Every Monday Zebra Eclipse updates with a new Herd. The Herd is a digest of related links to stories appropriate to the blog. The goal is to show the common evolution of agency and publisher and to highlight the influence of creators, curators and community moderators.
- Relaunched Self-Publishing Platform Pronoun Raises $3.5M
While the new platform hasn’t actually launched yet, the company has already outlined its goals in a manifesto with the grandiose title, “How to fix book publishing.”
- Viacom: ‘Our Product Is Content, Our Currency Is Audiences’ | AdExchanger
The tricky issue of targeting and measurement when it comes to omnichannel content.
- Google Europe Blog: Supporting high quality journalism
In a world of native ads, user generated content and widespread sharing, how do readers know what they are reading is true, or what is the motivation of the publisher?
- FTC: Publishers Will Be Held Responsible For Misleading Native Ads
Big news for publishers as the Americans look to enforcer Native Ads standards on publishers. How this will effect bloggers who are often under pressure from SEO agencies to publish undisclosed articles remains to be seen.
- Vox Media Acquiring ReCode
ReCode had lots of kudos but it struggled with growing its audience – never getting above 1.5million a month. The result? A deal with The Verge’s owner Vox.
- Introducing Instant Articles
Facebook takes the lid off its new publisher partnership offer; Instant Articles. These are designed to launch quickly, embrace rich media and profit split with the original publishers.
- Why Games Journalism Should Update Its Thinking
Tadhg Kelly argues that too many games journalists are writing for sites chasing the same audience. There’s an over supply problem. At the same time, these very journalists are unwilling to break old habits – such as putting mobile gaming up there with PC and console gaming.
- Record Breaking Publisher Approvals
The network Affiliate Window, sister to Zanox, has announced that the first quarter of this year saw a record number of people and businesses sign up as publishers. 68% of these publishers were accepted by Awin.
- How brands can beat the growing vlogging backlash
A creative director weighs in on how brands can work with vloggers without getting caught up in the credibility backlash – if, indeed, there’s a backlash coming in the first place.
- Facebook’s Hosted “Instant Articles” Give Publishers 70% of Ad Revenue
The details emerge of Facebook’s proposal to publishers. 100% of all revenue if you bring the advertisers; 70% otherwise.
- Meet The Company Secretly Running All Your Favourite Social Media Accounts
Social Chain is a Manchester based “influencer agency” with about 220 popular Twitter accounts under its control. The result? It can make hashtags trend at will.
- How The World’s Fastest Growing Blogging Platform All Began With One Small Freelance Blog
John O’Nolan has played a key role in the development of WordPress but in 2013 he started a new project: Ghost
- Wooing Advertisers Gets Even Harder For Mid-Sized Web Publishers
“The trend is at agency level is they want consolidation of partnerships,” said one top online ad sales executive. “They want to work with fewer, deeper partners. And you need big audiences. It’s very, very competitive. Twenty-five million uniques is not enough.”
- Condé Nast Closes Blog Network NowManifest
Bloggers who used the platform include Susie BubbleAnna Dello RussoDerek BlasbergBryanBoy and Fashion Toast. They’ve been asked to focus on their own blogs and arrange their own ad deals.
