Mediagazer: Facebook's daily active user base in the US and Canada fell for the first time ever in Q4, dropping to 184M from 185M in Q3 (Recode)

Facebook's daily active user base in the US and Canada fell for the first time ever in Q4, dropping to 184M from 185M in Q3 — 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, CNBC, ZDNet, MediaNama, @privacymatters, @dhh, @bloombergasia, The Next Web, @jmichaelwaller, Fortune, GeekWire and Vanity Fair, more at Techmeme »

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.

Discussion: Facebook, CNBC, Press Gazette, Vanity Fair, TechCrunch, The Wrap, Recode, @joshconstine, BGR, Ad Age, New York Times, New York Magazine, VentureBeat, AdExchanger, Forbes, TechCrunch, CNBC, Business Insider, Variety and @anthony, more at Techmeme »

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: Fortune, One Man & His Blog, Meduza.io, @wexler, Columbia Journalism Review, @grantstern, @alicialutes, @peterwsinger, @shoq, @nickconfessore, @briankrebs, @rasmus_kleis, @mathewi, @anthony, @nickconfessore and New York Magazine, more at Techmeme »

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 and The Ringer

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

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

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.

Discussion: Willamette Week, @ryanchittum, @byrosenberg, @lucashammill, @cohencomms, @dabeard, @alecmacgillis, @ryanchittum, @editorswindler, @danielcrowe4or, @lucashammill, @editorswindler, @leah_sottile, @ryanchittum, @halejamesb and Blazer's Edge

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: Vanity Fair, @mediabistro, Fortune, Page Six, @davidzmorris, @abbywestnyc and TVWeek.com

Alexandra Alter / New York Times:

National Book Awards will recognize translated books, giving awards jointly to living authors and translators for works published in the US — The National Book Awards, among the most prestigious literary prizes, are going global. — Starting this year, the National Book Foundation …

Discussion: Publishers Weekly, Bookseller News, @scottesposito, @philnel, @likaluca, Melville House Books, @likaluca and NPR

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

A look at the economic shifts as publishers move from guaranteed payments to revenue sharing with content recommendation services like Outbrain and Taboola — For the past three years, publishers have benefited from fat guarantees from content recommendation services like Outbrain and Taboola.

Discussion: @randfish, @simonowens and @mathewi

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.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Fast Company, Radio & Television …, MediaPost, Pandora, RAIN News, Business Insider, Radio Ink, @conorsen, AdExchanger, MarketWatch, @urvaksh and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

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, @propornot, The Hill, @markseibel, @kantrowitz, Recode, TechCrunch, Engadget, @kimzetter and Fortune, more at Techmeme »

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.

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Instagram announces plan to bring Carousel Ads to Stories, letting advertisers show up to three photos or videos in Stories — It's been less than a year since Instagram brought advertising to Instagram Stories — a format that its owner Facebook said in November has more than 300 million daily users.

more at Techmeme »

Trey Williams / MarketWatch:

Time Warner Q4 revenue grew 9% YoY to $8.6B and annual revenue increased 7% YoY to $31.3B as Warner Bros., HBO, and Turner increased revenue and profits — Shares of Time Warner Inc. TWX, +.95% rose less than 1% in premarket trade on Thursday after the media and entertainment company reported …

Discussion: The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable, Variety, Reuters and Time Warner

Scott Roxborough / Hollywood Reporter:

126 prominent European screenwriters and directors sign open letter urging EU lawmakers to adopt copyright law aimed at better compensating creatives online — The 126 signatories, including directors Alan Parker, Stefan Ruzowitzky and Agnieszka Holland, are pushing for the European Union …