When Mark Zuckerberg announced on Jan. 11 that Facebook’s goal would shift to fostering “meaningful social interactions,” he explained the rationale as being rooted in research. The company has found that while connecting with others online is good for users, “passive” consumption of content is “not as good.” So when…

Design products for the people who use them, not for your newsroom. — On the day I began writing this, I woke up to find a new survey from the American Press Institute that identified one key reason young people pay for news: “For younger audiences to be willing to pay, they must bond with your mission and purpose.” What this means is…

News in 2017 doesn’t need to follow the production cycle of news in 1987. — Hey, news industry, you’re doing it wrong. As part of a USC Annenberg class looking at how to create new journalism products, I asked some of my fellow USC students what got in the way of their news consumption today. It was a pretty open question, but they had some…

A USC junior creates a mobile app business from the ground up — When Josh Javaheri entered college in 2013, he knew he wanted to start a business. As a freshman at Boston University, he said, he was surrounded by entrepreneurs, and the environment for technology startups was picking up steam. …

Here, the terms “azure” and “machine learning” can be used in the same sentence — When HackSC began on the night of November 13, the rooms of USC’s Annenberg building were abuzz with chatter. About 700 college students from various schools were brainstorming and embarking on a journey to create something new at the hackathon. One group — who called themselves the “Soylent homies,” after…

Free streaming raises questions about neutrality — When T-Mobile announced Music Freedom — unlimited music streaming not subject to data caps — customers rejoiced. As the company puts it, T-Mobile is “setting music free.” The company was at it again on Tuesday when it announced Binge On, which extends free streaming to a variety of video services. …

Obama administration shuts down pipeline project, welcoming a new era of clean energy — Seven years after it was announced by TransCanada, the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline project was rejected by the Obama administration this week. The project, lauded by some and reviled by others, has been a mainstay of Obama’s presidency, announced just months before he took office.