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- The Weekly Bulletin | June 18, 2024
The Weekly Bulletin | June 18, 2024
Catch up on your members' content, check out the community buzz, and browse through job opportunities
Vahe Arabian
June 18, 2024
Hi SODP community,
Let’s recap on what’s been happening, the new content, industry updates, tips, and more.
TIP OF THE WEEK
Navigating GDPR compliance in digital publishing is crucial as AI continues to reshape data management and user interactions. With GDPR now six years old, its impact on data privacy has grown more significant.
Recent studies show that GDPR fines have surged by 40% year-on-year. In 2023 alone, GDPR fines totaled €1.1 billion, according to the European Data Protection Board, underscoring the substantial risks of non-compliance.
Here are key considerations for digital publishers to stay compliant:
Choose a GDPR-Compliant Partner: Ensuring that all third-party services, from cloud providers to analytics tools, adhere to GDPR standards is essential. This maintains a consistent level of data protection across all operations.
Stay Transparent: GDPR mandates that users be informed about data collection practices in a clear and accessible manner. This includes comprehensive privacy policies and straightforward consent forms. Industry leaders like Forrester emphasize that clear communication fosters user trust, which is critical in maintaining a loyal readership.
Be Aware of the Platforms You Use: The platforms and software utilized for publishing must comply with GDPR requirements. Regularly audit these platforms to ensure they meet all necessary privacy standards and update them as needed to align with regulatory changes. For example, starting in July, Facebook will be incorporating AI into its training modules for non-private messages, so it's crucial to stay informed about such updates.
Ensuring GDPR compliance is not just a legal requirement but a strategic advantage in the digital publishing industry. Embracing these regulations can enhance user trust, safeguard your brand's reputation, and ultimately lead to sustained success in an increasingly data-driven world.
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Last week, I hosted a lightning session on Maven, where I discussed AI Overviews and its impact on digital publishers.
If you were not able to attend the session, it is now available on-demand.
LIVE WEBINAR: Are Bots and Invalid Traffic Stealing Your Ad Revenue?
🗓️ 11 July 2024
🕚️ 11 AM ET | 5 PM CET
A Google study suggests that publishers dependent on ad revenue lose an estimated $1.27 billion annually due to fake ad inventory.
Is your website or app experiencing a surge in clicks, but your ad RPMs aren’t reflecting that growth? You could be facing this silent enemy! This hidden threat can drain your ad revenue, skew your data analytics, and damage your credibility with advertisers.
Join this webinar and learn how to secure your platform from invalid traffic (IVT). Discover strategies to identify and filter out these malicious activities, protect your ad revenue, and maximize profits.
👉 Use code NEWSSEOWITHVAHE for 10% OFF – expires in 48 hours.
6-WEEK COURSE: News SEO Playbook
Enrollment is now open for the summer cohort of News SEO Playbook!
In light of the many changes that digital publishers experienced in the last few months, I decided to expand the course from 4 weeks to 6 weeks, adding modules on SGE and Editorial Workflows.
During the 6 weeks, we will cover:
Technical SEO
Content SEO
SGE, Google Trends, Top Stories
Diagnosing Performance
Editorial Workflows
+ more
JOB BOARD
➡️ Red Ventures’ The Points Guy is looking for a paid media leader to run and grow digital marketing with a core focus on developing and executing the paid strategy (NYC, NY, OR Charlotte, NC, US). SEE MORE
➡️ News UK is looking for a conversion marketing manager for its The Times and Sunday Times properties (London, UK). SEE MORE
COMMUNITY BUZZ
Industry News
➡️ Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism published the 2024 edition of its Digital News Report. Here is the interactive version. READ MORE
➡️ See why Gen Z and millennials prefer social platforms for search and how to build stronger connections with your target audience. READ MORE
➡️ Workweek, a publishing platform for creators serving business professionals, raised $12.5 million in a series A round. READ MORE
➡️ Pete Pachal on LinkedIn:
It's become increasingly clear that AI summaries of news stories are the new reality. From Google's AI Overviews to what Apple has done with "Apple Intelligence" to the new Yahoo News app, generative summaries are something that publishers will need to adapt to in the coming months and years.
There's a simple reason why: summaries remove almost all the friction in between users and the information they want, and the long arc of progress is all about removing friction. The truth is AI summaries provide a better experience for many, if not most consumers of information. Some people will still want to go deeper, but content creators will need to think more and more about the digest form of their news, and how to optimize for that 📰
It's understandable that some in the media, notably The New York Times, are trying to stop or at least slow down this train. A bunch of publishers are even opting out of Common Crawl, the data set that search engines, researchers, and AI builders use. But those are defensive tactics 🛡️
These are the highlights for the last week.
Until next!
Vahe Arabian and the editorial team at SODP
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