Welcome to Part I of Edition No. 64 of my weekly newsletter, providing practical analysis in the world of digital content strategy.
Contents
Tip: What Exploration Silhouettes Mean in GA4
Analysis: OpenAI Deal will Destroy/Save Journalism
Tip: What Exploration Silhouettes Mean in GA4
There are two types of Explorations in Google Analytics 4: shared and private.
Not sure which is which? There’s an easy way to tell.
If you see a single silhouette – inside the orange barrier below – it’s a private report.
If you see a double silhouette – green barrier – it’s shared with those in your organization.
My biggest pet peeve about shared Explorations? They’re read-only.
For more details on the implications of this – and how to deal with it – read this blog post.
READ MORE: Shared vs. Private Explorations in Google Analytics 4
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Analysis: Is OpenAI’s Media Deal Good for Content Sites?
AxelSpringer last week struck a deal with OpenAI that gives the latter access to the former’s content. It’s a symbiotic relationship:
OpenAI’s ChatGPT will have access to AxelSpringer’s content – from platforms like POLITICO and Business Insider – to “train” it’s LLM
AxelSpringer expects a significant boost in both traffic and revenue from the deal
From the joint release:
“This partnership with Axel Springer will help provide people with new ways to access quality, real-time news content through our AI tools.”
-Brad Lightcap, COO of OpenAI
“We want to explore the opportunities of AI empowered journalism – to bring quality, societal relevance and the business model of journalism to the next level.”
-Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer
Is this a pioneering breakthrough for content websites, hundreds of which have already blocked ChatGPT from crawling their sites (i.e. ingesting their content)? Or has AxelSpringer let the wolf into the hen house, hurting the rest of the industry in the process?
While it’s too early to draw hard conclusions, I would like to expand on this update from Friday’s newsletter with some pros and cons from this deal.
What Are the Pros?
Better Access to Real-Time Coverage for ChatGPT Users
The deal allows ChatGPT to summarize Axel Springer’s news stories, including those behind paywalls, offering users immediate access to news summaries. (Summaries over which AxelSpringer will presumably have little to no control. But let’s hold the cons for now.)
Will people actually go to ChatGPT for real-time news updates, though? I doubt it. Where this might more come into play is if you ask ChatGPT something, and because it has access to the latest “news” (albeit from very limited sources), it will give a more complete answer to your inquiry.
Improved AI Accuracy
While I’m sure the money was convincing, Axel Springer still took a risk. They’re offering content to OpenAI to improve its system. It feels a little like volunteering to test-drive a car so the manufacturer can be sure the brakes work.
Whatever the case, ChatGPT’s “knowledge” will continue to grow as more news happens, which should help the tool give better answers no matter the topic.
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