Top News:
Elon Musk / @elonmusk:
Twitter Blue will soon cost $8/month, with half the ads, ability to post long video and audio, priority in replies, paywall bypass for some publishers, and more — Twitter's current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.
Discussion:
@elonmusk, @elonmusk, @elonmusk, Insider, MediaNama, @elonmusk, Variety, @jason, Raw Story, The Guardian, CNBC, @jennyenicholson, @ia, @teslaownerssv, @vitalikbuterin, @asemota, @clarajeffery, @morganicink, @themaxburns, @michaelehayden, @dgisserious, @naval, @cameronwilson, @mmasnick, @snazzyq, @walkerbragman, @edroso, @everywhereist, @joshtpm, @robertmaguire_, @tomgara, @balajis, @alexmleo, @joshtpm, @mmasnick, The Indian Express, @karaswisher, @carlhigbie, @alexagagosz, @indyfromspace, @lilahsturges, @byyourlogic, @chuckwendig, @bradmossesq, @mattdpearce, @kairyssdal, @inmortalcrypto, @phil_lewis_, @mkbhd, @elonmusk, @davmicrot, @heathergtv, @bendreyfuss, @pbump, @grimkim, @mattdpearce, Digital Liturgies, @elivalley, @byyourlogic, @aaronhuertas, @ashleyrindsberg, @n_waters89, @sewellchan, @bendreyfuss, @katrosenfield, @mattbrownep, @atticusgf, @pbump, @julesterpak, @semaforben, @tim_burgess, @aravosis, @bantg, @gaywonk, @levinejonathan, @amandathejedi, @mattdpearce, @kwawkese, @drmistercody, @arunbothra, @taylorlorenz, @elonmusk, @timodc, @malwaretechblog, @oliverdarcy, @wongmjane, @readdanwrite, @digiphile, @rhysriddell, @cliffordlevy, @wsj, CNET, Fortune, American Greatness, Los Angeles Times, 9to5Mac, Bloomberg, al.com, PC Gamer, Gizmodo, The Information, The Verge, The Daily Wire, The Wrap, TechCrunch, Al Jazeera, Deadline, @perezhilton, Waivly, @thomasfuchs, @mekkaokereke, @film_girl, @bobcesca_go, @dariccott, @scottmonty, @therealhoarse, @aud_bowler, @pandemona, @ethank, Wall Street Journal, The Post Millennial and Axios, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Elon Musk / @elonmusk: You will also get: - Priority in replies, mentions & search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam - Ability to post long video & audio - Half as many ads
Jordan Parker Erb / Insider: Elon Musk has given us a glimpse into his plans for increasing Twitter's revenue
Mitaksh / MediaNama: Everything you need to know about the changes made by Twitter's ‘Chief Twit’ Musk
Elon Musk / @elonmusk: There will be a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure, which is already the case for politicians
Todd Spangler / Variety: Elon Musk Calls Twitter's Verification System ‘Bulls—,’ Says Twitter Blue Will Cost $8 per Month for Blue Check Mark and Other New Perks
@jason: For everyone wondering why someone would pay for Twitter Blue/Verified, it's going to be a collection of AWESOME features—in addition to the Blue check mark. Twitter will always have a free option, but the paid option will be well worth your consideration! https://twitter.com/...
Dan Milmo / The Guardian: Musk proposes charging $8 for verified Twitter account despite user backlash
Jenny Nicholson / @jennyenicholson: Anyone who pays $8 to get a blue check will now have their replies bumped to the top of everything? I mean I feel like this entire thread was just typed stream of consciousness as he was thinking it but come on it's so immediately obvious how that'll make user experience worse https://twitter.com/...
@ia: The established checkmark verifying people will change its meaning to: “I paid.” Verification will get a new symbol. You don't need to be a genius to see that there is a simpler, less confusing way. Let the new mark take the new meaning and leave the old mark as it is. https://twitter.com/...
@teslaownerssv: Elon shared his thoughts with us about a paywall bypass for publishers back in May. Very cool to see it coming onto the @Twitter app. @elonmusk https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@vitalikbuterin: How well this works depends on exactly how much due diligence is done to make sure blue checks are who they say they are. “Pay $8/month and call yourself whatever” would damage the blue check's anti-scam role. But if there's more actual verification, the result is very different. https://twitter.com/...
Osaretin Victor Asemota / @asemota: If you tell people to pay for KYC, you will be left with no C. Particularly for something that does not make money for the customers. https://twitter.com/...
Clara Jeffery / @clarajeffery: Public figure? Limited public figure? What about journalists and others who are neither, but for whom impersonation could lead to disastrous misinformation. That's why the blue check program started. https://twitter.com/...
LaToya Morgan / @morganicink: Big picture: What they want is to not be able to tell whose account is real or not. https://twitter.com/...
Max Burns / @themaxburns: And a “paywall bypass” for “publishers willing to work with us” i.e. give Musk/Twitter a cut of their revenue. Musk is turning Twitter into the Internet's biggest rent-seeking system in record time. https://twitter.com/...
Michael Edison Hayden / @michaelehayden: Musk doesn't seem to understand the potential social stigma of buying a blue checkmark, which under this plan will become an insignia that you're one of his reactionary fanboys. https://twitter.com/...
Danny Gold / @dgisserious: Ok hear me out; what if we for the $8 you could put 8 of your top mutuals in your profile as well? And also you could choose a song to play when someone clicked on your TL https://twitter.com/...
@naval: Charging for the blue check moves it from a status symbol to a utilitarian one. It elicits shrieks because it's more about leveling the playing field than making money.
@cameronwilson: this has gone under the radar but giving people money for going viral is going to make this place go insane https://twitter.com/...
Mike Masnick / @mmasnick: So... Twitter Blue is not for verification. There's a separate verification system? Kind of like what “is already the case”? This is... clear as mud. https://twitter.com/...
Quinn Nelson / @snazzyq: This is hilarious. I can't. “The checkmark is for the elites so let's let everyone have the checkmark but then still distinguish the elites from everyone else with a secondary tag that normal people can't get.” 😂 So nothing has changed except $8. https://twitter.com/...
Walker Bragman / @walkerbragman: Musk: Blue checks for everyone who pays! No more lords and peasants! Also Musk: https://twitter.com/...
Roy Edroso / @edroso: That's the point: Musk wants to destroy the idea of expertise and accomplishment entirely, so that a respected epidemiologist, for example, will be indistinguishable from any crystals-and-woo crank who calls themself “doctor.” https://twitter.com/...
Geraldine / @everywhereist: “willing to work with us” is the most ominous fucking wording https://twitter.com/...
