Content Aware media news: August 03, 2023

Big Tech playing chicken in Canada, what works on Threads, Meta's selective data.

Published: 09:33, 04 August 2023

Big tech's game of chicken with Canada continues
Canadians are starting to react to Meta withdrawing Canadian news sources from users' Facebook feeds. (Let's say you relied on it for something like info of a wildfire, eh?) So what do Canadians think about being unplugged from such a vital, nay, essential, part of the digital information network? It seems they're not overly bothered. One needs to be careful when playing chicken.
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Search Generative Experience adds features
Google's AI-enhanced Search Generative Experience is described as "designed to be a jumping-off point for exploring helpful information on the web". "Off" these days seems to mean spending more time on Google as they summarise everyones' content in a box without a link to the source. Three new features have been added recently, with the most interesting for publishers being the addition of "publish dates to links" as a way of establishing recency.
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AP deal with OpenAI = VIP
In being early in licensing its content to OpenAI, the Associated Press struck an interesting bargain. If another publisher got a better deal from OpenAI, then the terms of AP's deal could be renegotiated. A special “most favored nation” clause sits at the heart of it.
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Beauty, Wellness, Fashion: Threads-worthy content?
Meta's new platform Threads has seen a fairly significant fall in users in the weeks following launch. As publishers, we have learned to view platforms and their treatment of our content with a sceptical eye - so what use is Threads to us? Or is it simply an extension of Instagram?
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Corbidge comments on ... Meta's source material problem
Four new social science studies using data provided by Meta have been cited by the company as "proof" that they cannot change audience behaviour and views by changing the content they see. Hmmm. Do we trust their data that much?
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A good graphic is worth a thousand words
Go behind the scenes at Axios with their Data Visualization team. How the Axios maxim of "smart brevity" applies to the work of such a team, and why letting its members work on their own projects within the aims of the business is important to them.
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It's not Social vs News really
UK regulator Ofcom's latest data shows news is the second most popular type of social media video content across the country, coming only after the perennial "how to" videos that are probably the true backbone of all video content traffic.
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Automatically attractive
Singapore's MediaCorp was an early adopter of AI tools in its digital newsroom, a newsroom driven by both video and written content. They have some genuine insight into what AI can do, and really importantly what it won't do - and why a human must always be in the production loop.
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Up to their eyeballs in it
People around the world are allowing their eyes to be scanned in order to collect $50. What is going on with Worldcoin, founded by Sam Altman? And yes, we realise that the name doesn't inspire confidence in it being an entirely altruistic venture. The whole thing is now under investigation in Kenya.
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Another WordPress alert
One of the most popular form-building plug-ins has been linked to a security issue which can expose user data. Read more here.
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