Publishers keep announcing they’re moving beyond the pageview and are instead focusing on more meaningful metrics like time-on-site and repeat visitors. But despite this lofty rhetoric, the pageview is still king. In this video I explain why.
How this personal finance blog rakes in millions from e-commerce
Penny Hoarder staff members talk during their deal analysis meeting. Photo credit: Heather Comparetto/The Penny Hoarder staff
We’re still at the beginning of the podcast boom
Peter Kafka has a new article out on Recode about venture capitalists’ reluctance to invest in podcast companies. The reasons they cite all boil down to the podcast industry still being tiny. But, as I explain in this video, that’s the perfect reason to invest; the podcast industry will see nothing but growth over the next several years, and now is the best time to get in on it.
No, Twitter isn’t dying
In Twitter’s most recent earnings report, it revealed it didn’t add any monthly active users. This resulted in a predictable bevy of “Twitter is dying” headlines. Those arguments are facile and, well, dumb. I explain why in this video.
Why “going viral” is overrated
A new study out from Wochit found that only 1 percent of videos uploaded to Facebook go viral. But as I explain in the below video, virality has always been overrated. When it comes to building your personal brand, consistency is much more important.
How Media Matters has evolved in the age of Trump
Media Matters President Angelo Carusone
How I plan to support myself as an independent journalist
I spent several weeks using chatbots for news and they suck
With the growth chat apps like Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, and Snapchat, we started to hear a lot of buzz last year about the rise of chatbots, which are accounts you can subscribe to within Facebook Messenger and chat with an AI that’s geared toward a specific task. Several news organizations launched their own chatbots, so a few weeks ago I subscribed to bots from the Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, and Complex Magazine. They all sucked. I explain why in the video below.
There will never be a mainstream social media app for podcasts
Podcast industry watchers love to decry the lack of social media features in most major podcast apps, but there’s actually no market for such a tool. In the below video, I explain why podcasting is a longform medium and should be compared to mediums like books, TV, and movies — all of which don’t have mainstream social apps attached to them.
Snapchat’s UI is keeping it from catching up to Instagram
Recently, Instagram announced that Instagram Stories, its tool it cloned from Snapchat, has over 200 million daily active users, which is more DAUs than Snapchat has for its entire app (roughly 166 million). Meanwhile, in its most recent quarterly filing, Snapchat announced its user growth has slowed; it only added 8 million users at a 5 percent growth rate. Why is Snapchat stalling out, and why is Instagram running away with all its best features?
To answer these questions, I interviewed David Lee, CEO of video marketing creation tool Shakr. He talked about Snapchat’s UI problems and how its future lies in the growth of its augmented reality technology.