Josh Marshall / @joshtpm: I'd missed this. “Public figure” is a totally elastic term. It's basically bringing back lords and peasants. https://twitter.com/...
Robert Maguire / @robertmaguire_: He's also still completely missing the point of verification. I like knowing that an account that purports to be a reporter, govt official, or an expert from a particular organization is who they say they are, and not someone who just happened to have $8/month to impersonate them https://twitter.com/...
Balaji Srinivasan / @balajis: The blue checks wanted to abolish billionaires, in the name of equality. The billionaire will end up abolishing the blue checks, in the name of equality. https://twitter.com/...
Alex Leo / @alexmleo: The absolute funniest part of this is the idea that the people who create all of the content on Twitter (the users) have to pay $8 a month so that Twitter can reward...the content creators. https://twitter.com/...
Josh Marshall / @joshtpm: This part of the program shld get more discussion. The snarky short version of the response is, yeah, good luck with that. But there's a bit more to it. Some publications already do or did allow links through Twitter to bypass their paywall. So it's not a crazy idea. https://twitter.com/...
Mike Masnick / @mmasnick: So... getting rid of ad free stories, and switching to paywall bypass? This is confusing. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
The Indian Express: Elon Musk's big Twitter changes: Pay $8 for blue tick, what it will mean and more
Kara Swisher / @karaswisher: So essentially lords who can pay get better services and peasants without means to fork over dough to the world's richest man are screwed as usual. Got it. Pretend it's some class warfare thing, but I never asked for the blue check and it's meaningless to me overall. https://twitter.com/...
Carl Higbie / @carlhigbie: I'm not wild about paying $8/month either BUT... This is called advertising. If you pay for exposure you get it... no one is being surpressed, the payment IS promotion. If you don't like it you are free to leave. @elonmusk #capitalism https://twitter.com/...
Alexa Gagosz / @alexagagosz: Really interested to hear more about what @elonmusk means here. Paywall bypass for publishers? I wish just as much as the next person that good reporting was free. But that paywall pays journalists like me and my dedicated colleagues + supports community journalism. https://twitter.com/...
Dr. Sarah Parcak / @indyfromspace: My dude. We ARE your content creators. You don't us charge for it. The blue check is to verify that those of us who are in media/ public figures... well. We are who we are. https://twitter.com/...
@lilahsturges: I'm not gonna pay this fool $100 a year for the privilege of laboring in the content mines https://twitter.com/...
@byyourlogic: ok this is tedious for me to keep posting about but it's so good. none of his core group of supporters want to bypass paywalls for most of the publishers that use them! they don't want to feel like they're subsidizing the NYT! I love Delaware... https://twitter.com/...
Chuck Wendig / @chuckwendig: This last point is deranged. Pay $8/month to create content to reward yourself or others for creating content. Or something. Apparently. Shrug! https://twitter.com/...
Bradley P. Moss / @bradmossesq: Scam artists use this logic to lure people in. Pay me for the right to use my platform where you *might* make money one day. https://twitter.com/...
Matt Pearce / @mattdpearce: The argument here is that content creators need to pay Twitter to create a revenue stream to pay content creators. https://twitter.com/...
Kai Ryssdal / @kairyssdal: Newsflash - everybody on this website is a context creator https://twitter.com/...
@inmortalcrypto: Richest man on the planet talking about “lord & peasants system” Its funny. https://twitter.com/...
Philip Lewis / @phil_lewis_: I think this is a fundamental misunderstanding of how verification is supposed to work. A blue check has been perceived as a status symbol for some time when really it's just supposed to tell you if a page is authentic or not. https://twitter.com/...
Marques Brownlee / @mkbhd: My rule #1 on the internet that's never been successfully broken is to charge for something that was previously free https://twitter.com/...
Heather Gardner / @heathergtv: Free speech you have to pay for... https://twitter.com/...
Ben Dreyfuss / @bendreyfuss: The reason this sort of thing can be a win for small to midrange publishers with like Apple News+ is bc it opens up new audiences. It's not just a skeleton key, it's also a front page where your story can be highlighted and stuff. That wouldn't be true on Twitter.
Philip Bump / @pbump: I would be very surprised if Twitter/Musk didn't quickly announce a program whereby organizations could pay for staff to be verified collectively. There's a lot of value to Twitter in verifying users and none to me personally — but arguably some to The Post.
Kim Kelly / @grimkim: @mattdpearce Imagine what a posters' strike would look like - Twitter would just fully be a hellscape of bots and Nazis (instead of a hellscape of bots and Nazis with occasionally useful information and jokes)
@mattdpearce: Brother King has helpfully demonstrated management's flexibility at the table, and the posters bargaining committee believes that we can still get a better deal. https://twitter.com/...
Samuel D. James / Digital Liturgies: 7 Thoughts on Elon Musk and Twitter
@elivalley: Reactionary sociopath plans to sell “freer speech” spots to his disinfo pals, harassment gangs and fellow crypto scammers https://twitter.com/...
@byyourlogic: $8 for something that isn't even ad free is so funny. bless the chancery court for forcing him to do this https://twitter.com/...
Aaron Huertas / @aaronhuertas: Nothing news outlets love more than giving a company run by a guy who actively hates them a little extortion power. https://twitter.com/...
Ashley Rindsberg / @ashleyrindsberg: This is the kind of small print aspect to the Twitter Blue revamp but it might also be among the most significant - a path to news packaging that could be game changing. https://twitter.com/...
Nick Waters / @n_waters89: “I did this on the back of a cigarette packet and I have no idea how it's going to work” https://twitter.com/...
Sewell Chan / @sewellchan: I can't see any world in which NYT, WP, WSJ, etc., agree to let Twitter users paying $8/month ($96/year) to bypass their paywalls. Even if Twitter were to share 95% of the revenue. https://twitter.com/...
Ben Dreyfuss / @bendreyfuss: Also if the terms of this arrangement are generous enough to publishers that they actually do it—a very big if!—then this would be an actual good feature that would make Twitter Blue more attractive https://twitter.com/...
Kat Rosenfield / @katrosenfield: okay now that's a cool idea https://twitter.com/...
@mattbrownep: Why on earth would any publisher want to do that. There's no way in hell I'd do it. https://twitter.com/...
Atticus Goldfinch / @atticusgf: why would a publisher do this? how much of the 8 bucks per month are you offering them? this already wasn't going to make a lot of money, and now you're going to pay publishers? https://twitter.com/...
Philip Bump / @pbump: MUSK: i heart free speech, let the public square be freed! ALSO MUSK: you have to pay not to be “shadowbanned” https://twitter.com/...
Jules Terpak / @julesterpak: These ideas are continuously screaming we are 50+ years old I gotta be honest https://twitter.com/...
