Digital publishers must take their destiny in their own hands with owned-and-operated platforms

This story is a part of a larger series on a playbook for digital publishers

Don’t ever tether your business to the benevolence of a third party.
– Jim VandeHei, Co-Founder of Axios and Politico

As social media (particularly Facebook) exploded in the early to mid 2010s, publishers like Buzzfeed, Vice, and Refinery29 surged in popularity. With their dizzying growth and valuations, distributed…