Half time at GEN Summit: Insights from day 2
With the Data Journalism Awards Ceremony taking place the evening of Thursday 16 June, it is time to summarise what we have learned so far.
Reporting by Karina Auer.
Evgeny Morozov on data business, monopolies and Marxism
Author Evgeny Morozov levelled criticism at big firms’ data monopoly and the power they exercise in society, the media industry and the economy.
He called data a “monetised resource” that is not made for the market. “The real business is data extraction” he said and triggered a fiery discussion in the follow-up session which even tackled Marxism.
News and Netflix: It gets personal
Also on the agenda was the Netflix Effect and the personalisation of news. According to speaker Anita Zielina, chief editor at Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the future lies in “contextualised personalisation” rather than just more of the same content.
According to Andrew Jack, head of curated content at the Financial Times, individualisation is possible, but it’s better to pull back a little bit and let humans judge what they want to see.
Marten Blankesteijn, founder and CEO at Blendle, added: “Every successful online service is personalising without asking.”
Social Media as a news source: Insights from Reuters Institute
Additionally, Reuters Institute presented this year’s digital news report, which examined news consumption in 26 countries. Key points included the rise of social media as a news source, an increasing number of people who are willing to pay for news, and the growth of video that is slower than expected. Questions that were raised during the session tackled the missing data from China which is not included in the survey. Due to its internet censorship, a different approach would need to be found to examine their data as well.
Reporting by Conor McMahon
How to block the blockers
Day two of the GEN Summit closed with Frederic Filloux’s presentation on how to beat ad blockers. Mr Filloux, editor of Monday Note, a Medium blog that covers digital business models and technology since 2007, shared figures that were quite startling. For example, 419 million mobile users have installed adblockers on their devices, based on figures provided by PageFair. This is of particular concern, Mr Filloux said, because “the shift to mobile has begun in a very harsh way.”
So how do publishers take on ad blockers? “Negotiation is not an option,” he said, because “because ad block ecosystem is more scattered than ever and ad blocking companies have no ethics. If they say otherwise, that’s bullshit — excuse my French.”
He believes that in order to regain control, publishers must look at the design of content interfaces and examine the way ads are designed sold and priced. The key thing is to listen to the reader and shift to premium status within your digital strategy.
Want some inspiration? Look to Forbes, Mr Filloux said, which has an “ad light experience” which has led to increased consumption from readers and increased the amount of time they spend on the site.
Fun fact
Did you know that GEN board member and chief strategist at Mic.com Cory Haik has not one, but TWO dresses made from newspapers?
“I have one made out of newsprint fabric,” she said. “It’s made out of a 1920s, Vogue pattern. Someone actually printed it for a gala that I went to. I think it was the talk of the town — but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.”
In our interview with Cory Haik she shares some insights into how news organisations can share news with millennials.
The last word
Quote of the day came from Tony Emerson, managing director of worldwide media and cable at Microsoft. When asked about the tech giant’s acquisition of LinkedIn — the biggest in Microsoft’s history — he simply said, “We think it’s great.” It was so underwhelming it was fantastic.