Ben Smith / @semaforben: This stuff is basically marketing, and has straightforward monetary value (probably not that much? traffic is cheap) for publishers and anyone else who wants attention and influence. https://twitter.com/...
Tim Burgess / @tim_burgess: Isn't the verification to prove it's the person / band that they claim to be??? There are zero other benefits. If you care about ‘peasants’ there is maybe a better home for your billions. Yours, Lord @Tim_Burgess https://twitter.com/...
John Aravosis / @aravosis: Elon doesn't seem to even understand what verification is for. It's so that users know that people of influence are who they say they are, in order to help avoid fraud. It's not about making “peasants,” as he calls them, feel good about themselves. https://twitter.com/...
@bantg: this is basically a telegram premium model, except in telegram you can pick your own status like *checks notes* a twerking cherry https://twitter.com/...
Carlos Maza / @gaywonk: I support this for the same reason I support taxing cigarettes and alcohol. I need a little push to encourage healthier behavior (logging off this site forever). https://twitter.com/...
Jon Levine / @levinejonathan: A big part of the aura of the blue check has always been its mystique. When you can buy a blue check like a pair of socks — it's value will go to zero Be careful! https://twitter.com/...
Matt Pearce / @mattdpearce: We have received management's latest pass. However, Posters Local 42069 maintains its last position that each user should be paid $20 each month by Twitter to remain on the service. https://twitter.com/...
King Kese / @kwawkese: 8 dollars 💵 a month to have a blue tick ? Nobody saw this coming. That's $96 to keep my account in a year wow https://twitter.com/...
Cody Johnston / @drmistercody: “Power to the people” is a pretty funny thing to say right before saying that those people have to pay a monthly fee. https://twitter.com/...
Arun Bothra / @arunbothra: The richest man on the earth is offering Blue Tick only to rich people who can make him richer. More Money to Musk but in the name of Power to People. Hypocrisy Pro Max 😅 https://twitter.com/...
@taylorlorenz: This seems like a very bad user experience to me! A user shouldn't get higher priority in search, replies etc if they pay, that's a bad experience for the end user who is getting less relevant search results, replies etc. https://twitter.com/...
Tim Miller / @timodc: Great news for annoying reply guys! For $8 a month you can harass people more prominently! https://twitter.com/...
Marcus Hutchins / @malwaretechblog: If you don't pay $8/month for Twitter Blue, then the platform will suppress your replies and visibility in search results. Free speech indeed. https://twitter.com/...
Oliver Darcy / @oliverdarcy: Musk seems to be of the mindset that the blue check serves the people who have them vs it being a big service to the user base trying to determine what's authentic and not. https://twitter.com/...
Jane Manchun Wong / @wongmjane: Twitter shelving @tryscroll's successor :( https://twitter.com/...
Daniel Roberts / @readdanwrite: wasn't this... the original primary selling point of Blue? https://twitter.com/...
Alex Howard / @digiphile: It may be illegal for @Twitter to accept money to verify certain people on a list led by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, a @USTreasury Department that manages & administers international sanctions. https://www.nytimes.com/... Chinese, Iranian, or Russian governments, perhaps. https://twitter.com/...
Rhys Riddell / @rhysriddell: @mediagazer Planning? I've been @TwitterBlue for a couple months and most of those articles are hidden behind paywalls for me. Twitter blue is worthless and they've never responded to a single tweet asking for help.
Cliff Levy / @cliffordlevy: Musk has loaded $13 billion of debt onto Twitter for his buyout. • The interest is about $1 billion a year • Twitter has not turned a profit in 8 out of the last 10 years • The broader digital advertising market has been hit by global economic fears https://www.nytimes.com/...
@wsj: Twitter is ending the ability of subscribers to its paid Twitter Blue product to access ad-free articles from hundreds of publishers, including Vox, the Los Angeles Times and Insider, according to people familiar with the matter https://www.wsj.com/...
Alena Botros / Fortune: Elon Musk floats the idea of selling blue checkmarks on Twitter for $8 a month after criticizing the current ‘lords & peasants system’
Christie D'Zurilla / Los Angeles Times: Are celebrities really leaving Elon Musk's Twitter? Some are, but others vow to stay
Ben Lovejoy / 9to5Mac: Twitter chaos continues: 84-hour weeks, moderation frozen, ad-free articles gone
Taylor Sanzo / al.com: Elon Musk haggles with Stephen King over Twitter verification price: ‘How about $8?’
PC Gamer: Elon Musk banishes Twitter's board, calls verification ‘bullshit’ and starts hucking ideas at the wall
Virginia Kruta / The Daily Wire: Elon Musk Starts — And Apparently Finishes — Blue-Check Fee Negotiations With Stephen King
Loree Seitz / The Wrap: Elon Musk Backtracks on Twitter Blue Check Plans, Drops Monthly Fee From $20 to $8
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: Elon Musk floats $8 Twitter subscription that includes verification, long-form video and audio posting and fewer ads
Ted Johnson / Deadline: Elon Musk Unveils $8-Per-Month Plan For Users To Retain And Obtain Blue Checkmarks
Perez Hilton / @perezhilton: Elon Musk wants to revive Vine! Trying to compete with TikTok? Hmm... https://www.axios.com/...
Thomas Fuchs / @thomasfuchs: Space Karen ships rockets and cars half a decade late, but expects engineers to revive ancient code bases by like Tuesday, Wednesday for lunch at the most https://twitter.com/...
@mekkaokereke: Step 1: Fire Kayvon. Drive off all employees with any connection to the culture. Step 2: Drive off young women from your userbase, especially Black and brown ones. Practically shove them out the door. Step 3: Announce plans to become a culturally relevant video site! 🤡 https://twitter.com/...
Chriscreama Warren / @film_girl: Let Vine rest in nostalgia where it belongs is my unpopular take. Look, I too wish it were still 2014, but here we are. https://twitter.com/...
@dariccott: His deadlines make no logical sense, he giving these people a week to make Twitter Blue worth $20, and now this, they got two months to relaunch a whole era of the internet. https://twitter.com/...
@scottmonty: Twitter should have never discontinued Vine. They would have retained many creators who fled to YouTube, Instagram, and later, TikTok. https://twitter.com/...
@therealhoarse: The code hasn't been touched since 2016. Luckily, technology doesn't change at all, so, I'm sure that's fine. https://twitter.com/...
Audrey Bowler / @aud_bowler: vine's time has come and gone. it belongs to a different and now inaccessible internet era like myspace does. elon might as well try to bring back blue heinz ketchup or like, Friends https://twitter.com/...
