Google AI hit to publishers revealed | Outlets complain of Facebook spam labels
And Pew-Knight research finds an appetite for news on social media, particularly outside Meta's properties
Good morning and happy Friday.
Our top story today looks at the findings of research, commissioned by Press Gazette and a group of other publishers, into what kind of impact the news industry can expect on their Google search rankings from the rollout of AI Overviews.
Google boss Sundar Pichai may insist (without, to date, providing any evidence) that its AI-written answers actually boost user click-throughs to original sources, but that’ll be cold comfort to publishers who find their stories pushed one full page scroll down in search results. In May, when the research was carried out, AI Overviews were provided in response to just under a quarter of news-related search queries in the US. You can read more about those, and other findings, here.
SEO supremo Barry Adams, meanwhile, has written for Press Gazette about why his biggest concern remains not novel AI Overviews but Google’s more rote core updates — the most recent of which has dramatically shut the taps on some publishers’ traffic.
In other “why are tech platforms like this” news, my colleague Charlotte Tobitt has been contacted by publishers from around the world who say Facebook has been labelling their news stories as spam and pulling them from the platform. She heard from outlets in the US, UK, Italy, Poland, Czechia and Slovenia who all report similar issues.
But remember: no matter big tech’s mercurial whims, audiences need and want news. That’s my big take away, personally, from new research by the Pew-Knight Initiative this week looking into what sorts of content people go to social media networks for.
It’s no great surprise that people are mainly going to Tiktok, X, Facebook and Instagram for entertainment. But journalists and media executives should be buoyed by figures showing that majorities or large minorities of platform users identify keeping up with culture, sport, politics or hard news as reasons they go online.
Have a great weekend.
Bron
How a Google "top stories" search result looks with and without AI Overviews
‘Devastating’ potential impact of Google AI Overviews on publisher visibility revealed
The research looked at 3,300 of the most important search terms for leading publications and found that AI-written summaries were offered as the top result in nearly a quarter of cases (23.7%).
Publishers around the world hit by Facebook labelling news as spam
The Record-Argus, a small independent newspaper in Pennsylvania in the US, has had several posts with story links in the past few weeks marked as spam and deleted. They have requested a review on each one and not heard back on any, Press Gazette was told.
Google and publishers: An unpredictable animal that could eat you at any time
“Google has rolled out another algorithm update, framed as an attempt to improve search results and reduce spam but in fact often penalising legitimate publishers and causing massive traffic losses.”
News now a major reason why Americans are using Tiktok, research shows
Although hard news was one of the less popular types of content among respondents, other kinds of content provided by professional publishers proved more popular. Just over half (52%) of Instagram users said they use the app to keep up with sports or pop culture and 53% of Tiktok users said the same.
Also on Press Gazette:
News media job cuts 2024 tracked: Cuts continue at Wall Street Journal
Future moves into adtech business with solution aimed at publishers
Advertising, philanthropy and AI: How the AP is diversifying its revenue streams
Bloomberg Media rolls out website upgrades as it hits 540,000 subscribers
Guardian CEO Bateson ready to ‘do a deal’ with AI companies ‘on the right terms’
And elsewhere…
Non-profit to distribute CA$100m in Google funds to Canadian news companies following Online News Act passage
Mickey Djuric, The Canadian Press
AI search engine Perplexity is ‘directly ripping off content from news outlets’
Sarah Emerson and Rashi Shrivastava, Forbes
However: Perplexity was planning revenue-sharing deals with publishers when it came under media fire
Reed Albergotti, Semafor
New York Times source code stolen and leaked on 4chan
Lawrence Abrams, Bleeping Computer
Youtube rolls out A/B testing for video thumbnail images
Lauren Forristal, Techcrunch
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