Trump vs. the Media, Facebook’s Journalism Project, Instagram Stories Ads, Yahoo’s Name Change and Board Departures, TFP’s Infographic Pick of the Week
Welcome to Technology for Publishing’s roundup of news, stories of interest, and tips for media industry pros! This week, we’re sharing posts about Donald Trump’s clash with the media at his inaugural press conference, Facebook’s new Journalism Project, Instagram Stories ads, Yahoo’s name change and Marissa Mayer’s pending departure from its board, and more.
Just about everyone reported on—and offered opinions about—Donald Trump’s clash with a CNN reporter at his inaugural news conference, calling the news outlet a “terrible organization” and “fake news.” The president-elect also had harsh words for Buzzfeed, calling it “a failing pile of garbage” for publishing a compromising but unverified report about him and his ties with Russia. As a New York Times article pointed out, tension between Trump and the media, while rising after the incident, is nothing new. But what is new, it said, is that the event set off a “war” among media outlets themselves, with the question being whether Buzzfeed should have published the uncorroborated report and how that move affects the overall news business. Debate aside, Business Insider reported Fox news host Shep Smith defended rival CNN news correspondent Jim Acosta, the subject of Trump’s wrath at the news conference, saying Acosta should not have been subject to “belittling and delegitimizing by the president-elect of the United States.”- Also in the news world, Facebook offered a road map of features for journalists to make “its commitment to the industry clear,” TechCrunch reported, providing a detailed look at the tools the social media platform is making available under its new Facebook Journalism Project. Those include digests of Instant Articles users can subscribe to, free subscription trials, publisher hackathons, more Facebook tutorials for journalists, as well as new campaigns to promote news literacy and combat fake news and hoaxes, it said. The company will also provide access to CrowdTangle, a journalism tool it acquired that can help reporters identify trends, sources, and influencers, and measure engagement.
- Meanwhile, along with announcing it now has 150 million daily users, Facebook-owned Instagram said it is moving ahead with a plan to monetize Stories, a Snapchat knock-off app it launched five months ago, with skippable photo and video ads that appear between Stories. Unlike Snapchat Discover partners, however, Stories publishers aren’t seeing any ad revenue yet, according to WSJ’s CMO Today, although they are allowed to charge marketers for “sponsored content” they include in their Stories. “It’s still really early days on Instagram,” said PopSugar co-founder and CEO Brian Sugar in the WSJ report. “It really helps publishers build their brand. It’s not yet at the center of our revenue strategy.” But publishers do see a business model emerging: “The fact that they opened the door with ads should lead to more things down the road,” said Bustle chief Brian Goldberg.
- Finally, Reuters and others reported Yahoo will change its name to Altaba after it closes the sale of its core Internet business to Verizon. The deal is currently valued at $4.8 billion but could be amended as part of the fallout from the massive data breaches Yahoo recently revealed. Verizon has said it is still investigating the situation. Reports also said CEO Marissa Mayer will step down from the board after the sale along with five other company directors.
On the Technology for Publishing Blog
- The content business is fierce, so having the tools you need to get a leg up on the competition is a must. This week’s infographic pick provides a visual guide to the “epic” content cycle, a 10-step approach that takes you from brainstorming, researching, and choosing your topics through to crafting, polishing, and promoting your posts.
- Also check out what’s new in Adobe Experience Manager Mobile v2017.1. We outline all the features, enhancements, and bug fixes Adobe rolled out in this latest release.
- And don’t miss Monica Murphy’s latest InDesign CC Tip! She shows you how to use straddling footnotes, a new option that lets you straddle footnotes across all columns on a page.
Photo: CNN
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Posted by: Monica Sambataro
