ABSTRACT
In the old days, the audience came to people. They walked up to a news stand or a vendor or into a store and bought a newspaper. Maybe they filled in a coupon to get it delivered; posting back a cheque every now and then, or popping into the corner shop to pay their bill. News publishers have to persuade people to read their story or watch their video, effectively to access that publisher's version of the news or interpretation of what is news. As Google iterated and developed its search bar people got more and more used to asking Google to take them direct to the story and less likely to go via a news website. But with that power over which stories people choose to visit comes responsibility. Facebook is built in such a way that weak-tie links between people are encouraged and Facebook itself determines the nature of the social contact.
