Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Earlier this week the New York Times reported that Facebook was offering publishers a deal: With 1.4 billion users, the social media site has become a vital source of traffic for publishers looking to reach an increasingly fragmented audience glued to smartphones. In recent months, Facebook has been quietly holding talks with at least half…
Nothing attracts news organizations like Facebook. And nothing makes them more nervous. With 1.4 billion users, the social media site has become a vital source of traffic for publishers looking to reach an increasingly fragmented audience glued to smartphones. In recent months, Facebook has been quietly holding talks with at least half a dozen media…
Editor’s note: The new issue of our sister publication Nieman Reports is out and ready for you to read. I write a column for the print edition of the magazine; here’s mine from the new issue. It deals with distributed content — a very hot topic given the Facebook news of the last 24 hours…
An algorithm that just went up for auction in New York. (Chris Maury, “Progression: Triptych, 2011-2013.” Available on Artsy.net.) Until about three weeks ago, Pinterest was — hands down, no contest — my absolute favorite social network. Yeah, I know it lacks the cachet of Twitter or Snapchat. I understand its associations with the bored…
Claims that climate science is a hoax, that human action is not a factor: these are not just positions in a normal debate. They are ways of saying — saying to the press — hey, the evidence doesn’t matter. In October of last year, the New York Times ran an in-house interview with its own…
Tayser Abuhamdeh doesn’t have what most people would call an exciting job. He works behind the counter at a deli in Brooklyn, a small shop that does a brisk business in snacks, coffee, and cigarettes. In June of last year, on a whim and mostly out of boredom, Abuhamdeh mounted his phone next to the…
The Pew Research Center published a fascinating report on political polarization and the media a few months back. The report contains this chart, based on survey data of people who say they’ve read, watched, or listened to different media outlets. It shows how consistently liberal or conservative the average audience member of 32 different media…
The people have spoken, and the people hate my hair. “How could anyone take seriously anything written by an author whose accompanying picture makes her look like a tramp, with greasy, matted, uncombed hair?” a fellow named David wrote me recently. “For heaven sake, comb your hair,” offered a woman named Jacquie. “Your picture instills…
I’m trying to find out who gets credit for the headline. Update: It’s Graeme Bruce, “but I kneaded a little help from the newsroom,” he tweets. (h/t Grant Hamilton) * Bread truck rolls over, hundreds of loaves toast (brandonsun.com) * Earlier: Big rig carrying fruit crashes, creates jam (jimromenesko.com) < ?php if( class_exists(‘Add_to_Any_Subscribe_Widget’) ) {…
A shocking amount of what we are reading is created not by humans, but by computer algorithms. Can you tell the difference? Take the quiz. Did a Human or a Computer Write This? – NYTimes.com.