Wordle pays off, regulatory (non)powers, and paywall wisdom... all in this week's Content Aware media highlights and musings.
Profit is a five-letter word
New York Times's latest business update shows the value of a good game: record subscriber onboarding in Q1 2022, helped in no small part by "tens of millions" of new visitors brought in by its acquisition of viral word game Wordle. (PDF download.)
https://nytco-assets.nytimes.com/2022/05/NYT-Press-Release-3.27.2022-Final-O2ACvs2.pdf
EU looks global for anti-trust support
With numerous parallel investigations around the world into the practices of Big Tech, the EU's antitrust chief says to be truly effective there needs to a worldwide approach.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/eu-antitrust-chief-calls-global-approach-towards-tech-giants-2022-05-05/
Corbidge comments... on toothless regulation
Can governments really leave dominant social and search platforms to legislate themselves? Is being friends with Elon Musk now more important than domestic public opinion?
https://www.gpp.io/news/pm-fights-shy-of-big-tech-showdown-aNkGj3h9ahBk
Facebook goes TikTok - less news, more mews?
TikTok's absurdly addictive recommendation algo has severely rattled Facebook/Meta. Users' news feeds may change profoundly as a result as the platform says it will take the lead on recommending content from any source, versus that which your connections are talking about.
https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/facebook-ai-and-a-less-friendly-news-feed.php
Evolution strategy for publishers
Freemium, content specific, guilt, dynamic, and more - a concise summary of different paywall types and strategies as options and acceptability balloon.
https://medialyter.substack.com/p/nuance-is-coming-to-a-paywall-near?s=r
Journalism in crisis? Call the UN
UNESCO has produced a good analysis of the issues facing journalism and journalists. The bottom line is that no one size fits all nations.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000381146/PDF/381146eng.pdf.multi
Harassment and women journalists
Insight and reporting into harassment directed at women journalists.
https://www.niemanlab.org/2022/05/women-journalists-see-harassment-as-part-of-the-job-a-new-study-finds/
Filter it out
In a similar vein, a new filter tool is available to curb the abuse journalists receive on social media. Backed by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and Jigsaw, it's Twitter-only for now.
https://www.trfilter.org/
Fonts of wisdom
Taking emojis black & white.
https://jenniferdaniel.substack.com/p/what-is-black-and-white-and-read?s=r
Please don't enter your password
It was World Password Day this week. Is there a safer future without them?
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-world-password-day-become-passwordless/
Virtuous circle?
BBC study finds people need the BBC.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/documents/mtm-bbc-deprivation-study-2020-2021-final-report.pdf
Meme madness, Woo wellness
A new UK TV-based brand wants to harness the power of the meme for good things.
https://pressgazette.co.uk/itv-woo-memes/
Seller's remorse
Involved in the sale of WhatsApp to FB, Neeraj Arora says he now regrets it - he is trying to publicise a new start-up though.
https://twitter.com/neerajarora/status/1521964283466113024
Thanks as ever for your tips and recommendations!