Sara Beykpour / @pandemona: some free advice, from someone who worked at Vine and also led the shutdown of Vine. This code is 6+ years old. Some of it is 10+. You don't want to look there. If you want to revive Vine, you should start over. trust me on this one guys ✌️🌱 https://twitter.com/...
Ethan Kaplan / @ethank: Vine's entire source code leaked in 2016. He could have saved himself $44b instead of trying to resurrect a dead product no one used? Written in an old version of Python on a MySQL database. Imagine getting that working again https://amp.thehackernews.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
Wall Street Journal: Sources: Twitter is planning to end letting Twitter Blue subscribers access ad-free articles from hundreds of publishers
Roberto Wakerell-Cruz / The Post Millennial: BREAKING: Elon Musk pitches $8 per month blue checkmark plan for Twitter
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Internal email: Twitter appears to be rushing out a “high”-risk “Paywalled Video” feature, letting users charge to view their videos, with Twitter taking a cut — The tool would let video creators charge users for access. The team working on it flagged big potential pitfalls.
Discussion:
Hamza Shaban / @hshaban: Twitter is working on a feature to allow people to post videos and then charge users to view them, with adult content as a possibility. Mock ups of the new feature viewed by the Post resemble the OnlyFans model of locked content that users can pay to see https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Beatrice Nolan / Insider: Twitter is reportedly working on a feature that would allow users to charge for video content, but some employees say it's high risk
Will Oremus / @willoremus: NEW: One of Twitter's first new features under Musk could be “Paywalled Video,” potentially a vehicle to monetize adult content among other things. An internal email shows it's been deemed “high” risk but they hope to launch it within 1-2 weeks anyway. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Tom Warren / @tomwarren: welcome to OnlyTweets. I will force you all to pay $1 to see my saucy Xbox and PlayStation dashboard videos 😈 https://twitter.com/...
Alex Howard / @digiphile: I wonder if @twitter will take payments to view porn through cryptocurrency, if @stripe won't accept it. I also wonder embracing porn could end up alienating a professional & political userbase — or offend religious constituencies — if it gets more pushed or tweeted into feeds. https://twitter.com/...
Osaretin Victor Asemota / @asemota: There is iteration and there is scrambling aimlessly. I am now wondering if these people know actual Twitter users? https://twitter.com/...
Helen Kennedy / @helenkennedy: This sounds like an easy, uncomplicated feature that could totally be rushed into being in “just one to two weeks.” If this is how he runs things, I would never ever buy a Tesla. https://twitter.com/...
Christina Warren / @film_girl: Because there is nothing advertisers, banks, and credit card processors love more than adult content. https://twitter.com/...
Ruth Ben-Ghiat / @ruthbenghiat: Twitter changes under @elonmusk seem the fruit of a toxic blend of capitalist greed, immature & egocentric style of leadership, and illiberal ideology. In other words, Twitter as a platform will mirror the #Strongmen leaders he partners with and admires. https://twitter.com/...
Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life: I don't see a world where Apple will allow a major app to have pay-per-view porn. Tumblr banned porn to stay in the App Store and OnlyFans doesn't have an app. This isn't an idea that will see the light of day in the Twitter app. https://twitter.com/...
Max Boot / @maxboot: “Though Twitter is no longer public, it is on the hook for around $1 billion in annual interest payments on the debt Musk accrued when buying the company.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Mr. Newberger / @jeremynewberger: First Elon brings a bunch of a-holes, pussies and dicks to Twitter, then he comes up with a way to charge you to watch them. https://twitter.com/...
Matt Novak / Gizmodo: Twitter Exploring ‘Paywalled Video’ Which Would Obviously Be Flooded With Porn
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac: Elon's latest business innovation for Twitter is to charge $8/month for verification and other benefits
Richard Seymour / The Guardian: Could Elon Musk's era spell the end of social media billionaires?
New York Times:
Sources: ad holding company IPG has issued a recommendation through its media agencies for clients to pause spending on Twitter because of moderation concerns — At least three Twitter executives have left in recent days, as one of the world's largest ad companies said clients should pause spending on the social media platform.
Discussion:
Insider, Free Press, Wall Street Journal, @meghanbobrowsky, @johnmcquaid, Variety, Vox, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, @mikeisaac, @nicolelgill, @mollyjongfast, @goangelo, Day In The Life, @redsteeze, @chuckrossdc, @davekarpf, @richsignorelli, @kathmschmidt, @angiejaime, @garettsloane, @ryanbarwick, @garettsloane, New Republic, Barrett Media, New York Post, Ad Age, New York Post, The Hill and The Information, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert / Insider: 40 justice organizations and media watchdog groups call on top Twitter advertisers to demand Elon Musk adhere to brand-protecting community safety rules …
Amy Kroin / Free Press: Civil-Society Groups Call on Twitter's Top-20 Advertisers to Demand that Elon Musk Fulfill His Promise to Safeguard Their Brands and Protect Users
Meghan Bobrowsky / @meghanbobrowsky: Some quick math: Twitter currently has ~423,700 verified users. If 10% of them paid $8 a month, the company would generate an additional $4.1 million in revenue a year. For reference, co made $4.5 billion in ad revenue last year. https://www.wsj.com/...
John McQuaid / @johnmcquaid: Interesting how Musk's plan for Twitter resembles the strategy of most of the newspaper industry: slash staff and make up for falling advertising $$ with more subscription $$ for a product people are already moving away from & is declining in quality = ???https://www.wsj.com/...
Brian Steinberg / Variety: Ad Giant Interpublic Group Advises Clients to ‘Pause’ Twitter Ad Spending for a Week
Shirin Ghaffary / Vox: Who's winning, and losing, in the Elon Twitter era
Wall Street Journal: Elon Musk Says Blocked Twitter Users Won't Be Allowed Back Until Process in Place
Rat King / @mikeisaac: a host of Twitter execs left the company today, including Leslie Berland, CMO of the past seven years, per people familiar @kateconger @tiffkhsu @RMac18 https://www.nytimes.com/...
Nicole Gill / @nicolelgill: “Katie Klumper, the CEO of Black Glass...said they had surveyed many of its clients, which include Walmart, Pepsi and Cadillac. Most...said they were planning to pause their spending on Twitter until they had more confidence and clarity on the platform's direction” https://twitter.com/...
Molly Jong-Fast / @mollyjongfast: This seems like a big deal https://twitter.com/...
Angelo Carusone / @goangelo: 1/ This is significant —> Today, more than 40 organizations signed a letter to Twitter's major advertisers urging them to commit to pulling ads if Musk follows through with promises to roll back community safeguards and scale back content moderation. https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
Stephen L. Miller / @redsteeze: Angelo's own website signed this. It's the only reason he's tweeting this. Media Matters is basically promoting itself, which is pretty much all they do. https://twitter.com/...
