📅 Weekender Links 03/08/24
Making sense of all the media things: CC #287
In This Issue: How Instagram Shadowbans & Demotions Work / Amazon Launching “Rufus,” GenAI Shopping Chatbot / Cory Doctorow on Google Maps Enshittification / Programmatic Advertising Implosion / Warner Bros. Discovery Simulcasting Sports On TruTV / ”Stranger Things’” Gelman’s Signing Event Canceled Due To Anti-Semitic Threats / Vice’s Layoff Meeting Goes Very Wrong / Me Watching Someone Who Makes Twice My Salary Struggle To Save A PDF / Listening To My Client Rant About All The Things We’re Not Doing Well
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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Otherwise… In the past 3 months, I've hosted podcasts, ghostwritten op-eds, written award show applications, written video scripts, built corporate brand bibles and consulted on TV shows.
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Now on to the links.
How Instagram Shadowbans & Demotions Work: “The Markup reviewed hundreds of screenshots and videos from users like Shah who documented behavior that looked like censorship, analyzed metadata from thousands of accounts and posts, spoke with experts, and interviewed 20 users who believed their content had been blocked or demoted. Using the information we gathered, The Markup then manually tested Instagram’s automated moderation responses on 82 new accounts and 14 existing accounts.
Our investigation found that Instagram heavily demoted nongraphic images of war, deleted captions and hid comments without notification, erratically suppressed hashtags, and denied users the option to appeal when the company removed their comments, including ones about Israel and Palestine, as “spam.”
The Markup also repeatedly saw “buggy” behavior, no matter whether we were reviewing examples from users or conducting tests on Instagram ourselves: Buttons to appeal deletions didn’t always work, a hashtag sometimes showed more than a hundred posts and other times didn’t show any results, and alerts indicated that the user had a bad internet connection even though there were no other connectivity issues.”
Amazon Launching “Rufus,” GenAI Shopping Chatbot: “Rufus is currently available to a small number of Amazon customers, with more being added gradually. Once someone is added to the beta, Rufus shows up directly in the main Amazon iPhone app. Rufus lives in the existing search bar which now says "search or ask a question." Traditional search handles simple keyword queries and Rufus starts a chat on more in-depth searches. Discussions with Rufus can include information, categories of options as well as specific results from Amazon's catalog. For example, Rufus can explain the difference between trail and road running shoes or offer gift suggestion based on the recipient's interests.”
Cory Doctorow On Google Maps Enshittification: “GMaps is trapped in the enshittification squeeze. On the one hand, the company wants to provide a good and reliable map. On the other hand, the company makes money selling "ads" that are actually payola, where a business can pay to get to the top of the listings or get displayed on the map itself. Zoom out of Google's map of central London and the highlighted landmarks are a hilarious mix of "organic" and paid listings: the British Museum, Buckingham Palace, the Barbican, the London Eye…and a random oral and maxillofacial clinic in the financial district.”
Programmatic Advertising Implosion:
Warner Bros. Discovery Simulcasting Sports On TruTV: “The media company intends to create a new nightly sports block for TruTV, the reality-series cable network that has largely been left to show endless episodes of the popular prank show “Impractical Jokers” and the caught-on-camera serial “World’s Dumbest.” In doing so, Warner no doubt hopes to create new value where there has only been a little. A new sports schedule would likely draw broader viewership and new ad dollars to the network, and might even spur cable distributors to accord the outlet more value in future carriage contracts.”
”Stranger Things’” Gelman’s Signing Event Canceled Due To Anti-Semitic Threats: “According to the book’s publishing house Dey Street, an imprint of HarperCollins, “The store has seen an uptick in angry calls and emails. Although the store had planned to hire additional security and is aware that Brett was planning to bring his own security too, Book Soup does not feel like they can keep Brett, their staff, and attendees safe.” (Book Soup has not responded to a request for comment.)
Gelman, who is Jewish and has established a robust social media presence as a vocal advocate of Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, calls this latest cancellation “pretty insane.”
Vice’s Layoff Meeting Goes Very Wrong: “A virtual town hall meeting to discuss layoffs at Vice Media was abruptly cut short last week after executives complained about a flood of “thumbs-down” emojis overtaking the screen.
Chief content officer Cory Haik was giving an update to the company about recently announced job cuts on Wednesday when angry emoji reactions began to pour in.
“It’s a very, very, very difficult time in the macro landscape, I think you all know that, I’ve talked about that a lot,” she began to explain.
“The Vice publishing business is now going to operate as a smaller, break-even business. It is no longer unprofitable, but it is a much smaller offering.”
But Vice Media chief executive Bruce Dixon interrupted Haik’s comments to ditch the meeting altogether.”
Me Watching Someone Who Makes Twice My Salary Struggle To Save A PDF:
Listening To My Client Rant About All The Things We’re Not Doing Well:
