In this issue: Smart AI, dumb AI and a whole bunch of middlebrow social media.
Hi. Welcome to Context Collapse, the world’s best comms newsletter. I’m Neal Ungerleider. I run Ungerleider Works and used to work as a reporter for Fast Company, write op-eds for the LA Times, and work as a senior copywriter for R/GA. This newsletter helps readers navigate the weird new world of media and gleefully ignores all the conventional wisdom about journalism, public relations, marketing, and advertising.
PR is still weird, journalism is still weird, marketing is still weird, advertising is still weird. Let’s get weird with these links:
“The Times has never fully embraced the traditional sports section, always preferring to view it as theater for people who wouldn't be caught dead at the theater.”
“When she first heard of the humanlike language skills of the artificial-intelligence bot ChatGPT, Jennifer Stevens wondered what it would mean for the retirement magazine she edits. Months later, she has a better idea. It means she is spending a lot of time filtering out useless article pitches.”
Holiday 2023 on Reddit: Insights & Marketing Guide
“KBFF Portland OR has become the first station to implement Futuri Media’s RadioGPT with an AI version of syndicated talent ‘Ashley Z’ Elzinga taking over the midday slot. The station will use AI produced segments using an artificial version of Elzinga’s voice.”
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“Who is the audience for Prime Video? First, the current audience is mostly male, and slightly older, which you can see reflected in the popularity of what’s promoted on the homepage—Jack Ryan, Air, and The Grand Tour. Prime Video’s audience shares considerable overlap with Paramount+ in the U.S. (There is also some overlap with Apple TV+ and HBO Max.)”
“On one end of the spectrum, a few elite publications—notably The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal—figured out new business models and flourished. Since the internet removes the cost of physical distribution, it hugely encourages the centralization of information and knowledge, with the result that a handful of sites—Google, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, the pre-Musk Twitter, Wikipedia, etc.—utterly dominate.”
“In the wake of Instagram effectively killing its reliance on Linktree, the social media landing page service has found a new titan to partner with. Snap and Linktree are partnering to bring the service to Snapchat profiles.”
“My personal view on Elon, not that it matters, is that he’s the best atoms entrepreneur of our generation, that Tesla and SpaceX are unequivocally good things for humanity, and that very few people besides Elon, if any, could have pulled off what he did. But running a social network is a very different beast – people don’t bend as predictably as metals. Someone can be world-class at some things and not as good at other things, particularly when they analogize from experiences that aren’t exactly analogous.”
“IAC plunked down $2.7 billion to buy the storied Meredith brands: People, Entertainment Weekly, Better Homes & Gardens, InStyle. It was something of a minnow swallowing the whale, and indicative of the prevailing winds of publishing that were moving against glossy brands and toward performance workhorses.”
FTC issues updated guidance around influencer endorsements and online product reviews.
“Shutterstock says customers using its artificial intelligence (AI) image generators will be offered full indemnification, protecting them from potential claims against the use of the images. Adobe made a similar announcement last month, declaring itself the only “commercially safe generative AI” and also stating it will “protect customers from third party IP claims about Firefly-generated outputs.”
“The law firm hired to manage Twitter’s lawsuit against Elon Musk last year when he was wavering on his agreement to buy the social media site outrageously enriched itself to the tune of $90 million in violation of state law and the legal profession’s code of conduct and ethics, Twitter says in a lawsuit against the law firm filed last week.”
Life in the USA vs life in the UK.
Lofi Air Traffic Control = Lofi beats + air traffic control feeds.
That Threads life.
