Despite harsh weather and heavy snow storms, four Irish women that are at the forefront of their respected fields, working at some of the world’s biggest brands, discussed the rise of fake news across social media, at the latest Digital Irish event in New York.
From left: James Hoge, Senior Advisor at Teneo Intelligence; Dakota Flournoy, Journalist at Storyful; Aine Kerr, Global Journalist Partnerships at Facebook; Rachel Quigley, Head of Content at WetPaint; Samantha Barry, Executive Producer for Social and Emerging Media at CNN Worldwide.
The panel, who were speaking off-the-record at New York Digital Irish, discussed changing trends in the consumption of news and the impact on business models within the Industry.
Key Takeaways
- Don’t blame the technology: Media editors / journalists / writers still have a very important role to play in preventing the “Rise of Fake News”.
- Editors are increasingly pressured to generate more traffic to increase revenue – Training and guidance is required to ensure the integrity of news stories published.
- Media Companies must avoid the temptation to target their audience using the total market approach. Touch your specific audience to remain relevant and survive in the market.
- Fact: 42 % of People use social media as a primary source of news, including a high proportion of GenX & Baby Boomers.
- Despite the negative impact of Fake News, social media provides an opportunity for influencers and journalists to connect directly with their audience, including real time video.
Irish Technology Firms lead the field in Media Technology
To celebrate the event, we discuss some of the leading Irish technology firms with operations in New York who are making waves in the media industry.
Storyful is a technology company that enables media companies to verify, analyze and license trending video and news content. Since its foundation by Mark Little in 2010, the company has opened offices in Dublin, Sydney, London, New York and Hong Kong. The company was acquired by NewsCorp in 2013 for $25 million (€18 million).
NewsWhip harnesses the ocean of content on the web and social media to support journalists, editors and marketers generate more engaging content for news monitoring and social marketing. The company was founded in 2012 by Paul Quigley and Andrew Mullaney and provides solutions to large news organizations like the BBC and Washington Post as well as supporting the marketing departments of international organizations like Intel and MasterCard. The company raised has raised $6.4 million in a Series A round in February 2017.
AdForce enables advertisers to deliver high quality ads that are targeted at a very specific demographic across 750 news sites in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California from one single platform. The platform enables advertisers to target by audience, location, device and even time of day to carry out effective digital advertising to maximize ROI. The company was founded by Colm Grealy, a well-known entrepreneur who founded and sold Ireland’s first internet service provider Ireland On-Line (IOL), and has offices in Dublin, Brussels and New York.
VideoElephant supports companies meet the growing desire of users on social media and web platforms to consume high quality video content. Video Elephant work adds 1,000 videos per day to support tech providers, publishers and advertisers who require brand-safe content at scale. The company was founded in 2011 and has offices in Dublin, New York and Los Angeles. Video Elephant work with tech providers, publishers and advertisers that require brand-safe content at scale.
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