The Financial Times and New York Times are at or close to the point where subscription revenue exceeds advertising revenue. This means their paywalls are working, but it also means advertisers are fleeing — and the implications of that for journalism could be significant. Read more at GigaOM »
Facebook Stories, a new original content site that will focus on a different theme each month, is intended to highlight Facebook users’ stories. But with a former Time magazine reporter overseeing an editorial team, does the company have something bigger in mind for Facebook Stories? Read more »
Facebook wants a court to approve a deal that will see it pay $20 million to settle the ‘sponsored stories’ controversy. But now, as groups file objections, the judge is questioning whether the settlement’s blacked out financial figures can remain secret. Read more at GigaOM »
Digg, the social-news community that New York-based incubator Betaworks acquired part of last month, has been relaunched with a new look and new plumbing, but it doesn’t have anything like the kind of community Digg had — something that is hugely valuable and difficult to build. Read more at GigaOM »
Remember when Friendster was the hot social network, publishers doubted that ebooks would ever sell, and Netflix thought DVDs in red envelopes was the future? We do — that was that state of digital media when paidContent launched in 2002. Read more »
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo says the company wants to become more of a media player, and also wants to become a Facebook-style platform inside which developers build applications — but can the company find a balance between competing with third-party providers and working alongside them? Read more at GigaOM »
Twitter is launching a partnership with NBC Universal to create a real-time news hub around the Olympic Games — the latest step in the company’s transformation into a media entity, a move that is a double-edged sword for other media outlets. Read more at GigaOM »
The debate continues over which model is better for social networks: free and ad-supported or paid for by users? Dalton Caldwell says the latter and is building a paid alternative to Twitter, but VC Fred Wilson argues that free is the only model that works. Read more at GigaOM »
A simple news service like Evening Edition — which a group of web designers came up with as a side project — contains a number of lessons that mainstream media outlets might want to consider, such as serving readers’ information needs instead of their own. Read more at GigaOM »
Trapit, an AI-based discovery engine for Web content from the group behind Siri, is releasing its iPad app Thursday after launching a Web version last November. Trapit wants to compete against news reading apps like Flipboard by offering better content. It’s planning publisher partnerships, too. Read more »
The Washington Post is one of the few major newspapers left without some kind of digital paywall or subscription model, but despite the financial pressures on the company, publisher Donald Graham says he remains committed to not charging readers for the newspaper’s content online. Read more at GigaOM »
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh has abruptly recused herself from a high-profile case in which Facebook had recently proposed to pay at least $10 million to settle accusations that it violated users’ privacy when it used their photos for “sponsored stories” without their permission. Read more »
Judy Blume’s Forever, which was originally published in 1975 and tells the story of two teenagers having sex for the first time, is also now an ebook for the first time. Simon & Schuster is running a social media campaign, “Do you remember your first time?” Read more »
In a widely expected move, Facebook and Yahoo have agreed to put aside a ruinous lawsuit that would have locked the two Silicon Valley giants into a lengthy patent throwdown. Read more at GigaOM »
Beneath the furor over Twitter’s clampdown on its API is the same dilemma that many traditional media companies like the New York Times are also confronting — namely, how much should you be an open platform, and how much should you be a destination? Read more at GigaOM »
Although both Google and Facebook have so far had little success with mobile advertising, Twitter says that its mobile ads are seeing huge levels of engagement. Is there something about the real-time information network that could make it a superior medium for mobile ads? Read more at GigaOM »
The technology industry is trapped in a cycle of privacy breaches and class action lawsuits that does nothing for the average internet user. The new Facebook settlement is just the latest example. Read more »
HarperCollins has launched Epic Reads, a digital community designed to connect readers with HarperTeen authors and books. But this is not a retail site. Read more »
Twitter’s new feature, which shows enhanced content for certain media partners such as the New York Times, is another example of how the service can be both a partner and a competitor for media companies in the ongoing battle for users’ attention. Read more at GigaOM »
