Hyper-Partisan Pages Still Outperforming Mainstream Media on Facebook
By Matt Karolian
16 April 2018
Spend any measurable time talking with journalists and you’ll be bombared with critiques of Facebook. Some theories are farcical, such as Facebook purposefully crushing organic page reach of publishers so they are forced to Facebook ads to reach their fans (I honestly doubt Zuckerberg, or anyone else at Facebook, thinks newspapers have big ad budgets.) Others, such as Facebook being a prime vehicle for spreading devisive, sensationalistic, half-truths ring, very, very true.
Thailand Tops Internet Usage Charts
By Suchit Leesa-Nguansuk
6 February 2018
Thailand is the world leader for time spent on the internet and mobile internet per day, a consequence of higher social media use and the popularity of online video consumption. Thailand ranks in the top 10 for mobile social media penetration and top four for time spent on social media, according to social media management platform Hootsuite and global agency We Are Social.
Inside the Two Years That Shook Facebook—and the World
By Nicholas Thompson & Fred Vogelstein
19 February 2018
One day in late February of 2016, Mark Zuckerberg sent a memo to all of Facebook’s employees to address some troubling behavior in the ranks. His message pertained to some walls at the company’s Menlo Park headquarters where staffers are encouraged to scribble notes and signatures. On at least a couple of occasions, someone had crossed out the words “Black Lives Matter” and replaced them with “All Lives Matter.” Zuckerberg wanted whoever was responsible to cut it out.
Social Networks Are Broken. Ethan Zuckerman Wants to Fix Them
By Rachel Metz
10 February 2018
In the past, if you wanted to change the world, you had to pass a law or start a war. Now you create a hashtag. Ethan Zuckerman studies how people change the world, or attempt to, by using social media or other technological means. As director of the Center for Civic Media at MIT and an associate professor at the MIT Media Lab, he tries to help his students make sense of these issues. Zuckerman is also writing a book about civic engagement during a time when we have a lot less trust in institutions—government, businesses, banks, and so on.
For the First Time Ever, Twitter Has Finally Turned a Profit
By Mike Murphy
9 February 2018
It only took 12 years, but Twitter has finally turned a quarterly profit.
The social network reported its fourth-quarter earnings today, Feb. 8, and as expected, the company posted a modest profit, pulling in $91 million on $732 million in revenue. That’s a jump of 2% on the revenue it posted in the same period last year. It attributed the small rise to increased advertising revenue, stemming from the myriad updates it made to its product over the last year, as well as video ad sales. (Annual revenue for the company was slightly down in 2017, however—it generated $2.4 billion, versus $2.5 billion in 2016.)
Facebook Is Done With Quality Journalism. Deal With It.
By Frederic Filloux
16 January 2018
For Facebook, journalism has been a pain in the neck from day one. Now, bogged down with the insoluble problems of fake news and bad PR, it’s clear that Facebook will gradually pull the plug on news. Publishers should stop whining and move on.
Let’s admit that publishers have been screwed by Facebook. Not because Mark Zuckerberg is evil, but because he’s a pragmatist. His latest move should not come as a surprise. On Thursday, for the second time in six months, Facebook stated publicly that news (i.e., journalism) will appear further down in everyone’s newsfeed, in order to favor posts from friends, family and “groups.” Read the article on Medium.
Facebook Demotes the News: What It Means for News Orgs
By Matt McAlister
12 January 2018
Facebook announced a considerable change to their news feed that will profoundly affect professional media. We don’t yet know how dramatic the numbers will drop, but there are some indicators that could help us understand what’s going to happen.
While Facebook’s decision to demote news in the feed may feel sudden and drastic there have been signals for some time that things were going to change. Kaleida data has been showing a steady decline in news engagements for several months. See the article
Facebook’s Changes
By Jeff Jarvis
13 January 2018
So, here’s what’s on my mind about Facebook’s changes, just announced by Mark Zuckerberg, to “prioritize posts that spark conversations and meaningful interactions between people” over content from media and brands. Read Jarvis’ take
Facebook’s Newsfeed Changes: A Disaster or an Opportunity for News Publishers?
By Charlie Beckett
13 January 2018
Social media and digital executives in newsrooms already have a tough job connecting their content to consumers via social media, but Facebook’s proposed changes in the algorithms of its ‘newsfeed’ are going to make it a lot harder. Social networks offer immense opportunities for reaching vast new audiences and increasing the engagement of users with journalism. The most important platform in the world is about to make that more difficult. See the article
How WeChat Became the Primary News Source in China
By Mia Shuang Li
12 January 2018
Flourishing social media platforms like WeChat are changing journalism in China. In place of legacy media companies, independent influencers called Key Opinion Leaders, or KOLs, are attracting both attention and money. See the article in CJR.