Business of Art Fix #24: You Can Call It Gossipy, He Just Likes To Call It True

Welcome to your 24th business of art fix, in which my dog gives me a quizzical look.


This Business of Online Media

+ Everybody’s always talking about the importance of being on multiple platforms, like Snapchat. For sites like ours, with six employees, we just don’t have the manpower for Snapchat. Turns out Slate is in the same boat, although they have 115 employees. Social media is all-in these days, y’all.

+ The jury in the Gawker / Hulk Hogan case asked Emma Carmichael if she’d slept with AJ Daulerio or Nick Denton, in an attempt to figure out why a young woman like Emma would be managing editor of a website like Gawker. (Sidenote: Nick Denton is gay.) Meanwhile A.J is sticking to his guns that the sex tape was journalism. You can watch the trial if you dare.

News from the other commenting environments: “Compared to those who read news comments but did not themselves comment, those commenting on the news ‘tend[ed] to be more male, have lower levels of education, and have lower incomes.'”

+ “Have an interactive, data-driven story that doesn’t fit at your news outlet? The Thrust wants to know.”

+ The Washington Post is gonna let you bookmark that longform article you didn’t finish.

+ Mashable is gonna make TV shows with Bravo.

+ The girls of Broad City write the show on Google Docs and smoke weed every day.

+ 27 Ways to Think About Comments

+ Madhulika Sikka was hired at Mic.com with a good deal of fanfare — five months later, she’s out, saying it wasn’t a good fit.

+ Inside Buzzfeed’s politics office, run by 26-year-old Andrew Kaczynski.

+ So far most of the big media companies that signed on to Facebook Instant like it but not all of them.

+ Pitchfork has a redesign! One day well have one too.

+ I still don’t understand


This Business of Journalism

+ Fusion looks at newspapers making money off mugshot galleries — a not insignificant amount of money, either.

+ When it comes to cable news, there are too many men.

+ The media has been letting Trump get away with a lot and have given him $2 million in free publicity. And this is what it’s like to be on Trump’s Media Blacklist.


This Business of Print

+ Tiger Beat: it still exists, and it’s evolving to cater towards “Celeb-Obsessed Gen- Z-ers“:

In addition to the pull-out posters and requisite Q&As with young stars, there’s a growing amount of lifestyle content aimed at a savvier teen audience. The most recent issue, a “Girl Power” special, includes a profile of education activist Malala Yousafzai alongside an advice column telling girls that “Wanting to be smart is not embarrassing” and “You’re allowed to text the guy or girl first.” (Yes, it appears that Tiger Beat, that bastion of heterosexual crushes, is acknowledging LGBT teens.)

+ Is kinfolk The Last Lifestyle Magazine? It’s doing very well, this magazine created by some kids from Brigham Young, one of whom proposed to the other with tea lights in the trees and then they had cheese and bre. Also then you have to go to the kinspiracy.

+ Here’s what mainstream media could learn from the internet about headlines.

+ Men explain submissions to me


This Business of Tech:

Instacart is slashing what they pay their drivers while it struggles to prove that it’s possible to make an Uber-for-groceries; a theory that attracted a lot of investor attention. Now drivers will make $1.50 per delivery, down from $3.99-$4.99, and the commission per item will change from 50 cents to 25 cents. This is, quite honestly, absurd! They say this’ll enable their workforce to make $15-$20 an hour, which anecdotally is total bullshit, I’ve never met an instacart driver or shopper who could consistently count on bringing home more than $10 an hour on a good day, and that was before the commission and fees got slashed. This is especially ridiculous in San Francisco, where the average price of a one-bedroom apartment is $3,500 a month. On top of all that, they’re being sued for mis-classifying employees as independent contractors. Can technology really disrupt everything? Other gig economy start-ups are also struggling or shutting down: SpoonRocket is the latest to shutter.

+ “She stared at me for a few seconds and remarked, “Oh. I didn’t see you. You blended in. You’re so black, you blend into the chair.” I didn’t believe what I was hearing and I didn’t know what to do.”

+ Why big brands are getting into the subscription box business.


The End Times

+ Facebook is eating the entire world and we should all be really scared about the future of media.

+ The Guardian just straight up asked its readers why they use ad-blockers.

+ Buzzfeed is launching a whole new type of native ad to monetize its social reach!

+ “There are valid concerns that San Francisco is becoming a plutocracy.”

+ Instagram is testing an algorithm to run my life.


Businesswomen’s Special

+ the pros and cons of group chat

+ whose job is it to manage freelancers?

+ six tips to help you survive getting laid off

+ how to design your time instead of managing it

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Riese

Riese is the 41-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3159 articles for us.

10 Comments

  1. “The jury in the Gawker / Hulk Hogan case asked Emma Carmichael if she’d slept with AJ Daulerio or Nick Denton, in an attempt to figure out why a young woman like Emma would be managing editor of a website like Gawker.”

    bye everyone i’m going to live in a cave to survive on lichen and never speak to anyone ever again

  2. i volunteer to be our entire snapchat presence, if by snapchat presence you mean me looking at myself in filters all afternoon

  3. I love this column so much! I always learn so much from it. Most of it very depressing things about how good media is dying out, but still, knowledge is power, right?

  4. I have so many tabs open from this that I think I need to start scheduling a “tab quadrant” in my day.

    An excellent treasure trove of useful things as always – thanks Riese!

Comments are closed.