Upworthy just laid off 31 people. The question remains why.: The latest from Nieman Lab

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Friday, August 3, 2018 [Upworthy just laid off 31 people. The question remains why.]( “An incredible team remains, and our mission is as relevant now as ever.” By Marlee Baldridge. [With “Your Feed,” The New York Times lets iOS users follow topics and journalists (in a non-overwhelming way)]( In user research, The New York Times found that “following” topics and specific journalists was a top request. So it built “Your Feed.” By Laura Hazard Owen. What We’re Reading Digiday / Tim Peterson [PBS Digital Studios turns to YouTube while waiting for Facebook revenue →]( [Two Cents] has averaged more than 341,000 views per episode across 23 episodes. But as PBS Digital Studios is not part of Facebook’s video monetization program, the show hasn’t made any money. So like many other media companies, the TV network’s digital arm is turning to YouTube. Lenfest Institute / Joseph Lichterman [Texas Monthly is running a test to stop readers who use adblockers →]( “Readers of the magazine who accessed it while using adblockers were then asked to sign up for a Texas Monthly newsletter to keep their adblocker on, or to whitelist the site. (Readers were also allowed to just dismiss the interstitial.) Most adblocking readers have been X’ing out of the modal and continuing to read.” The New York Times / Kara Swisher [Kara Swisher: “Facebook, as well as Twitter and Google’s YouTube, have become the digital arms dealers of the modern age” →]( “They have weaponized social media. They have weaponized the First Amendment. They have weaponized civic discourse. And they have weaponized, most of all, politics….Which is why malevolent actors continue to game the platforms and why there’s still no real solution in sight anytime soon, because they were built to work exactly this way.” The Guardian / Elisa Gabbert [Is compassion fatigue inevitable in an age of 24-hour news? →]( “If it is true that empathy is a necessary motivator for making the world a better place, what happens when we feel bombarded every day with the details of local and global disasters, with every shocking crime, political scandal and climate calamity here and abroad?” Nieman Foundation [Knight Visiting Nieman Fellowships are open now, applications due Sept. 28 →]( Have an idea for a journalism project? Apply to be a Knight visiting fellow at the Nieman Foundation. Time [TIME and the Texas Tribune team up in a new reporting project from the U.S.-Mexico border →]( Local and national collaboration, in action: “Through the partnership, TIME and The Texas Tribune will collaborate on reporting from the Tribune’s bureau in the Rio Grande Valley, their second bureau near the border. Reporters, photographers, and videographers from both TIME and The Texas Tribune will jointly author and edit stories and videos from the border to bring coverage of the crisis to an international audience.” New York Post / Keith J. Kelly [The New York Daily News quietly showed five more staffers the door, pushing the layoffs to 98 →]( “The early buzz is that the company will try to obtain concessions from its unionized workforce next.” [Nieman Lab]( / [Fuego]( / [Encyclo]( [Twitter]( / [Facebook]( [View email in browser]( [Unsubscribe]( You are receiving this daily newsletter because you signed up for for it at www.niemanlab.org. Nieman Journalism Lab Harvard University 1 Francis Ave.Cambridge, MA 02138 [Add us to your address book](//niemanlab.us1.list-manage.com/vcard?u=dc756b20ebb9521ec3ad95e4a&id=d68264fd5e)