1/ Starting a thread about how Facebook is destroying the news media and I also hope to convince 500 of you to becoming sustaining donors to @MotherJones. motherjones.com/media/2018/12/…
2/ Above, @MonikaBauerlein and I lay out how Facebook has, contra to PR, allowed fake news to flourish, even as it makes it much harder for legit news organizations to get traffic. By the end, I hope 500 of you will sign up to give us $5 a month secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
3/ Conventional wisdom is that no one can raise money via Twitter, but over the last week you guys helped me raise ~$100K for public school kids via @DonorsChoose, so I know that's wrong.
4/ I'm going to tl;dr the story we wrote, though I think you should read it to have a true understanding of what Facebook is up to. You know about Cambridge Analytica and Definers/Soros scandals, but you may not understand their bigger impact on news media ecosystem.
5/ So here's the set up, they said they wanted to become the world's newspaper, and they pumped a lot of traffic to publishers, you know, actually taking on the expense and responsibility of actually doing all that reporting... 
6/ Then, when the fake news problem started, they denied it, then pumped a lot of PR efforts into claiming they were fixing it.
7/ Along the way, they kept making more demands of publishers. Convert everything to Facebook Instant, pivot to video, FaceBook live studios, etc etc. Publishers who bet big, lost big. Mic is the most recent case, Upworthy and Mashable before it...
8/ But the kill shot you may not have heard much about. After luring publishers to stake more and more of their fortunes on Facebook traffic, and all that developer and video producer $$, when the fake news scandal broke, it suppressed ALL NEWS. Here's what that means for MoJo
9/ For some publishers this has been totally devastating. Especially those that staked their future on various Facebook initiatives. But it has hurt everybody, and most wont talk publicly about it, for fear of scaring investors.
10/ Now, as a very diversified, non-profit newsroom, we're as well structured as anyone to survive (and thrive) despite Facebook's attack on journalism. But still, it takes a bite, which is why we've bumped our year-end fundraising goal to $400K
11/ That's our overall goal. I have a personal goal. I'm asking that by the end of the month, 500 of you will sign up to be sustaining donors at $5 a month. They made me my own URL and everything. secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
12/ Now the other day, I tested this out, and in a few hours 100 of you did just that. This allowed me to triumph over Brian, our membership director, who said it couldn't be done. Today he advised I set the goal at 250. But WE ARE GOING TO PROVE BRIAN WRONG AGAIN.
13/ Sustaining donations—which are tax deductible and you get a magazine sub if you sign up for $5 a month or more—help organizations plan around cash flow. If 500 of you sign up, that's $35K, but as importantly it's *steady* Facebook-proof income. secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
14/ But back to Facebook. Not only are they not allowing much real news in your feed, the fake news/hyperpartisan/clickbait is sailing through just as fast as it ever did.
15/ It's not just MoJo that's being hurt by this. It's all legit fact-based journalism. Just skim back through @kevinroose's TL for his daily account of what Facebook is prioritizing in its algorithm.
16/ Guess how big news orgs help get around this? They 'boost' posts, ie pay Facebook to let Facebook show that news org followers the content THAT THEY SIGNED UP FOR.
17/ Btw @MonikaBauerlein overruled my desire to name this piece "Facebook is a garbage company" but you know, I think we're way past the time where there's much evidence to the contrary.
18/ Here's more on Facebook is pushing through crap news even as it suffocates real news. With an example regarding @buzzfeed and a h/t for @kevinroose
19/ Now, here's why your support is so important. It's not just Facebook. All advertising models for journalism have been falling apart for a decade. Luckily we have great readers who support us:
20/ Those of you who've followed me for awhile have heard my mantra "support the media you care about." If one of those things is MoJo, I hope you'll consider making a sustaining (or one-time) donation. Here's a partial list of reasons to do so:
21/ Again, MoJo's trials and tribulations with Facebook is not unique or extreme. But it is real, and that's why we're asking you for your support.
22/ And because we believe that putting this out in the open will help the entire news ecosystem. Anyway, for $5 a month (or more, or less) you can keep us on the trajectory of growth and great reporting we've been on. (ALSO PROVE BRIAN WRONG) Thank you. secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
23/ Ok, 19 of you have signed up to be $5 a month sustaining donors. That is so awesome! One thing I've learned doing this and the @DonorsChoose drives (and watching Beto, etc) is it just takes a lot of people doing a bit to make a BIG difference.
24/ oooh we're up to 30. Thanks's everybody, keep them coming. secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
25/ We're at 47 toward my goal of 500 monthly sustainers. Hey, who remembers @DavidCornDC's huge "47 percent" scoop? Also, he was the only one to detail the Russia/Trump allegations in the Steele BEFORE the 2016 election.
