The proof that Facebook is broken is obvious from its very modus operandi | John Naughton

Despite employing a small army of contractors to monitor posts, it’s clear the company is no longer fit for purposeWay back in the 1950s, a pioneering British cybernetician, W Ross Ashby, proposed a fundamental law of dynamic systems. In his book An Introduction to Cybernetics, he formulated his law of requisite variety, which defines “the minimum number of states necessary for a controller to control a system of a given number of states”. In plain English, it boils down to this: for a system to be viable, it has to be able to absorb or cope with the complexity of its environment. And there are basically only two ways of achieving viability in those terms: either the system manages to control (or reduce) the variety of its environment, or it has to increase its internal capacity (its “variety”) to match what is being thrown at it from the environment.Sounds abstruse, I know, but it has a contemporary resonance. Specifically, it provides a way of understanding some of the current internal turmoil in Facebook as it grapples with the problem of keeping unacceptable, hateful or psychotic content off its platform. Two weeks ago, the New York Times was leaked 1,400 pages from the rulebooks that the company’s moderators are trying to follow as they police the stuff that flows through its servers. According to the paper, the leak came from an employee who said he “feared that the company was exercising too much power, with too little oversight – and making too many mistakes”.... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #plain english

Other Publishing stories related to: 'The proof that Facebook is broken is obvious from its very modus operandi | John Naughton'


Ron Johns' Mabecron Books wins award

A title from bookseller Ron John's publishing company Mabecron Books has been awarded a 2016 Holyer an Gof Publishers' award for books published about Cornwall or in Cornish. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ron johns


Facebook Is Launching New App-Install Ads to Help Developers Find Audiences

Facebook has updated its app-install ads to allow developers to select targeted audiences based on which users will most likely use an app and not just install and forget about it. The product, App Event Optimization, will allow advertisers to select from among 14 user actions that might... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2016-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #app-install ads #small number #created equal #campaigns running #in-app purchases


WSJ Standing Back From Pack in Wary Approach to Facebook

As dozens of media companies explore deeper ties with Facebook, one publisher has remained especially wary of the social network: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.Unlike other news outlets, News Corp.'s Wall Street Journal hasn't struck a deal to create live videos for Facebook. And while some... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2016-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #rupert murdoch #news outlets #publishers make #publishers don #online subscriptions


Why Time Out has prioritized Facebook Live, Tumblr and Snapchat on social

Time Out is building out its social content distribution strategy, pinpointing Tumblr video, Facebook Live and Snapchat as priorities for growth. The publisher's internal mantra of "Discover, Look, Share," which it applies to all its online content, translates well to tools like Facebook's... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #facebook live #online content


‘People have shown up for the party’: How the Lad Bible uses Facebook Live

The Lad Bible has been experimenting with Facebook Live for the past two months across its portfolio and is ramping up output to four a week, plus putting in place a dedicated Facebook Live team. The videos are getting views in the millions, outreaching many publishers that weren’t born on... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post people #facebook live #lad bible


Aftermath of fatal officer-involved shooting in Minnesota broadcast on Facebook

A man died Wednesday night after being shot by police in Falcon Heights, the aftermath of which was recorded in a video widely shared on Facebook in which the man’s girlfriend says the “police shot him for no apparent reason, no reason at all.” Friends at the scene identified the man as Philando... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Two months in: Four things NPR has learned using Facebook Live

NPR is producing several live Facebook videos per day. It has a team of 12 overseeing the effort, with some working full-time on Facebook Live. Since going “all out” in May, the publisher has confirmed a few key things: have a real reason to go live; there is an appetite for news and explainer... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #facebook live #working full-time #explainer videos #view counts


How Brexit is helping shape Business Insider’s Facebook Live strategy

For Business Insider, Facebook Live means more live news and events coverage. The publisher is now doing six live streams per day across its Business Insider, Business Insider UK, Tech Insider and Insider pages. The content, which is overseen by a four-person team, focuses on covering big news... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #business insider


