#38 - The Algorithm That Follows You

An ever-growing list of news publishers are active on TikTok . Even at BBC News, Tiktok has gone from being a neglected platform to one of its “main priorities” for 2023 in less than a year. Many publishers see it as the way to connect with a new generation even if it means producing more and more content for a platform they don’t control. There is no guarantee a video will be widely shared, even if you are a big news brand. TikTok is a fire hose of random content where you don’t follow people or brands, you follow an algorithm. Or, rather, the algorithm follows you as Carolina A. Miranda has put it so eloquently in a recent LA Times piece.

IN FOCUS

TikTok has had more than 3 billion downloads globally. It is relentlessly sticky. And yet most newsmakers hardly understand how it works even if TikTok has already transformed culture: reshaping language, turning dance moves into social currency and making video into something we watch vertically rather than horizontally.

Random test: have you already encountered #corecore , the latest new TikTok aesthetic?

For the Dutch-speaking reader: be sure to check out Laurens Vreekamp's excellent newsletter this week. About how to use TikTok as a source.

JOURNALISM & THE WORLD

Eighty-six journalists and media workers were killed around the world in 2022 – one every four days, according to UNESCO data – highlighting the grave risks and vulnerabilities that journalists face in the course of their work.

The 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer paints a bleak picture of trust in institutions, with business being the only one seen as competent and ethical. Journalists are amongst the least trusted groups of people , and news sources are still widely distrusted.

NEWSROOM

According to Desknet, a newsroom planning tool provider, three big trends will shape the future of newsroom planning : the emergence of new audience dimensions, increased focus on data-driven decisions, and a focus on more structured content planning.

Reuters Institute Journalist Fellow Johny Cassidy has written a report on how to make data journalism more accesible to blind news audiences.

And as AI gains traction, writing newsletters with a human touch is more important than ever. Here are 5 tips by The Inbox Collective to write more human.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Toolkits asked a selection of publishing leaders what trends and challenges they believe will shape 2023. A handful of key themes emerged, including the prioritization of monetization over subscriber growth, a renewed focus on publishers’ core audiences and a greater emphasis on registration walls.

INMA released a new report focused on how news subscription marketers can use generative AI tools to save time, improve scalability, and increase the effectiveness of reader engagement.

Minna Technologies & FT Strategies have released a new report on the subscription economy. The main point? We have entered a third distinct phase for the subscription economy and that is the retention phase.

SHORT

• January starts with a big tech layoff: more than 50.000 people are being laid off by Microsoft, Google and others.
• Amazon Prime Video and DAZN sign sport streaming distribution deal.
• Getty Images is suing Stability AI for scraping millions of images from its site .
• Meta's not backing down on its ambitious metaverse plans.
• Twitter is planning to run content deals with more than three dozen news outlets.
• Data dot AI has released its annual report on the most popular smartphone apps.
• Tik-Tok rolls out state-controlled label to 40 more countries.

AI

News sites are at risk of becoming mere source material for new ‘generative’ search enginges. The latest update of Perplexity Ask answers with up-to-date news sources and allows you to follow-up questions to dig deeper.

According to the latest Reuters Institute predictions 67% of publishers are now using AI recommendations in their newsrooms. For Twipe, the next step for publishers is now to start looking into ‘AI news recommender personae’. What? Just read the article!

And as the hype continues there is more AI news than ever:

• CNET’s article writing AI is publishing verry dumb errors.
• Anthropic, an AI startup, has quietly begun testing a new, ChatGPT-like AI assistant named Claude.
• ITV has launched the first deep-fake sketch show.
• AI in 2023: The application landscape has arrived.
• A selection of tools to check AI content .

And finally a very comprehensive guide with expert strategies for crafting compelling ChatGPT prompts.

AUDIO

A recent Verge article says fewer podcasts were created in 2022 than in the two years prior. The numbers are from Listen Notes and the margins are shocking: the number of new shows created?dropped by nearly 80 percent ?between 2020 and 2022. Many individual Creators seem to recognize that until podcast discovery improves, launching a podcast may be a losing proposition.

Meanwhile, according to Morning Consult data, YouTube is the most preferred podcast platform among regular listeners, ahead of Spotify and Apple.

ONE MORE THING

This week I'm going out with a very practical reading tip I found this week: 30 ideas to improve your newsletter this year.

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As always feel free to share this newsletter with friends & colleagues!

Ezra Eeman, Change Director, News - Editorial