If you haven’t tuned in to the increasingly rapid pace of change and competition amongst content platforms, it’s time to catch up.

A flurry of recent announcements and changes are providing deeper insight into various approaches and their results.

This week’s announcement from Facebook kicks up a notch how publishers must compete for audience attention. Its latest updates introduce more subtleties in terms of user viewing of articles and how those actions are interpreted. Additional changes are reflected in areas such as Time Spent Viewing, Diversity of Page Posts, and Impact on Pages. See Digiday’s reaction to the changes in “Winners and losers of Facebook’s latest algorithm changes.”

Digiday recently posted about algorithm changes affecting video as well.

We are also still seeing mixed reactions to Apple News, which the company has recently opened up to all publishers after initially limiting it to Apple partners like The New York Times, CNN, and Conde Nast.

In recent months, we’ve looked at some of the successes and challenges of both platform providers and publishers. In our February 12 issue of This Week in Publishing, we highlighted discussions regarding the hidden costs of distributed publishing and what publishers like about recent changes to Facebook Instant Articles.

Not to be left out, Google is gaining some traction with Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), as we noted last week. Promising publishers faster load times on mobile pages, Google News leverages AMP stories, but from most publishers’ perspectives, there’s still more to be done before monetization becomes attainable.

Continuing to capture and share insights related to the evolving publishing ecosphere is essential for us all. Nobody has found the secret recipe, and with the fast pace of change and the bandwidth and investment necessary to support a varied landscape of platforms, there likely won’t ever be a fully baked approach. Content publishing going forward will involve a mixture of continuous audience insight, re-measurement, pivoting approaches and “recipes,” and varied delivery approaches. Media Village’s recent article “The Reconstruction of the Print Publishing Business” summarizes the impact these changes have had on publishers.

Infographics to Help Guide You

Several of our recent infographic picks provide interesting metrics around the topic:

Don’t Miss Out On Helpful New Books

Third Wave coverThis month’s Book Picks List highlights some exciting new reads offering a range of insights on making the transition to platforms. In the world of content platforms, one wonders how the magazine will fare in five to 10 years from now. Without a doubt, the impact of mobile is definitely upon us. But where will it truly take content and how we consume it? We’ll keep watching!


CEO Margot Knorr Mancini’s monthly blog on content strategy shares valuable insights and observations from her experiences in the publishing industry. 

Check out her other articles in our Content Strategy section. Also sign up for TFP’s newsletter briefings, including Media Metrics and This Week in Publishing, which highlights our weekly industry news picks and tips to help you stay informed. Have a suggestion for a topic you’d like to know more about? Drop us a note!

Posted by: Margot Knorr Mancini

A thought leader in the publishing industry, Margot Knorr Mancini has helped numerous publishers redefine their missions to become nimble content generators with the ability to repurpose content easily and efficiently. As Founder & CEO of Technology for Publishing, her analytical mind allows her to remain a step ahead of the industry, recognizing early trends and developing pivotal best practices.