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Is Google dying? Or did the web grow up?
This is a faaaascinating read, and one that speaks to the ephemeral nature of life online. For The Atlantic, Charlie Warzel argues that ‘one of the most-used tools on the internet is not what it used to be’. Warzel’s article examines whether Google Search – the lifeblood of both the platform and the bedrock of many publisher strategies – is slowly becoming worse for its users:
“Most people don’t need a history lesson to know that Google has changed; they feel it. Try searching for a product on your smartphone and you’ll see that what was once a small teal bar featuring one “sponsored link” is now a hard-to-decipher, multi-scroll slog, filled with paid-product carousels; multiple paid-link ads… Once you’ve scrolled through that, multiple screen lengths below, you’ll find the unpaid search results. Like much of the internet in 2022, it feels monetized to death, soulless, and exhausting.”
So what does that mean for publishers, who rely on search engines to deliver users into the safe harbour of their owned and operated sites? At one point does Search become so commerce-focused that it becomes a poor way for users to discover trusted publishers? Any total collapse is a way off yet – but nothing lasts forever, especially online.
4 things we learned about email newsletters from the Digital News Report 2022
For the first time, the Digital News Report has a whole chapter dedicated to understanding email news consumption, from its contribution to engagement to monetisation opportunities. We’ve been watching the rise of email newsletters closely, and have drawn out four learnings for publishers from the report.
Special: Key findings from the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2022
In this special episode of Media Voices, Chris, Peter and Esther comb through the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2022 to pick out the key findings for publishers. Listen now to explore why news avoidance is up and trust is down; the relief we felt that climate coverage is on top of everyone’s agenda; how the news habits of younger generations are growing more distinct; and what the report’s first ever chapter dedicated to email newsletters had to say.
Channel 4 subtitles outage breached licence, Ofcom rules
Publishing is way behind other industries when it comes to technology consolidation. This episode, Affino CEO Markus Karlsson and TTG Media Product Manager Steve Hinds join us to talk about the benefits of systems consolidation, the challenges publishers face, and how they can get started.
This content originally appeared in The Media Roundup, a daily newsletter from Media Voices. Subscribe here:
