Mediagazer: Memo: The Hill bars staffers from buying Twitter followers after NYT report on Devumi selling fake followers (Maxwell Tani/The Daily Beast)

1:00 AM ET, February 1, 2018

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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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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 …

Discussion: Bloomberg, 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 …

Discussion: @maxwelltani, @charles_gaba, @klasfeldreports, Adweek and Gizmodo

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.

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @wexler, @grantstern, @alicialutes, @peterwsinger, @shoq, @nickconfessore, @briankrebs, @rasmus_kleis, @mathewi, @anthony, @nickconfessore and New York Magazine

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Examining the ethics of journalists buying Twitter followers, after the suspension of Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Richard Roeper

Discussion: @charliemagne, The Ringer and One Man & His Blog

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.

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.

Discussion: @cfarivar, @kantrowitz, The Hill, Recode, Engadget, @markseibel, TechCrunch and Fortune, more at Techmeme »

Dirk VanderHart / Portland Mercury:

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Jim Bankoff / Vox Media:

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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: @davidzmorris, @abbywestnyc, Vanity Fair and TVWeek.com

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?

Discussion: @tomscocca, @dvnjr, @kottke, 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.

Discussion: Jezebel, @ajfriedenberger, @drewharwell, @jackhevans, @claire_bushey, @williams_paige, @taylormtelford, @davis7d, @jessicayellin, @lisagartner, @monaeltahawy, @dabeard, @karenmcgrane, @mattwaite and @poynter

John Koblin / New York Times:

Netflix resumed production of the sixth season of House of Cards on Tuesday, after a three-month hiatus following Kevin Spacey allegations and firing from show — Kevin Spacey is out. Diane Lane and Greg Kinnear are in. — The sixth and final season of “House of Cards” …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, /Film, Mashable, Washington Post, The New York Observer, Consequence of Sound, Vanity Fair, @joeconchatv, @angryblacklady, @mikiebarb and @koblin

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.

BBC:
Speaking to MPs, Carrie Gracie said the BBC offered her £100K in back pay and said she hadn't earned as much as male colleagues because she was “in development”

Discussion: Chorley Citizen, Press Association, The Guardian, @bbckarishma, @girlinbeijing, The Guardian, @markdistef, @jamesworldnews, @janemartinson, Chorley Citizen, Daily Mail and @christineelmer

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