A deep dive on Netflix and Video Games from @ballmatthew: Why does Netflix want to enter gaming (beyond the money)? Why now? Can it succeed? What makes the category so uniquely challenging for the streaming giant?
Facebook testing audio and video calls within the Facebook app messaging experience so people can make and receive calls regardless of which app they’re using. Plus birthday gifting via Facebook Pay, contact sharing, poll games, and word effects. #Facebook
TikTok users will soon be able to buy stuff directly through the short videos on the app — something they had only been able to do through ads until now. Shopify said that businesses will be able to add a shopping tab to their TikTok profiles to create a “mini-storefront” that links directly to their online store for checkout. #ecommerce
Twitter is testing a feature to let writers on its Revue newsletter platform collect subscribers directly from their Twitter profiles. The feature can be enabled by any Revue user starting today, but the subscribe button is only being shown to select users on Android and the web to start.
It also will create a $100 million fund to pay them. A judge’s decision in a higher-profile fight with Epic Games, a leading video game maker, is still pending. #Apple
Minnesota-based independent publisher Milkweed Editions will launch a series of books centered on neurodivergence and what the publisher calls “different ways of languaging” next year.
HT @nytimes The Pulitzer Prize board issued a special citation on Friday for Afghan journalists, some of whom worked alongside Western news organizations, and announced a grant of $100,000 to provide emergency relief for the journalists and their families.
RT @michellemanafy “Shifting a newsroom toward antiracism has less to do with ensuring that individual journalists are not personally racist than it does with interrogating the influence of structural racism on newsroom systems and processes.”
HT @mediagazer Penske Media calls SPACs “an investor fad” as sources say it rejected eight SPAC approaches; Bustle is still pursuing a SPAC deal and Vox is considering one
These maps show the books translated into the most languages from every country in the world, a great way to start reading in translation! Via @bookriot
HT @jbakernyc It’s the 5th anniversary of the @wellreadblkgirl festival. The annual literary celebration will bring together Black women writers & readers for a full day of panels, workshops, and editor roundtables. Tix are available on a sliding scale, for now. #WRBGFest
RT @LatinxBookBingo We are excited to share that the 4th round of #Latinxbookbingo is taking place from September 15 to October 15th 2021. It’s being hosted by Sofia @sofiainbookland and Paola @Guerrerawr and the goal is to read books written by Latinx authors in celebration of Latinx Heritage Month
MT @FirstBook Introducing our new 2021-2022 Culture, Diversity, & Inclusion Calendar! Each month, find a suggested day to celebrate, recommended resources, activity suggestions, and more.
RT @RJ_Raskin Publishing friends, the hospital I volunteer at has a little library and we bring books to patients. We’re always running low. If anyone has any books or galleys they’re trying to get rid of and they’d like to donate them to the hospital, let me know!
HT @JulieBlattberg MT @MadeinNY We invite NYC storytellers to apply for #NYCWomensFund for the opportunity to bring their films, docs, TV shows, music projects, and theater productions by, for, or about women to life on screen and stage.