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"2017 is weird"

A fechar a semana, um recap de peças do meio desta com as principais novidades a reter sobre os auspícios de "mudanças".


I


"2017 is weird. The Reuters Institute’s annual report on digital news contains some surprises."

Do relatório anual da Reuters destacam várias surpresas, das quais destacamos aquelas que nos adivinhamos a continuar comparações. Um mashup, cites a seguir: outros devices surgem como plataformas noticiosas, desafio aos media para se adaptarem - além do texto e vídeo, podemos imaginar que o áudio fará um come back-; o adblocking não foi tão desastroso como previsto, não que o revenue dos ads alguma vez volte a ser relevante ou que isso desconvença o Google de os tentar regularizar para nosso bem; as redes sociais como serviços noticiosos só na América, no resto do mundo parecem ter uma dieta mais equilibrada – kudos a Portugal que regista uma descida, teremos que assumir que parte do sucesso se deve à consciencialização aqui feita nOS POSITIVOS; por outro lado, o declínio das redes sociais corresponderá ao aumento do uso de apps de comunicação; o que, somado, poderá indicar o regresso das apps noticiosas. Esta última combinação de comunicação directa entre utilizadores e o retorno às fontes é todo um capítulo a abrir nas nossas teses se a tendência persistir. E, last but not least, principal surpresa: os leitores estão dispostos a pagar pelas notícias. A persistir essa tendência, teremos que rescrever alguns capítulos.

Voice-activated digital assistants like the Amazon Echo are emerging as a new platform for new.
in "News apps are making a comeback. More young Americans are paying for news. 2017 is weird." 21 jun 2017
The hottest fear of 2015-2016 is subsiding: the growth of adblockers has stalled on desktop and despite industry fears, it has not spread to the smartphone where only less than one in ten (7%) have worked out how to install blockers or browsers that block by default. Another hopeful sign has been the increasing proportion of respondents who have agreed to temporarily turn off their ad blocker for particular news sites.
in "News apps are making a comeback. More young Americans are paying for news. 2017 is weird." 21 jun 2017

Social media for news? Américas, principalmente.

A third of 18- to 24-year-olds (33 percent) across all the countries surveyed now say that social media is their main source of news, bigger than online news sites (31 percent) and TV news and printed newspapers combined (29 percent).

Still, outside the United States and United Kingdom, growth in the use of social media for news seems to be flattening out. In most countries growth has stopped and we have seen significant declines in Portugal (-4), Italy (-5), Australia (-6), and Brazil (-6).

In addition, sharing and commenting on news in social networks has either declined or remained flat in most countries over the last two years. (One exception: the United States, where both practices have risen.)
in "News apps are making a comeback. More young Americans are paying for news. 2017 is weird." 21 jun 2017
WhatsApp? In the U.S., not a lot
Why this [decline]? It could be due to the increased use of messaging apps in other countries… Usage varies a lot by country (Malaysia 51%, US 3%) + the bulk of messaging use for news is currently happening in Asia and Latin America.
in "News apps are making a comeback. More young Americans are paying for news. 2017 is weird." 21 jun 2017
Could news apps be a thing again? After a period of little or no growth, we have seen a jump in the use of news apps in almost all countries…This is much more likely to be about more regular usage by existing app users, rather than by some surge in new installs. Two key factors are likely to be at play: (a) more publishers have enabled deep linking to apps from search, social, and email; (b) the substantial increase in mobile notifications as publishers pursue loyalty strategies and take advantage of new platform capabilities.
in "News apps are making a comeback. More young Americans are paying for news. 2017 is weird." 21 jun 2017
Young Americans are paying for news. The proportion of people aged 18-24 paying for online news rose from 4% in 2016 to 18% in 2017. We see the same pattern by political leaning: some growth within all groups, but particularly from those on the left. The U.S. also had the highest proportion of respondents saying that a key reason they pay for news is that they want to fund journalism.
in "News apps are making a comeback. More young Americans are paying for news. 2017 is weird." 21 jun 2017

A recordar das comparações à América: dois eixos. 1) "crazy cucu!" 'nought said 2) por outro lado, aquilo de estarem na linha da frente de desenvolvimentos que eventualmente conseguem fazer o seu caminho até nós + qualquer coisa sobre uma dominação cultural que nos aflige.

