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 ]
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In his call for Your five-minute manifesto for FutureBook, The Bookseller editor Philip Jones wrote that part of the planning of our FutureBook Conference this year (4th December at The Mermaid) is "to take this recent history of the book business and reflect on the job still to do." To that... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In anticipation of Sunday's debut of "Fear the Walking Dead," AMC released the first three minutes of the pilot on the show's Facebook page. Serving as a companion series to the most-watched show in cable television history, "The Walking Dead," the new series opens with an unsettling look at one... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-08-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kik, a chat app that claims 40% of U.S. teenagers as users, announced a $50-million investment Tuesday from Chinese tech company Tencent that values the start-up at $1 billion. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Elton John, the singer-songwriter known for his advocacy for gay rights, has strongly criticized Mayor Luigi Brugnaro of Venice, Italy, for banning 49 LGBT-themed children's books from the city's schools. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The new service, called Watchable, will reportedly bring content from Vox, BuzzFeed, and other publishers to Xfinity boxes.Comcast is currently working on a new digital video platform called "Watchable," with plans to launch later this year with some major partners. According to Business... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2015-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Facebook apology on Thursday did not prevent Nick Kyrgios from being fined by the ATP for an "insulting remark" he made a day before during a Rogers Cup match against Stan Wawrinka. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers are not doing enough to adapt to the mobile era. The biggest mistake, Breaking News gm Cory Bergman says, is not investing enough in mobile talent -- and not allowing for the inevitable mistakes in trying to figure out what works. Instead, there's a propensity for publishers to... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2015-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If you're already annoyed with the autoplay video ads in your Facebook timeline, you might want to brace yourself. The social network is opening up that advertising tech to outside apps, or more specifically, to publishers who leverage Menlo Park's... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2015-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook is working on a stand-alone mobile news application that seems to be part of its Facebook for Business initiative. This product, which sounds similar to Twitter, seems to be different from Facebook for Work, an initiative that wa ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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App that would allow publishers to highlight and push news events to Facebook users is said to be in alpha-stage testingFacebook could be preparing to take on Twitter at its own game, with a standalone news application for mobile phones.The product, which is reportedly in “alpha” stage testing... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Crowdfunding publishing platform Inkshares reveals data about where its readers come from, with Facebook and email marketing leading the way. The post Facebook, Email Most Effective for Crowdfunding Books on Inkshares appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Blake will publish a book about the late Cilla Black next week. Black, whose real name was Priscilla White, died overnight on Saturday 1st August at her home in Spain after falling over, hitting her head and having a stroke. She was 72. On Monday 10th August John Blake will publish... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Can an online ‘safe space’ be both selective and preoccupied with inclusivity? That’s a question that Binders Full of Women Writers is trying to sort out after a member published an article about the Facebook groupThe first rule of Binders Full of Women Writers is: you do not talk about Binders... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Like many Facebook users, Mark Zuckerberg turned to the social network to announce that he and his wife were expecting a baby. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With a mix both funny and serious videos and a Facebook-first approach, Unilad has amassed 6.7 million fans on the social network. Its strategy is reminiscent of competitors like Lad Bible, with its own bro-focus and reliance on fans to create and promote video -- but Unilad has also been... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2015-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Al Jazeera isn’t exactly the media brand that comes to mind as a top choice for today’s news junkies. And yet, a year after its launch, Al Jazeera’s AJ+ offshoot has emerged as a huge success story, thanks largely to Fac ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With all the revenue flowing to digital video, it’s easy to see why CNN is prioritizing video views over pageviews. CNN.com’s video views nearly doubled over the past year, through a mix of short- and long-form clips. It’s also not shy about taking a page from Facebook’s autoplay feature. But... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2015-07-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As ad dollars flow to online video, the video view has been asserting itself as the new coin of the realm for publishers. And so with CNN Digital’s goal of being nothing less than the worldwide leader in video, it’s pushing ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-07-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Workforce diversity is something that has been brought into sharp focus in recent months as companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook reveal the make-up of their staff. White, middleclass, male employees dominate the world of technology, and this is certainly the case at Facebook -- even... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2015-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The social network is positioning itself as a leader in diversity efforts, even though it still has a lot to learn. The post Facebook Publishes Its Managing Bias Course For All appeared first on WIRED. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2015-07-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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