In This Issue: Media Training Isn’t What It Used To Be / How Google Is Killing Independent Sites Like Ours / A Reporter Investigated Neo-Nazis. Then They Came To His House In Masks / NYT Plans To Debut New Generative AI Ad Tool Later This Year / The CRM Is Just One Big Excel Spreadsheet
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.
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Good morning world.
This newsletter was on break for a little while because of life things but we’re back. And it’s good to be back.
Also: Need marketing or PR help?
I’m taking on a few projects for early March at Ungerleider Works. Need help with white papers? Executive ghostwriting? Newsletters? Creative or strategy stuff in general? Let’s talk.
Now on to the links.
Media Training Isn’t What It Used To Be:
“I work with a lot of founders for smaller stage companies. Oftentimes they’re getting asked about their story, how they got there. A big misconception about media training is you just focus on those tough questions that you don't want to answer, instead of practicing those easy softballs that you want to nail and make sure that you make the most of. For example, who are you and how did you get here? Develop that narrative, build your own story, and don't be afraid to insert some of your own personality that makes you interesting and compelling, because podcasts are also entertainment, not just a news source.”
How Google Is Killing Independent Sites Like Ours:
“Shouldn’t Google be rewarding ranked lists of recommendations “that provide insightful analysis and original research […] written by experts or enthusiasts who know the topic well”?
Shouldn’t the reviews system ensure that people don’t end up landing on “thin content that simply summarizes a bunch of products, services, or other things”?
Perhaps we’re mistaken here, but we think the documentation says it plainly and clearly.
Sadly, these are just empty words because Google has a clear bias towards big media publishers.
Their Core and Helpful Content updates are heavily focused on something they call E-E-A-T, which is an acronym that stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
The SEO world has been obsessed with E-E-A-T for a few years now, to the point where there is always someone on X (formerly Twitter) discussing how to show experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Many of the examples come from dissecting big media publishers like the ones we’ve been discussing in this article.
The reason why SEOs look up to these sites is that Google rewards those sitesshouldn’t Google be rewarding ranked lists of recommendations “that provide insightful analysis and original research […] written by experts or enthusiasts who know the topic well”?
Shouldn’t the reviews system ensure that people don’t end up landing on “thin content that simply summarizes a bunch of products, services, or other things”?
Perhaps we’re mistaken here, but we think the documentation says it plainly and clearly.
Sadly, these are just empty words because Google has a clear bias towards big media publishers.
Their Core and Helpful Content updates are heavily focused on something they call E-E-A-T, which is an acronym that stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
The SEO world has been obsessed with E-E-A-T for a few years now, to the point where there is always someone on X (formerly Twitter) discussing how to show experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Many of the examples come from dissecting big media publishers like the ones we’ve been discussing in this article.
The reason why SEOs look up to these sites is that Google rewards those sites.”
A Reporter Investigated Neo-Nazis. Then They Came To His House In Masks:
The brief neo-Nazi rally outside Green’s house wasn’t the first time he believes members of 2119 visited his neighborhood. In January, a pizza Green hadn’t ordered was delivered to his home. As Green was talking to the delivery man, an unknown person snapped a picture of him using a long-distance camera. The surreptitiously taken image was soon posted on a Telegram channel used by the 2119 group, suggesting that a member had ordered the pizza, then waited nearby to take the picture.
Green said he first came across the 2119 group on “Terrorgram,” a terrorism-themed Telegram subculture, in 2022. His investigation accelerated last winter, and months before members showed up at his door, he realized that his address, photo and other personal information were being circulated by 2119 members on Telegram. One Telegram post claimed that Green had been “harassing our boys.”
In late December, Green said, he received a call from a 2119 member warning him that he was being “watched by international ‘brickstas’” — a term that members have claimed for themselves since the 2023 brick attack on the Pensacola Jewish center.
“They want to stop journalists from writing about them, because their secrecy allows them to carry out a campaign of intimidation against vulnerable members of our society,” Green said.
NYT Plans To Debut New Generative AI Ad Tool Later This Year: “The New York Times is recruiting partners to test new ad-targeting solutions using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) beginning next quarter, executives told Axios. It plans to make the new tool widely available to marketers in the second half of the year
Why it matters: The Times started working on these efforts long before it filed a landmark lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, executives said.
"This obviously demonstrates that we believe GenAI is an enabler and can be something that is effective for our business when used responsibly," said Joy Robins, global chief advertising officer.
How it works: The new technology, which is being created internally at the Times, will deliver a recommendation for where an ad campaign could perform best based on its message or objectives.”
The CRM Is Just One Big Excel Spreadsheet:
