3 to read: Social trumps news publishers | WaPo cuts load time | Micropayments: A comeback?

July 21, 2015: A trio of news media stories, videos, and data viz compiled once a week. Get notified via email? Email 3toread (at) gmail.com.

By Matt Carroll <@MattatMIT>

1. Bell: The ongoing news & social mashup is an uneasy dance: Emily Bell, director of the Tow Center, says publishers have lost control of distribution to social. Now they must work with the social platforms that most efficiently deliver their news, while at the same time remaining wary, because these platforms do not share the same journalistic values.
2. Twitter vs Facebook vs news: The percent of people who read news through Facebook and Twitter continues to rise at a staggering rate, according to a new Pew report. What’s more interesting is how readers and viewers use those social platforms in very different ways. Users are far more likely to read breaking news on Twitter than Facebook. And Twitter users tend to get a broader variety of news, and are also more likely to follow specific news outlets.
3. Cutting load time: The Washington Post cut its load time by 85 percent. That’s a noble effort, since bloated load times on mobile are among the easiest ways to to drive readers crazy. And lose them.

Bonus: Micropayments for news stories make a comeback. (Maybe.): Tipsy lets you set a flat rate and easily split it among your favorite content makers. It’s a cool idea. Will it work where others have failed? We’ll see.

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Matt Carroll runs the Future of News initiative at the MIT Media Lab.