In the latest example of the justice system’s ongoing discomfort with social media, a federal judge has refused a request by Chase Bank to use Facebook to serve legal papers on an identity thief. Read more »
A comScore study of consumer behavior following exposure to marketing messages on Facebook shows that both fans and friends of fans are more likely to buy things after they see such messages, data that Facebook badly needs to prove the value of its social platform. Read more at GigaOM »
It’s 2023, and here you are, 13 years old and finally ready for your own Facebook page! I’m sorry if my decision not to digitally document your life up to this point makes it tougher for you to be successful. But I hope you’ll thank me. Read more at GigaOM »
Facebook better hurry up with that search engine it’s reportedly building. A new survey of the mobile market shows that search ads are outstripping display ads by a wide margin in every region of the world. Read more »
Facebook is said to be working on new features that would allow children under 13 to access the network. Is this a way of helping parents encourage their children to develop better online skills, or does it open kids up to privacy problems and other issues? Read more at GigaOM »
Many media outlets still think of the story or the article as the atomic unit of journalism — but with so many competing sources of information and the real-time nature of the social web, is that still the case? And if not, what replaces it? Read more at GigaOM »
Look out, below! Facebook stock marked the return from the long weekend by tumbling nearly ten percent to an afternoon low of $28.87. Read more at GigaOM »
Big-six publisher Hachette Book Group is making free chapters of upcoming books from bestselling authors like James Patterson and Michael Connelly available through a new Facebook app. Read more »
The hype surrounding Facebook has rapidly turned sour since the company went public in a media frenzy last Friday. Read more at GigaOM »
A federal judge has refused to order a Norwegian website that describes itself as “the number one socializing porn and sex network” to turn over its name to Facebook. Read more »
As part of paidContent 2012: At The Crossroads on May 23 in New York, I’ll be talking with venture capitalist Fred Wilson about the future of media and with Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo and Vivian Schiller of NBC News about real-time politics. Read more at GigaOM »
Lawyers tried to ruin Mark Zuckerberg’s big day with a sprawling lawsuit that portrays the Facebook founder as a rogue hacker, and accuses the company of tracking users on their computers and iPhones. We have a plain english Q&A. Read more at GigaOM »
Once protected by the hype bubble, Facebook is getting a hard lesson in the realities of the public markets. Despite the massive build-up to its IPO today, the market response has been more tepid than expected. Read more at GigaOM »
With the rise of social platforms and emergence of new mobile and connected devices, we have entered the post-search world and companies are finding ways to organize information around “knowledge” and “interests.” Today, Twitter is introducing a way to follow others based on interests. Read more »
Facebook’s advertising woes, including the highly publicized departure of General Motors, reinforce the fact that while Facebook may function like a social network, on the business side it looks almost exactly like a media company — and that is going to be a major challenge. Read more at GigaOM »
Social marketing platform operator Buddy Media is rolling out a bunch of updates to its suite of tools including a unified social data API, the ability to track conversions and campaigns across their entire social media efforts, and a new mobile content development platform. Read more at GigaOM »
The appointment of Ross Levinsohn as CEO is a sign Yahoo wants to focus on media as the core of its rebirth, but does the company have what it takes to succeed as a new-media entity? There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical. Read more at GigaOM »
A former Justice lawyer and antitrust expert says Facebook’s purchase of photo-sharing site Instagram will take between 4 months and one year to clear regulatory hurdles. In the meantime, the deal is effectively on hold. Read more at GigaOM »
The Berlin-based IMDB rival Moviepilot, which is already working with film studios to give them better understanding of their projects’ fanbase, has secured funding to put a sales team in LA Read more at GigaOM »
Is the web run by large corporations, or is it powered primarily by peer-to-peer networks? That’s the question behind one of the longest-running wagers of the modern web era — a six-year-old bet between author and web sceptic Nick Carr and Harvard professor Yochai Benkler. Read more at GigaOM »
Brands may put plenty of time and money behind the content they share on social networks, but only a small percentage of their intended audience may actually ever see it. New York-based startup Adaptly believes it has a solution. Read more at GigaOM »