How Gawker is pulling comments into its Facebook Instant Articles

At Gawker Media, co-founder Nick Denton has made commenting a particular obsession, even building an in-house online commenting system, Kinja. The quality of that discussion doesn’t always carry over to Facebook, though. So Gawker built a tool to pull in comment threads to run at the end of its... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #gawker media #comment threads #time spent #news feeds


Seven Ways Facebook's Big Algorithm Change Will Affect Marketers And Publishers

The social network is a fact of life for any company that creates content. And the new reality will require lots of adjustment.The day many marketers and publishers have dreaded has arrived: Facebook is changing its algorithm to send less traffic to content sites.Read Full Story Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2016-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #content sites


What Publishers Can Learn from the Rise and Fall of Social Gaming on Facebook

Ever since Facebook introduced its Instant Articles feature last year, publishers have been wondering how the move would play out.The lure is clear: Facebook provides exposure and traffic despite the fact that Instant Articles do not link to the publishers' sites. For Facebook, A-list content... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2016-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #facebook introduced #social gaming #ad dollars #long term


As Publisher Reach on Facebook Goes Down, Video Is Going Way Up

Even as Facebook plans on de-emphasizing publisher-posted content in users' news feeds in favor of posts from friends and family, video seems to be on the way up. According to data compiled by SocialFlow, a social analytics company used by many major publishers, video content posted by... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2016-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #news feeds #media companies #increasingly turning #audience engagement #anecdotal reports #rapid growth


Facebook’s Latest News Feed Change Sounds Like Bad News for Publishers

The modified algorithm will place higher value on posts by friends, family, and colleagues — at the expense of media brands. The post Facebook’s Latest News Feed Change Sounds Like Bad News for Publishers appeared first on Folio:. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2016-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post facebook #publishers appeared #bad news #media brands


Facebook's News Feed Update Isn't Good News For Publishers—But It May Be For You

Would you rather get your news directly from publishers or from your Facebook friends?If you've been feeling like Facebook is clogging up your News Feed with too many dispiriting news stories and not enough cute baby pictures, this one's for you: The social network is tweaking its algorithm yet... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2016-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #news directly #similar change


Facebook news feed changes to rank posts from friends and family above 'liked' pages

Facebook will make changes to its news feed rankings, highlighting posts from friends and family over those from publishers and brand pages that users have "liked". Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2016-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Facebook gives friends higher priority in News Feeds

Facebook is to give posts by users' friends and family greater prominence - a move that may challenge professional publishers. Continue reading at BBC World

[ BBC World | 2016-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #news feeds


The winners and losers of Facebook’s news feed change

With its latest algorithm tweak, Facebook said it will favor posts from friends and families over publishers. That's generally bad for publishers, which have been increasingly building their distribution strategies around the social behemoth. Within them, the ones with the most shareable content... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #medium-sized publishers #favor posts #distribution strategies #heavily dependent


Facebook Is Changing Its News Feed Algorithm to Focus Less on Publishers' Content

Expect to see more pictures of your friends' pets and wedding announcements from extended family members in your Facebook news feed in the coming weeks. And expect to see less news. In yet another blow to publishers that have spent years building audiences to build traffic and revenue, the... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2016-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #top priority #research suggests #digital publishing #marketing strategies


Facebook to Push Friends' Posts Higher, Likely to Publishers' Detriment

It's a fact: Most publishers rely on Facebook for a significant portion of their referral traffic. As such, they watch carefully as Facebook makes decisions about what kind of content to prioritize in the all-important News Feed product that is at the center of the social network.On Wednesday,... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2016-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #significant portion #referral traffic #big change #similar change


Facebook changes the News Feed to favor friends and family over publishers

Facebook has published for the first time a list of “News Feed Values,” Facebook’s secret sauce of what makes the algorithm tick. The social network is adjusting the recipe with a heavy helping of content from friends and family, likely an attempt to get people to share more, given that there... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2016-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post facebook #publishers appeared #secret sauce #media outlets