You Don’t Know Who’s on the Other End: This is a really sad story. Paula Bonhomme, a woman from Los Angeles, left her husband to go live with the man she thought she knew and loved whom she had met online on a message board for the HBO series Deadwood—really random and weird, I know, kind of already asking for trouble. But anyway, after finding out the news that her online lover Jesse James died suddenly, she was obviously devastated, but not as devastated as when she found out the whole thing was a hoax. Jesse James and all of the interactions that he had with Paula were fabricated by a woman named Jana St. James, a lot like what happened in the documentary/movie Catfish that came out last year. Anyway, moral of the story is be careful when it comes to online relationships, and probably don’t leave your husband for someone you met on a message board for a show about life in 1870s South Dakota. Chicago Tribune
Out With the Old: Yesterday it was bye-bye Friendster, today Myspace. News Corporation is selling the passé social network at a deep discount. The starting bid is still $100 million—that is $480 million less that what News Corp bought it for. Yeah, wow, $100 million doesn’t sound like a lot compared to Facebook’s $80 billion valuation. domain-b
Text to Divorce: Apparently in Tajikistan husbands can divorce their wives by texting “taloq taloq taloq,” which translates to “divorce divorce divorce.” You know, three is the magical number. At first I thought this was crazy, but it may be a great idea for here, but it would have to work both ways of course, not just for the husbands. People could save some legal fees and avoid those tough conversations, right? No, just kidding it’s definitely crazy-ridiculous! Gawker
Cuteness of the Day: Knock, knock. Who’s there? Not who you thought. Cute.
Social Vending Machine: Everything is about social these days, haven’t you heard? Pepsi has, and now they are launching a “PepsiCo’s Social Vending System.” What does that even mean and how does it even work? Pepsi said something about gifting a friend blah blah blah, I’m not really sure. If it means I get free Diet Pepsis all of the time, I’m into it. Techland
More in Media
News publishers may be flocking to Bluesky, but many aren’t leaving X
The Guardian and NPR have left X, but don’t expect a wave of publishers to follow suit. Execs said the platform is still useful for some traffic and engaging with fandoms – despite its toxicity.
Media Briefing: Publishers’ Q4 programmatic ad businesses are in limbo
This week’s Media Briefing looks at how publishers in the U.S. and Europe have seen programmatic ad sales on the open market slow in the fourth quarter while they’ve picked up in the private marketplace.
How the European and U.S. publishing landscapes compare and contrast
Publishing executives compared and contrasted the European and U.S. media landscapes and the challenges facing publishers in both regions.