Facebook Fessing Up, End of Google’s ‘First Click Free,’ Yahoo Breach ‘Bombshell,’ Meredith Wellness Launch, Breaking Habits: Using Micro-Process for Editorial Experimentation, InDesign Tip: Using the Next Styles Feature
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 Facebook’s admission of guilt in the ongoing probe of election meddling, the end of Google’s “first click free” paywall loophole, new findings in the Yahoo breach investigation, Meredith’s launch of a new wellness brand targeting millennial women, and more.
Facebook is now coming forward to acknowledge its role in the spread of fake news and Russian-backed advertising intended to influence voters in the 2016 presidential election. After initially dismissing those charges, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post, “For the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together, I ask forgiveness and I will work to do better.” The company has since turned over key evidence to investigators and has been asked to testify before Congress this fall. Recode, for one, offers a full range of reporting on the investigation, including posts on Facebook’s ongoing effort to identify bogus political ads, the role of other platforms and their reactions, the impact of election meddling, and more.- Google officially closed its “first click free” loophole, meaning readers can no longer circumvent paywalls by accessing articles for free via Google search. According to Nieman Lab, publishers can now control how many articles, if any, readers can access before having to subscribe—without suffering steep declines in Google traffic, as did The Wall Street Journal when it shut down the opening back in February. This move comes with other efforts to play nice with media companies, including new tools to drive more subscriptions to publishers, something Facebook has been working on as well.
- On the heels of the massive Equifax data breach, Yahoo said Tuesday that the breach it suffered in 2013 affected all 3 billion of its user accounts, not just the 1 billion it first reported. The company said the true scope of the breach was uncovered by “an investigation with outside forensic experts following Yahoo’s acquisition by Verizon,” which deducted some $350 million off the purchase price of Yahoo upon initial news of the breach in 2016. A MediaPost report says an attorney representing Yahoo users has called the finding a “bombshell” that could mean new liability for the company.
- And a new launch: Meredith announced it’s rolling out a range of content built on a new wellness brand, called Strive, across five magazines and Facebook. According to a statement from the publisher, Strive will target millennial women with “well-researched stories,” along with “practical health tips of the day, personal accounts of health transformation from readers, and product recommendations to help maintain a healthy lifestyle.” The magazines that will feature the new content are Martha Stewart, Shape, Better Homes & Gardens, Parents, and EatingWell.
On the Technology for Publishing Blog
- Feel like you’re on a hamster wheel, churning out content mindlessly? In her latest post, TFP CEO Margot Knorr Mancini explains how a micro-process approach can help you put an end to the madness, highlighting ways to drive low-risk, low-stress experimental change and innovation.
- Also, our new InDesign Tip shows you how to use the Next Style command, which can help you cut down on the time-consuming task of manually applying paragraph styles.
- Don’t miss: Check out National Geographic’s infographic charting billion-dollar weather events like Hurricanes Harvey and Irma—it’s a great example of how to do data visualization right.
Image: Recode
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Posted by: Monica Sambataro
