Spotify Acquires Audiobook Platform Findaway

On November 15, 2021 By emmaspaethIn Music, Spotify, StreamingLeave a comment

Spotify has been working to expand its streaming reach beyond music, investing millions into the growing podcast market and recently partnering with Shopify, to feature artists’ merchandise directly on their profiles. Now Spotify is moving onto audiobooks.

Spotify has shared its plans to acquire the audiobook distributor, Findaway. Founded in 2004, Findaway is an audiobook distribution platform that connects audiobook creators with selling partners including Apple, Google, Scribd, Audible, Nook, and many more. The company also operates Findaway Voice, a platform that pairs authors with professional narrators for companies like Audioworks and Playaway.

Spotify has yet to share the financial terms of the deal but plans to bring in Findaway’s full team of about 150 employees. Spotify’s Chief Research & Development Officer, Gustav Söderström announced, “We’re excited to combine Findaway’s team, best-in-class technology platform, and robust audiobook catalog with Spotify’s expertise to revolutionize the audiobook space as we did with music and podcasts.”

This expansion into the audiobook industry would make Spotify a commercial bookseller and an audiobook publisher, a first for the music streaming platform.

Nir Zicherman, Spotify’s head of Audiobooks explained, “With this acquisition, the plan is to accelerate into the audiobooks space by expanding our platform.” Zicherman added, “As an industry, we think there’s massive potential and growth ahead for audiobooks. Combining Spotify and Findaway and their amazing team and their amazing tech, the idea is to realize that future faster than we ever could as separate companies.”

This is a strategic move by Spotify, as the audiobook industry is predicted to grow from $3.3 billion to $15 billion over the next five years.

The Increasing Popularity of ‘Ghost Guns’ in America

On November 14, 2021 By sophiamarrone8667In UncategorizedLeave a comment

The Second Amendment has become a widely discussed topic over the last few years. This issue has left the country divided and unsure how to get the problem under control. One thing is for certain and it’s that gun related violence has been on the rise. This article discusses the growing popularity of a new type of gun, often referred to as a ghost gun.

The result of this new loophole is more fatalities amongst those who may have been unaware of its legitimacy in the first place. 12-year-old Max Mendoza fell of San Diego fell victim to this, accidentally shooting himself in his bedroom with a ghost gun his 15-year-old friend brought to him. Law enforcement in the area have reported that in the last 18 months, ghost guns have been found at well over 25% of crime scenes and have disproportionately affected young people. In addition, most of the people purchasing these guns were otherwise banned from owning a firearm. In the month of October alone, they had recovered nearly 400 ghost guns.

Ghost guns — untraceable firearms without serial numbers, assembled from components bought online — are increasingly becoming the lethal weapon of easy access for those legally barred from buying or owning guns around the country. The criminal underground has long relied on stolen weapons with sanded-off serial numbers, but ghost guns represent a digital-age upgrade, and they are especially prevalent in coastal blue states with strict firearm laws
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/14/us/ghost-guns-homemade-firearms.html

This begs the question: Why the sudden popularity of these weapons? The reasoning for this is that they are far easier to acquire. This is a result of the fact that they are sold by piece, so they can’t be classified as guns and regulated. A new proposal from the Biden administration would require these pieces to have serial numbers and be treated as regular guns that have to be picked up at a federally licensed gun shop.

Pope Francis thanks journalists for uncovering the Church sexual abuse scandals

On November 14, 2021 By Marlene TurreyIn Journalism, News MediaLeave a comment

At a ceremony to honor two veteran correspondents, Pope Francis thanked journalists for helping uncover the sexual abuse scandals of the Roman Catholic Church.

Francis said it was vital for reporters to get out of their newsrooms and discover what was happening in the outside world to counter misinformation often found online.

“(I) thank you for what you tell us about what is wrong in the Church, for helping us not to sweep it under the carpet, and for the voice you have given to the abuse victims.”
Pope Francis

The sexual abuse scandals of the Roman Catholic Church first hit headlines in 2002, when U.S. daily The Boston Globe wrote a series of articles exposing a pattern of abuse of minors by clerics and a widespread culture of concealment within the Church.

Since then, investigations revealed more and more examples of sexual abuse in the Church in different countries, most recently France where a major investigation found that clerics had abused more than 200000 children over the past 70 years.

Although the church has faced heavy criticism and record numbers of church departures, for example in Germany, critics still accused the Church of responding too slowly to the scandals. Therefore, Pope Francis’s public statement is an important signal for Christians.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-thanks-journalists-helping-expose-church-sex-scandals-2021-11-13/

Pandemic-led changes to newsrooms look to be permanent and global

On November 14, 2021 By Marlene TurreyIn Journalism, News MediaLeave a comment

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism released The Changing Newsroom 2021 report. The report is based on a survey of 132 senior industry leaders from 42 countries, as well as a series of in-depth interviews.

