I once spent 4 years selling classified advertising for a local newspaper. My customers were mostly car dealers and realtors. Combined with the rest of the small categories in the classified section, it was very profitable for the paper. I think the advent of online marketplaces had as much to do with the demise of local papers as free news sources. Apparently Facebook noticed too, since they've established their own version of this service.
Buzzfeed and all the others who depended on FleeceBlock and the rest of the Silly Con Valley scumballs were sunk the minute the scumballs started taking more and more of the ad revenue. News organizations have always survived on the advertising department. If you doubt me, go jump in my time machine and jump back to 1998 and look at the size of the Sunday LA Times - over half of it was weekly advertising.
FleeceBlock is that bar where the ranting drunk at the end keeps getting served triples until he finally staggers out to the parking lot, fumbles his keys, finds them, climbs in his vehicle and manages to get it started and drives off. And then the bar owner disdains all responsibility for what happens when the drunk drives down the wrong side of the street.
I am so glad those fuckwits decided the troll who stole my FleeceBlock page three years ago was the good guy and I was the bad guy, and they didn't have a phone to a person who could straighten it out, so I was out of there. There is no force on earth that could drag me back in there, or onto Twitter, or onto Substack Twits, er, I mean Notes. I came to Substack to get the hell away from all that shit.
Write a damn book, Ben. Whatever it's about I'm buying it if it contains lines half as good as "in the quiet solitude of their own kitchen, forswear the broccoli and indulge in the KitKat."
I think unclicking must be my superpower. Dropped GOT at season four?, Breaking Bad at the end of two... and *relentlessly* unfriended people (or at least unfollowed them) who shared political shit. Knew you for many years in real life? Tough shit buddy, bye.
I just wanted to say that this is an absolutely great read and I am glad I subscribed.
Applause
So falls Buzzfeed... and so does the legacy blue-check. Truly, this is a day that The Very Online will remember for a long, long time...
This is the best explanation of how Facebook’s news feed works that I’ve ever read, by far.
Where is my spoon content
Great piece!
I once spent 4 years selling classified advertising for a local newspaper. My customers were mostly car dealers and realtors. Combined with the rest of the small categories in the classified section, it was very profitable for the paper. I think the advent of online marketplaces had as much to do with the demise of local papers as free news sources. Apparently Facebook noticed too, since they've established their own version of this service.
Buzzfeed and all the others who depended on FleeceBlock and the rest of the Silly Con Valley scumballs were sunk the minute the scumballs started taking more and more of the ad revenue. News organizations have always survived on the advertising department. If you doubt me, go jump in my time machine and jump back to 1998 and look at the size of the Sunday LA Times - over half of it was weekly advertising.
FleeceBlock is that bar where the ranting drunk at the end keeps getting served triples until he finally staggers out to the parking lot, fumbles his keys, finds them, climbs in his vehicle and manages to get it started and drives off. And then the bar owner disdains all responsibility for what happens when the drunk drives down the wrong side of the street.
I am so glad those fuckwits decided the troll who stole my FleeceBlock page three years ago was the good guy and I was the bad guy, and they didn't have a phone to a person who could straighten it out, so I was out of there. There is no force on earth that could drag me back in there, or onto Twitter, or onto Substack Twits, er, I mean Notes. I came to Substack to get the hell away from all that shit.
Best explanation of the whole social media/news Encounter I’ve ever read.
Write a damn book, Ben. Whatever it's about I'm buying it if it contains lines half as good as "in the quiet solitude of their own kitchen, forswear the broccoli and indulge in the KitKat."
I think unclicking must be my superpower. Dropped GOT at season four?, Breaking Bad at the end of two... and *relentlessly* unfriended people (or at least unfollowed them) who shared political shit. Knew you for many years in real life? Tough shit buddy, bye.