113: Not a political statement, what to do as the lonely only, Google hogging search traffic, and how to fix disinformation
Hope you had a marvelous Fourth of July.
In this edition #113 of The World's Best Newsletter:
1. Google's hogging all search traffic - what it means for you
2. Why should we question Google? Why should you care?
3. Watch my conversation with Ascension's Nick Ragone
4. Don't Be The Lonely Only (and what to do if you are)
5. How to fix disinformation
6. How we die vs. its news coverage
7. Quote of the week: This is not a political statement
Let's do it:
1. Google's hogging all search traffic - what it means for you
If your business or livelihood is affected by Google (it likely is if you are reading this newsletter) I recommend this post by SEO oracle, Rand Fishkin, who warns, "things are rough for web creators, publishers, and marketers focused on organic search traffic."
He (with help from Jumpshot data) found that in Q1 2019, Google directed nearly 12% of all search clicks back to Alphabet-owned properties ("an absolutely mammoth amount") and already solves half of all searches without any clicks at all. In 2019 Google sent ~20% fewer organic clicks via browser searches than they did in 2016.
With fewer clicks available for publishers and websites to capture, what does this mean? Rand predicts:
a huge rise in demand and services for On-SERP SEO, the practice of optimizing the results page in Google to deliver the message a publisher, brand, or organization desires. (One of my former advisors is doing this with job listings.) Note: we can still influence the searcher, he says.
More cautious accountability from Google as the press starts to hold their feet to the fire / the US Dept of Justice investigates them for possibly violating antitrust regulations.
2. Why should we question Google? Why should you care?
An important point from the end of Rand's blog.
... I think fear about where Google’s search traffic goes is entirely reasonable. Google has more than 94% of the US search market, they send more than 10X as much traffic as the next leading referrer on the web (Facebook), dominate the online advertising market (with 38% of all digital ad revenue to Facebook’s 22%), and control (perhaps to a dangerous degree) the livelihoods of millions of small business owners, startups, publishers, and web creators. A skeptical, watchful eye over such a powerful beast is certainly needed.
I feel like Carl Sagan would appreciate Rand's motivation here. "If we can't think for ourselves... then we're just putty in the hands of those in power."
3. Watch my conversation with Ascension's Nick Ragone
Episode 2 of Learning from Leaders is live featuring the Chief Marketing & Communications Officer of the nation's largest Catholic/non-profit health system, Nick Ragone.
I got the chance to visit St. Louis a few weeks before they played the Bruins and chat with Nick about:
keys to a successful rebrand
change management
the role of data in marketing
new expectations for healthcare organizations.
Watch it here.
4. Don't Be The Lonely Only (and what to do if you are)
Last week, Nilofer Merchant shared a great piece about being the "only" in a room -- the only woman, the first black engineer, the most "mature" person, etc -- and the problems therein:
New ideas matter; they rupture the status quo and incubate the future. At least half if not close to 70% of ideas are currently silenced or ignored because of the lonely only problem. Not because those ideas were vetted and deemed unworthy as per Adam Galinsky's research but because the idea came from a person deemed unworthy of being heard; we’re not hearing and therefore selecting from the most powerful ideas.
She feels that the cause of the problem is social --
Forty years ago, Rosabeth Moss Kanter of Harvard Business School studied those “only"s and found three things always constrain their ideas.
They feel watched, so they’re super self-conscious.
They are excluded from social settings, where lots of work happens.
They feel tremendous pressure to assimilate to existing group norms.
And perpetuated in our current business narratives --
It’s an oft-told lie that we so want to believe, like the stories of “rugged individualism”: the business executive who “bootstrapped” himself (Jobs, Bezos, Musk, take your pick) to success while denying the role that legacy wealth and male-and-white-dominated networks play. The common thread of these myths? If you’re not succeeding despite all the bias against you, you’re not working hard enough.
So, how do we fix a social problem? With social solutions, she suggests --
Your ideas will die a stillbirth if you don’t have the social structures of belonging so that your early idea can be (a) incubated and later (b) scaled.
Examples include:
Ava DuVernay (When They See Us) who created Array, an independent distributor of films by women and people of color, amplified by artists and advocate
banking tycoon Sallie Krawcheck who, after getting fired from Merrill Lynch and Citi, created a cohort of female investors through Ellevest to change the financial frontier for how women invest and get invested in
In short: "If you’re being tokenized and dismissed in the room, go build new rooms."
h/t to Tara Hunt on Twitter
5. How to fix disinformation
I am digging into this new report shared by Brookings -- an updated framework for battling malicious troll-fare online: "Democratic Defense Against Disinformation 2.0"
The authors recommend a variety of ways for governments and media to proactively battle the harmful effects of propaganda masking as real news or social media activity.
But, for social media companies, they provide clear steps:
Work together cross-platform: Disinformation campaigns often work across platforms simultaneously to amplify their content. e.g. if Facebook deletes suspicious accounts, other platforms should too.
Reassess anonymity - first make public an accurate report on the # of anonymous accounts on their platform, and consider "authentic spaces" accessible only to verified human beings, not bots, cyborgs, or impersonators.
Use algorithms for good - e.g. Google could set the industry standard by preventing overt authoritarian state-sponsored media outlets from appearing at the top of any search results (RT / Sputnik). Instead, prioritize content from independent media over identified propaganda (not "relevant or authoritative".)
Transparency requirements - Youtube publishes disclaimers on videos funded by the Russian government and other state-media outlets. Facebook/Twitter don't have a similar policy.
Align large tech with innovative nonprofits - e.g. AlgoTransparency. Use private-sector funds (foundations) to fund civil society initiatives / innovators who are using AI/ML to identify problems.
How feasible is any of this? Consider:
"Democratic societies should not fight propaganda with propaganda, nor should they turn to censorship. Freedom of expression and US First Amendment protections do not rob free societies of options. US law prohibits foreign participation in US elections, broadly defined, and permits extensive regulation of commercial advertisements (e.g., outright bans on broad categories, such as smoking).
In general, foreign persons, especially outside the United States, do not enjoy full First Amendment protections. Automated (e.g., bot) social media accounts also do not necessarily have First Amendment rights."
Full report available (free) here.
6. How we die vs. its news coverage
Hannah Ritchie, from Our World in Data, found a discrepancy between what we die from, and what we get informed of in the media.
Terrorism and homicide are overrepresented in the media, while the real killers - kidney disease, heart disease, and drug overdosing, are underrepresented.
(Click for larger version)
Hey, murders sell papers, right?
But there is a very real consequence to this! Ritchie explains:
"This locks us into a cycle of expectation and coverage with a strong bias for outlier events. Most of us are left with a skewed perception of the world; we think the world is much worse than it is.
There are many results which show we have a negative bias of global progress. Factfulness, published by the Roslings, is packed with public survey results of Gapminder's Ignorance Test. The test shows that the vast majority of people get the most basic questions on global development wrong (nearly always thinking the world is in a worst state than it is)."
7. Quote of the week: This is not a political statement
"This is not a political statement about immigration policy. This is a statement about human decency."
You likely heard of the Wayfair walkout - where workers in my hometown of Boston protested the company's $200,000 furniture order for detention centers on the US-Mexico border. Part of the reason for the walkout was Wayfair executives' lukewarm response to their employees, which was basically "meh, it's not our job to get political."
Understandable, sure, but not appropriate in our "new era of employee activism."
If your organization is one that doesn't "want to get political," it's important to proactively define what it is you do believe and support. This will require organizations to separate "politics" from a company's "ethics."
The children's publishing company, Highlights, served as a great example of this with their statement on Twitter:
I applaud the company's speed, clarity, and boldness to do the right thing, as well as their ability to recognize that in today's world, a business often plays a larger role in society than merely providing goods.
Have a stellar weekend, and thanks, as always, for reading.
Best,
Katie
>> Share The World's Best Newsletter on Twitter, or LinkedIn <<
I'm talking truth, trust, and content at this year's Content Marketing World, September 3-6 in Cleveland, OH. Read what I have to say along with 37 other smart people about the worst content marketing advice we've heard.
I'm back at INBOUND 2019 that same week in their new startup track - let's talk about the 7 deadly sins of startup marketing, and how to avoid them! My session is on Friday. Save 25% by registering here.
The MarketingProfs B2B Forum is October 16-18 just outside of Washington DC. We're so close to the center of American politics that I've decided to bring my take on rabble rousers, and what marketers can learn from history's best. Check out the great lineup here and save $100 with code B2BFriend19.
You can book me to speak, or emcee. Read what others have to say.