Chuck Ross / @chuckrossdc: When are all of these organizations deleting their Twitter accounts? https://twitter.com/...
Richard Signorelli / @richsignorelli: In short order, he seems hell bent on destroying what was once a terrific & important company. If only he had been less impulsive & had advisors willing to tell him what he does not want to hear. Musk's Twitter Faces Exodus of Advertisers and Executives https://www.nytimes.com/...
Kathleen Schmidt / @kathmschmidt: IPG is one of the biggest advertising companies in the world. (He means “current clients"). GM has paused advertising, too. As I've said, there's no value add by advertising on this platform. Especially right now. https://twitter.com/...
Angie Jaime / @angiejaime: *former agency person voice* Why is this bad? IPG's clients are almost exclusively blue chip brands, think: American Express, Coca-Cola, Fitbit, GoPro, J&J, Mattel and Spotify. They're telling their clients to pause ads on Twitter right before the holiday shopping season.
Garett Sloane / @garettsloane: We @adage saw Mediabrands' Musk memo to brands, advising to pause ads, and it's pretty harsh. Also, noteworthy: @KingJames is close with IPG, and the star has shared his concerns, too, quite publicly. https://adage.com/...
@ryanbarwick: More background: IPG's MAGNA agency sent an email yesterday that said Twitter “has been silent in any direct comms with marketers and agencies.” “The current situation is unpredictable and chaotic, and bad actors and unsafe behaviors thrive in such an environment” https://twitter.com/...
Garett Sloane / @garettsloane: Now, with @Ryanbarwick saying IPG is first major holding co to implement a Twitter freeze, more chips could fall. No agency wants to be the last to report to their brands that they kept them in a bad spot. https://adage.com/...
Prem Thakker / New Republic: Elon Musk Is Already Threatening to Bankrupt Twitter
Eduardo Razo / Barrett Media: Agency Urging Clients to Pause Advertising on Twitter
New York Post: Big ad firms prep backup plans for Twitter amid Elon Musk drama — with one calling for ‘pause’: sources
Thomas Barrabi / New York Post: Top firm IPG advises clients ‘pause’ Twitter ads after Musk takeover: report
Judy Kurtz / The Hill: Celebs eye Twitter exit after Musk takeover
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Twitter Chief Customer Officer Sarah Personette “resigned” after over four years and told ad partners the new administration is committed to brand safety
Discussion:
@sep, New York Times, DC's Newsletter, Bloomberg, Adweek, The Indian Express, @digitalshields, Politico, @sep, @producermcd, @sep, @laurenshirsch, @jamesrbuk, @sarafischer, The Information, CNN and MediaPost
Discussion:
Sarah Personette / @sep: Hi folks, I wanted to share that I resigned on Friday from Twitter and my work access was officially cut off last night.
DC's Newsletter: Musk charging for blue checks is an absolute no-brainer and establishes a baseline for human user metrics
Mike Shields / @digitalshields: This is excellent from @robnorman Mr. Musk has concluded, it seems, that there are no boundaries between his longtime status as much-followed user and his new role as sole proprietor. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Rebecca Kern / Politico: Top firm advises pausing Twitter ads after Musk takeover
Sarah Personette / @sep: It has been the greatest privilege to serve all of you as a leader and a partner. Many have heard me say this but the most important role I believe I played in the company was championing the requirements of brand safety.
Brendan McDonald / @producermcd: Twitter's chief customer officer with a shaky exit. This tracks with what I heard from a media agency that reps the tippy tippy top corporate clients: They're recommending clients pull their ad dollars because no one is returning calls about brand safety. Going great! https://twitter.com/...
Sarah Personette / @sep: While uncertain how many there would be, I spent my last few days at the company continuing that commitment. And I want everyone to know I do believe the new administration understands the importance of holding up the standards of GARM.
Lauren Hirsch / @laurenshirsch: Twitters former chief customer officer, who led the sales organization and was responsible for all advertising relationships. https://twitter.com/...
James Ball / @jamesrbuk: Twitter's chief customer officer, and the person who persuaded Musk to write that reassuring note to advertisers, is out and has left this 🧵 https://twitter.com/...
Sara Fischer / @sarafischer: Wow. After successfully getting Elon to assure advertisers last week that Twitter wouldn't become a “free-for-all hellscape,” Twitter's chief customer officer Sarah Personette is out. — Massive loss for Twitter. — Musk has been in NYC this week, meeting with advertisers https://twitter.com/...
Joe Mandese / MediaPost: GARM Calls On Twitter To Uphold Harmful Media Pledge
James Ball / New Statesman:
Elon Musk's plan to monetize Twitter verification risks alienating creators and advertisers while helping accounts spread fake news
Discussion:
@stephenking, Insider, @jamesrbuk, Adweek, Media Voices, Bloomberg, Popular Information, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, @courtneymilan, The Indian Express, @edzitron, @caitiegreen, Quartz, @perlberg, Slate, @thegarance, @rmayemsinger, @jamesrbuk, @waywardwinifred, @jamesrbuk, @joetrippi, @jhweissmann, @alexvtunzelmann, @newstatesman, Ad Age, @hankgreen, The Week, The Drum, @cooperlund, @ryancallahan247, @inverseflorida, @lottyburns, @malwaretechblog, Press Gazette, @klasfeldreports, @justkelly_ok, Media Matters for America, PRWeek, Variety and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Discussion:
Stephen King / @stephenking: $20 a month to keep my blue check? Fuck that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I'm gone like Enron.
Kate Duffy / Insider: Elon Musk put his foot down on Twitter's $8 blue tick fee, telling users they can keep complaining but the price won't change
James Ball / @jamesrbuk: If one in five current blue ticks paid $20 a month that would raise just under $15 million a year for Twitter...Twitter's current revenues (mostly from ads) are $5 billion a year. Musk's apparent plan would generate about 30 hours' worth of annual revenue. https://www.newstatesman.com/ ...
Emily Birnbaum / Bloomberg: Twitter's Top Advertisers Are Being Urged to Avoid Site If Musk Lowers Standards
Alyssa Lukpat / Wall Street Journal: The Celebrities Leaving Twitter After Elon Musk's Takeover: See the List
Courtney Milan / @courtneymilan: This is so much it. https://twitter.com/...
Ed Zitron / @edzitron: I am deadly serious when I say the actual reason Musk is saying he's going to do this is that he just came up with it, rather than any strategic plan or ideology. It's like he bought an expensive laptop but all he does is use chrome so he's installed 3DMark https://twitter.com/...
