Indian publishers near Google deal, audio habits, and SLAPP scrutiny - all in this week's GPP Content Aware media newsletter.
Harms and benefits
With a wealth of data across the UK's national online experiences, Ofcom's 2022 Online Nation report makes interesting reading for anyone in publishing.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/238361/online-nation-2022-report.pdf
SLAPPing down fair scrutiny
It's a known that the UK legal system is open to abuse to protect the wealthy from investigation and exposure - just how often this happens is now a little clearer thanks to this great piece.
https://pressgazette.co.uk/uk-slapp-libel-tourism-capital-europe/
Indian publishers next for Google payouts
Alphabet boss Sundar Pichai says Google is in talks with numerous Indian publishers for a cash-for-content deal. Is this a move before regulators enforce a plan, and will Facebook be forced to follow suit?
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/google-pursuing-licensing-deals-with-publishers-ceo-sundar-pichai/articleshow/91795738.cms
Keep it simple, stupid
We read a lot of academic writing at GPP and it can be hard work. Better to be like Orwell, and keep your writing plain - you'll get more readers. Also... fonts!.
https://thefix.media/2022/5/26/how-much-do-journalists-think-of-readability-also-it-matters-what-kind-of-font-you-choose-to-use
It was big. It came in fast.
The SEO community are still assessing Google's recent core search algorithm update. We'd all like specific names for them, but Google won't play and seems to want them to go unnoticed - kind of difficult if your Analytics graph looks like a seismological sensor after Krakatoa.
https://searchengineland.com/googles-may-2022-core-update-impact-was-mixed-but-it-touched-down-fast-and-seemed-very-large-385479
Brits go wild for audio
Digital audio revenues for publishers soared 500% in the year, as British listeners get ever keener on podcasts.
https://www.inpublishing.co.uk/articles/digital-audio-revenues-up-500-in-q1-2022-20785
Forbes still up for grabs
The Hong Kong-owned US publisher was said to be looking at going public via the trendy SPAC route - but now seems back to courting individual buyers.
https://www.axios.com/2022/06/01/forbes-plans-go-public-spac
Twitter fined $150m
Twitter exploited user data to sell targeted advertising until at least 2019 - a no-no, say regulators.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-61606476
Worried about Deep Fakes and questionable sources?
Know thy future potential enemy: DALLE-2
can make some amazing images from natural language descriptions as many of us have seen. What we didn't know was that DALLE-2 has evolved its own internal language.
https://giannisdaras.github.io/publications/Discovering_the_Secret_Language_of_Dalle.pdf
Reminder: See us in Portugal
Are you signed up for the return of the FIPP World Congress? We are. Come and say hello!
https://di5ru.pt/event/fipp-world-media-congress-2022/