Engaged Reading Digest: over-sharers, engagement editors and #interhacktives

The Post-Social Share comedown

Betteridge's Law of Headlines applies here, of course. But it is an interesting look at how people are starting to navigate and learn coping strategies for life with social media. What's striking is the degree to which people are having to work around the way the platforms operate, rather than with them.

As long as they bias towards public sharing at a design level, which they have commercial reasons for doing, this will be an issue.

Is This the End of Oversharing?

The internet has been reshaped by a fresh anxiety over posting—and revealing—too much.

WIREDCollier Meyerson

Another head of engagement emerges

JPI Media has a new group engagement editor. Interesting to note that he's risen through the more traditional head of digital route, rather than being an engagement/social media specialist to start with.  

Sheffield Star Head of Digital promoted to Group Engagement Editor by JPI Media

Ben Green, who has been Head of Digital at the Sheffield Star for the last five years, has been promoted to the new role of Group Engagement Editor by JPI Media.

Prolific NorthSimon Austin

You can follow him on Twitter.

Facebook's Fake News labels may be backfiring

The law of unintended consequences strikes again. Facebook's Fact Checking partnership scheme is having an impact on how people perceive stories that aren't labelled by it:

But according to new research out of MIT published in Management Science, that something was the wrong thing. When only some news is labeled as fact-checked and disputed, people believe stories that haven’t been marked as fact-checked more—even when they are completely false, the researchers found. They dubbed this consequence the “implied truth effect.”

Ooops.

Study: Facebook’s fake news labels have a fatal flaw

This isn’t good.

Fast CompanyMark Wilson

Facebook WHO

However, this seems like good news:

Facebook is giving the World Health Organization free ads to counter coronavirus misinformation

The move is the latest attempt to counter the spread of coronavirus misinformation on the platform.

Fast CompanyMichael Grothaus

Bloomberg: Trump's Sith Apprentice?

The late entrant to the Democratic primaries in the US is using social media more aggressively than any of his peers. He's even paying influencers to boost his prospects.  In fact, he approach is more reminiscent of Trump than anything else.

And therein lies the problem:

“This is absolutely dangerous for the fair functioning of our political process,” Dipayan Ghosh, co-director of digital platforms and the Democracy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School, said of the video and tweets posted by Bloomberg. “And it could very well send the Democrats down the slippery slope of disinformation.”

Bloomberg may well be aiding Trump in shifting the Overton Window of what is acceptable in political campaigning.

Bloomberg’s online tactics test the boundary of disinformation

His advisers say doctored videos and fake quotes were meant in jest. Others argue they risk leading Democrats into perilous territory.

POLITICOLAURA BARRÓN-LÓPEZ

Fly in the local democracy reporter ointment

This reads suspiciously like one of the big publishers might be, well, taking the piss. Time for the system to be reviewed and streamlined? At least one successful hyperlocal publisher thinks so.

NUJ claims posts left vacant by BBC LDRs not being replaced - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage

NUJ alleges publishers not filling roles left vacant by local democracy reporters

HoldtheFrontPageDavid Sharman

And finally:

The MA Interactive Journalism students I teach at City, University of London have dedicated production weeks for Interhacktives, their website, for the first time in the eight years the course has been running. Expect lots of good content from them this week, and the fortnight afterwards.

Here's a few relevant pieces from the week so far:

Sophia Smith Galer: Journalism’s Rising TikTok Star - Interhacktives

Sophia Smith Galer from BBC World Service spoke exclusively to Interhacktives about her rise in the TikTok community.

InterhacktivesNimra Shahid

Here’s what happened when #Carex started trending on Twitter - Interhacktives

After Carex started trending on Twitter today, we ran a Twitter analysis to see exactly what happened. #Carex here are your best bits.

InterhacktivesJoe Goodman

Audience Development with Sarah Marshall - Interhacktives Podcast

Audience development and management is something that you really have to invest it to be worthwhile. Luckily, Vogue’s Sarah Marshall has some top tips.

InterhacktivesFergus O’Loan