5.13.2016
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THE SKINNY
When It’s The Same Story, Different Source …
Facebook is having one of the worst weeks ever. More info has leaked about its editorial team and “Trending Topics” section. This time it’s courtesy of The Guardian.
When It’s More Of The Same …
The Guardian obtained a leaked internal document intended to give FB’s editorial staff guidelines on how to determine what news is trending and what’s not. The docs confirms things that we’ve already heard. FB’s new team relied on 10 major new sources, staff can “inject” a story into Trending Topics even if it actually isn’t trending on the network, and new stories about FB are kind of off limits. A couple of things here: (1) FB’s VP Tom Stocky said earlier this week that the company does not “insert stories artificially” and (2) FB leads users to believe the stories are picked by algorithms, but there’s actually quite a bit of human involvement. Hmmm … Whoops!
When It’s Time to Deny, Deny, Deny …
FB responded and said that the Guardian’s doc is out of date and isn’t the current practices of the company. FB’s VP of Global Operations Justin Osofsky responded with an official blog post of how “Trending Topics” actually works. He says the team relies on 1,000 new sources (not just 10). Osofsky says the team also uses an RSS web crawler to I.D. hot topics. And, he says that FB’s not about suppressing political views even if they are conservative.
When You Don’t Want No F&^#@! Problems …
Mark Zuckerberg is in full on damage control. He put out a lengthy FB status about the situation. He says the company is investigating the matter but has not found any wrongdoing yet. Also, he wants to pow-wow with conservatives and others to put this whole thing to bed.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
When Amazon Isn’t Your Fave …
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is not a fan of Amazon. He thinks the company has a “huge antitrust problem.” It all comes down to the fact that Amazon’s Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos also owns the Washington Post (WaPo). Trump is under the impression that Bezos is using WaPo to influence politicians and ultimately avoid paying taxes. #Interesting
THE STREETS ARE TALKIN’
Pitching your startup to venture capitalists – the latest thing you can do on Snapchat.
Basketball legend Magic Johnson is leaving payment company Square’s board. Who knew? Johnson’s kicking off his fund for urban development.