Monday, January 15, 2018

Facebook is done with quality journalism. Deal with it. (Monday Note)

From a timely Facebook + journalism reality check; also see Facebook’s startling new ambition is to shrink (The Verge)
"Facebook came up with glowing new products like Newsfeed, Instant Articles, and Facebook Live, providing silly advice for thriving on the platform (“Play on emotion, folks, users love it! — Hem, this might be difficult, we are business news providers…”). Facebook promised a deluge of eyeballs. Caught in the headlights, deer-like publishers silenced their mental warning that said to look deeper, and gave up loads of content in exchange for nearly nothing.

After investing significantly in dedicated teams to produce, promote, and strategize their presence on Facebook, publishers of editorial quality were left with hemorrhaging viewerships and a trickle of revenue. (A group of profusely funded media innovators like BuzzFeed, Vice and others —who cleverly designed their products to blend neatly into Facebook—started out doing well, but now face disappointment).

Those who imagined Las Vegas, now find themselves stuck in Detroit."
Facebook is done with quality journalism. Deal with it.

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