Important Note

Tech Narratives was a subscription website, which offered expert commentary on the day's top tech news from Jan Dawson, along with various other features, for $10/month. As of Monday October 16, 2017, it will no longer be updated. An archive of past content will remain available for the time being. I've written more about this change in the post immediately below, and also here.

Each post below is tagged with
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  • Narratives
  • as appropriate.
    How Facebook’s measurement errors have eroded marketers’ trust – Marketing Land (Dec 7, 2016)

    All of Facebook’s metrics-tracking mishaps have unsurprisingly made marketers and publishers increasingly wary of trusting its reporting, and in some cases those marketers are reconsidering the money they spend on Facebook. Until now, this just looked like a PR black eye for Facebook, but the potential financial impact is now becoming clearer. This is something Facebook will need to address in its next earnings report.

    via How Facebook’s measurement errors have eroded marketers’ trust


    The Gadget Apocalypse Is Upon Us – The New York Times (Dec 7, 2016)

    I don’t agree with all of Farhad’s conclusions here – the nature of the columnist beast is that you have to make strong statements, sometimes stronger than you really believe. But there’s truth here, and some of my own thoughts too. Hardware is both easier than ever and harder than ever – easier to manufacture cheaply and at scale, and harder to build a large sustainable business at, especially in categories where the big players are dominant.

    via The Gadget Apocalypse Is Upon Us – The New York Times


    Apple will break with tradition and start publishing AI research – The Verge (Dec 6, 2016)

    This is a big policy change for Apple, whose famous penchant for secrecy has hampered its efforts to hire and retain top AI researchers. We won’t see future Apple products and services leaked through this research, obviously – it will either be generalized enough to offer no clues, or will be published after the related consumer-facing products are released. But it should help ease the hiring challenges somewhat and neutralize one of the frequent criticisms of Apple’s AI efforts.

    via Apple will break with tradition and start publishing AI research – The Verge


    How Pokémon Go is trying to lure back the millions who have abandoned it – Recode (Nov 28, 2016)

    The owners of Pokemon Go were never likely to struggle to get people to download the game – with such a rapid rise to enormous popularity, the challenge was always going to be keeping people actively using the game, and at this point it’s about getting people who’ve abandoned it to come back.

    via How Pokémon Go is trying to lure back the millions who have abandoned it – Recode


    Galaxy Note 7 recall did not damage Samsung brand in U.S.: Reuters/Ipsos poll | Reuters (Nov 20, 2016)

    The actual findings here are more complex than the headline suggests – those who had used Samsung devices tended to be relatively unfazed by the recall, while non-users’ opinions were swayed more, results that have been borne out by other surveys too. In other words, Samsung shouldn’t lose many customers over the recall, but might find it a little harder to win converts.

    via Galaxy Note 7 recall did not damage Samsung brand in U.S.: Reuters/Ipsos poll | Reuters


    Facebook finds more exaggerated ad data – Engadget (Nov 16, 2016)

    This was the second time Facebook had to confess to screwing up metrics, this time as a result of an internal review following the first incident. Kudos to the company for conducting the audit, though it won’t have reassured advertisers or publishers to hear that additional metrics were inaccurate. Here’s Facebook’s own post about the errors, which covered several areas across Instant Articles, videos, and clicks and views across other content.

    via Facebook finds more exaggerated ad data


    Google and Facebook Take Aim at Fake News Sites – The New York Times (Nov 14, 2016)

    Much of the attention around fake news and the tech sector has focused on Facebook, because it’s the funnel for so much of the stuff people actually see, and because its algorithms tend to create bubbles in which a false sense of reality can take root relatively unchallenged. However, many of those actually peddling fake news monetize through Google ads, and so Google stepping in to help turn off the revenue spigot for some of these sites should go a long way towards shutting down at least some of them.

    via Google and Facebook Take Aim at Fake News Sites – The New York Times


    Mark Zuckerberg says it’s ‘extremely unlikely’ fake news on Facebook changed the election outcome – Recode (Nov 13, 2016)

    Mark Zuckerberg has continued to resist calls for Facebook to see itself as a media company, and to accept the editorial responsibilities that come with this role. This puts him in conflict with not only much of the rest of the industry and its commentariat but many users too, and it’s a tension that can only be resolved as Zuckerberg and Facebook recognize the product’s evolution and take steps to improve the user experience while reassuring users Facebook won’t abuse its power. That’s a really tough line to walk.

    via Mark Zuckerberg says it’s ‘extremely unlikely’ fake news on Facebook changed the election outcome – Recode


    US Startup Investments By China’s Internet Giants Slow Down in 2016 – CB Insights (Nov 10, 2016)