Caitlin Green / @caitiegreen: This shows a serious lack of understanding. Twitter is not Instagram - it's not monetized. Verified accounts do not make money through sponsorships or content creation. There is ZERO incentive to pay for a check mark because no verified account here is making money off Twitter. https://twitter.com/...
Steven Perlberg / @perlberg: Would media organizations pick up the tab to keep their journalists verified on Twitter? I asked 14 newsrooms. Mostly no comment/no response. But CNN said it's “highly unlikely” it would pay for all employees. Puck's @JonKelly2 said yes, it's a no brainer https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
Garance Franke-Ruta / @thegarance: This is not a business plan. It's a dominance move against core users who built the platform, demanding they pay fealty to the richest man in the world to preserve their digital authenticity. https://twitter.com/...
Randi Mayem Singer / @rmayemsinger: King makes a gazillion times more for his words, but the idea of asking even me to pay to provide even my stupid content - along with knowing there will suddenly be 1000s of “verified” but fake “Stephen King"s - proves Elon does not understand the thing he just paid $44B for. https://twitter.com/...
James Ball / @jamesrbuk: That would come alongside extra cost of tackling impersonation etc for those who don't pay (Twitter would retain some legal liability for that). And would risk a brand/ad confidence issue. Multiple those if it removes notability requirements for notification for bonus revenue.
Fred / @waywardwinifred: No way in hell ppl like Noah Smith and Matt Yglesias are ok with giving up their verification. These dudes are ready to key in their cvv codes and hand over the cash. https://twitter.com/...
James Ball / @jamesrbuk: Twitter is a social network desperately reliant on keeping its content creators - who unlike every other social network have no monetisation options - here. This is as predictable as it is hilariously stupid. https://twitter.com/...
Jordan Weissmann / @jhweissmann: Best piece I've seen on this whole idea. To build on the point below, If EVERY current blue check paid $240 per year, it'd raise $72M. https://twitter.com/...
Alex von Tunzelmann / @alexvtunzelmann: Lots of good points in this article and this one is decisive for me, at least. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@newstatesman: Having tens of thousands of followers on YouTube or Instagram makes you an income. Having tens of thousands of followers on Twitter makes you a target. @jamesrbuk on why charging Twitter users for blue ticks would be a disaster. Free to read 🔓 https://www.newstatesman.com/ ...
Hank Green / @hankgreen: Hilarious thing is, I'm a current twitter Blue subscriber, but I'll need to unsubscribe if they make verification conditional to having a Twitter Blue subscription because paying for a check mark is 100% cringe. @TwitterBlue https://twitter.com/...
@cooperlund: This is the way most people will frame $5 a month for a blue check, but what'll happen is that established journalists will just pass the cost onto their employer and freelance journalists will have to pay it for legitimacy as Musk makes it easier for Twitter to spread disinfo. https://twitter.com/...
Ryan Callahan / @ryancallahan247: Lol. Great idea. Potentially take away check marks — which verify that accounts are actually from people who need to be verified — from a service that already has issues with troll accounts and bots. https://twitter.com/...
@inverseflorida: Amazing that making the bluecheck something you pay for *completely* devalues any utility it has as a status symbol. Being seen as *making an effort* to have it is cringe because this site's culture is run by people who are addicted to ironycomedy and appealing to Coolkids. https://twitter.com/...
@lottyburns: I like being verified because it keeps people safe. I've had scammers on here create fake accounts/pretend to be me to take advantage of people. It will really piss me off if I have to pay for that. https://twitter.com/...
Marcus Hutchins / @malwaretechblog: Can't see myself paying $20/month to be verified. Not that I wouldn't pay for Twitter, but pay-to-play verification is just going to gatekeep poor people while also enabling dubious accounts to buy legitimacy. https://www.platformer.news/ ...
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette: Twitter blue tick: Will it be worth journalists and publishers paying for?
Adam Klasfeld / @klasfeldreports: It's worth recalling what the purpose of those blue badges are: verifying information on the platform. My account was impersonated twice while I was covering contentious court proceedings in US and Turkey, and both times, the fake accounts were quickly spotted and suspended. 🔽 https://twitter.com/...
@justkelly_ok: This would suck a lot for the people who actually need verification for what it was actually *meant* to do: differentiate real people from impersonator accounts, that are often created to harass. It's like asking me to pay for harassment protection. I'm not laughing 🤷🏻♀️ https://twitter.com/...
Media Matters for America: New coalition letter urges top Twitter advertisers to protect their brand safety before it is too late
Todd Spangler / Variety: Elon Musk Suggests Charging $8 per Month for Twitter Verification After Backlash to Reported $20 Fee
Adi Robertson / The Verge: Twitter verification is the line between order and chaos
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Insider EIC Nicholas Carlson plans to bring the stories of ~60 writers in front of the outlet's paywall, to bring in more traffic against which to sell ads — Insider is planning to restructure its newsroom to bring more content in front of its paywall, Nicholas Carlson, global editor-in-chief of Insider, told Axios.
Discussion:
@maxwelltani, Semafor, @semaforben, @semaforben, @hunterw, @sarafischer, @jackmarshall, @sarafischer, @simonowens, @maxwelltani, @maxwelltani, @simonowens, @stevekovach, @hunterw, @hunterw and @pkafka
Discussion:
Max Tani / @maxwelltani: . @nichcarlson just emailed Insider staff saying the company has “made the business decision to move about half of the journalists on our subscription team in front of the paywall.” Big shift for a news org that invested heavily in its subscription business...
Ben Smith / @semaforben: The pure-play subscription trend in digital media clearly coming to an end https://twitter.com/...
Ben Smith / @semaforben: .@maxwelltani on what his Insider scoop means for the industry https://www.semafor.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Hunter Walker / @hunterw: The move I mostly settled on was making major breaking original reporting free to earn readers and then adding value elsewhere for those willing to pay. If you're not one of the major brands, this is the way.
Sara Fischer / @sarafischer: The changes will shift Insider's strategy to focus its subscriber-only stories more narrowly on exclusives about big-name companies and people, as well as aspirational content around career growth and personal finance. Everything else goes in front of the paywall. https://twitter.com/...
Jack Marshall / @jackmarshall: My guess is this has more to do with clarifying incentives for reporters than it does business model. BI likes performance incentives - now those outside the paywall can be clearly motivated to drive traffic and page impressions, while those behind focus on serving subscribers. https://twitter.com/...
Sara Fischer / @sarafischer: Reporters affected by the change were told that there were jobs available to them in front of the paywall, and if they did not want to switch to a new role, they would be eligible for a severance payment. https://twitter.com/...
Simon Owens / @simonowens: This is an interesting move from a publisher that saw a lot of early success with paid subscriptions. Is this a sign of subscription growth stalling out or an effort to meet increased advertiser demand? https://www.axios.com/...
