OPINION - Josh Marshall on the Digital Media Crash

Joshua Marshall is an American Polk Award-winning journalist and blogger who founded Talking Points Memo. 

The New York Times Magazine calls his blog "one of the most popular and most respected sites" in the blogosphere.

Perhaps you've been wondering how the digital media/advertising/news complex works. Or, perhaps you're wondering why advertising seems more expensive and less effective than you expected in this new paradigm. 

What ever you imagined, this opinion piece is a good explanation of what may be occurring. What Marshall has to say about the digital news media crash deserves further attention by investors, advertisers and marketers. 

Here is the link to his article published on November 17th. 

MEDIA - Mobile, Data and Measurement

As consumers expand their use of mobile devices to discover price, delivery, services and products, better tools for measuring the influence and impact of the client experience are needed.

Babak Pahlavan, Senior Director of Product Management at Google, has posted a good article about how an 'open source' solution is needed and what Google is doing to be more transparent in this area. 

Organizations that are concerned about the efficacy of their digital media activities should pause to consider how they measure the results. Feeding back client experience information from digital media campaigns into public relations and marketing strategies needs to come of age.

To add clarity to this subject we provide a link to the article below:

MOBILE, DATA & MEASUREMENT

FUTURE TRENDS - Tackling Bad Behaviour on Social Media

(netsanity.net)

Online social interaction has been a fraught topic since its earliest days, and although the technology has progressed, the fear remains. So, too, does the promise.

“Stranger danger” has new relevance in the digital age, where users take it as a given that the person on the other end of the keyboard may not be who they say they are.

In addition to the age-old stranger danger trope, online forums are full of cyberbullying, hate speech, and abuse.

But social media offers benefits that often outweigh these risks, and many vulnerable and isolated groups are finding community online.

How can users and providers tip the balance, facilitating more positive and pro-social engagement and discouraging abuse and bullying?

Experts have been weighing in on this issue for years, and many of the suggestions made a few years ago have been tried, without much success.

Ideas, such as the ones listed in this 2013 BBC article, including “add a report abuse button to everything,” “get the police to do it,” and “force people to use their own names” are all strategies that have backfired.  

For example, Facebook’s real name policy has been widely panned for its negative impact on women, abuse victims, and minorities.

Their option to report a violation of community standards has been co-opted by trolls, is differentially enforced, and is frequently used to silence the very people it was meant to protect.

Twitter’s introduction of a report button met significant skepticism, for fear of the same issues cropping up.

And when it comes to having the police handle it, criminalization often won’t work when it comes to abusive speech online.

Dr. Martin Graff, head of research in psychology at the University of South Wales and an expert in online interaction, told Vice, “most of the harassment that people are worried about is not actually illegal, not something you can be jailed for. When words are hurtful, the best solution is to sit people together, and bring some context.”

Adding context is critical.

When Nextdoor found that their neighbourhood social app had a racial profiling problem, they tackled it through design changes that encouraged users to think more carefully about what they were posting.

They saw a 75% reduction in racial profiling posts.

This offers hope for designers of other platforms, also.

Quartz reminds designers that, “There’s no such thing as an unbiased platform. Every digital interaction encourages certain behaviors, and every media channel has limitations. Actively shaping those parameters to encourage civil, factual discussion isn’t only justifiable—it’s nearly an ethical necessity.”

Virtual reality may provide a new frontier for the “active shaping” that Quartz is so optimistic about, by re-humanizing the voice across the digital divide.

There is evidence that people are more civil when speaking face to face, and VR may bring that dynamic back into the digital realm.

But without careful design choices, VR will run into the same issues of rampant misogyny and abuse that other platforms experience, as evidenced by the fact that there have already been reports of sexual harassment in VR spaces.

In 2015 UNESCO released a 60-page report on the topic of countering online hate speech.

Their conclusion? The issue is complex.

The digital environment is not fully understood, and human behaviour online is adapting at a rapid pace.

Awareness, responsiveness, and intentional design are going to have to be part of the solution on the side of providers.  

And for users? Psychology may offer some answers.

Cognitive behavioural training, cognitive bias modification, inhibition training, and empathy training are all strategies that can help prevent abuse and shift the internal motivations that drive abusers to tweet, post, and hashtag with such violence.

Changing the way users think may help cut down on the negative aspects of online interaction, and it may also help more people find meaningful connections with each other.

That potential for connection is one of the true gifts of the digital era.

About Tiffany Sostar

Tiffany is a published academic, an editor with the Editors Association of Canada, an independent scholar and researcher, and a self-care and narrative coach. She is particularly interested in the intersection of technology and identity - how our tools shape our selves and change our stories, and in how the nature of work is changing as we incorporate more technology into our daily lives.

FUTURE TRENDS - Social Media is Changing How we Communicate

Social media is changing the way we communicate, and there are some valid fears about what that means.

But the changes are not all bad, and many isolated or vulnerable communities are finding ways to use social media to overcome their barriers to connection and health.

Aside from the business benefits of social media, including marketing, branding, and networking, social media is also having positive impacts in a range of small communities.

One example of an isolated group using social media effectively can be found in Canada’s First Nations communities.

2014 research published in the Canadian Journal of Communications found that “members of First Nation communities in the Sioux Lookout zone are frequent users of social networking sites” and that social media use “is contributing to social capital, strengthening both bonding and bridging networks within and among the communities, and providing an important avenue for sharing information and stories that support the development and preservation of culture.”

For these users, although issues of hateful comments by anonymous users are still a concern (a concern that is found on social media sites across the web), the benefits of connection, community, and cultural preservation are often worth the risk.

Another example of vulnerable and isolated users finding community online is among the elderly.

Although users in their 80s and 90s faced a learning curve when engaging online, once they started sharing stories and photos, their sense of isolation decreased and they found a valuable outlet for social connection.

This is important, because social isolation among the elderly is linked to significant health risks.

Social media has also been beneficial for autistic individuals seeking community, and for their families.

There are a lot of people online, and a lot of people using new technology to find communities that they couldn’t access when they were limited to the groups within their physical area.

LGBT people, people with chronic or mental illness and, of course, people of colour (and especially women of colour) are finding connection and community through social media.

There is even an organization using social media to connect homeless individuals with their families and mitigate some of the social isolation that can accompany homelessness.

When it comes to youth, the issue is complex.

Young people in Cape Town, South Africa have used social media to challenge stigmas and stereotypes, find volunteer opportunities, and network into careers that they might not have been able to access otherwise.

But many other young people find themselves the targets of vicious cyberbullying, and a recent study found that 73% of middle and high school students had been bullied at school at some point, and 44% had been bullied in the last 30 days.

Girls were more likely to have been bullied, which is not a surprise given what research has already demonstrated about misogyny online.

This highlights the complexity of social media’s impact on communities.

Those groups most in need of connection – the vulnerable, isolated, and marginalized among a population – are also the most likely to face the ugly side of social media.

A recent study on hate speech online is a poignant counterpoint to the benefits found by Canada’s First Nations communities – 48% of hate posts analyzed targeted race.

There’s safety and connection online, but there’s also hate.

Although there is significant good being found, and built, on social media platforms, there is work to be done.

The final article in this series will examine ways forward for social media users and providers.

About Tiffany Sostar

Tiffany is a published academic, an editor with the Editors Association of Canada, an independent scholar and researcher, and a self-care and narrative coach. She is particularly interested in the intersection of technology and identity - how our tools shape our selves and change our stories, and in how the nature of work is changing as we incorporate more technology into our daily lives.

DIGITAL - More Consumers Using Social Media to Connect With Businesses

One is hard-pressed to make the argument that social media doesn’t matter.

There are few business models left that can’t benefit from some social media exposure, marketing or advertising.

According to studies conducted by Forrester research, adult savviness with respect to social media is on the rise – up three per cent from 37 to 40 per cent.

Other key findings made by the research firm include the discovery that 31 per cent of consumers are in constant use of social media to connect with businesses, a four per cent increase from 2015.

Sixty-nine percent of these consumers buy online and on mobile.

According to Hootsuite, a popular social media marketing and management dashboard, one of the greatest advantages to businesses is building brand/product loyalty:

“A study by The Social Habit shows that 53 per cent of Americans who follow brands on social media are more loyal to those brands.”

For the less technologically-savvy social media user, dashboards such as Hootsuite can alleviate overwhelming decisions of what platforms to use and when, as the ‘one stop shop’ allows users to post using one system to a number of platforms at the same time.

The optimization tools also allow its users to schedule posts ahead of time, therefore optimizing traffic flow and resulting in more targeted leads.

Built-in analytics allow for better tracking to ensure your audience is achieving best results though interacting through your website/social media platforms.