    This is a great overview of some of the significant investments the four major Chinese Internet companies have made in the US over the past few years. A few things stand out: Tencent has invested significantly more than the others, both in dollar terms and in the number of individual investments; California has received 79% of the total investments made, with most other states only capturing a small number of deals or none at all; investments appear to have peaked in 2016 and dropped in 2015 (though this analysis doesn’t capture the whole of 2016). A lot of the investments are in tiny companies you’ve never heard of, but there are some exceptions: Alibaba and Tencent in Lyft and Snap; Alibaba in ShopRunner, MagicLeap, and Jet.com; Baidu in Uber; and Tencent in Cyanogen. Most of these are small minority investments, but the overall number is significant – the big Chinese companies have been far more able and willing to invest in US properties than vice versa.

    via CB Insights


    Facebook built another Snapchat clone specifically for emerging markets – Recode (Nov 8, 2016)

    The Flash app is yet another attempt by Facebook to recreate some of Snapchat’s features in one of its own apps, and appears to be building off the more successful cloning the company has been doing in 2016. This one is specifically focused on emerging markets, where Snapchat doesn’t have nearly the audience it does in mature markets (or nearly the audience Facebook does). It’s also yet another example of putting the camera at the forefront of the Facebook experience.

    via Recode


    Accelerating Innovation and Powering New Experiences with AI | Facebook Newsroom (Nov 8, 2016)

    This is (mostly) an example of the “tell, don’t show” problem with tech companies and AI – too much about models and methodologies, and not enough about real consumer benefit. There are some examples sprinkled in here, but it definitely feels like this post is intended for engineers, not the general public. Facebook undoubtedly has serious AI chops, but needs to do a better job telling the consumer side of this story (while avoiding anything creepy, often a challenge with Facebook’s new technologies).

    via Accelerating Innovation and Powering New Experiences with AI | Facebook Newsroom


    Trump claims Google and Facebook are suppressing Clinton email news – Business Insider (Oct 30, 2016)

    Having already taken aim at both Apple and Amazon during the campaign, Trump began attacking Google and Facebook over perceived suppression of news about Hillary Clinton’s email servers and the various on-again, off-again investigations into them by the FBI.

    via Business Insider


    Facebook clones Snapchat’s face filters and ephemeral photo messages – The Verge (Oct 28, 2016)

    Facebook’s new camera app (currently in testing) clones several Snapchat features, including filters/lenses, and ephemeral messages. The filter/lens technology is built on the acquisition of MSQRD.

    via The Verge


    FAA Bans Note7 From All Flights (Oct 14, 2016)

    The FAA finally banned all Note7 devices in any state from flights, following earlier partial bans, and mandated safety warnings on all US flights which lasted into January 2017.


    Facebook has repeatedly trended fake news since firing its human editors – The Washington Post (Oct 12, 2016)

    This whole incident has been embarrassing for Facebook on a number of levels, reflecting its schizoid approach to its editorial role – on the one hand, it wants to disclaim responsibility for editing or filtering what its users see, and on the other it clearly can’t just leave these tasks to machines. Fake news would end up being an important factor in the presidential election, and it’s a conversation that’s still ongoing.

    via Facebook has repeatedly trended fake news since firing its human editors – The Washington Post


    Samsung Cuts Q3 Guidance Over Note7 (Oct 12, 2016)

    The financial impact of the Note7 debacle began to become clear, as Samsung formally reduced its revenue and profit guidance by several billion dollars (its final results for Q3 would be broadly in line with this guidance).


    Samsung Ends Note7 Sales Worldwide (Oct 10, 2016)

    Samsung finally announced that it would stop selling the Note7 in all countries.


    First Report of Replacement Samsung Note7 Fire (Oct 5, 2016)

    The first report came in of a replacement Note7 – theoretically the safe version – also catching fire, prompting calls for a complete recall.


    Facebook is testing a clone of Snapchat stories inside Messenger – The Verge (Sep 30, 2016)

    Yet another experimental attempt by Facebook to recreate a Snapchat feature, this time within Messenger, and only in Poland. Following two early attempts to recreate Snapchat in totality in its own new apps, much of Facebook’s Snacphat cloning in 2016 has come through both features within other apps and more experimental approaches, launching new features or apps in single countries, rather than making a big global announcement. This seems smart, given Facebook’s history in this space, many of its attempts having fallen flat.

    via The Verge


    ANA Pushes Facebook for Greater Measurement Transparency – WSJ (Sep 30, 2016)

    Following Facebook’s first metrics mishap in September, the Association of National Advertisers issued the first call in what’s since become a steady drumbeat of requests for Facebook to open itself up to outside auditing of its metrics for advertisers and publishers.

    via ANA Pushes Facebook for Greater Measurement Transparency – WSJ