26/ It's all in this big piece, but I want to explain how Facebook's changes affect you. Say you decided to follow MoJo, or the NYT, or Buzzfeed. You WANTED that. But Facebook has decided to show you far far less from the news outlets you WANTED to see. motherjones.com/media/2018/12/…
27/ So that's bad for you, because you're not seeing news from outlets you like and trust. And it's bad for them, because the more people read our stories, the more impact we have and the more ad revenue we get from any units on those stories.
28/ But also it impacts things like donations and subscriptions. And if you do see something and decide to share it with your network? Well there again, Facebook makes it less likely it'll get the reach it once did. Again, FAKE news goes through fine, just less so the real deal.
29/ But say you don't like Facebook. You don't use Facebook. Fine. But this dynamic still robs responsible news organizations you like of the reach, impact, and revenue you want them to have. And also makes it less likely you'll see stories in other places, like here.
30/ There are other reasons to be fearful of what Facebook is doing to democracy and its customers privacy. We just learned more today. 👇But I want to impress upon you that this dynamic as as important. motherjones.com/politics/2018/…
31/ Anyway, if you value what we do, you know what to do: secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
32/ Remember Brian, our membership director who said that nobody raises money on twitter and that I'd never make 500 sustaining donors much less the 1,000 I'd wanted? He just emailed: "whaaaaat?!?!? organic matches!"
33/ So if you donate rn, and shoot the screen shot to @kostadis_tech, he'll match up to $500. That's an amazingly generous thing to do.
34/ So far, 139 of you have signed up to be sustaining $5 a month donors. And a number of you have made one-time gifts. Now, @kostadis_tech is matching up to $500 in gifts. Just @ us both the amount. A MATCH IS PRECIOUS! secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
35/ I think it's important to support media, and for journalists to support each other, so here's a ~list of things I donate or subscribe to (personally) : NYT, WaPo, LAT, SFChron, @capgaznews/ NYer, NatGeo/World, Atlantic, Wired, VF, Glamour, Smithsonian, GQ, SF Mag...
36/...KALW, Radiotopia, about 6 podcasts, various newsletters...and a bunch more stuff. Not everybody can do that. But pick some stuff and support it.
So far 160 of you have responded to my request to become sustaining donors. Thank you! secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
So far 160 of you have responded to my request to become sustaining donors. Thank you! secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
37/ Hey 186 of you have signed up to be $5 a month sustaining donors to @motherjones. Not bad for a few days. But I'm betting there are more of you who just need a nudge: secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
38/ Today is a good day to remind you that the only one to detail the Trump-Russia allegations in the Steele memos BEFORE the 2016 election was @davidcorndc and @motherjones: motherjones.com/politics/2016/…
39/ About 200 of you have become $5 a month sustaining donors to @MotherJones, and a bunch of you have given in other ways. Help me make my goal of 500 and support journalism you care about. secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
40/ In case you need more incentive to read this piece/thread, Facebook's algorithm changes are also helping to fuel the riots in France: buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanha…
41/ After a weekend hiatus, I'm back asking you guys to help get to my personal goal of 500 $5-a-month sustaining donors. That's just one less fancy latte or cheap beer a month! secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
41/ Need slightly less than 300 to go...
42/ have you read @max_read’s excellent piece on how most of the web metrics are completely BS? Another reason why any news org that relies on ad revenue is doomed. (Fixing thread) nymag.com/intelligencer/…
43/ that’s why I’m asking you guys to sign up to donate $5 a month to MoJo. Also I have amazing, dedicated colleagues. Here’s a video of a few of them: motherjones.com/media/2018/12/…
44/ ok I need 200 more $5 a month sustaining donors to go. That’s a lot in 28 hrs. Brian said I couldn’t do it. And yeah, I ad to step away for last 10 days. But help me prove Brian wrong even so: secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
45/ for $5 a month you help keep @MotherJones safe from the whims of Facebook and the plummeting ad market. And you get the print mag as a bonus. And your donation is tax deductible: secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
46/ tomorrow, when you regret what you did or didn’t do tonight, won’t it be nice to have a resolution you can’t backslide on? Support MoJo secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
Ok, it’s my turn to drive. Be great if by the time I was done, some more of you had decided to give $5 a month to @MotherJones secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
48/ Getting ready to go out? Stay in? You can support MoJo for $5 a month, less than the cost of a beer, BUT it tax deductible plus you get a bonus print subscription...
49/ back to Facebook, where Brett Kavanaugh’s friend Joel Kaplan has used ginned up feats of anti conservative bias to both repress real new and boost ultra-right outlets wsj.com/articles/faceb…
50/ So right now we have a $50K match from a nice donor to help us make our overall $400K goal. And of course, my piece of that goal is 500 $5 a month sustainers: secure.motherjones.com/fnx/?action=SU…
