This week, Twitter’s VP of EMEA Bruce Daisley takes us through how the social network rediscovered its ‘sweet spot’ in the ranks of other platforms, where news and live video fit into its strategy, and media responsibility.
This week, Twitter’s VP of EMEA Bruce Daisley takes us through how the social network rediscovered its ‘sweet spot’ in the ranks of other platforms, where news and live video fit into its strategy, and media responsibility.In the news roundup the team discuss The New Statesman launching a metered paywall, Snapchat doubling down on an old idea, and the end of social-first publisher Little Things. Chris and Esther make Peter an honorary Millennial.
We’re reading:
- ‘10 Newspapers That Do It Right 2018’ is a good look at how 10 different newspapers of varying size, model and location are finding room to experiment and deliver on the mission of local news in their areas.
- On CJR, Mathew Ingram is writing about ‘The Disconnect’ a new digital magazine that forces you to unplug from the internet.
- Advertising vs Subscription is a great roundup of the drivers for subscriptions, focusing on the importance of quality content and the failure of digital advertising.
In our own words: Chris Sutcliffe
For many of us in the journalism industry Twitter is an invaluable resource. It acts as an opt-in newswire for our beats, and a platform for discourse that helps focus our thoughts around those topics. But in the pursuit of growth Twitter has introduced new features and changes to the newsfeed that tended to get in the way of those functions.
So in my chat with Twitter’s VP of EMEA Bruce Daisley this week it was really heartening to hear that Twitter has rediscovered its ‘sweet spot’ as a platform that is primarily for news. Among the other social networks with their focus on ephemera and family content, Twitter’s USP has always been as a place for the discovery of breaking stories, so to hear that endeavours like its push into live video are in service of becoming much more of a destination for news speaks of a service that has rediscovered its purpose.
At the same time, platforms like Twitter and Facebook have been implicated in the spread of online misinformation. During our chat, Daisley noted Twitter could do more to be transparent about its role in the dissemination of online news, stating that ‘If user safety was number one priority for us last year, improving the quality of discourse is probably our focus this year’.
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