Digital publishing news for October 7, 2013
The New York Times is reporting that Meredith will be creating five new video web series in 2014. They’ll debut under a new division called Meredith Originals. Stuart Elliot writes, “Each Web series will run for 12 or 24 episodes, based on sponsorship levels, and will be distributed through the Meredith Digital Network of sites. Advertisers will be guaranteed 2.5 million video streams, said Nancy Weber, chief marketing officer at the Meredith National Media Group, over the 12 or 24 weeks. A cornerstone of Meredith Originals was the arrival in April of Laura Rowley as vice president for video production and product at the Meredith National Media Group, based in New York; she had been executive producer for original video and partnerships at The Huffington Post.”
Meredith already has 1,00os of videos through its myriad of publications. Meredith Originals will be more storytelling focused and feature a web series format that previous videos did not use.
IBT’s Newsweek First New Issue
FishBowl NY is reporting that Newsweek has released its first new issue last Friday under its new owner IBT. Richard Horgan writes, “The cover story, “The Phantom Menace: Exploding Iran’s Nuclear Threat Myth,” attempts to gauge the actual level of Iran’s nuclear threat. Other articles include a look at parents who tout their kids’ accomplishments on social media (“Facebook Moms“) and a sensational love triangle (“Supreme Court Takes On the ‘Toxic Avenger’“).”
“IBT has also renamed some familiar Newsweek sections. “Culture” becomes “Life/Style”; “Newsmakers” is now “Downloads”; and “Better World” has given way to “New World”. It is indeed a new Newsweek world, a wholly unexpected one that IBT chief content officer Johnathan Davis adds is being thoroughly modernized. Various articles from each issue are also being made available at newsweek.com.”
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Facebook Reveals Plans for Instagram Ads
AdAge is reporting that Facebook plans on rolling out ads on its property Instagram. Alex Kantrowitz writes, “The company, acquired by Facebook for $736 million in 2012, announced the development in a short blog post it published Thursday afternoon. The ads, the post said, will be introduced slowly and added no guarantees if that would continue after an initial phase. Brands like GE, Levi’s and Burberry were quick to jump on Instagram as a publishing platform. Now Instagram will allow advertisers to pay for a presence on the photo and video service to reach a broader cross-section of users.”
Instagram ads are in its initial test phase and it’s unclear if they will open up the ad platform up to all users.
New Tool To Retract Tweets
Fishbowl NY has a new report about a Twitter tool to help you correct tweets after they’ve already been sent out. It’s called Retwact. Allison Stadd writes, “Retwact helps you notify people who have retweeted you that you’ve made changes to your tweet. Created by Miami-based software developer @StonlyBaptiste, Retwact is easy to use and clear in its execution. Connect your Twitter account, select one of your five most recent retweets (the tool shows how many retweets each tweet had) and decide what the new tweet should say.” It’s not a perfect solution but it’s a great way to get corrected information out there.
