How much news makes it into people’s Facebook feeds? Our experiment suggests not much: The latest from Nieman Lab

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Monday, December 18, 2017 [How much news makes it into people’s Facebook feeds? Our experiment suggests not much]( Half the people in our survey saw no news at all in the first 10 posts in their feeds — even using an extremely generous definition of “news” that counted everything from celebrity gossip to sports scores to history-based explainers, across all mediums. By Shan Wang. [David Axelrod on 200 episodes of The Axe Files, silos in podcasts, and today’s “golden age” for journalism]( “I’m not there to ask the top-ten kind of news questions of the day. I’m there to find out who people are and who motivates them, and yes, we get to some of the news of the day, but with that context of who someone is.” By Christine Schmidt. [Making noise is not a strategy]( “We may lament this and chastise Facebook for its lack of a moral compass and civic responsibility — but it’s a reality we have to come to terms with.” By Lanre Akinola. [Zines had it right all along]( “Zines have an enormous variety. They’re experimental and diverse. This gives them a freshness and surprise. They’re anti-formalist. They’re relatable.” By Kawandeep Virdee. [Show a little vulnerability]( “What if in 2018, instead of trying to sell our audiences something they may not want, or threatening to shut off access to news they actually need, we simply admit we need their trust, understanding, and investment to provide great journalism?” By Mary Walter-Brown. [The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)]( “If 2017 reached peak innovation strategizing, pivoting, and iterating, then 2018 may very well be the year of pause, pare back, and hyper-focus.” By Renée Kaplan. [The muting of underserved voices]( “Activists, independent journalists, and other content creators not connected to corporate media conglomerates will be disadvantaged in the coming year if net neutrality is done away with altogether.” By Tracie Powell. [Serving readers over advertisers]( “For the first time in decades, several large news publishers now generate more revenues from readers than from advertisers. It’s hard to overstate this business-model pivot.” By L. Gordon Crovitz. [Going beyond mobile-first]( “The opportunity lies in developing services and products that respond to the when, where, and how of news consumption.” By Alfred Hermida. [TV goes digital, digital goes TV]( “Television reaches this critical stage with a lot of experience and lessons that have been learned by others, with heavy pockets, and two clear strengths: a very strong footprint on social networks, both from its brands and its individual talents, and a unique sensitivity for video storytelling that is higher than that of all its competitors.” By Borja Echevarría. [The editorial meeting of the future]( “In the future, we’ll instead organize the editorial meeting around this all-important question: “What can we help the public understand or do today?” We won’t start with our ideas — we’ll start with the information gaps the public demonstrates they have, and focus our efforts squarely on filling those gaps.” By Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán. [Storytelling finally adapts to mobile]( “The year about to end has only been a springboard to what is to come in the area of what I refer to as linear visual storytelling. In this type of storytelling, the narrative and the visuals flow in a linear way from top to bottom, exactly the way we communicate when we text or use WhatsApp on our phones.” By Mario García. [Blockchain and trust]( “Having decentralized ledgers and data storage allows visibility into creation and tracking, engagement and follow-through in news and ads.” By Mi-Ai Parrish. [Live journalism comes of age]( “Live video experimentation is going to continue in 2018 with an eye towards nuanced coverage that audiences can relate to. This coverage will be brand safe and highly monetizable.” By Niketa Patel. [The year for guerrilla user research]( “Creating valuable products first requires news organizations to understand the people for whom they are designing. We need to commit to learning what their goals and motivations are, and what they are trying to accomplish when they sign up for a newsletter, download our app, or visit our site.” By Feli Sánchez. [Audience teams diversify their approach]( “The beauty of diversification is that it means not putting all of your eggs in one basket. It will encourage teams to broaden their skillsets, think creatively about various ways to get to the goal of sustainability and sharpen their discipline of setting goals and measuring them.” By Kim Fox. [Address users as individuals]( “Every relationship starts with a conversation. One of the challenges we’ll be facing this coming year is how to communicate with users in an effective way in order to shift them through the stages of the loyalty funnel.” By Pia Frey. [The Jio-fication of India]( “In the year since it launched, Jio has acquired over 100 million users — many connecting to the mobile internet for the first time in their lives. To give some context, this effectively makes Jio that fastest adopted technology in human history.” By Trushar Barot. [The midterms are an opportunity]( “If this was the year in which it felt like the world was reeling from the challenges posed by the misinformation ecosystem, then 2018 will be the year it feels like we’re making progress.” By Steve Grove. [It will be harder to bury the news]( “These groups are tackling perilous subjects that know no borders, such as human trafficking, drug smuggling and money laundering. As the networks expand, the protection of information increases.” By Joyce Barnathan. [Loyalty as the key performance indicator]( “Driving loyalty requires focusing on quality. Readers and reporters will be grateful.” By Sarah Marshall. [Trust comes first]( “Listen with the humility you would in any broken relationship you want to repair. And then be willing to make some changes.” By Sally Lehrman. [The year of resilience]( “It would be understandable for journalists to retreat altogether from engaging with people online, in an attempt at self protection. This would however help these antagonists achieve their goals of undermining trust in journalism and reporting.” By Andrew Losowsky. [The pro-fact resistance]( “Simultaneously, a wave of pro-journalism TV shows, books, and podcasts will explode on the scene helping more and more citizens understand and appreciate the role solid, factual news plays in their daily lives.” By Corey Johnson. [Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention]( “There will be experimentation with a Netflix model, where organizations start with what users want and then understand the economics of each area for journalism. Netflix has demonstrated very clearly that following users’ needs does not need to result in a drop in quality.” By Tanya Cordrey. [Things get real]( “We need to use the convening power of media to build network effects, where products get better the more people that use them.” By Burt Herman. [Unlocking the potential of AI]( “Collaboration will be critical to advance how newsrooms use AI. That could mean a consortium of newsrooms working together on ambitious machine learning projects.” By Rubina Madan Fillion. [Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes]( “My own experience with this came in January, when trolls mistakenly decided that a woman attending the confirmation hearing for Rex Tillerson was me (and that the woman in the Senate chambers — who was not me — was doing something nefarious).” By Doris Truong. [Revenue-first journalism]( “No newsroom will launch a new initiative without having a clear plan for its financial sustainability.” By José Zamora. [Beyond the narrative arc]( “Audio producers and networks aren’t prepared for the reality that the next generation of listeners will bare little resemblance to past audiences.” By Eric Nuzum. [Newsroom culture becomes a priority]( “Why do I think this is really going to happen? Because I’ve seen panels popping up at journalism conferences about self-care and burnout. Because I’ve watched newsrooms across the country take small steps toward purging sexual harassers from their ranks.” By Emma Carew Grovum. [A return to trust]( “Ultimately, I believe that we will convince the public that there’s nothing fake about the reporting coming from our organizations.” By Dan Newman. [Transparency is the antidote to fake news]( “The problem is massive, and these are just first steps. I hope that in the year to come, media outlets and tech platforms alike will take bigger ones.” By Raney Aronson-Rath. [From algorithms to institutions]( “Fact-checkers and computer scientists have worked together on a string of projects that aim to automate different part of the fact-checking process. One thing these efforts have in common is using automation as an enhancement, rather than a replacement, for journalistic work.” By Lucas Graves. [R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)]( “It sounds better to say you’re ‘shifting resources into short-form video’ than that you desperately need to reduce your run rate.” By Susie Banikarim. [With the people, not just of the people]( “Go to most local news websites and you’ll be assaulted by disruptive ads, auto-play video, slideshows, and pagination. Who do you think those sites have been designed for — advertisers or readers?” By Jim Brady. [The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea]( “Soon the only discourse available will be about the most outrageous, instinct-punching statements, free of fact or reasoned debate, and the only people who will remain are those who seek nothing but self-validation and protection from criticism.” By Matt Boggie. [Navigating journalistic transparency]( “The media industry has shifted in so many ways in the last two decades, but our readers have not been privy to the process in a way that helps them understand.” By Michelle Garcia. [Thriving on change]( “The age of automatic deference in the workplace is over. Are individuals able to speak up and be heard? Do managers and colleagues alike reach deep into teams to collect ideas and exploit expertise? Has a culture of experimentation permeated everywhere?” By Jassim Ahmad. [Looking for loyalty in all the right places]( “We’ve come to realize that one-time visitors — effectively the one-night stands of the media world — provide little more than the cheap thrills of banner-ad dollars. And chasing comScore uniques isn’t very fulfilling. But a meaningful connection with our audience? That’s #relationshipgoals.” By Julia B. Chan. [Working together toward sustainable solutions]( “I think people want to be effective news consumers, and they’ll take on the responsibility to become highly media literate. People don’t like being conned or lied to, but to a great extent, that’s what’s happened over the last year, particularly by disreputable sources that were amplified on social media.” By Craig Newmark. [We need better career paths for news nerds]( “Developers and programmers seem to agonize in similar ways over being promoted away from what they do best — writing code and building things.” By Basile Simon. [Eyes, ears, and brains]( “Early experiments may yield mixed results — it’s early days! But the media industry must not repeat the mistakes of the past, and allow itself to be a laggard with powerful new technologies.” By Edward Roussel. [Sketchy ethics around product reviews]( “The saddest thing is how hard it is for everyday people to tell real and fake news apart these days; the situation is the same in the world of product reviews.” By Brian Lam. [Listen to weak signals]( “If you don’t simultaneously pay attention to signals from news and also those coming from adjacent areas, you’re effectively looking at the world through a pinhole camera.” By Amy Webb. [Let’s amplify visual voice]( “Across the industry, we employ product designers, but the need for editorial designers and art directors with minds for digital is equal. Organizations publish hundreds of stories a day. We need a lot of designers if we are going to make an impact.” By Amy King. [You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)]( “2018 is the year that the biggest companies make their most meaningful moves into direct-to-consumer offerings. And as with most emerging media trends of the past 20 years, keep an eye on sports media for signals of how the rest of the industry will evolve.” By Dan Shanoff. [Show your work]( “After several years of listening to journalism’s sages talk about how important it is that we more explicitly explain our processes, we’re finally going to get serious about doing just that.” By Elizabeth Jensen. [The year of the echo-chamber escapists]( “Breaking down our filter bubbles and echo-chambers will not be solved by the actions of one, rather it needs to be tackled in a cross-functional effort by all parties involved: news organizations, social media platforms, and, most importantly, our readers.” By Hannah Cassius. [And a woman shall lead them]( “If 2017 was the year of the purge, 2018 will be the year of renewal. Women news leaders will direct the restoration of news organizations as a public trust.” By Debra Adams Simmons. [Wallets get opened]( “It seems my generation — often seen as embodying the worst of the information age — could well be at the forefront of making this much-needed correction in the media industry.” By Usha Sahay. [Stop covering politics as a game]( “Put simply, journalists’ reliance on this practice is allowing elites to further divide the country, avoid scrutiny, and distract citizens away from thoughtful policy debate on issues that carry real-life consequences.” By Dannagal G. Young. [The year of the Instagram Story]( “Is making news content appealing in a Story format a challenge? Absolutely. But the window of opportunity is short, as Story-watching habits are being cemented and loyalties developed right now.” By Cristina Wilson. [The year of investing in processes]( “In a quest to find a solution that will work for everyone, we too often invest in ideas that don’t work particularly well for anyone.” By Sam Ford. [Push alerts, personalized]( “Those that think they get too many alerts, or only want to hear about big breaking news events, can alter their settings to cover the bare minimum. The news