Max Tani / @maxwelltani: Memo 1/2 https://twitter.com/...
Max Tani / @maxwelltani: Memo 2/2 https://twitter.com/...
Simon Owens / @simonowens: Interesting: a sign that their subscription business is showing diminishing returns, or an effort to meet increased advertising demand? https://twitter.com/...
Steve Kovach / @stevekovach: Tired: Paying for your Twitter blue check Wired: No longer paying for Business Insider https://twitter.com/...
Hunter Walker / @hunterw: And as @nichcarlson points out here, originality is king! Deciding whether to put big exclusives behind a wall is a tough call I don't claim to have mastered. However, if you're not doing major scoops, no one will really be willing to subscribe.
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
The NYT reports Q3 revenue up 7.6% YoY to $547.7M, operating profit up 9.3% YoY to $51M, and reaches 9.3M total subscribers, including 180K new digital subs — The Times recorded an adjusted operating profit of $69 million for the third quarter, up from $65 million in the same period last year.
Discussion:
Viv Bernstein / @viv_bernstein: So it is possible to provide substantive journalism and not gut the staff, eliminate coverage and circle the drain quarter after quarter? Who knew @Gannett, Alden Global Capital? https://twitter.com/...
Mokaya / @ekmokaya: Being a football/sports fan, I love seeing how The Athletic, acquired by the NYT in Feb, is doing: —Revenues: $24.1M (mostly from subs) —Operating costs: $33.7M (largely from cost of revenue mostly related to journalism costs) —Operating loss totaled $9.6M https://twitter.com/...
RELATED:
The New York Times Company:
The NYT reports The Athletic generated $24.1M in Q3 revenue on a $9.6M loss; the sports outlet has lost nearly $29M in the three quarters since it was acquired — NEW YORK, November 2, 2022 - The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) announced today third- quarter 2022 diluted earnings per share …
New York Times:
A US judge blocking the Penguin-Simon & Schuster deal thwarts further consolidation while offering little clarity on the future for the companies or publishing — The uncertainty comes at a time when publishing is facing slumping sales after a pandemic boom, and fears of recession.
Discussion:
Poynter, U.S. Department of Justice, @stephenking, The Indian Express, Axios, BIG by Matt Stoller, New York Post, BOOK RIOT, The Wrap, Deadline, Observer, bookforum.com, Vox, Quartz, CBS News, Scroll.in, Financial Times, The Independent, Politico, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, CNN, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Wall Street Journal, Crain's New York Business and Sydney Morning Herald
Discussion:
Tom Jones / Poynter: The trouble with the polls — With Election Day less than a week away, there are a plenty …
U.S. Department of Justice: Justice Department Obtains Permanent Injunction Blocking Penguin Random House's Proposed Acquisition of Simon & Schuster
Stephen King / @stephenking: I am delighted that Judge Florence Pan has blocked the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. The proposed merger was never about readers and writers; it was about preserving (and growing) PRH's market share. In other words: $$$
Matt Stoller / BIG: Book Publishing Mega-Merger BLOCKED
Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post: Judge blocks Penguin Random House from merging with Simon & Schuster
Pierce Alquist / BOOK RIOT: Court Blocks Merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster
Eileen AJ Connelly / The Wrap: Judge Blocks $2.2 Billion Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster Merger
David Robb / Deadline: WGA West Hails Blocking Of Merger Between Penguin Random House And Simon & Schuster
Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly / Observer: A US Judge Rejects the Proposed Merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster
bookforum.com: Penguin Random House's bid to acquire Simon & Schuster has been blocked; Atossa Araxia Abrahamian is among the winners of the Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant
Constance Grady / Vox: The planned Penguin Random House-Simon & Schuster merger has been struck down in court
Ananya Bhattacharya / Quartz: Penguin's merger with Simon & Schuster was blocked because consolidation is bad for authors
Stefania Palma / Financial Times: US judge blocks Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster $2.2bn book megamerger
Graeme Massie / The Independent: Judge blocks Penguin Random House from buying rival Simon & Schuster
Dominic Rushe / The Guardian: US judge blocks $2.2bn Penguin Random House merger
Zach Schonfeld / The Hill: Judge blocks Penguin Random House from merging with rival publisher Simon & Schuster
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Paramount reports Q3 global streaming subscribers reached ~67M, up from 63.7M+ in Q2, and 46M+ Paramount+ subscribers, up from 43.3M in Q2 — The Hollywood giant, led by CEO Bob Bakish, reports its third-quarter results. — Paramount Global reached nearly 67 million streaming subscribers worldwide …
Discussion:
Aubrey Chorpenning / The Streamable: Paramount+ Reaches 46 Million Global Subscribers in Q3 2022; Pluto TV Hits 72 Million Monthly Active Users
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: Paramount Global announces Paramount+ added 4.6m subs in the quarter. I believe CEO Bob Bakish hasn't yet told me I shouldn't be focusing on sub growth, so there you go.
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: Paramount+ now has 46m subs
New York Times:
Julie Powell, who blogged about trying to cook every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, dies at 49; her blog became a book and a movie — She documented her attempt to cook every recipe in Julia Child's “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in a popular blog that became a best-selling book and a hit movie.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Deadline, Gizmodo, @tweet_dec, @hels, The Week, @tomandlorenzo, @michaelmalice, @davidshepardson, @andizeisler, @tonyposnanski, @thebloggess, @homesicktexan, @nytimes, @rachsyme, @melissabethk, The Indian Express, @kimseverson, @cmclymer, @dansaltzstein, The Guardian, Raw Story, The A.V. Club, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Post, IndieWire, Eater, Los Angeles Times, Decider and Insider
Discussion:
Greg Evans / Deadline: Julie Powell Dies: Author Whose ‘Julie & Julia’ Memoir Was Adapted Into Hit Film Was 49
Declan Cashin / @tweet_dec: This is such sad news. Julie was a much darker, edgier writer than the movie would have you believe. I interviewed her in '09 just as the movie was coming out as she had a new book out at the same time; a *fascinating* account of her marriage post-J&J fame https://www.independent.ie/... https://twitter.com/...
Helen Rosner / @hels: Oh this is heartbreaking. Julie was so spiky and beautiful, as was her work. https://twitter.com/...
Catherine Garcia / The Week: Julie and Julia writer Julie Powell dies at 49
@tomandlorenzo: This is really sad. I devoured her blog when she was publishing it, absolutely enthralled by her writing. I'd say she taught me about 75% of what I know about blog writing. https://twitter.com/...
Michael Malice / @michaelmalice: this one is getting to me she came up in the early days of blogging like i had talk about whistling past a graveyard RIP https://www.nytimes.com/...