Ainda no $$$, já a adiantar no detalhe.

We should always keep in mind that most people still do not pay for online news [mas!] interestingly, when asked about the type of content that had most influenced their decision to pay, across all 36 markets breaking news (41%) and reporting on recent events (38%) come out top. In-depth analysis (34%) and commentary (29%), which tend to be distinct to the news source, are next on the list. The importance of breaking news is perhaps surprising, given that in most countries people can get the same breaking news from a number of free alternatives.
in "News apps are making a comeback. More young Americans are paying for news. 2017 is weird." 21 jun 2017

E esta porque é sempre engraçado e! importante notar. Mais tarde desenvolveremos.

Comparatively few people (23%) pay for access to entertaining or amusing news context.
in "News apps are making a comeback. More young Americans are paying for news. 2017 is weird." 21 jun 2017

II


Mais surpresas dos young American (jornalists): a sindicalizar-se!

No mesmo dia, outra peça, outra surpresa. Entre os maiores precários que o sistema cospe cá para fora, uma luz ao fim do túnel. Mashup:

Over the past two years, online newsrooms have organized at a pace that would have made the Newspaper Guild’s legendary co-founder, Heywood Broun, beam with pride. "Organizing is the hip new thing to do"
News unions are back. They never really went away, of course, but for the first time in memory they are proactive rather than on the defensive. (...) This sudden spurt of union activity is a surprise, given the beleaguered reputation of newspaper unions, which have seen their ranks plummet as employment has fallen.

Long roster of largely new-media outfits: [entre outros o extinto] Gawker, Fusion, Salon, Vice, MTV News, ThinkProgress, The Guardian US, Jacobin, The Intercept, Thrillist, Slate...

They are strong on promoting diversity and editorial independence, and often provide impressive raises, but tend to skimp on traditional worker protections—overtime pay and even just-cause firing—because they aren’t seen as that important to the new generation of newspeople.
in "An unlikely big player in digital media: unions" 21 jun 2017

Nova geração. Ah, os teens a crescerem e a chegarem-se à frente.

In a sense, the new generation of union activists is giving their bosses an intense course in Management 101. Or to put it more cynically, young news employees are bearing the brunt of their employers’ incompetence.

People in their twenties tend to be more pro-union than their older peers. Young people realize how volatile the field of journalism is, and I think they have a desire to be more protected. They recognize the value of organizing. This is a whole generation of young people who were basically sold a lie. They were going to good schools and get good jobs. Then they enter the job market and they see how grim the prospects are, especially for journalists.

The union campaigns are also aided by heightened employee political awareness. "We have a workforce that is very thoughtful about environmentalism and feminism, about things like Black Lives Matter, and since the election the concept of resistance.

Aplica-se a habitual dualidade: conservative outlets "are the ones that usually don’t go anywhere", vs "the preponderance of more liberal news organs among the organized" ainda que se aplique a mesma regra de sempre: nenhum patrão quer um sindicado na sua loja.

It wasn’t like these super-liberal news outlets were rolling out the red carpet.
in "An unlikely big player in digital media: unions" 21 jun 2017

"Red carpet"... funny. Dizem-nos que é uma tendência para continuar. Estamos a despachar os resumos, mas, a persistir, e a vingar, aqui começa a possiblidade de outra conclusão às nossas teses.

The mood is shifting away from the bad old days of defensiveness and toward a more aggressive stance [and] unions are continuing to scope out potential "hot shops" ripe for organizing.
in "An unlikely big player in digital media: unions" 21 jun 2017

III


Really, really weird -or, back to normal? Tha new normal!

