THE SPEED OF THE FEED

Unpopular opinion: 2024 will be the year that mainstream media regains its footing.

Over the past decade, mainstream media lost credibility and impact. Diluted by social media, influencers, citizen journalism, blogs, newsletters, and niche media outlets, the landscape has been challenging for big news orgs. The New York Times won with Wordle more than any other sector of its business, while AI is making it even harder for traditional media companies to stay ahead of the game (a larger issue that will require a long-term solution).

I can appreciate a funny conspiracy theory, casual water cooler chatter, and a good internet rabbit hole over my morning coffee. I’m all for constructive debate in my office and in the IG comments. Diversity of thought is important and we all need to see the world from multiple perspectives to truly understand it. But more than ever, the information highway needs to be better maintained. There are bad actors who desire the death of democracy (if not other people entirely) and know they can get there through manipulating hearts and minds.

Major media is poised – with the election, The Olympics, and other massive media events – to bring back an era of, for lack of a better term, gatekeeping that will hopefully reinstitute trust and sanity. Platforms like TikTok and Twitter have become increasingly unhinged and users can tell. Untrue stories are being told and falsified images are being shared. The collective sentiment about the online space is changing overall.

Critical thinking is obviously key, but I believe a more impactful adjustment we could make as a society is to simply slow down. Moving at ‘the speed of the feed’ has only done damage to our collective understanding. Without this adjustment, no number of accredited journalists (like we have in the investor space), fact-checkers, or trusted creator badges will make a difference.

Could brands use their clout to help solidify messages and further become media channels? Perhaps, but a brand’s fielty to the bottom line will always call their bias into question. Interest groups have the same issue.

I wonder if, in a mainstream media model, niche media could have a larger voice. But you’re only niche until you’re not. Then it’s mo’ money, mo’ problems all over again.

What I want is the truth! The more I think about it, platforms like Reddit are increasingly important as a prompt to search. It makes research crowd-sourced rather than top-down. The ideal of these searches being self-vetted may be far-fetched but is perhaps more reliable than the current free-for-all.

Platforms, journalists, writers, and storytellers who become legitimately credible are going to have a field day in 2024. We want Beats + Bytes to serve that purpose in music, tech and beyond as we continue to carve out our lane. We’re focused on making it a better experience for our readers and would love to know your thoughts. If you have 60 seconds to complete?this simple survey, we would be grateful!?

Jesse Kirshbaum

Co-Founder of Nue