Rough couple days for the media, mostly because the rules have been thrown out. Over the last few weeks a bruhaha has been bubbling around Substack, the hot new email publishing tool that allows writers to charge subscription fees to readers. The substance of that is nicely summarized by Annalee Newitz: Substack is not merely … Continue reading editors, blogging and platform/publishing confusion
Medium Gives Twitter Referrals Preferential Treatment
If you’re not familiar with the details of what the term “zero rating” means you’ve likely still encountered it in some manner. The concept has been applied by wireless carriers to help lure customers concerned that streaming services, social media and so on are eating too much of their monthly data allocation. So a company … Continue reading Medium Gives Twitter Referrals Preferential Treatment
Why Are We Dependent on Platforms?
There’s something that wasn’t sitting quite right with me about this post that was published to The Writing Collective, a showcase publication for writers on Medium. The writer, whose intentions are good and who shares some solid (if anecdotal) advice on content promotion, essentially makes the case that by publishing - or republishing - posts … Continue reading Why Are We Dependent on Platforms?
I Won’t Outsource My Success
There have been a couple stories in the last few weeks about how a new novel or TV show or something has been announced after the writer and his/her material was found on Wattpad, a platform that has positioned itself as a place for aspiring writers to share their work. The site seems to have … Continue reading I Won’t Outsource My Success
Medium, Spotify and the Problem With Editorial Platforms
I know it’s shocking, but last week Medium pivoted again. With little or no warning, it informed publishers using the platform that it was discontinuing their ability to offer paid memberships to readers, cutting off a source of revenue and audience-building for many outlets. The rationale for this latest shift is that Medium felt the … Continue reading Medium, Spotify and the Problem With Editorial Platforms
Abandoning the Cult of Medium
With the turn of the calendar over to the new year I, as I stated before, decided to reevaluate some things I was doing online. Over the last couple weeks, I’ve rejiggered my personal editorial calendar a bit, deleted over a dozen inactive online profiles and made other changes. One of those was to stop … Continue reading Abandoning the Cult of Medium
At Least Medium Is Trying Something Different
A few days ago Medium announced it was opening up the ability to put stories behind a membership wall to all publishers, letting them get paid based on the engagement on those stories. It’s understandable that many would be skeptical given Medium has changed course a number of times over the years and still can’t … Continue reading At Least Medium Is Trying Something Different
Quick Takes: Content Marketing and Media News for 10/10/17
Twitter is reportedly working on a “Save for Later” feature that would presumably compete with Pocket and other services. The goal seems to be to make the product more all-encompassing and therefore stickier to users. An update from eMarketer reports that U.S. adults will spend 12 hours consuming media each day, with half of that … Continue reading Quick Takes: Content Marketing and Media News for 10/10/17
Quick Takes: Content Marketing and Media News for 9/22/17
Hulu is committing $2.5 billion to the arms race it’s engaged in with other streaming companies who see original content as the key to success. An analysis by Parse.ly shows Flipboard is second-only to Twitter in terms of sending referral traffic to publishers on mobile devices. The pilot of the new supernatural comedy “Ghosted” will … Continue reading Quick Takes: Content Marketing and Media News for 9/22/17
Content Marketing Updates for 8/25/17
A roundup of all the news you need to know about Snapchat, Anchor, Facebook and lots more.
