Study: More people access news via web browsers, but native-app users spend much more time reading (Nieman Lab, 7/20/16)

The story here comes to exactly the right conclusion, which is that app readers are your most brand-loyal readers, the ones who have decided a specific outlet’s content has value, so they spend more time with that content. Otherwise people are just driving by as they click on random links from Facebook. So now extrapolate this out to off-site content like Medium and Facebook Instant Articles and you can see there’s low brand awareness or loyalty since there’s little to no care given to where those articles are coming from.

The Washington Post unveils ‘Paloma’ newsletter delivery platform (Washington Post, 7/20/16)

This could be a big, attractive option for newsrooms and publishers who are currently using other email providers. I don’t know if it’s better than something like MailChimp or Constant Contact, but it comes with the Post’s – and Amazon’s – credibility behind it and that’s a powerful motivation to at least try it out.


Pandora Wants to Add More Podcasts to Grow Listening Hours (Variety, 7/21/16)

It’s super-interesting to me that podcasts, a more or less dormant, niche format just a couple years ago, is now being eyed by someone like Pandora as a low-cost form of attractive content for it to add. With so many players (literally) in this field, though, it comes down to the UX. Right now the only option that has *everything* is iTunes, so Pandora will have to publicize itself as a distribution platform for producers and innovate to make the user experience as attractive as possible.

Periscope Goes Live In Twitter Web Embeds (Variety, 7/21/16)

A nice addition in functionality, but I wonder how much longer Periscope is going to keep the 24 hour limit in place. Right now that’s looking more like a handicap as they try to take on Facebook and YouTube for the live video audience than a key differentiating point, especially with the news that Facebook is increasing the limit for live streams to four hours. 

Some Media Companies Cool on YouTube Distribution (Wall Street Journal, 7/22/16)

Basically this is companies deciding they don’t care about their archives. Facebook, Snapchat and others are fine distribution options, but it’s not a zero sum game. Those native videos on social networks will get you a quick burst of viewers but then some kind of more permanent, searchable archive is needed for the videos to continue to be hosted on and that’s what YouTube is for. Yes, YouTube can change their TOS just like any other network and leave you high and dry, but shy of going back to the days of every company using native Quicktime videos on their sites, YouTube is the best long-tail option there is and ignoring it is short-sited, ensuring those videos have almost no relevance after the first 72 hours of their release. 

Candidates’ social media outpaces their websites and emails as an online campaign news source (Pew, 7/20/16)

This makes a lot of sense, despite the prevailing narrative across media that email is the primary way people want to keep up with things. The key phrase here is “keep up,” which now includes not just knowing what a candidate’s positions on issues are, which is good for email, but who they’re dissing, how they’re responding to the news of the day and more, which is what’s happening on social channels.

Foursquare is Debuting a Dashboard for its Intrigue Foot Traffic Measurement System (Adweek, 7/25/16)

I have more than a little skepticism about this but if they can pull it off it would be immensely valuable to retailers as they seek to prove ROI on their marketing. Also continues to reinforce my notion that Foursquare’s real value is not as a stand-alone app of any sort but as a data company. 

Twitter to Live-Stream MLB, NHL Games for Free In Latest Sports Plays (Variety, 7/25/16)

While interesting, note that it’s still subject to market blackout restrictions, so home team fans won’t be able to experiment with this new streaming option when that team is playing. That makes any option, including this one, a lot less attractive since it’s then only for those who have moved away from their favorite team or those who just want to try something out, which doesn’t speak to a whole lot of audience interest and therefore not a lot of ad revenue potential. 

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