How Journalism Promotes The Internet’s Shadiest Scams
▻http://priceonomics.com/how-journalism-promotes-the-internets-shadiest
The question of whether to host sponsored links from Taboola or Outbrain is a difficult one for publishers. As venture capitalist Marc Andreessen expresses in the above Twitter exchange, the “Content You May Like” widgets degrade the user experience and even other advertisers’ experience. He describes it as part of a “race to the bottom” of bad content chasing bad ads chasing bad content. Of course, even if it does long term damage to a journalistic outfit’s brand and readers’ trust, it’s difficult for publishers to say no to what feels like millions of dollars in free money during hard financial times.