AI
The AI pendulum keeps swinging
When will publisher learn that AI isn't a quick fix for cheap content? Plus changes at the BBC, an SEO apocalypse and more.
Cuttings #9: Make money, sack staff
It's the LinkedIn way. Plus more on the verification problems in Gaza and some great podcasts to listen to.
Social Media
Cuttings #3: Social is more than just traffic
Sometimes the journalism world talks as if social media is purely a place to win traffic. This week, we've been reminded that there's far more to it than that…
engaged reading digest
Engaged Reading Digest: image verification, cops on TikTok — and why celebs are using a social platform you've never heard of
It's easy to get sucked into the idea that social media is mainly a promotional tool. Today's digest is a reminder that it's much more than that — for good and ill
engaged reading digest
The first Engaged Reading Digest of 2020
Some great links to start your year.
machine learning
Deepfakes aren't the problem yet - their existence is
The mere existence of deepfakes is undermining our sense of reality and truth
social media verification
Messy verification process leave blue ticks open to abuse
Social media account verification continues to suck. Surprise. Taylor Lorenz [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/06/instagram-and-twitter-should-eliminate-verification/592351/?utm_campaign=Big Revolution&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue newsletter]: > All this has led to a glut of mid-tier celebrities, sports stars, and moderately known people
verification
Social media verification: still a crapshoot
The opaque and unpredictable routes to verified status on social media, make it a desirable status symbol, and a distorting influence on social interactions
misinformation
The Momo Challenge: a press-driven panic over a non-existent threat
The Momo Challenge has been all over the internet - and the papers. Only one small problem: it doesn't exist.
social media verification
The critical need for verification skills in modern journalism education
A talk by the BBC's Mark Frankel reinforced the critical need for more verification skills in modern newsrooms
storyful
The Guardian catches Storyful tracking what videos journalists are watching
Storyful has been running an internal feed of all the videos clients using its Chrome extension watch. Is this malice or incompetence?
X (Twitter)
Hoaxers are crippling Twitter's breaking news value
Buzzfeed's experience with breaking news makes it clear that hoaxes are eroding Twitter's value during a major news event.