In September, the Wall Street Journal unveiled many of Facebook’s secrets in the Facebook Files investigation. One of those findings relates to the nature of the 2018 algorithm change, which prioritized content from friends and family over the news. That decision has been partly responsible for today’s polarization, as it was the germ that created […]
M&A and SPACs—how the media sector finally secures funds
The last 12 months have brought significant changes to the financial markets, with the rise of retail investors, the SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) boom, and the merger and acquisitions flow. Those trends have also reached the media industry. As an introduction, a special purpose acquisition company, also known as a blank-check company, is a […]
Spotify rides the wave of audio news
Spotify’s diversification strategy is finally showing results. The firm has been investing for years in podcasts to move away from its core business, music. So far, the tactic is working. Demand for audio news is still rising, and ads within those podcasts are bringing in revenue. Spotify has become the podcast king in little over […]
Social media wars 2021
It’s been only three years since TikTok landed in the US, and its success is unparalleled. The Chinese ByteDance-owned app garners around 100 million active users in the country, with most of them under the age of 40. With its short videos, its fantastic selection algorithm, and its strategy to increase the duration of the […]
Clubhouse’s death is Twitter’s gain
Despite the hype surrounding Clubhouse earlier this year, the platform is slowly dying in favor of its tech mogul competitors. Its invitation-only structure and its iPhone-based design (at first,) Clubhouse has been a victim of its own success—the app will disappear, but what it brought won’t. And while the app’s numbers become stagnant, the other […]
Facebook’s oversight board in action
Six months have passed since Facebook’s oversight board started working as the social media’s “Supreme Court,” and the jury is still out on its efficiency. But what’s clear is that the board is not upholding all of Facebook’s decisions on content removal; on the contrary, it is overturning most of the tech company’s actions. Still, […]
NFTs or how to collect on the Internet
In March, a new buzzword took hold of social media—non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs, assets verified by blockchain, were suddenly everywhere, and artists were trying to figure out how to take advantage of the wave. Some managed to make eye-popping gains from selling their digital art through NFTs, and soon, media outlets, musicians, and even Jack […]
Native-digital companies in deep trouble
In the early 2000s, a few visionaries set out to launch digital native outlets that would capitalize on the power of the Internet and social media. Today, those same outlets, which depend on digital advertising and virality, are in deep trouble. The latest news comes from the HuffPost, where the newspaper has laid off 47 […]
