Mark Little: Media innovators are failing consumers
Mark Little is a journalist, television presenter, author and “social media visionary”. He presented Prime Time for RTÉ until December 2009. After a year of leave of absence from RTÉ to pursue a project centered on digital media and global journalism, he launched Storyful. Later selling it to News International.
Today, Mark’s work is focused on Neva Labs. Neva Labs is a team of journalists, developers and researchers working together to empower people who want to take back control of their news experience.
Newsvoice recently caught up with him to know his thoughts on the media industry today and his career thus far.
As advertising revenue continues to plummet and publishers look for a different route to monetisation, in what ways does Mark see the media industry innovate and evolve? Mark thinks that where media innovators are failing, is by starting at a point that’s only best for business.
“When you ask people do they get their news from friends and family they’ll say ‘yes’. They’re not. They’re getting it through a filtered algorithm where the content is ranked. We all deserve to own our data, if not as an individual. As a society.”
Listen to the full interview in our weekly Newsvoice Think podcast
The negative press Facebook suffered following the Cambridge Analytica scandal didn’t, at least in the short term, have too much of an effect on its monolithic community. A recent poll suggested 64% of English–speaking people in the U.S., down from 68%, are still using the platform everyday. Newsvoice asked Mark his thoughts on Facebook and the ad–driven business models that are failing society today.
Working at Twitter was a massive influence on Mark Little’s work. He tells us about the challenges during the early days of the tech giant and it being about “free speech, and the survival of the platform”. He shares his frustrations at what he wanted, but couldn’t achieve there. He is proud to have worked there though and feels that it has informed his work today at Neva Labs.
You can read more about Mark Little’s work at the Neva Labs website: https://nevalabshq.com/
With Newsvoice, you can be a part of the media. Our mission is to democratize the news, and move the power over to our readers. Get involved by downloading the app, or visit us at Newsvoice.com.
