Why racist, nasty comments are better than none at all
photo: ArTono
Many publishers treat obnoxious comments as a problem to be solved — Above the Law takes the opposite approach, and embraces readers as they are. Read more »
Get your cat on: BuzzFeed creates new section where readers can publish
photo: BuzzFeed
Users will now get their own vertical on BuzzFeed, where they can submit according to their “Cat Power.” Read more »
Want a job at Gawker Media? You can get a head start by being a regular commenter
The new weekend editor at Gawker’s auto-focused Jalopnik blog got hired because he was a knowledgeable commenter on the site, an example of how the feedback loop between writers and readers can pay off for blogs. Read more »
What the Atlantic learned from Scientology: native advertising is harder for news brands
photo: Phuriphat
The venerable Atlantic is being made the poster child for what happens when native advertising goes wrong. An ad industry event in New York raised the question of whether the Atlantic deserves this blame when many other sites engage in similar practices. Read more »
If you are running advertorial or sponsored content, Google is watching you
Google has reiterated a warning to publishers that its ban on links that are designed to enhance a site’s PageRank applies not just to paid links but to sponsored content and advertorial as well. Read more »
Are comments a wretched hive of scum and villainy or an underused resource for publishers?
photo: Flickr / Jeremy King
Although many traditional media outlets and journalists see reader comments as having little or no value, publishers like Gawker and The Verge see them as a potential source of revenue — and even potential hires. Read more »
Fixing online comments — how do you automate trust?
photo: Shutterstock / Sam72
Jeff Atwood, co-founder of Stack Overflow, has launched a new platform that he hopes will improve the nature of online comments by adding trust metrics — but there are no shortcuts to healthy online communtiies. Read more »
Gawker Media says its advertising future is affiliate links and commerce journalism
In a leaked internal memo, Gawker Media founder Nick Denton says that what the network describes as “a new type of service journalism” — posts filled with affiliate links — will become a major focus for the company. Read more »
BuzzFeed’s latest: Is this the future of magazines?
photo: alphaspirit
The business success of digital news sites has led more of them to apply their technical wizardry to long-form journalism. BuzzFeed is the latest example. Will its style of feature one days replace magazines like the New Yorker? Read more »
Sandy takes out Gawker, Huffpo and other sites
Hurricane Sandy’s impact made itself felt on major media properties including the Huffington Post, Gawker, and Buzzfeed. All of those sites reported outages around 7 p.m. EDT. Read more »
Plagiarism, defamation and the power of hyperlinks
If Fareed Zakaria and Jonah Lehrer had spent more time linking to the original sources of content they used in their writing, they wouldn’t have faced accusations of plagiarism. Their cases and a recent defamation lawsuit against Gawker Media help reinforce the value of the hyperlink. Read more at GigaOM »
paidContent turns 10: A brief history of digital media
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 »
Has Nick Denton really reinvented comments?
When Gawker Media launched its new commenting system earlier this year, founder Nick Denton said that he wanted to reinvent the way readers and writers interact around a story and turn the discussion into the most important feature of a post. Has he succeeded? Read more at GigaOM »
Yes, Gawker is conflicted — but anonymity is still valuable
At a time when everyone is talking about how important it is for commenters to use real names, Gawker is going in the exact opposite direction. And while that may benefit Nick Denton for all kinds of selfish reasons, it’s still an experiment worth watching. Read more at GigaOM »
Tech bubbles, ad revenue and Twitter — five questions with Nick Denton
Gawker Media founder Nick Denton talks about whether we are in another technology bubble, what the decline of Facebook and Twitter as conversational media say about social networks, the death of advertising and whether he has any interest in selling his digital empire. Read more at GigaOM »
Nick Denton wants to turn the online media world on its head
Gawker Media founder Nick Denton says that he wants to fix the way that online comments work, but in order to do that he is having to reinvent Gawker itself — by trying to flip on its head the way that online content works. Read more at GigaOM »
BuzzFeed Launches Women's Vertical, 'Shift,' And Sports Section
photo: Melissa Hom
There’s a new girl in town, joining established women’s blogs Jezebel and The Hairpin: Shift, BuzzFeed’s new women’s vertical, run by New Yo… Read more »
Another Tech Blogger Launches An E-Book Venture
photo: StoryBundle
Does three make a trend? In recent months, both former Gawker editor Emily Gould and GigaOm’s Michael Wolf launched their own e-book venture… Read more »
Gawker, Others Sued For Writing About New Yorker Art Con Story
A strange libel lawsuit that reads like a pulp version of the The Da Vinci Code just became a bit stranger — the controversial art world fi… Read more »
pC2011 Video: Felix Salmon Interviews Nick Denton, Founder, Gawker Media
photo: paidContent.org
Gawker Media Founder Nick Denton captured the essence of his Q&A at our recent paidContent 2011 conference when he facetiously cited a six-y… Read more »
@ pC2011: Denton: The Internet Is A Mass Medium, Not A Niche One
In a very amiable dialogue about the nature of “internet success,” Gawker founder Nick Denton told Reuters’ finance blogger Felix Salmon tha… Read more »
Sarah Palin’s Publisher Settles Suit With Gawker
photo: David Shankbone / flickr
Well, that was quick. The Palin v. Gawker copyright fight over a leak of Sarah Palin’s memoir has been resolved just four days after the sui… Read more »
Gawker Does Its First Ever Acquisition: Buys Cityfile
Gawker Media has done its first ever acquisition, after being in existence for about eight years: it has acquired New York blog and people d… Read more »
NYMag.com Ramps Up Sports, TV Coverage With Blogs From Leitch, Nussbaum
photo: NYMag.com
Can’t get enough Will Leitch on sports? Tired of waiting for his emeritus appearances on Gawker’s Deadspin or for a sports piece in New York… Read more »
Gawker Media Claims 35 Percent Gain in Ad Revs; Pageview Bonuses Join ‘Paycheck Journalism’
photo: Facebook
For most online media companies, trying to maintain flat advertising revenues is still a struggle. Not for Gawker Media, if publisher Nick D… Read more »
