Media

Publishers continue to grapple with the various scenarios that would allow for news to continue to be reported and distributed that serves the public good in a financial environment that’s been almost completely abdicated by advertisers.

Turns out slow news – relying on print, in this case, as opposed to staying glued to digital media – offers much more accuracy and much less anxiety. Even better, the news that makes it to you is the result of a deliberate process, not based solely on the whims of a black box machine.

Being able to draw on additional resources to fight the advertising duopoly of Facebook and Google will be good for publishers, but I’m wary of any effort that exempts media companies from antitrust provisions. That’s mainly because once suspended for any reason, it becomes hard to enforce them once again.

Just like everyone else, CBS sees original content as the key differentiator to bring in audiences.

No big deal, just Newsweek – which is already under fire for various issues regarding its journalistic ethics and standards – inserting ad fraud code onto the machines of website visitors.

Look, it’s great that NPR One will be available on Xfinity’s on-demand service, but I take issue with tying distribution of publicly funded content on privately owned channels.

Penske Media continues to build out its entertainment and lifestyle portfolio, acquiring SheKnows Media, the brand behind the popular BlogHer events and more.

Say what you will, but unlike Yahoo at least Google sells off the companies it buys and only then figures out it doesn’t know what to do with. The latest example is it divesting itself of Zagat, which was always a weird fit.

On-air talent at Sinclair Media stations are being ordered to read media-bashing on-air promos that are meant to position everyone else as a liar trading in fake news, because that’s what you do when you are angling for a monopoly and have the chairman of the FCC at your beck and call.

MLB Network is now available on YouTube TV.

Marketing / Advertising

Coworking juggernaut WeWork has acquired a content marketing agency – Conductor – largely as a way to gain access to the agency’s roster of clients, who WeWork then hopes to turn into customers of its own. It’s just the latest sign of the company’s increasingly large ambitions, but you have to wonder what will happen when the venture capital runs out and they have to fund these operations with actual revenue.

Shouldn’t be at all surprising that ads on Facebook are more expensive given that less ads are being shown and less pages being viewed. That’s how advertising works.

Cookies are no longer the end-all-be-all of online advertising tracking. The bad news is things have only become more invasive.

As corporate social responsibility continues to evolve and gain importance in the mind of young consumers, a number of companies are beginning to pledge to reduce or eliminate the use of plastic in their businesses.

Social Media

Hearst continues to expand its media footprint on Musical.ly, adding Cosmopolitan to the existing Seventeen profile on the popular app.

Enhanced metrics are coming to YouTube as it takes its Creator Studio out of beta and into wide usage.

Audio publishers using Soundcloud who are part of the site’s “Premier” tier of creators have access to new features, functionality and marketing opportunities. Matt Maldre has some solid thoughts on why Soundcloud is better for podcast creators and listeners who want to engage in a social conversation.

You can now @ mention people on Snapchat, in case that’s something you were anxious to do.

Falsehoods spread fast – really fast – on Twitter and it’s not because of an algorithm or anything, it’s because people don’t read what they RT and just kind of are…what’s the word…dumb.

Technology

There really won’t be any improvement in the diversity of the needs addressed by technology of the viewpoints represented in its development until there’s change in the percent of VCs that are white males.

I’m not the only one who thinks Google search results shouldn’t be littered with self-promotional, Twitter-like posts from musicians or anyone else, right? Like…wasn’t the whole point of search to be that it surfaced the *best* material, not just a bunch of crap?

Want even more recommendations? Check out my Pocket Shared Items.

Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist who lives in the Chicago suburbs.