Faulkner

The lone holdout of the Big 4 is getting hitched, I suppose.

It’s very tricky with BuzzFeed because a lot of their big bets have paid off somewhat, and they may survive and even “thrive” after all of this bloodletting. They are looking to merge with another big digital media giant, and we shall see how that goes. I have no clue really. No one has really figured out the $$$$ thing beyond the biggest names.

Clearly it was short-sighted and even then people saw it as a ridiculous fad, but in that massive media Gold Rush at the time, so many people saw it as a stroke of genius. At my old company, our execs brought in the leaders of BuzzFeed for a town hall to teach us everything they knew, as they appeared to have social media and digital all figured out. They were launching Tasty, their YouTube channels were firing on all cylinders. They were launching original series, products. They had perfected what Upworthy, Vice, Mashable, et al had reached for and couldn’t quite achieve. They were gods. Until, of course, they weren’t. Of course, many folks have the ability to take a bird’s eye, long view, but when you’re in it and your bosses are smitten with every shiny object, your hand is forced. It takes a strong and very rare leader (or an established, well-funded brand) to resist temptation to dart off on every trend. And even then you have to make little adjustments to the new reality while keeping your eye on the prize.

Big Tech is getting hammered: Apple knew about that much-publicized FaceTime flaw (where you can call someone and listen in on them through their phone’s microphone, even if they don’t answer) DAYS ago before taking any action.

Some very interesting debate in the replies to this: Plus:

I was on FB from almost the beginning, when it required an .edu email address, but I use it less and less. If I didn’t need it for work, I probably wouldn’t use it all. It sucks that they own WhatsApp, which I use very frequently.

Sunny is looking like Wendy Williams in that photo.

^Exactly where we’re heading.

Spoiler alert: $16/month is the high end, and Netflix is already there.