning) is no exception. But anyone who has been following Facebook for any […]
Is there more than a whiff of bias in the media’s coverage of Facebook?
Scott Rosenberg touched off a minor firestorm in the media-sphere with a post at Axios this week, in which the veteran technology writer argues that at least some of the enthusiasm with which media companies are covering Facebook’s trials and tribulations stems from their resentment over how the company has stolen their readers and advertising […]
Fake news, clickbait still doing well after Facebook algorithm change
Earlier this year, Facebook announced a change to its News Feed algorithm designed to reduce the visibility of news—apart from those outlets deemed to be high quality or trusted sources. Instead, as of January the social network said it would favor posts by people and pages, to encourage what it called “meaningful interaction.” What effect has this had […]
Affiliate ad scammers say Facebook helped them trick users
Most of the attention focused on Facebook right now is aimed at the Cambridge Analytica leak, where a shadowy Trump-affiliated organization got hold of personal data on 50 million Facebook users and targeted them with ads and fake news during the 2016 election. But this saga is just one example of how Facebook’s targeting features can […]
Facebook touches the third rail by discussing accreditation of journalists
Not surprisingly, the issue of “fake news” and the role the giant web platforms play in spreading misinformation was a big topic of conversation at the Financial Times “Future of News” conference held last week in New York. But things started to get a little heated when Campbell Brown—Facebook’s head of news partnerships—was asked by moderator Matthew […]