Top News:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook confirms test of “downvote” button on some comments for users to give feedback to company, with options like “Offensive”, “Misleading”, “Off Topic” — How can Facebook promote meaningful interaction between users?
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, The Wrap, CNBC, Forbes, The Independent, The Verge, Business Insider, BetaNews, Marketing Land, MacRumors, Ad Age, Daily Mail, Fortune, @eleanor_ohio, Engadget, USA Today, BloombergQuint, 9to5Google, Fast Company, Mashable, @joshconstine and @daveleebbc, more at Techmeme »
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
Digital Content Next study: Google and Facebook account for less than 5% of publishers' digital revenue and about 30% of their total distributed content revenue — Google and Facebook are the biggest tech companies in terms of advertising and biggest traffic sources for publishers …
Discussion:
Digital Content Next
Tim Peterson / Marketing Land:
Facebook will count organic reach impressions only when a Page post actually appears on a person's screen starting next week — Facebook originally said it would switch to only counting viewable impressions in November 2016, but the new system took longer than expected to build.
Paul Sandle / Reuters:
Facebook will award $10M in grants to people creating and leading communities, with up to $1M grants for 5 leaders and $50K for 100 more — LONDON (Reuters) - Facebook (FB.O) launched a community leadership program on Friday that will award $10 million in total to more than 100 people …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Facebook, VentureBeat, Facebook Community … and Fast Company
Gerry Smith / Bloomberg:
NBC adopts a new approach to Olympics advertising as TV audiences fall: ad sales are based on total viewership, both streaming and TV — Guarantee to sponsors says online, TV audiences are all alike — Two years ago in Rio, streaming soared while home viewing sank
Christina Pazzanese / Harvard University Gazette:
Q&A with Margaret Sullivan on the state of the news media, why the Times erred in removing the public editor position, and advice for young journalists — In a time when a U.S. president has been known to call journalists the “enemy of the people,” the everyday work of reporting the news has rarely been more challenging.
Wall Street Journal:
Viacom to launch a video streaming service by September with content it pulled from Hulu, Netflix, is in talks with US mobile carriers to distribute channels — Viacom Inc. plans to launch an ad-supported streaming-video service by September that will offer shows and other content from across its portfolio …
Megan Farokhmanesh / The Verge:
Twitch tightens community guidelines for hateful behavior, harassment, and sexually suggestive conduct, effective Feb. 19 — New rules go into effect this month — Twitch is enacting stricter policies in the interest of curbing harassment and sexually suggestive behavior.
Discussion:
Twitch Blog, @om3gamouse, Mashable, Kotaku, Twitch.tv, CinemaBlend, VentureBeat, Engadget, @twitch, Fast Company, @barnacules, @tamsinwood92, @skyhookart, Polygon, @valroths, @rt_lozelda, @nowyouseebree, @twitch, @riottiza, @pretzel_rocks, @penphiva, Gamasutra, Kotaku, TechCrunch and Polygon
James Vincent / The Verge:
YouTube temporarily suspends ads on Logan Paul's channels citing “recent pattern of behavior”, after multiple controversial posts since the suicide victim video — It's only a temporary suspension though — Has controversial YouTuber Logan Paul changed? It seems YouTube doesn't think so.
Discussion:
The Wrap, VideoInk, Forbes, Fast Company, Telegraph, Washington Post, @taylorlorenz, Mashable, BuzzFeed, TechCrunch, 9to5Google, Bustle, @scotteweinberg, Boing Boing, Fortune, Engadget, New York Magazine, Business Insider, @amitbhawani, The Independent, Variety, Polygon, Kotaku and TMZ.com, more at Techmeme »
Donie O'Sullivan / CNNMoney:
Twitter left up hundreds of videos from two Vine accounts connected to the Russian Internet Research Agency until CNN asked about the accounts — Senate committee grills tech giants over online terrorism — Twitter left hundreds of Russian propaganda videos, with millions of views …
Discussion:
Engadget, The Hill and BloombergQuint, more at Techmeme »
Mike Fleming / Deadline:
Disney preview of 2019 streaming service: starts in US only, excludes R-rated films, keeps Marvel on Netflix, first-year goal is 4-5 new movies and 5 TV series — EXCLUSIVE: The Disney streaming service is beginning to crystallize, and Deadline can provide some details of the initial slate.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Engadget, CinemaBlend, The A.V. Club, The Verge, io9, /Film, The New York Observer, The Playlist, @rwmead and @pauljordanjr
Chris O'Brien / VentureBeat:
Getty Images signs an image licensing deal with Google, signaling a truce after filing an antitrust lawsuit against Google in the EU in April 2016 — Almost two years after filing an antitrust lawsuit against Google, Getty Images announced today that it has signed a licensing deal with the Silicon Valley giant.
Discussion:
PR Newswire and Reuters, more at Techmeme »
John-Paul Ford Rojas / Sky News:
Trinity Mirror, publisher of UK's Daily Mirror, has agreed to pay £126.7M for several Northern & Shell titles including the Daily Express and Daily Star — Publisher Trinity Mirror is to buy the owner of the Daily Express in a £126.7m deal, it has been confirmed.
The Daily Northwestern:
Northwestern journalism professor Alec Klein, director of the Medill Justice Project, takes leave of absence amid probe into allegations of harassment — Medill Prof. Alec Klein, who yesterday was accused of harassment by several former students and employees of Medill, is taking a leave of absence from Northwestern.