@davidshepardson: This line caught my attention: Judy Clain, editor in chief of Little, Brown, who was Ms. Powell's editor: “I only wish she could have found the next thing” https://twitter.com/...
Andi Zeisler / @andizeisler: Julie and Julia was the first blog I ever read, thanks mostly to @rachelfudge's enthusiasm for it. This is such sad news, and my heart goes out to her friends and loved ones. https://twitter.com/...
Tony Posnanski / @tonyposnanski: Oh wow this hurts so bad. Julie is one of the nicest people and I have had so many amazing convos with her. This breaks me. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Jenny Lawson / @thebloggess: Fuck. I'll miss you, friend. https://twitter.com/...
Lisa Fain / @homesicktexan: This is sad news. Julie Powell was an inspiration to my generation of food bloggers, and was hilarious and kind in our interactions, especially when discussing our home state of Texas. Sending my condolences to her family and friends. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@nytimes: Julie Powell, whose popular food blog spawned the best-selling book and hit movie “Julie & Julia,” has died at 49. “The internet democratized food writing,” said Amanda Hesser, a founder of Food52, “and Julie was the new school's first distinctive voice.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Rachel Syme / @rachsyme: Impossibly sad; Julie was a friend and a bright light. And I think that Julie and Julia was made all the better by having her story in it, the story of one so enchanted by writing and cooking that she changed her whole life midstream. I continue to be inspired by that, and her. https://twitter.com/...
Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner / @melissabethk: my junior year of college I took a food writing class. I didn't know about food writing as a thing, but I loved food and writing. We read Julie & Julia, wrote about food, I enrolled in a French study abroad, graduated and become a food writer. Thank you, Julie! https://twitter.com/...
Kim Severson / @kimseverson: Sad news. Here's our obit on Julie Powell, who changed food writing forever. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Charlotte Clymer / @cmclymer: This hurts. Julie was always so kind and thoughtful and funny in our interactions. She was a truly wonderful human being on top of her iconic work as a food writer. Heartbreaking. Sending love to her family and friends today and holding them in my thoughts. https://twitter.com/...
Dan Saltzstein / @dansaltzstein: Terrible news. Julie and I had been friends since freshman year in college and though I hadn't seen her in a while, she always held a special spot in my heart. May her memory be a blessing. Lovely obit by @kimseverson and @juliamoskin. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Alison Stine Salon / Raw Story: Groundbreaking author of beloved book ‘Julie & Julia’ has died
Sam Barsanti / The A.V. Club: R.I.P. Julie Powell, author of Julie & Julia
Ed Stockly / Los Angeles Times: Julie Powell's ‘Julie and Julia’ transformed food writing. How to watch the movie version
Mike Barnes / The Hollywood Reporter: Julie Powell, Food Writer and Blogger Known for ‘Julie & Julia,’ Dies at 49
Wilson Chapman / IndieWire: Julie Powell, Food Writer Behind ‘Julie & Julia,’ Dies at 49
Dayna Evans / Eater: Julie Powell, Writer Behind Beloved Early Food Blog the Julie/Julia Project, Has Died
Greta Bjornson / Decider: Julie Powell, Author Behind ‘Julie & Julia,’ Dead at 49
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Amazon VP of Music Steve Boom on running the unit, expanding benefits for Prime members, working with labels, the music industry, podcasts, and more — Apple Music raised its rates. Will Amazon Music follow suit? … Steve Boom is the VP of Amazon Music, and he has a great name for the music business.
Discussion:
CNBC, Broadband TV News, Complete Music Update, Variety, @kyweise, @scottlincicome, Music Ally, The Desk, About Amazon, CNET, Inside Radio, ScreenRant, The Streamable, Music Industry Blog, AppleInsider, The Information, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Adweek, Billboard and Digital Music News
Discussion:
Annie Palmer / CNBC: Amazon expands ad-free music, podcasts for Prime members
Julian Clover / Broadband TV News: Amazon Prime expands member offer
Chris Cooke / Complete Music Update: Amazon shuffles its Prime Music offer, full 100 million track catalogue now available
Todd Spangler / Variety: Amazon Music for Prime Members Expands to 100 Million Songs — but Shifts From On-Demand to Shuffle-Mode Play
Karen Weise / @kyweise: “Do you have an Excel department?” @reckless asks The Big Q about how Amazon allocates Prime membership rev internally... https://www.theverge.com/...
Scott Lincicome / @scottlincicome: “Why Amazon VP Steve Boom just made the entire music catalog free with Prime” https://www.theverge.com/... 100 million songs, now included with Prime. All so they can sell you (me) even more stuff. Love it. https://twitter.com/...
Stuart Dredge / Music Ally: Amazon's Steve Boom on Streaming 2.0: ‘A host of services...’
Matthew Keys / The Desk: Amazon unlocks 100 million music tracks for Prime members
About Amazon: Amazon Music Expands Its Prime Benefit, Now With a Full Catalog of Music and the Most Top Podcasts Ad-Free
Kevin Knezevic / CNET: Amazon Expands Music to 100 Million Songs for Prime Members
Kishalaya Kundu / ScreenRant: Prime Members Can Access Amazon Music's Entire Catalog (With One Catch)
David Satin / The Streamable: Amazon Expands Free Amazon Music Tier for Prime Members with 100 Million Songs
Mark Mulligan / Music Industry Blog: Why Amazon Music is primed for success
Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal: Amazon Expands Music Catalog and Podcasts Ad-Free for Prime Members
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg: Amazon Prime Expands Its Music Offering to 100 Million Songs
Meseret Ambachew / Adweek: Amazon Music Expands Ad-free Audio Offer for Prime Members
Elias Leight / Billboard: Amazon Music Now Offers 100 Million Songs to Prime Members
Max Goldbart / Deadline:
Channel 4 renames its VOD service All4 to Channel 4 and plans to bring all its products under the Channel 4 brand, including E4, More4, and 4seven — Channel 4 has decided to rename its VoD player All4 to... Channel 4. — The 40-year-old network, which has its birthday today …
Discussion:
Naman Ramachandran / Variety: Channel 4 Rebrands VoD Service All4 as Channel 4
Scott Bryan / @scottygb: Statement: ‘All 4’ will change to ‘Channel 4’ as Channel 4 becomes the first UK broadcaster to adopt one brand identity across its digital and linear channels as audiences increasingly no longer distinguish between digital and linear content."
Reuters:
Thomson Reuters reports Q3 revenue up 3% YoY to $1.57B and maintains FY 2022 and 2023 guidance; CEO plans to be “quite a bit more aggressive” in acquisitions — Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI.TO) kept its financial guidance for this year and next after a forecast-beating rise …
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