Daily November 5

Facebook’s rebranding as Meta introduced the general public to the concept of the metaverse, causing Google searches of the term to spike following the announcement last week. But the idea of a metaverse has existed since 1992, when science fiction author Neal Stephenson coined the term in his novel “Snow Crash.” We talked to him about it all.

• Stephenson shares his thoughts on the metaverse, a term he coined, after Facebook’s rebrand brought new light to the topic.
• Publishers like Lonely Planet, Healthline Media, Atlas Obscura, TripSavvy, Culture Trip and Condé Nast Traveler are coming out with new editorial undertakings and products to serve readers looking to travel this holiday season.
• The audio players displayed near the byline on McClatchy’s article pages are getting clickthrough rates as high as 5%.
• After the murder of George Floyd, companies scrambled to pledge annual diversity statistics. But employees of color say it’s not enough.