E, no tópico de surpresas outro spin à realidade como a conhecemos. O Twitter, aquele antro decadente de nazis e trolhas? Afinal, repleto de boas pessoas e as melhores intenções. A propósito das recentes campanhas de pressão sobre sponsors de programas para estes se distanciarem de conteúdos ou personalidades pró-Trumpa, ou qualquer comportamento considerado ofensivo. Exemplo Uber: "a swirl of negative branding took on a life of its own — and ultimately could not be ignored."

Online campaigns against brands have become one of the most powerful forces in business, giving customers a huge megaphone with which to shape corporate ethics and practices.
in "How Battling Brands Online Has Gained Urgency, and Impact" 21 jun 2017

$$$ is politics.

The effects of these campaigns go beyond business. In a nation where politics have grown pitched and sclerotic, fighting brands online suddenly feels like the most effective political action many of us can take. Posting a hashtag — #deleteUber, for instance, or #grabyourwallet — and threatening to back it up by withholding dollars can bring about a much quicker, more visible change in the world than, say, calling your representative.
in "How Battling Brands Online Has Gained Urgency, and Impact" 21 jun 2017

Minorias no Twitter.

The mechanics of social media suggest it will be the cultural and political left, more than the right, that might win the upper hand with this tactic — especially when harnessing the power of brands to fight larger battles for racial and gender equality.
in "How Battling Brands Online Has Gained Urgency, and Impact" 21 jun 2017

Diz-nos Shannon Coulter "a marketing consultant who co-founded Grab Your Wallet, a campaign aimed at urging retailers to stop selling Trump-branded products":

Women and people of color have gravitated to social media and were early adopters of it, social media is actually a lever for social justice. It’s a way of leveling the playing field. Women tend to dominate social media. On most metrics, including sharing and usage, they outrank men online. Women are also more deeply enmeshed in the consumer economy than men.
in "How Battling Brands Online Has Gained Urgency, and Impact" 21 jun 2017

Que os porcos chauvinistas do Twitter percam o seu lugar às mulheres é de aplaudir e parece-nos justiça divina. Mas este mesmo processo permite o seu inverso quando minorias e mulheres que procuram igualdade cedem a sua vez a um backlash conservador a boicotar o avanço da humanidade, e temos "worries that brand boycotts could chill art and journalism", ie, censura.

But Ms. Coulter, of Grab Your Wallet, argued that even so, they were legitimate expressions of political sentiment. "I think it’s ultimately healthy and positive even when I don’t agree with it — it’s healthy and positive that consumers are making themselves heard," she said.
in "How Battling Brands Online Has Gained Urgency, and Impact" 21 jun 2017

Se ela o diz. Mesmo assim, não estamos descansados. Da moralidade das maiorias, ler OS POSITIVOS, qualquer entrada. Da moralidade das minorias, já registámos antes também.

No tópico de novidades que trespassam as redes sociais, além das aqui enunciadas, outra novidade em outra frente parece querer demonstrar-nos que elas não nos fecham em bolhas mas abrem-nos novas possibilidades de distributed discovery. Para outro dia mas fica o teaser para ruminarem enquanto fechamos excertos da peça em mãos:

We live in an era dominated by the unyielding influence of social feeds. Just about every cultural sentiment — even what to think about a piece of corporate messaging — comes to you filtered through a social feed.
We must first understand why brands are suddenly more vulnerable to consumer sentiment than they once were. It all comes down to one thing: social media is the new TV.

In the era when television shaped mainstream consumer sentiment, companies enjoyed enormous power to alter their image through advertising. Then came the internet, which didn’t kill advertising, but did dilute its power. Brands now have little say over how their messages get chewed up through our social feeds.

Yes, they can run ads on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and everyplace else. But social media elevates consumers over corporate marketing; suddenly what matters isn’t what an ad says about a company, but what your friends think about that company.
in "How Battling Brands Online Has Gained Urgency, and Impact" 21 jun 2017
Twitter shapes the news. On social media, there’s no room for nuanced portrayals of complex artistic treatments. There are only quick snatches of graphic imagery in your scrolling feed.

"anything that ever meant a damn"