Mediagazer: In 2013, Facebook's referral traffic to BuzzFeed and its “Network” sites blew past Google's (Peter Kafka/Re/code)

3:20 AM ET, February 4, 2014

Top News:

Lauren Hockenson / Gigaom:

Facebook's Paper is Facebook for people who hate Facebook — For the past couple years, Facebook has trained its mobile efforts on capturing various facets of social interaction. The social network has compartmentalized and optimized features (Messenger), mimicked the experiences …

Discussion: NYT Bits, Business Insider, The Verge, @epak, @niemanlab, @anttislaine, @matthewpennell, @mitali and Forbes

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

In 2013, Facebook's referral traffic to BuzzFeed and its “Network” sites blew past Google's — The Year Facebook Blew Past Google — For the past few years, Web publishers like BuzzFeed have insisted that Facebook was going to be more important to their future than Google.

Discussion: Business Insider

Mathew Ingram / Gigaom:
Facebook and the race to make content go viral — meet the new boss, same as the old boss

Discussion: @lhockenson, @shafqatislam, Kirk LaPointe's … and Felix Salmon

Paul M. Barrett / Businessweek:

Media Watch: Why We Need Shoe-Leather Local Reporters — Buckle up for a lecture about the civic virtues of old-fashioned journalism. This is a business story for the media industry. It's also a concern of the first order for society at large. We are losing a vital resource as local reporters fade from the scene.

Discussion: Guardian, Thanks:@jaredbkeller

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Twitter and Facebook Win the Super Bowl. And Fox and the NFL Really Win the Super Bowl. — The numbers are in. And pretty much everyone who doesn't live or work in Denver won last night's game. — That is: Nielsen says this year's Super Bowl — boring by halftime and just about unwatchable …

Discussion: Forbes, PandoDaily and VatorNews

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Super Bowl: Netflix Traffic Fell 20% in First Half, But Then Bounced Back to Normal Levels

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, Forbes, AdAge, The Wrap and TechCrunch

John Eggerton / Broadcasting & Cable:

Nets, Stations Push Back On Retrans Via TVfreedom.org — Will make case for broadcast programming and good faith negotiations — Broadcast networks and their affiliate associations have teamed up with broadcast groups, mobile digital broadcasters and others to launch TVfreedom.org …

Discussion: Variety

Vivian Salama / Columbia Journalism Review:

Preventing war by promoting ‘peace journalism’ in Uganda — A program in Uganda aims to keep violence away and, perhaps, promote peace in war-torn neighbors — “Do not kill those cockroaches with a bullet; cut them to pieces with a machete,” blared Rwanda's Radio Télévision …

Gina Hall / L.A. Biz:

Head of 'Japan's HBO' faces tough job of what will play back home — Unlike consumer goods, creative content offers a unique challenge. While all cultures tend to consume filmed entertainment, the kind of content differs from country to country. Kayo Washio, head of U.S. operations of WOWOW …

Justin Ellis / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The Guardian and The Newspaper Club bring its robot-built, longread-loving newspaper back into print — The Guardian and The Newspaper Club are getting back into business for another printing of The Long Good Read. — The algorithm-driven newspaper, which collected the best …

Discussion: @newspaperclub

Nikki Usher / Nieman Journalism Lab:

In Des Moines, the Register's new newsroom space aims to be a symbol of its digital future — The Des Moines Register said goodbye to almost a century worth of memories in June when it left its 13-story home for a floor-and-a-half of commercial real estate in what had been vacant office space.

Discussion: The Newspaper Guild

Nate Hoffelder / The Digital Reader:

Adobe to Require New Epub DRM in July, Expects to Abandon Existing Users — When Adobe announced their new DRM a couple weeks ago some said that we would soon see compatibility issues with older devices and apps as Adobe forced everyone to upgrade. — At that time I didn't think Adobe …

Discussion: @hadrien

Ian Burrell / The Independent:

BBC attempts to break into a global audience by harnessing the viral power of YouTube — Newsnight and Radio 1 are leading the charge a new strategy by the BBC to break out of the confines of the schedule and find a new global audience via YouTube. — The BBC2 flagship news programme …

Discussion: @iankatz1000 and @highamnews

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

Purdue University will investigate police treatment of student reporter — Purdue University's Office of Legal Counsel responded to requests for an investigation from the student newspaper and the National Press Photographers Association over the Jan. 21 detention of student photojournalist Michael Takeda.

Jeff Kosseff / InsideTechMedia:

Journalists Nationwide Face Surge of Subpoenas in Federal and State Courts — Reporters nationwide have faced a flurry of subpoenas in recent months, calling into question whether journalists can guarantee confidentiality to sources. The repeated attempts to force journalists to reveal …

Discussion: @matthewkeyslive, @sulliview, @atlblog and The Newspaper Guild