The Splice Slugs: Week 58
Facebook laid of its team of human editors, leaving the Trending section to the algo to run. Of course, bots can’t tell the difference between a real news story or a fake one. You can imagine what happened next: It pushed out a fake one.
…So Mark Zuckerberg insists FB isn’t a media company. “We are a tech company, not a media company. We build the tools. We do not produce any content.” That’s rubbish, or at least a narrow definition of media. Modern media is best defined as having the ability to harness content and deliver it efficiently (and to do exactly the same thing for ads). Content creation is secondary in my view. Btw, here’s a funny open letter to Zucks.
…Dan Rather, the legendary news anchor who inspired so many people to get into journalism, appears to have just realized that FB’s algo is opaque. He questioned (on FB no less) how FB’s “mysterious algorithms” work and what that means for journalism.
…Btw, Facebook lost its first-ever satellite when the SpaceX rocket exploded this week. The satellite was meant to deliver internet connectivity to the developing world.
Not everyone likes that WhatsApp will soon start sharing personal data with Facebook. Brands however, can’t wait to get their hands on your personal information. Is it really that bad?
We’re at the point of peak content — we’re creating more content than people have time for. So here’s another way of planning your content marketing. It’s time to get off the treadmill.
Vice Media’s founder Shane Smith was on stage at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. In his usual brash way, he went after the TV model. “Everyone said young people don’t care about news [and] they sure as hell don’t care about international [news]. Bullshit. They care. But they don’t like the way it’s been portrayed up until now.” Not surprisingly, he pissed off a lot of people.
The rise of video is dramatically changing the way publishers act. Here’s a look at why 2016 is clearly the start of the (long waited) video revolution.
…But here’s the thing. Text is still the preferred format for content. The Oxford University Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism published a report on news consumption. It found that three-quarters of people surveyed still want text. And they find video inconvenient and pre-roll ads annoying.
New rules on the use of drones came into effect in the U.S. this week. If you want to fly a drone, you’ll have to take the FAA’s aeronautical knowledge test — and it’s really tough. “If you think you can just sign up for the test and go take it, you’re wrong. That’s going to scare away a lot of journalists [and] I think that’s going to mean that it’s going to be a specialized skill within the newsroom.”
Vogue Brazil amputated a number of celebrities on Photoshop to drive a “We Are All Paralympians” campaign. Of course it backfired.
Indonesia’s biggest advertising industry bodies picked ComScore as the benchmark for measurements. Some data will be public, while others will be available only to subscribers. A big step forward for the country’s digital industry.
One of Lithuania’s biggest news sites is trying a new tactic in stopping people from ad-blocking them. It’s using its journalists to make an impassioned plea on video: Turn off your ad blockers or pay $1 to support journalism. “They were saying this in their own words, and they even showed sympathy for people who use ad-blocking.”
The Clinton campaign team is using Signal — a super tight encrypted app — to communicate. It’s one way to keep the Russians out of your email servers. And it’s “Snowden approved”.
You can now pinch and zoom photos in Instagram. Finally.
Unicorns aren’t all that rare it seems in the startup space. There are now 171 running around globally. Check out this infographic.
In South Africa last week, I presented some views on the need for publishers to move from mass to personalized media models. I also offered some alternate business plans for niche media services. I ruffled a few feathers and I only swore once. Here’s my deck on Slideshare.
…Some people thought I was mad when I told them that newsrooms will need to create an audio markup language to feed voice-controlled AI like the Amazon Echo. “Teaching” these AI systems will be a function of journalism in the future. We should be able to ask our devices “What’s the latest on the plane crash?” or “What has Clinton done in her first hundred days in office?” I felt validated when I saw this piece in Nieman on Wednesday.
Here’s a good podcast for your weekend. Sam Dolnick and Clifford Levy, digital editors at the New York Times talk about culture change and how to bring the rest of the newsroom along for a successful transformation of the business. If 50 minutes is too long for you to get through, just jump to the 36-minute mark.
Vox Media is prepping an international expansion plan. It just placed a role for VP of International.
An former colleague reached out looking for some help: A famous art auction house is looking for creative freelance video editors in Hong Kong with experience in VFX who can ideally also shoot with high-end production values. Experience in editorial branded content and arts/luxury would be a bonus. Email nigel.hilditch@sothebys.com.
Back to crazy bots. Microsoft had to apologize after Bing translated “Daesh” into “Saudi Arabia”.
Quote of the week:
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill
Have a fantastic weekend!
a.
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