Technology People are talking about Web3. It's hard to tell what's real and what's not anymore. Social media sites, search engines, and online marketplaces like Amazon are all part of Web 2.0.īut being on Twitter and Facebook these days showcases the decline of Web 2.0. That refers to the modern internet: mediated through large platforms like Google, Facebook and Twitter that are awash with user-generated content and that help people navigate the web. To many observers, the current moment of the digital media industry getting rickety and top social media sites rapidly degrading in quality could be ushering in the end of Web 2.0. "It's an incredible machine for elevating the stupidest thing your enemy ever thought and said." The end of Web 2.0, maybe, and what comes next "It rewards people for feeding into predictable narratives and telling people what they want to hear, punishes them for breaking from the pack," he said. If Twitter is run into the ground, Smith said, it might actually be a good thing for the news industry. And then the platforms, seeing users turn away, starting pushing news out," Smith said. "Users turned away from news on social media. Smith, formerly of BuzzFeed News, said he witnessed up close the breakup of news publishers with platforms. It will land in the digital graveyard with other once-popular digital news sites, like Gawker, the Awl and Grantland. In a staff memo announcing the closure of BuzzFeed News, Jonah Peretti, the company's CEO, said social media platforms being bad partners is one of the reasons why the news division was shutting down.
If Twitter dies, is journalism better off? One recent study by Science Feedback, a fact-checking organization, found that user engagement with so-called superspreaders of misinformation increased 44% on the platform since Musk took over. Indeed, Twitter under Musk has become more extreme, more polarized, and reliable news is harder to come by. And we might say, 'you know what? That's not the best way to do the news,'" Radsch said. "That means that's going to favor extremism, it's going to favor polarization. They're all chasing that singular reward that social media recommendation systems provide: clicks. Outlets craft stories for maximum social amplification with headlines and topics that can be easily juiced by algorithms.
Industry norms for writing and promoting stories for social media are now gospel in most newsrooms. And Twitter, by all accounts, is now a hostile environment under Musk.īut if media companies want out, it's not going to be an easy transition, since news sites have become so entangled with social media. Original news reporting barely comes across TikTok feeds. Then the platforms became well-oiled ad machines and ditched news publishers.įacebook stopped promoting news stories. In the early years of social media, publications tried to play nice with platforms, seeing the audience potential as irresistible. Technology It's the end of the boom times in tech, as layoffs keep mounting Publishers' rocky marriage with social media
"But readers and viewers still want to understand the world." "I think the current moment is the product of both a huge shift away from social media, and a tough economy," said Ben Smith, a former editor in chief of BuzzFeed News and author of "Traffic," a history of the rise and fall of BuzzFeed. The turmoil caused by a historic slowdown in digital advertising is sparking worries among staff at online media companies about further and possibly deeper cuts beyond the mass layoffs and abrupt closures over the last few months. And there are no signs of when the punishing developments will let up. It has been trying times for digital media. Gawker went out of business, again, in February. Vox recently laid off nearly 10% of its staff. Vice is slashing staff and closing its flagship broadcast program, Vice News Tonight. Members of the BuzzFeed News team work at their desks at BuzzFeed headquarters, Decemin New York City.
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