Day 22: Wake-up call

Monday, January 22, 2018

Last week, Facebook pulled the plug on actively promoting third-party companies, notably the media. They’re not actually preventing anyone from sharing a link, but it does (hopefully) mean you won’t see anymore random content with the subheading “Friends X and Y like these people, so we’re sharing it with you too”.

Media organisations large and small are upset because they’ve pretty much spent the last decade realigning their revenue, distribution, and even their editorial voice around their ability to leverage Facebook and other social media (but mostly Facebook). I know because I was there to see it happen.

I can’t wait to see who sinks and who swims; to see whether or not the masses really did abdicate their functions in deductive reasoning. Maybe it’s too much to hope for, but I’ll be happy if it means the end of headlines that scream at me how I should feel.