Mediagazer: Nielsen's Tops of 2011: Digital (Alana/Nielsen Wire)

8:00 AM ET, December 29, 2011

Top News:

Amy Chozick / Media Decoder:

The Times E-Mails Millions by Mistake to Say Subscriptions Were Canceled — Home-delivery subscribers to The New York Times and others received a mass e-mail notice on Wednesday erroneously saying that their delivery had been cancelled. — The e-mail, which the Times's spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha …

Ben Popper / Betabeat: We Got the New York Times Email Spam. Feeling Special

Derrick Harris / GigaOM:

Could SOPA fly if big media put skin in the game? — The biggest web-related legal controversy over the past few months — if not the entire year — has been the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA. The bill's shortcomings have been covered to death (including by GigaOM here and here) …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Elana Zak / 10,000 Words:

Confused by SOPA? Five Multimedia Explainers — Unless you live under a rock, it's pretty hard to ignore the buzz that the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) has generated in the last few months. The controversial bill, along with its companion bill, Protect-IP Act (PIPA) …

Discussion: Prison Planet.com, Politico and Marketing Pilgrim, Thanks:elanazak

Alana / Nielsen Wire:

Nielsen's Tops of 2011: Digital — As 2011 comes to a close, Nielsen reviewed the top online destinations, social media sites, and smartphone devices. Google was the most-visited U.S. Web brand, while Facebook held its lead among social networks and blogs.

Discussion: Fast Company, Softpedia News, VentureBeat, CNET, PC Magazine, WebProNews, The Next Web and MediaPost

Craig Silverman / Poynter:

Conferences raise unanswered questions about fact checking — The Great Fact Checking Explosion continues to ripple as we approach 2012. — Following a November event co-hosted by Jeff Jarvis and Craig Newmark at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, I recently headed to Washington …

Discussion: Future of Journalism

Wall Street Journal:

Fuse Is a Flash Point in Cable Fight — Millions of New Yorkers might miss Knicks basketball games if the MSG Network went dark on Time Warner Cable's systems in the new year, amid a bitter dispute over fees. But how many viewers are missing the other network caught up in the fight, the Fuse music channel?

Michael Cieply / Media Decoder:

Hollywood Copyright Dispute Still Flaring — LOS ANGELES — Anyone who thought the nasty legal fight between the Penske Media Corporation, owner of the Deadline.com Web site, and Prometheus Global Media, owner of The Hollywood Reporter, wouldn't get nastier just wasn't thinking.

Jay Yarow / Business Insider:

After Losing Its Star Writers, Engadget's Traffic Has Gone Up — When AOL's Engadget lost its roster of star editors and reporters, the natural assumption for many people in the tech-media world was that it was in big trouble. — Well, guess what? Engadget is doing just fine without those writers.

Andrew Longstreth / Reuters:

Analysis: Manning's legal strategy could lead to plea deal — (Reuters) - While it may appear that the government's document-leaking case against U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning is strong, the defense could have some surprising leverage with prosecutors and force plea negotiations.

Lucas Shaw / The Wrap:

L.A. Times Adds More Games to Website, Hoping to Boost Revenue — In a bid to boost its digital revenue, the Los Angeles Times has struck a deal with Arkadium, a major online game developer, to add more than two dozen games to that section of its website. — Related Articles:

Thanks:steverubel

Mallary Jean Tenore / Poynter:

Why writers tweet about death, illness, rape — When Rocky Mountain News reporter Berny Morson tweeted from a child's funeral in 2008, journalists called the incident “repulsive” and “tasteless.” Now, it seems, nothing is off-limits when it comes to Twitter.

John Biggs / TechCrunch:

GoodReads' Recommendation Engine Acquisition Gooses The Publishing Game — While bookstores are reporting increased sales this month, I foresee a time when “Staff Picks” at the local booke shoppe will soon be replaced by recommendation engines that tell you what ebook to pick up next.

Julian Sanchez:

The New York Times on Ron Paul's Newsletters — With Ron Paul's now-infamous newsletters once again making headlines, I mulled whether I ought to revisit the issue, but ultimately decided that there wasn't much to add to the long piece Dave Weigel and I wrote for Reason back in 2008 …

Discussion: Hit & Run, PolitickerNY, New York Times and The Huffington Post