These are the key findings:

‘Hybrid working’ will soon be the norm for the vast majority of journalists. Respondents say their companies are now mostly (79%) on board with the shift to hybrid working and even more (89%) say they themselves are committed

Most respondents say their news organization is doing a good job with gender diversity (78%), but fewer say the same about ethnic diversity (38%) and attracting those from less advantaged backgrounds (37%) or with diverse political views (33%). In the light of the Black Lives Matter movement and greater awareness of historic injustices, ethnic diversity remains the biggest priority for media companies – identified by 35% as the single most important priority in terms of improving newsroom diversity, followed by gender diversity (26%) and greater diversity from less advantaged groups (17%).

While participants believe that efficiency (70%) and Employee well being (61%) gains from hybrid working, they also think collaboration (45%), creativity (48%), and communication (42%) suffer from it.

Participants said they still struggle to attract and retain technology and data skills which are in great demand elsewhere. However, most respondents remain broadly confident (63%) about keeping newsroom staff. Around half of the respondents (47%) felt that the pandemic has made recruitment and retention of media staff harder, with less than a fifth (17%) saying that it was easier.

The pandemic has affected some rapid changes in working spaces in the last two years. It is interesting to see how people experience these adjustments and how they would like to continue working.

With great platform comes great responsibility!

On November 12, 2021 By aliceherrickIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

How two of YouTube’s most popular content creators are utilizing their massive fanbase to clean up the ocean.

While most influencers with over a million followers may be trying to sell makeup or weightless shakes, two of YouTube’s most influential creators, Mark Rober (20.3 million subscribers) and Mr. Beast (74.1 million subscribers) are calling upon their viewers to aid in a mission to remove 30 million pounds of garbage from the ocean by the new year. This global campaign, named #TeamSeas, was launched on October 29^th, with the promise to remove one pound of trash from the ocean for every one dollar that was donated to the campaign. As of now, they have amassed over $15 million in donations. Barely a couple weeks in, #TeamSeas is already halfway to their goal. So how did they do it? Well, let’s start with who these two guys actually are.

*Shown Left: Mr. Beast – Right Mark Rober*

Mr. Beast (real name, Jimmy Donaldson) runs a YouTube channel that center on expensive stunts. Some of his most popular uploads titled, “Tipping Pizza Delivery Guys $10,000”, “I Put 100 Million Orbeez In My Friend’s Backyard”, and “I Gave A Homeless Man A Home”. With most of his subscribers being under the age of 18, his content has been considered a positive influence on Gen Z. He is one of the highest paid YouTubers to date, and his ongoing donations to various people and charities has coined him the title of “YouTube’s biggest philanthropist”. Mark Rober, is also a very successful humanitarian. He is a former engineer of NASA, that now spends his time making videos related to science and inventing. His entertaining yet educational videos are wildly popular, with some of the most viewed including, “Glitter Bomb vs Porch Pirates”, “Backyard Squirrel Maze”, and “World’s Largest Jello Pool”.

Rober and Mr. Beast are no strangers to charity, in fact, this isn’t even their first rodeo together. Back in 2020, they launched a similar campaign to raise $20 million to plant 20 million trees. With the success of #TeamTrees, they decided set a higher goal for #TeamSeas. These are the ways in which they spread awareness so efficiently. First, they teamed up with over a hundred influential YouTubers. #TeamSeas is not only backed by famous creators that include Hank Green, Physics Girl, MKBHD, Colin and Samir, and Safiya Nygaard, but every creator has made their own video, in their own signature style, to raise awareness for the campaign. Rober and Mr. Beast have also partnered with The Ocean Cleanup, where half of the donations will be allocated to. Rober featured their non-profit in his campaign’s announcement video titled, “This Robot Eats Trash”, to show off the company’s invention called, FRED, a solar-powered, semi-autonomous marine robot capable of collecting marine plastic pollution without the need for fossil fuels or a human crew. It can optimized to clean trash from any type of water, and #TeamSeas are hoping the success of their campaign will also bring these inventions to the forefront of environmental activism.

If you’d like to donate to the cause, visit teams eas.org.

Paypal Looks to Buy Out Pinterest

On November 11, 2021 By Rachel BrancoIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/25/paypal-says-it-is-not-about-to-buy-pinterest.html

Paypal is looking to acquire the digital Image library, Pinterest, in order to make online shopping easier with a more seamless payment process and interface, almost mimicking the concept of Amazon. The deal, which is valued at 45 billion, would be the most expensive buy out of this decade’s internet company exchanges. For comparison, the LinkedIn buyout only cost Microsoft $26 billion. Paypal is willing to put a hefty price tag on this social network because of its investment in e-commerce. The concept of “buyable pins” on Pinterest is its most attractive feature at the moment. It connects the customers with a visual experience of planning and conception to having an immediate call to action which leads to revenue. Pinterest is most commonly used by women but has a vast user base that has a common thread to organization and creativity. In the older generations, Pinterest is used for home decor/improvements, wedding planning, and hundreds of styles of cooking. Younger users are quickly filling the app with fashion photos, editorial homemade shoots, and tutorials for everyday uses. The app is very versatile in content and usually serves as a portfolio-type landing space which provokes the idea for more e-commerce and shopping features. This particular deal is after a wave of social media restructuring to promote “shop” and revenue “in-house.” Facebook and Instagram have both added various shop elements to connect consumers to the physical products there selling on-screen. This intern only further solidifies the notion of micro consumers, informing their follower base of which digital platforms to buy from. Going forward, it will be interesting to see what Pinterest’s response is to this offer and how they might possibly seek a new platform structuring.

Ozy Media is Being Investigated by the Justice Department

On November 11, 2021 By rfire911In UncategorizedLeave a comment

During the height of the pandemic we saw companies and individuals struggling for their next check. The government decided that it would be a good idea to give out PPP loans. PPP loans are a specific type of loan that allows businesses to continue to keep their workers on payroll. Ozy media took out several of these loans in order to keep their employees on payroll. Ozy media covers a wide range of topic from news around the world to politics here in the US.

They recently came under fire when several reports surfaced stating that Ozy has had some questionable business practices. A total of two loans were taken out for a grand total of 5.7 million dollars and that was to be allocated to employees. During the pandemic, after the company got approved for the loan, it was stated that the company made a total of 50 million dollars. However, early this year, the company had to lay off several staffers and cut salaries. These staffers that were laid off came to the news and stated that they have not seen one ounce of the PPP money was the company was approved for.

“It was disheartening. You work so hard and give your life to this company, to be dismissed and disrespected,” a former employee said.

Just yesterday, it was reported that the Justice department is now stepping in and investigating the company due to the surge of media reports. According to the New York Times, “Ozy’s operating chief, Samir Rao, impersonated a YouTube executive on a conference call with Goldman Sachs, which was considering investing $40 million in Ozy. The report also said Ozy had also allegedly inflated its monthly unique visitors, a metric used by media firms to lure advertisers.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/10/ozy-media-investigated-by-justice-department-and-sec.html

YouTube hides public dislike counts to prevent public shaming

On November 11, 2021 By Marlene TurreyIn YouTubeLeave a comment

YouTube has announced to gradually make the dislike counts private across YouTube. The company stated the change is to ensure respectful interactions between viewers and creators. Moreover, they said, “Creators will still be able to find their exact dislike counts in YouTube Studio, along with other existing metrics, if they would like to understand how their content is performing.” The dislike button also serves to tune viewers’ recommendations.

“We want to create an inclusive and respectful environment where creators have the opportunity to succeed and feel safe to express themselves.”
YouTube Official Blog

YouTube explained their decision with the results of experiments with the dislike button earlier this year. As part of these experiments, viewers could still dislike videos, but the count was not visible to them. Therefore, viewers were less likely to target a video’s dislike button to drive up the count.

Furthermore, the experiment showed that smaller channels are more often targeted by dislike attacking or harassment. Therefore, with YouTube’s decision to hide the dislike counts, they want to support smaller creators in particular.

It is questionable if dislike counts going private are really going to protect creators from harassment in social media. Moreover, some users criticize that not being able to see public dislikes could lead to more users watching videos that include misinformation or hidden ads.

Youtube’s Removing The Dislike Counter From Videos

On November 11, 2021November 11, 2021 By Noah Furcht-HeafitzIn Social Media, YouTubeLeave a comment

https://kotaku.com/youtube-has-removed-the-dislike-counter-1848036246, Luke Plunkett

Youtube was launched in 2005 and has since come to be one of the internet’s defining websites. In its 16 years of existing Youtube has gone through a number of notable changes. Youtube’s team has announced one such change recently that’s set to alter the platform forever. Dislikes on a given Youtube video will soon only be visible to the creators of said video.

Youtube announced this upcoming change to the platform on November 10th 2021. Their decision to go forward with this alteration to the platform was coloured by their recently implementing this alteration with a test group of users. Proceeding the test run of the new way the dislike button functions the company voiced its contentment with how it altered how users engaged with content stating:

“Based on what we learned, we’re making the dislike counts private across YouTube,”

The like button and the dislike button on Youtube serve to inform the algorithm what it is people do and don’t want to see. Youtube’s opting to hide the number of dislikes videos receive came as a result of the platform wanting to dissuade users from disliking videos in mass to the ends of causing problems for the video’s creator. What this change to the platform won’t do is take away the ability of users to dislike videos altogether.

This article interests me because I frequently use Youtube and thus have a strong opinion about any alteration to the platform. The opinion I have is that I think this change is both good and bad. This change is good so far as it makes negative sentiment harder to provoke on the platform generally. Meanwhile, I believe this change to be bad for the reason that it could be viewed as a type of censorship.

Erskine, Donovan. “YouTube to Make Dislike Counts Private on All Videos.” Shacknews, Shacknews, 10 Nov. 2021, https://www.shacknews.com/article/127617/youtube-to-make-dislike-counts-private-on-all-videos.

Plunkett, Luke. “YouTube Has Removed the Dislike Counter.” Kotaku, Kotaku, 11 Nov. 2021, https://kotaku.com/youtube-has-removed-the-dislike-counter-1848036246.