News aggregators see drop in traffic as search rises PLUS Will media organisations have to pay for Twitter verification with changes by the Chief Twit?

October 31, 2022

News aggregator were driving increasing amounts of traffic to news sites in 2020, especially mobile aggregators like Newsbreak. But those sites have come off the boil as search roars back, according to Chartbeat.

Everyone is trying to read the tea leaves with Elon Musk's takeover at Twitter, and one mooted change could really affect news orgs - a $20 subscription charge for the blue tick of verification (among other things). I have to say, $20 is a bit much. I pay that for streaming bundles. He must be pitching this at celebs and media companies that rely on Twitter. But how many are that reliant on Twitter for traffic and engagement?

I can't imagine Musk doing a bulk deal or creating a public service exemption for news orgs. (I also feel sorry for the devs who have a gun to their head to deliver the feature by 7 November or lose their jobs, according to the Verge. Nothing creates a toxic culture quicker than fear.)

Also, Pew finds that young Americans trust the news that they get from social media almost as much as they do from traditional (national) news organisations.

The share of traffic from aggregators has stagnated, but publishers still see value in the people they're driving to their content.

“The shrinkage as a proportion probably just has more to do with the outsized growth of search than anything else,” said Jill Nicholson, Chartbeat’s CMO.

Topical authority is an SEO concept where a site aims to be the go-to authority on one or more topics. Learn how to build it in four steps.

"Topical authority is an SEO concept where a website aims to become the go-to authority on one or more topics. " SEO is driven in part about becoming topical experts, and it raises questions about how media organisations should approach this.

Twitter employees are racing to build the company’s first major new feature under Elon Musk: a $20 per month subscription to be verified.

Rumours are swirling that the blue tick of verification will be part of a more expensive subscription package than the current Twitter Blue. And users who currently have the blue tick have 90 days to pay or lose it.

Press Gazette has been reporting on British journalism without fear or favour since 1965. Our mission is to provide a news and information service which helps the UK journalism.

There are a lot of questions here about how Musk's takeover will affect journalism. I don't think Musk cares. He's going to do what he thinks is best for a return on his investment, and he has been drifting into 'very stable genius' territory for a while, with the drama around the Twitter takeover being exhibit A. He will be largely, if not entirely immune, to pressure from journalism groups calls to make sure the platform serves the public interest.

Half of 18- to 29-year-olds say they have at least some trust in the information they get from social media sites.

The other interesting wrinkle here is the delta between trust in local and national news outlets. Across the board people trust local news outlets more than they do national ones in the US.

A pioneer in local journalism hopes to spread the gospel around the U.S.

This is actually really big news. Evan Smith, the CEO and co-founder of the Texas Tribune, will be working with the Emerson Collective, the private LLC formed by Laurene Powell Jobs. Emerson owns The Atlantic, and Smith will be working to launch events through The Atlantic with local news non-profits like the Texas Tribune. Smith says that his goal is to have a Texas Tribune in all 50 states.

Whenever markets are thrown into disarray, there’s usually a flight to quality and scale – the two things premium publishers pride themselves on.

A look at how publishers are responding to economic headwinds. Go big? Or go for quality? Leaders are the managers of trade-offs, and there are trade-offs between those two strategies.

YouTube Decline A Recession Marker? See Another Wrinkle In The Digital Ad Video Economy - 10/28/2022

The decline in advertising for YouTube is seen as a bellwether for the digital ad market in general.

Press Gazette has been reporting on British journalism without fear or favour since 1965. Our mission is to provide a news and information service which helps the UK journalism.

In the battle for talent, this is part of the challenge. For students getting their master's in journalism, many are heading straight to PR or comms because they simply can't make ends meet with the pay packets that they would have in journalism - about £25,000 for senior journalists at publications in the UK.

Amazon’s plan to “reimagine radio” has run into a bit of static as the company is making staff cuts at Amp, the app it launched earlier this year. Business Insider… Read More

What does this mean for the digital audio economy, which with podcasts and streaming had been a bright spot for the last for years? This is probably a sign of the saturation of the market.