4 ms·

There is a real problem. Content creators are not getting enough income to operate on. Middle companies (e.g., Google and Facebook) are making a lot of money. T

by mfer 3y ago

There is a real problem. Content creators are not getting enough income to operate on. Middle companies (e.g., Google and Facebook) are making a lot of money. This is a problem especially for local and regional content. Useful solutions to the problem are where we are running into disagreements. And, any useful solution is going to run into disagreement because it's going to change the distribution of wealth from the status quo. Content creators will get more of it. Two analogies come to mind... 1. It reminds me of record labels and artists. There have traditionally been many cases where the artists made very little income but the producers and label made a lot of money. The distribution channel captured the profits. 2. I also think of cars and car dealerships. Imagine if car manufacturers couldn't make enough money to run a functioning business but car dealerships were making a lot of income. In the case of news articles the underlying problem isn't discovery of content. Instead, it's about the income model around advertisements. The middle companies that broker ads are making a lot of money while the organizations displaying them get a fraction of the income. The issues are often part of todays advertising model.

veave 3y ago
>There is a real problem. Content creators are not getting enough income to operate on. Middle companies (e.g., Google and Facebook) are making a lot of money. The solution to "someone makes more money than someone else" is not necessarily "steal from the one who makes more money". >In the case of news articles the underlying problem isn't discovery of content. Instead, it's about the income model around advertisements. The middle companies that broker ads are making a lot of money while the organizations displaying them get a fraction of the income. The issues are often part of todays advertising model. Newspapers not making enough money from their ads is not Facebook's fault. Facebook is not brokering ads for those publishers. The examples you provided are irrelevant because the relationship publishers have with Facebook is nothing like that. For starters, Facebook and publishers do not enter any kind of agreement or contract.
- mfer 3y ago
  I didn't claim it was Facebook's fault. I did write... > Useful solutions to the problem are where we are running into disagreements. I consider Useful to be Usability + Utility. One of the problems in finding a useful solution is that politicians are driving solutions based on things they are not experts in. A reasoned understanding of the situation with information on which knobs to turn is not present. > Newspapers not making enough money from their ads is not Facebook's fault. Yes and no. A specific issue is local and regional news. Facebook and Next Door are examples of applications that have changed how we engage with and know about local and regional happenings. That means less traffic to Newspapers to learn about local happenings. This kind of change isn't necessarily a bad thing. But, it is transformative with trade-offs that are worth looking into. For example, I can easily get the scores for the local high school football games via social media. But, getting a good understanding about some outstanding players is going to be missing. Something gained and something lost. There is a lot here. And, while I don't like the proposed law I do see a need for understanding and change. Some knobs needs to be adjused around this space.

by mfer 3y ago

veave 3y ago

>There is a real problem. Content creators are not getting enough income to operate on. Middle companies (e.g., Google and Facebook) are making a lot of money. The solution to "someone makes more money than someone else" is not necessarily "steal from the one who makes more money". >In the case of news articles the underlying problem isn't discovery of content. Instead, it's about the income model around advertisements. The middle companies that broker ads are making a lot of money while the organizations displaying them get a fraction of the income. The issues are often part of todays advertising model. Newspapers not making enough money from their ads is not Facebook's fault. Facebook is not brokering ads for those publishers. The examples you provided are irrelevant because the relationship publishers have with Facebook is nothing like that. For starters, Facebook and publishers do not enter any kind of agreement or contract.

mfer 3y ago
I didn't claim it was Facebook's fault. I did write... > Useful solutions to the problem are where we are running into disagreements. I consider Useful to be Usability + Utility. One of the problems in finding a useful solution is that politicians are driving solutions based on things they are not experts in. A reasoned understanding of the situation with information on which knobs to turn is not present. > Newspapers not making enough money from their ads is not Facebook's fault. Yes and no. A specific issue is local and regional news. Facebook and Next Door are examples of applications that have changed how we engage with and know about local and regional happenings. That means less traffic to Newspapers to learn about local happenings. This kind of change isn't necessarily a bad thing. But, it is transformative with trade-offs that are worth looking into. For example, I can easily get the scores for the local high school football games via social media. But, getting a good understanding about some outstanding players is going to be missing. Something gained and something lost. There is a lot here. And, while I don't like the proposed law I do see a need for understanding and change. Some knobs needs to be adjused around this space.