Networking, piggyback advertising and creating repeat business lies in the sharing of content, frequency of use and paying it forward (sharing posts from other industry members, colleagues); this big picture approach has longer-term benefits and helps establish better branding.

Market research indicates more investment into the social media marketplace in the future.

According to Entrepreneur.com: “recent research from Econsultancy shows that 71 percent of brands plan to invest more heavily in social media in the coming year to reach new followers and build brand reputation.”

The blog continues on to rank their top picks for platforms, as they relate to promoting brand awareness, with Facebook leading the pack and appealing to the broadest spectrum of users.

Instagram is ideal for image-based branding – clothing retailers or foodies; Google+ is shaping up to be a good tool for connecting with men in the technology sector (research indicates that two-thirds of its users are men in this industry); Pinterest, much like Instagram, notes higher success rates for women-dominated industries such as clothing and jewelry; and LinkedIn is a strong platform for business-to-business corporate users.

Keep it visual. According to Entrepreneur.com: “Articles with images receive 94 per cent more views. Twitter content with images receives nearly twice as many views as text posts, even though there are seven times more text posts on Twitter.”

Above all, the leverage for business owners in using social media platforms is about creating a level of interaction between their business and users – publishing engaging content, offering freebies, or discounts that entice users to ‘like’ the business page, posting strong visuals – these are all potentially lucrative methods to increase online presence and ensure your business is current.

By Lindsay Seewalt

Lindsay is an experienced journalist and mother of three whose heart and home is always open to a four-legged friend. With her Corgi, Angie, as household editor-in-chief, Lindsay gives back to the animal planet through the written word on anything and all ado about pets. She is passionate about topics regarding animal welfare and responsible pet ownership, which she aims to instill in both her readers and children to be compassionate animal lovers who are conscious and considerate that furry friends around the globe deserve a voice.

BUSINESS - Rumoured Twitter Acquisition by Google or Salesforce

Yesterday, CNBC reported a potential acquisition of Twitter by Google, Salesforce or another technology company.

Twitter stocks took an immediate jump and rose more than 21 percent on Friday ending at more than $22 - the highest they have been since January of this year.

According to CNBC, Twitter may receive a formal bid “shortly,” with Twitter’s board keen to strike a deal. There is no assurance, but sources told them momentum is building and a potential deal may be finalized by the end of the year.

Companies like Google and Microsoft have been tossed out as potential buyers of Twitter, but this is the first time Salesforce has been put into the mix.

It is known that Salesforce missed out on acquiring LinkedIn, so Twitter could offer a way for Salesforce to become more active in the real-time information field.

Twitter is an attractive target due to the abundance of data it holds, and this means it’s an alluring proposition for any firm that thrives on data.

BUSINESS - Changing Media Landscape Concerns Canadian Government

The collapse of print media in Canada and across North America is a complex, controversial topic. What happens if the fourth estate falls? What industries, and what methods of information collection, control and dissemination, will take its place?

The fourth estate is a term that refers to the press as a critical force in government because of the fact that informed voters are the only way to ensure healthy democracy.

Some writers, such as the Globe and Mail’s Lawrence Martin, refer to the collapse as “a media implosion” that is taking journalism down with it.

David Yin at The Huffington Post sees the decline paralleling shifts in other industries such as public education. Journalism is now “perceived as ‘free’ and therefore inherently undervalued.”

On the other hand, websites like Newspaper Death Watch see hope for journalism to be renewed in the transition.

They “chronicle the decline of newspapers and the rebirth of journalism,” suggesting that the collapse of print media will ultimately be a good thing. Site founder Paul Gillin believes that “this painful decline will give birth to a new model of journalism built upon aggregation and reader-generated content.”

Gillin is not alone in his hopes for the “fifth estate,” in this case referring to alternative and blog-based, social media generated content, rather than the long-running CBC television news program.

Years ago, Laurie Penny and other digital content creators were talking about how bloggers are “out for a complete revolution in the way media and politics are done.”

Digital activists are creating and sharing information, building trusted, thriving (but rarely lucrative) brands for themselves.

So the fourth, or fifth, or even perhaps now the sixth estate will somehow survive because humans are hardwired to communicate.

In the meantime, where are the dollars?

Not in print advertising, that’s for sure. The Canadian government is slashing newspaper ad spending, and Canadian newspapers are staring at a 20% decline in ad and circulation revenue over the next four years.

Online advertising is growing, and first overtook Canadian TV ad spending in 2014. But, as the CBC learned through the Canadian Heritage Report for 2016, a significant portion of ad spending is going to non-Canadian sites like Facebook and Google.

