Search Engine

How do we survive the media apocalypse? (Part 2)

May 22, 2024

Casey Newton, a tech reporter and co-host of the Hard Fork podcast, brings his insights to discuss the shifting landscape of online media. He highlights Google's recent shift to AI-generated summaries, raising concerns about its impact on news publishers. The conversation touches on the decline of traditional journalism amidst layoffs and quality compromises. Newton also introduces the Fediverse, a decentralized alternative that could empower users to reclaim control over their online experiences. This thought-provoking dialogue navigates the future of media and the challenges ahead.

01:04:22

Episode guests

Casey Newton

AI Summary

Highlights

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Google introduced AI-generated summaries in search results, potentially impacting traditional publishers' traffic and revenue.

Publishers face the prospect of losing 20-40% of their traffic, leading to further consolidation and closures in the journalism industry.

Concerns arise about the future of journalism as Google's search functionality shifts, prompting publishers to diversify and adapt.

Deep dives

Google's Evolution in Search Results

Google introduced AI-generated summaries into search results, offering quick answers to queries like product recommendations or news summaries, potentially impacting traditional publishers' traffic and revenue. This feature aims to keep users within Google's ecosystem by providing extensive information directly on the search results page.

Efficiency through Unified Business Management

04:02

Building the Fediverse to reclaim control of the internet

04:08

Google Search Revolution with Generative AI

00:46

User Experience vs. Journalistic Value

03:23

Intro

3min

Google I.O. and the Future of Search

15min

The Decline of Search Quality and the Digital Death Spiral

4min

The Google Effect on Publishing

16min

Navigating the Future of Online Media and Income Security

5min

AI, Journalism, and Legal Frontiers

6min

Navigating Journalism and the Digital Landscape

3min

Exploring the Fediverse: A Decentralized Future

8min

Navigating the Fediverse and Google's Impact on Search

6min

Last week, Google announced a fundamental change to how the site will work, which will likely have dire effects for the news industry. When you use Google now, the site will often offer AI-generated summaries to you, instead of favoring human-written articles. We talk to Platformer’s Casey Newton about why this is happening, why publishers are nervous, and about a secret new internet you may not have heard of, a paradise to which we may all yet escape.

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Search Engine - How do we survive the media apocalypse? (Part 1)

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404 Media - Why Google is shit now

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