Making Sense of Facebook’s Changes
Jason Alcorn / MediaShift
You know by now that Facebook is overhauling the News Feed to focus on friends and family. In an email to Facebook Journalism Project partners, Facebook’s Campbell Brown wrote: “We know even a small update to News Feed can be disruptive to your business.” Sara Fischer at Axios says this is “a step to ensure users don’t abandon” Facebook in search of more meaningful interactions.
As Casey Newton of The Verge tweeted, “So many publishers think they have audiences, when what they really have is traffic. I think we’re about to find out who has an audience.”
So what to do? “The best strategy in the short term is to diversify,” writes WGBH’s Tory Starr. She also says to expect smaller audiences with a bigger focus on loyalty and conversion metrics. Do work that serves your readers, says Jason Koebler at Motherboard. Jennifer Brandel suggests embracing platforms like Hearken that already help publishers “spark conversations,” which the new News Feed will prioritize
What To Expect From Media Metrics in 2018
Jason Alcorn / MediaShift
We asked 10 experts in media metrics what they expect for this year.
Facebook Is Testing a Separate Destination for Local News in Its Mobile Apps
David Cohen / Adweek
‘Today in’ is available in six cities to start.
A Marketer’s Guide to Models
Will Critchlow / Distilled
This advice for consultants is also helpful for dealing with internal stakeholders who want to know whether something will work.
AI Is Coming For Your Job — And Only A Humanities Degree Can Save You
William Powers / Traffic
Interesting reading on robots in digital media, if not directly about metrics.
How Many People Did That Story Reach? It Depends Who’s Counting.
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal
Did Mic reach 11.9 million unique visitors in October, as comScore says, or 40 million as Nielsen reported?
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Upcoming Trainings and Events
5 Tech Tools to Improve Your Reporting [Jan. 10]
Instructor: Evan Wyloge of the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
How to Verify Photos and Videos [Jan. 17]
Instructor: Aric Toler of Bellingcat
FREE! — How to Get Better Newsletter Metrics [Feb. 7]
MediaShift’s Jason Alcorn and Special Guests
Jason Alcorn (@jasonalcorn) is the Metrics Editor for MediaShift. In addition to his work with MediaShift, he works as a consultant with non-profits and newsrooms.