Top News:
Richard Nieva / CNET:
Mark Zuckerberg says showing fewer viral videos reduced the total time people spent on Facebook by ~50M hours every day, as MAUs reach 2.13B, up 14% YoY — The world's biggest social network is almost minting money, but Mark Zuckerberg has warned news feed changes could hurt business.
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Facebook, CNBC, The Wrap, TechCrunch, Ad Age, New York Times, Recode, CNBC, Forbes, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Variety and @anthony, more at Techmeme »
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Recode:
Facebook's daily active user base in the US and Canada fell for the first time ever in Q4, dropping from 185M to 184M in the previous quarter — It was a small but negative change to daily active users in Facebook's most valuable market. — Here's a troubling data point if you're a Facebook investor …
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Bloomberg, MediaNama, The Next Web, Fortune and Vanity Fair, more at Techmeme »
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
Memo: The Hill bars staffers from buying Twitter followers after NYT report on Devumi selling fake followers — The Hill announced to its staffers Wednesday morning that employees are now prohibited from purchasing Twitter followers. The new rule, conveyed via an internal memo obtained by The Daily Beast …
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@maxwelltani, @charles_gaba, @klasfeldreports, Adweek and Gizmodo
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New York Times:
Twitter accounts for celebrities and media figures lose followers after NYT probe into firm that sold followers and as officials call for scrutiny of practice — Federal and state authorities are investigating the sellers of artificial followers and other fraudulent social media engagement.
Darren Rovell / ESPN:
21st Century Fox wins 5-year contract for NFL's Thursday Night Football in deal sources say is worth $660M+/year; streaming rights to be sold in next few weeks — Thursday Night Football is changing networks once again. — The NFL announced Wednesday morning that the package will go to Fox for the next five seasons.
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SportsBusiness Daily, Variety, Broadcasting & Cable, nflcommunications.com, Radio & Television …, The New York Observer, Bloomberg, Forbes, Ad Age, Fortune, TVWeek.com, Adweek, Business Insider, FierceCable, ProFootballTalk, VideoNuze Analysis, @darrenrovell, @sportslawguy, @helmandc, @nicksundberg, @richbtig, @cyleeder and Deadline
Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed:
Twitter now says 1.4M+ US users interacted with tweets from Russia-linked accounts during 2016 election, up from 670K previously announced, has notified them — Twitter on Wednesday said it notified 1.4 million people in the US that they engaged with Kremlin-linked troll accounts during the 2016 US election.
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@cfarivar, @kantrowitz, The Hill, Recode, Engadget, @markseibel, TechCrunch and Fortune, more at Techmeme »
Dirk VanderHart / Portland Mercury:
Memo: The Oregonian, owned by Advance Publications, lays off 11 newsroom staffers — After repeated rounds of layoffs, it's hard to imagine the Oregonian having anywhere else to cut. But the news business's grim prognosis marches on, so the cuts continue.
Jim Bankoff / Vox Media:
Memo: Vox CEO Jim Bankoff says company hit its financial targets for 2017, says hiring growth will slow in 2018, and hints at some projects being “scaled back” — Vox Media Chairman & CEO Jim Bankoff on an era where quality, scale and sustainability matter more than ever.
Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:
Meredith CEO Tom Harty says editorial staff face no changes yet at Time Inc. as Meredith takes over; Time Inc. CEO Rich Battista, other top executives to leave — Meredith is moving in. — The $2.8 billion acquisition of Time Inc. becomes final on Jan. 31, and Meredith officially takes over Feb. 1.
Discussion:
Page Six, @davidzmorris, @abbywestnyc, Vanity Fair and TVWeek.com
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Pandora announces restructuring, shifting resources to ad tech and audience development, cutting workforce by 5% to save $45M annually, will expand in Atlanta — Pandora Media is pink-slipping about 5% of its workforce, a move the streaming-music company said will help it save $45 million annually.
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Radio & Television …, MediaPost, RAIN News, US Securities …, TechCrunch, Radio Ink, @conorsen, Business Insider, AdExchanger, MarketWatch, @urvaksh and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Alex Balk / The Awl:
The Awl, born in 2009 from the idea that intelligent readers wanted resonant, weird, and amusing news and ideas, has now passed away; archives survive — The Awl was born of the following thoughts: What if there were a website with a wealth of resonant, weird, important, frightening and amusing bits of news and ideas?
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@dvnjr, @kottke, @tomscocca, Boing Boing, @snackwave_julie, @andrewlavallee, @mishaangrist, @johndelsignore, @casey_cac, @tcarmody and @jyarvin
James Warren / Poynter:
Memo: Jeffrey Good, an executive editor at New England-based Pioneer Valley Newspaper group, said he was fired for advocating equal pay for female employees — Jeffrey Good, executive editor of Newspapers of New England's Pioneer Valley Newspaper group, said he's been fired for advocating equal pay for women employees.
Nellie Andreeva / Deadline:
Podcast network Gimlet Media launches Gimlet Pictures, a new film and TV division headed by Chris Giliberti — Podcast network Gimlet Media is establishing a footprint in film and television with the launch of Gimlet Pictures, a new film and television arm headed by the company's Chris Giliberti.
Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
BBC Director-General Tony Hall says the corporation made a “mistake” in failing to review Carrie Gracie's salary as China editor — Tony Hall appears in London's House of Commons in a public evidence session along with other top executives of the public broadcaster and former China editor Carrie Gracie.
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