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  1. You must read the article before you can comment on it.
    • Dorothy6 years ago

      Wish this article were longer!

    • benwerd6 years ago

      Facebook isn't a news source: it's a distribution platform. But the problem is much bigger than them; all targeted display advertising incentivizes the same behavior across every platform. When algorithms are optimized to keep you addicted and looking at promotional material rather than actually augmenting your life, it's maybe time to move to another model.

      But newspapers are also out of touch, and there was an elitist, ivory tower culture for a long time. Startups aren't the only businesses that need to go back to basics and understand how to best serve their users in order to gain their trust. Sometimes, hundred year old media institutions do, too.

    • iamfrank6 years ago

      Agreed: Facebook is an awful news source. What will be very interesting is when AI algorithms take over various pages and exercise entire control over their posts. This notion of maximizing likes will be taken to an entirely new frontier; whichever articles (whether fake or not) generate the most clicks will just create a feedback loop that feeds the audience more and more fake, shocking, and sensationalist journalism.

    • bill
      Top reader of all time
      6 years ago

      Disclaimer: reallyread.it (me & Jeff) just spent the last several days with three entrepreneurs behind Compass News - they're epic. They have intense European accents and they sneak away right after the bell rings to sneak cigarettes in front of the building. We're obviously trying to be friends with them.

      The first paragraph is the strongest. It's true that we're totally screwed if we can't get young people reading the news.

      This article is prophetic! In the time since it was published, Facebook has announced that it is giving up on the news business.