Social Media Scapegoating: Did you see the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark? No? You’re not the only one, and that’s why the show’s former director Julie Taymor is pissed; she claims that she was fired from her directorial role because of social media — not because she directed a Spider-Man musical that involved all kinds of dangerous technical malfunctions and all-over-the-place performances. Taymor says that experimental theater is always met with criticism at first and that the negative social media coverage of her experimental Spider-Man musical quickly amplified this criticism. Of course, social media expedites word-of-mouth reviews, but it doesn’t change how Broadway runs. Better luck next time, Ms. Taymor. WSJ
Peeping Tom: Do you ever get the feeling that someone is peering over your shoulder and reading TMZ with you or laughing at the 30 Rock episode you are watching on your Netflix streaming account? Yeah, it’s annoying! And creepy! Here are some tips from Gizmodo to get other people’s eyes of your computer screen. Gizmodo
RIP MySpace: Poor MySpace. Even the founders of the dying social network don’t use the site anymore. The last time Tom, you know, your first automatic MySpace friend, hasn’t posted anything on the site since March 2010. Yikes. Forbes
Video of the Day: Ode to Facebook of the day.
Website of the Day: Apparently this is a new facial hair thing; as they describe it, it’s “An Adventure in Facial Hair Perspective”: Beards From Below
More in Media
‘JG believed that even in a demanding industry, it was possible to lead with both rigor and humanity’
The industry pays respects to OpenX CEO John Gentry, who sadly passed away last week.
The Rundown: Google has drawn its AI payment lines — and publishers’ leverage is narrow
For publishers trying to navigate AI licensing, the message was blunt: Google is willing to pay for access, but not for training – and it remains unwilling to define AI Overviews as a compensable use of journalism.
Media Briefing: Google’s latest core update a reminder that pageviews can’t remain the primary metric
Google’s latest core update signals pageviews can no longer be the primary metric, favoring intent-solving publishers over scale.