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Wednesday, November 8, 2017
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The Washington Post on Reddit surprises users with its non-promotional, ultra helpful presenceUser: “Lol is this the real WaPo account?” The Washington Post: “’tis we, irl.” By Shan Wang. |
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Policy, not recipes: The New Food Economy focuses on the underreported stories of our food systemAt a time when “food” on the web means “recipe videos,” The New Food Economy is going in a different direction. By Ricardo Bilton. |
China blocks Facebook. But state-owned media still target English-speaking audiences on the platform
What We’re Reading
Twitter / emilybell
Watch the trailer for “The Post,” Spielberg’s upcoming film about The Washington Post during Watergate →
Starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.
Gizmodo / Kashmir Hill
How Facebook figures out everyone you’ve ever met →
“Shadow contact information has been a known feature of Facebook for a few years now. But most users remain unaware of its reach and power. Because shadow-profile connections happen inside Facebook's algorithmic black box, people can't see how deep the data-mining of their lives truly is, until an uncanny recommendation pops up.”
Frontfundr
Canadian nonprofit Discourse Media is now letting people buy equity in the company →
“From November 8 until December 21, Canadians can invest through FrontFundr, an innovative online platform that enables individuals to buy equity in private companies for a minimum investment of $250. This democratization of ownership enables everyday Canadians to participate in the startup economy.”
The Business of Fashion
Paper Magazine has been sold →
The new owners “plan to grow the digital content into the primary revenue source by expanding the team, investing in video and viral strategies and building ‘social architecture and distribution’ technology.”
Quartz
Quartz launches its lifestyle and culture section Quartzy →
It builds off a newsletter of the same name, launched in 2016.
ProPublica
ProPublica wanted to fund an investigative reporter at six local newsrooms across the country. It’s gotten 239 applications →
“The applications focused on everything from police brutality to the opioid crisis to influence peddling to Native American issues. In asking newsrooms to apply, we said we were open to those working in any medium. People took us up on it: We received 42 applications from radio stations, 20 from TV stations, dozens from newspapers and dozens more from websites — plus at least one podcast-only pitch.”
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism / Aasma Day
We need more diversity among the data journalists doing the data journalism →
“Thus, while it is right and critically important that data journalists draw attention to disparities, wrongdoings and prejudices, however uncomfortable, there is a danger that they focus on the differences rather than promoting inclusion: in other words, there is a risk of perpetually painting people from minorities as the victims, or further segregating them from society.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Justin Ray
The most-read stories since Trump’s election for publishers from Fox News to NPR →
“Though it felt at moments that Trump was taking up all the media oxygen, audiences actually spent more time digesting information on major stories — including national disasters and mass shootings — with few ties to Trump.”
Digiday / Ross Benes
‘The beginning of a giant industry’: An oral history of the first banner ad →
“On Oct. 27, 1994, Wired magazine's digital affiliate HotWired ran what later became known as the web's first banner ad. And the internet has not been the same since.”
Bloomberg.com / Adam Satariano and Lulu Yilun Chen
Tencent, the company behind WeChat, takes a 12 percent stake in Snap →
“Tencent has experience turning its apps into big money-makers by adding games, newsfeeds and advertising. Taking a stake in Snap also could help the Chinese company expand outside its home market.”
Poynter / Rick Edmonds
What does Mark Zuckerberg really think of the value of news? Not all that much. →
“We’re going to focus a lot more on helping people share videos of their moments in their lives…what the research that we found shows is that when you’re actually engaging with people and having meaningful connections, that’s time well spent, and that’s the thing that we want to focus on.”
Wicked Local / Abbi Matheson
This Arlington dad runs famed humor publication McSweeney’s out of his TV room →
Seven times out of 10, McSweeney’s managing editor Christopher Monks noted, he's right about whether a submission is funny enough to go viral.