In order to determine what these shifts will mean for Canadian media (in all its iterations), Ottawa has hired the Public Policy Forum to undertake a $270,000 study on “Changes in the newspaper industry,” and the results will be delivered at the end of this year.

In addition, the Canadian Government is hosting “Canadian Content in a Digital World Consultations,” an interactive digital space devoted to learning and sharing with Canadians about what they want to see in digital content.

The digital space also provides a wealth of information about the state of #DigiCanCon, and tools for engaging in real world community outreach.

Canada is not the only country dealing with the collapse of print media and the chaotic, unpredictable rise of digital media. Japan seems to be on the brink of a similar collapse, and America has lost almost 60% of newspaper jobs in the last 26 years.

By Tiffany Sostar

Tiffany is a writer, editor, academic, and animal lover who came late to her appreciation of pets. At 18, a rescue pup named Tasha saved her from a depression and she hasn't looked back. She has worked as the canine behaviour program coordinator for the Calgary Humane Society, and was a dog trainer specializing in working with fearful and reactive dogs for many years. She doesn't have any pets right now, but makes up for it by giving her petsitting clients (and any dogs she comes across on her frequent coffee shop adventures) extra snuggles.

DIGITAL - Simplifying Social Media Algorithms

While ‘simple algorithms’ is something of an oxymoron, it’s a beneficial weapon in the toolbox to have an idea of how the dynamic algorithms for some of the most popular social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – have evolved.

Al-go-rithm

‘A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer’ – Wikipedia

Facebook

Of the three most popular social media sites, Facebook uses the most complicated algorithm system, having evolved considerably since the advent of the ‘Like’ feature in 2007.

The algorithm, which accounts for hundreds of variables including who posted/type of content/level of interaction with the post/recency of post, then calculates a single digit relevancy score for each post; these posts are then classified in order of relevancy, which determines how they appear in each person’s news feed.

These relevancy scores are also given to advertisements, based on positive and negative feedback.

The News Feed algorithm was changed in 2015 to also be able to give more control to the users themselves; prior to this, Facebook would analyze what users wanted to use through a calculation of feedback, but now the ‘See First’ option (under the News Feed Preferences tab) is a further tool for customization by users.

Other tweaks made last year include the analysis of how much time the user spends on a post, including video engagement; analysis of video engagement includes enabling audio and high-definition and enlarging the video to full screen.

Twitter

A notable change made to Twitter algorithms in 2015 is the ‘While you were Away’ feature, determined by user engagement.

Just a few months ago, the ‘Show me the Best Tweets First’ feature was added, which changes timeline content based on relevancy, rather than chronology. While there is no limit to ‘best tweets’, the average is around a dozen, according to Wired magazine.

To remove the ‘best tweets’ option manually, users can constantly manually refresh their feeds or can change their settings under their ‘Profile’ tab (‘Account’- ‘Content’ – ‘Timeline’ – ‘Show Me The Best Tweets’).

Many Twitter users have expressed concerns that Twitter’s algorithm changes will move the platform away from its ‘live stream’ or ‘real time’ feed to a fully algorithmic stream (like Facebook) but Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said they ‘will continue to make Twitter feel more, not less, live’.

Instagram

Acquired by Facebook in 2012, it wasn’t until 2014 that Facebook began to make changes to the ‘Explore’ tab to display tailored posts. Just this spring, Instagram announced on their official blog, "To improve your experience, your feed will soon be ordered to show the moments we believe you will care about the most”.

Optimizing order will apparently be the first order of business, based on four factors – the number of likes and comments on a post; the relationship with the viewer and the user posting; timeliness of the post; and what shares are between the users. Instagram has yet to announce when these changes will roll out.

It all comes down to one basic premise – filtering out poor quality and irrelevant posts and highlighting current, attractive, newsworthy or visually appealing posts.

The essence of social media is relevant, up-to-the-minute posting and constant sharing and linking to other such materials.

The dynamic nature of social media is, in a word, limitless.

By Lindsay Seewalt

Lindsay is an experienced journalist and mother of three whose heart and home is always open to a four-legged friend. With her Corgi, Angie, as household editor-in-chief, Lindsay gives back to the animal planet through the written word on anything and all ado about pets. She is passionate about topics regarding animal welfare and responsible pet ownership, which she aims to instill in both her readers and children to be compassionate animal lovers who are conscious and considerate that furry friends around the globe deserve a voice.