Mediagazer: UK to review social media laws (BBC)

4:30 AM ET, October 13, 2012

Top News:

Adrienne LaFrance / Nieman Journalism Lab:

For politically playful news orgs, the 2012 election means social interactivity — Wanna make your own over-the-top Bobby Newport-style political attack ad? — PBS NewsHour is on it. This week it launched Ad Libs 2012, an interactive feature that has you pick quotes and photos …

Discussion: Guardian, WebProNews and BuzzFeed

Ryan Chittum / CJR:

A Web survey isn't a poll, CNBC — The network's tweet creates a misleading media narrative on the veep debate — Whoever was running the CNBC Twitter feed last night didn't know the difference between a scientific poll and a Web poll: … As I'm writing this, that misinformation has been retweeted 4,838 times, favorited 405.

Discussion: TVNewser, Media Decoder, CNBC, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, The New Yorker Blog, Forbes, Hot Air, National Review, Cable Television News, Chickaboomer and Broadcasting & Cable

Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:

Time Out claims it is winning back lapsed readers — Distribution increases six fold after listings magazine abandoned cover price last month — Time Out is claiming lapsed readers have returned to the magazine after it went free last month and increased distribution six fold.

BBC:

UK to review social media laws — A freedom of information request revealed that there were 2,347 investigations after complaints regarding posts on social media in 2010. This number rose to 2,490 in 2011 - about 50 different cases across the UK each week.

Discussion: Business Week

Alisha Azevedo / Chronicle of Higher Education:

Research Libraries Increase Spending on Digital Materials — Spending by research libraries appears to be rising, especially for digital materials, according to new data from the Association of Research Libraries. — The data are part of the association's Library Investment Index …

Jeff John Roberts / paidContent:

Comment Voting: Ars Technica's new solution to shills and kooks — For many news sites, reader comments add extra insight and a sense of community. Unfortunately, comment sections are also a playpen for cranks, hucksters, fanboys and conspiracy theorists.

BBC:

Kindle Fire HD and Paperwhite sales make Amazon no profit — Amazon boss Jeff Bezos discusses the Kindle Fire HD — Amazon has confirmed it will not make a profit from sales of its latest Kindle tablet and e-reader devices. — “We sell the hardware at our cost, so it is break-even on the hardware …

Discussion: bizjournals, The Sun, AllThingsD, Mashable!, Bigmouthmedia Search …, Telegraph, ZDNet, Engadget, Pocket-lint, Bookseller news, Forbes, PublishersWeekly.com, CNET, Fast Company and BBC

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:
In self-publishing push, Amazon expands Kindle Owners' Lending Library to Europe

Discussion: CNET, Softpedia News, Telegraph and Engadget

Laura Hazard Owen / paidContent:

BookShout pulls users' Kindle, Nook books onto other platforms — BookShout, which is backed by book distribution company Ingram Content Group's CEO John R. Ingram and has gone through a number of iterations since its founding in 2010, is doing something that may make Amazon and Barnes & Noble mad …

Discussion: Forbes

Steve Buttry / The Buttry Diary:

Facebook news-feed changes mean newsrooms need new engagement strategies — Changes to the algorithm guiding the Facebook news feed make it more important than ever that newsrooms and journalists engage effectively on Facebook. — We don't fully know how the changes work or what we should do about the them.

Discussion: GigaOM and Business Week

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

YouTube Changes Its Search Ranking Algorithm To Focus On Engagement, Not Just Clicks — YouTube just announced that it is changing its search ranking algorithm to highlight videos that keep viewers engaged. The idea here, says YouTube, is to “reward engaging videos that keep viewers watching.”

Discussion: YouTube Creator Blog, The Next Web, ZDNet, The Verge and NetNewsCheck Latest

Josh Halliday / Guardian:

BBC under pressure to say when DG knew about Jimmy Savile investigation — George Entwistle asked by MP if he knew about Newsnight investigation before BBC1 broadcast tributes to presenter — The BBC is under mounting pressure to explain when the director general, George Entwistle …

Discussion: The New Yorker Blog

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Mitt Romney Makes Play For Newspaper Endorsements In Battleground States — NEW YORK — The Des Moines Register endorsed President Barack Obama in the 2008 election and, given the paper's left-leaning editorial board, could be expected to do the same this time around.