Thread by @jaesunum

@ronfriedmann @jordan_law21 @mikewhelanjr @denniskennedy @DavidLat @Legal_Ev @TheAthletic I think emerging data on fake news strongly suggests that human beings are attracted to information bubbles that validate and confirm existing beliefs

So I’m highly skeptical of over-rotating content incentives toward audience eyeballs 👀

Especially in legal bc…

Impromptu 🧵

@ronfriedmann @jordan_law21 @mikewhelanjr @denniskennedy @DavidLat @Legal_Ev @TheAthletic The legal vertical is relatively small (global legal market ~900B, global financial svcs market ~23T) so that means relatively small TAM

The legal industry is highly fragmented (e.g. smalls & solos care about diff things than #biglaw), so that should mean relatively small SOM

@ronfriedmann @jordan_law21 @mikewhelanjr @denniskennedy @DavidLat @Legal_Ev @TheAthletic 👀 Chasing clicks in relatively small audience pools = extra challenging but remains $/existential imperative for incumbent legal press

So we have big tent shops churning a LOT of headlines everyday, perhaps about stuff that maybe isn't worthy of attention

This matters bc...

@ronfriedmann @jordan_law21 @mikewhelanjr @denniskennedy @DavidLat @Legal_Ev @TheAthletic Historically, broadband media has not been great at telling people what to think, but it has always been great at telling people what to think ABOUT

👉 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenda-se…

@ronfriedmann @jordan_law21 @mikewhelanjr @denniskennedy @DavidLat @Legal_Ev @TheAthletic I suspect this is true of narrow / vertical specific media as well, though to a much lesser extent

One could argue the incumbent legal press could/should do better in their agenda setting role

But bloggers / influencers / content marketers likely exacerbate this issue, bc...

@ronfriedmann @jordan_law21 @mikewhelanjr @denniskennedy @DavidLat @Legal_Ev @TheAthletic Media brands like ALM & Bloomberg do enforce editorial standards on fact reporting (altho both should & do publish expert opinions)

Bloggers, influencers & content marketers are subject to no standards on
- differentiating fact vs opinion
- validating expertise of cited experts

@ronfriedmann @jordan_law21 @mikewhelanjr @denniskennedy @DavidLat @Legal_Ev @TheAthletic One instructive example is that quoting sources with attribution is not the same as fact checking

So quoting a legal tech founder on a product feature claims 👏 is 👏 not 👏the 👏same as the media outlet reporting that the product actually has that feature

@ronfriedmann @jordan_law21 @mikewhelanjr @denniskennedy @DavidLat @Legal_Ev @TheAthletic Another instructive example is an industry commentator or analyst citing a market statistic on legal tech adoption and then another study on lawyer personalities and concluding that "legal innovation is fake news / doom"

That conclusion is opinion (and IMO poorly supported) BUT

@ronfriedmann @jordan_law21 @mikewhelanjr @denniskennedy @DavidLat @Legal_Ev @TheAthletic Very few readers will ever (a) check the underlying statistics or (b) interrogate the logical rigor of the opinion at hand

And we now have (as do other verticals and in the mainstream media at large) an explosion in volume of content with very few QA checks

@ronfriedmann @jordan_law21 @mikewhelanjr @denniskennedy @DavidLat @Legal_Ev @TheAthletic Many have been VERY kind in giving attention to @Legal_Ev content

But most do not realize @Legal_Ev requires a ton of work, not only from guest authors but also @wihender as editor

@Legal_Ev enforces research & citation standards to preserve quality (not just credibility)

@ronfriedmann @jordan_law21 @mikewhelanjr @denniskennedy @DavidLat @Legal_Ev @TheAthletic @wihender An afterthought

One of the reasons @Legal_Ev publishes #longform is to give the audience access to the underlying sources and logical reasoning underlying the narrative

I've always expected this to result in fewer eyeballs & I'm quite sure it does