hounds that want to know everything can opt it to as many as they desire.” By Pete Brown. [Here come the attention managers]( “They will ask to be the John Kelly to the Trumpian Oval Office of my mind.” By Matt Thompson. [Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds]( “Between Google, YouTube, Instagram, and Spotify, many of the world’s most influential feeds are now betting that their algorithms can do a better job of guessing what we want to see than we do ourselves.” By Helen Havlak. [Listen to your corner and watch for the hook]( “Journalism is punch-drunk and staggering, convinced that still being on its feet is the same as putting up a fight.” By Sydette Harry. [Better, less read, and less trusted]( “As paywalls get firmer, total audiences may decline. It’s quality news, but not for everyone. Given their current funding guidelines, foundations are part of the same problem, not the antidote.” By Rodney Benson. [The arrival of the impact producer]( “As media consumers, we have access to more and better content that we can ever digest in many lifetimes; the problem journalism faces is how most effectively to inform, engage, target, and influence the right audiences with the right content.” By Miguel Castro. [Tech workers turn to journalism]( “They’re hungry for something mission-driven, something that even on its worst day serves a valuable public service. Journalism would be wise to welcome these outsiders into the fold.” By Rodney Gibbs. [Disinformation gets worse]( “We’re in a terrifying moment where our global information streams are polluted with a dizzying array of mis- and disinformation. Politicians are targeting the professional media as a way of building direct connections with citizens through social media.” By Claire Wardle. [We can’t leave the business to the business side any more]( “Journalists are the reason people pay for news in the first place. We are the product. The problem is, we’re still producing a 19th-century product and selling to a 21st-century audience, with predictable results.” By Aron Pilhofer. [Women’s voices take center stage]( “More room will be made to discuss topics such as women’s political aspirations, leadership abilities, feminism and intersectionality, reproductive rights, fight for equal pay and battles against sexual harassment, with less bias and more nuance.” By Vanessa K. DeLuca. [Transparency finally takes off]( “Having been called ‘enemies of the people’ by our highest-ranking public official, reporters are starting to recognize the importance of not just a knee-jerk defense of their work, but one that shows exactly how they work to uncover wrongdoing and check facts.” By Carrie Brown-Smith. [Podcasting models mature and diversify]( “When podcasting reaches its potential size, looking more like peak radio penetration thanks to these many new and improved sources of discovery, we’ll start to see several revenue models arise to support the diversity of content now possible by untethering the form from RSS.” By Caitlin Thompson. [Watch out for Spotify]( “These are the problems the entire industry is facing, with every service and every app: discovery, revenue sharing, bigger catalogs, more users, and better ads to serve them. That’s where the competition is going to happen.” By Tim Carmody. [The empire strikes back]( “2018 will be the year in which everyone in technology is obliged to look in the mirror and ask themselves not just whether their intentions are good enough, but whether their actions are strong enough.” By Corey Ford. What We’re Reading Pew Research / Solomon Messing, Patrick van Kessel and Adam Hughes [Partisan and ideological divides shape which news outlets legislators share on Facebook →]( “Between January 2015 and July 2017, nearly half (48%) of the links to national news outlets that members of Congress shared on Facebook were to outlets predominantly linked to by members of just one party. 5% of these news links pointed to outlets that were exclusively linked to by members of one political party.” The Verge [Twitter’s new policies on violence, abuse, and hateful conduct don’t apply to military or government entities →]( “The policies don’t apply to military or government entities. That would seemingly give President Trump carte blanche to continue his threats against ‘the little rocket man,’ and to continue promoting violent xenophobic videos favored by far-right extremists, even when they’ve been disproven as fake news.” [Nieman Lab]( / [Fuego]( / [Encyclo]( [Twitter]( / [Facebook]( [View email in browser]( [Unsubscribe]( You are receiving this daily newsletter because you signed up for for it at www.niemanlab.org. Nieman Journalism Lab Harvard University 1 Francis Ave.Cambridge, MA 02138 [Add us to your address book](//niemanlab.us1.list-manage.com/vcard?u=dc756b20ebb9521ec3ad95e4a&id=d68264fd5e)