Media Tech News Roundup

X introduces a new plan for programmatic ads

It’s no secret that X has, in the words of Quartz, “a major advertising problem.” It experienced a 50% drop in ad revenue over 2023-2024, according to its largest shareholder Elon Musk. This advertising slump is likely a big reason X is now considered (by the Wall Street Journal) “the worst buyout for banks since the financial crisis.” 

But X is pushing forward. According to a leaked pitch deck, X will soon offer a programmatic ad tech solution called Trend Genius, which displays ads when relevant topics are trending.

Trend Genius aims to reconnect X with Twitter’s original value proposition: access to real-time conversations on the platform. By leveraging X's API, Trend Genius detects when a topic starts trending and deploys relevant ads. This approach reflects a shift back to X's early focus on immediate, dynamic interactions.

How Does Trend Genius Work?

We don’t know for sure how Trend Genius works, since these materials haven’t been officially released, but here’s how it appears X’s new adtech will operate:

• Topic Selection: Brands collaborate with X to identify specific conversations with which they want to be associated. This is supposed to help with brand safety.

• Real-Time Detection: The tool monitors the platform for organic spikes in these topics. The pitch deck calls this “conversation velocity.”

• Automated Ad Deployment: When a topic reaches a certain level of activity, the ad is activated. Ads are then “turned off” once the conversation is no longer trending.

This process is designed to align advertising efforts with peak user engagement periods. The pitch deck also introduces a “sports data” mode for the tool, which allows for placements based on game results. The pitch deck’s example shows an aviation company’s ad turned on when the team it sponsors wins a game. Another example from the deck shows dynamic ads that use game scheduling, results, and other factors as triggers. 

Critical Considerations

While Trend Genius offers potential benefits, there are several factors advertisers should evaluate:

1. Brand Safety: Despite assurances, concerns persist about ads appearing alongside controversial content. The platform's history under new leadership has amplified these worries.

2. Effectiveness of Timing: The fleeting nature of trends means ads might have limited exposure. Brands need to assess whether these brief windows align with their campaign goals.

3. Advertiser Trust: Recent changes within X have led to discontent among advertisers. Rebuilding trust is essential for the adoption of new tools like Trend Genius.

4. Resource Allocation: Crafting multiple, trend-specific creatives requires time and effort. Brands must consider if the potential engagement justifies the investment.

Newsletter Platform Updates

1. Ghost introduces new Stripe integration. The CMS now lets creators automatically include taxes on their subscribers’ bills. The integration is powered by Stripe Tax, and since that is a paid Stripe add-on, creators will have to opt in and pay for it before they can enable the (currently beta) feature. 

2. Beehiiv revamps its editor interface. The new version provides a clean, distraction-free place to write and a tabbed production experience that separates composing new content from configuring the email details like subject lines and SEO metadata. The new design is intended to help creators optimize the full production process.

3. Substack app adds an election tab. Substack is angling to establish itself as a comprehensive info source for the 2024 election. The app often uses tabs to sort its feed for, say, the  Olympics or New York Fashion Week. They’re now adding an “Election 2024” tab placed right after the Home tab, providing what Substack’s product update release calls “an abundance of incisive political voices.”

How to Disaster-Proof Your Site Migration

Nothing in life is certain except for death, taxes, and site migrations. If you’ve been in the web content industry long enough, you’ve heard the horror stories: lost text, broken images, plummeting organic traffic. The fear ends here. Welcome to Disaster-Proofing Your Migration, a practical guide to avoiding risk and excelling on a new platform. 

Part 1: Is it Time to Migrate? Vital Questions to Ask Before Getting Started

Migrating a website—that is, moving all the content data from one platform to another—is inherently risky business. But then again, so is staying on a lackluster technical platform that suppresses audience growth, search engine optimization, and brand expansion.

Indications it’s Time to Rethink Your CMS 

Recognizing the need for a website migration is the first step toward growth and innovation. Here are some indicators that it might be time to consider the change:

• Limited Capabilities: If your current Content Management System (CMS) doesn’t allow you to optimize for search and user experience, or doesn't support integrations that enable opportunities like content syndication and ecommerce, it's holding you back.

• Performance Issues: Slow load times and frequent downtimes can deter visitors and harm your reputation with both readers and search engines.

• Scalability Limitations: As your content library grows, your CMS should accommodate increased traffic and data without compromising performance.

• Security Concerns: Older platforms may not receive regular security updates, leaving your site vulnerable.

• User Experience Shortcomings: An inflexible CMS can hinder your team’s ability to create compelling content quickly. Similarly, a frontend that is difficult to update means you’re not able to keep up with reader needs and behavior.

Question 1: Does my current CMS meet my business needs?

Your CMS should align with your business objectives, help streamline operations, and enhance user experience. If it falls short, it can slow down your workflow, reduce engagement, and hurt your company’s bottom line.

How to evaluate your tech:

1. Check how CMS capabilities align with your business goals:

   • List your business objectives:

     • Content strategy goals: Define what you aim to achieve with your content, such as a larger audience, more subscribers and reader data, or higher purchase conversions.

     • Growth plans: Consider expansion into new digital products (such as apps or private communities), content types (such as product reviews or limited series), or mediums (such as podcasts or videos).

     • Technical requirements: Identify needs like mobile optimization, multimedia support, data collection, or conversion features.

   • Assess CMS Alignment:

     • Feature Matching: Check if your CMS offers the necessary features to meet these objectives.

     • Performance Metrics: Review site speed, uptime, and reliability reports. You can use tools like ScreamingFrog SEO Spider or services like Semrush. For a more detailed audit tailored for publishers and media companies, feel free to contact us at Refact. 

2. Gather internal feedback on the CMS:

   • Content Creators: Ask editors and writers about the ease of content creation and publishing workflows.

   • Developers: Inquire about the CMS's flexibility, code quality, and customization options.

   • Marketing Team: Evaluate if the CMS supports SEO, analytics, and marketing integrations.

Question 2: What limitations are we facing?

Recognizing these challenges enables you to seek solutions that overcome these barriers, improving efficiency and performance.

How to know if your CMS is holding you back:

Use these tips to better understand your current tech stack’s constraints. Want an expert to do this part? Reach out to Refact — we’re happy to help!

1. Technical Limitations:

   • Performance Issues:

     • Load Testing: Use tools like LoadRunner or Apache JMeter to assess how your CMS handles high traffic.

     • Error Logs: Check server logs for recurring errors or downtime incidents.

   • Scalability Constraints:

     • Content Volume: Determine if there's a slowdown as you publish more content.

     • User Base Growth: Assess if the CMS can handle an increasing number of concurrent users, editors, and managers.

2. Functional Limitations:

   • Feature Deficits:

     • Missing Capabilities: Identify necessary features that are absent (e.g., syndication feeds, advanced analytics).

     • Inefficient Workflows: Note any cumbersome processes that slow down content publishing.

   • Integration Challenges:

     • Third-Party Tools: List any external tools you cannot integrate (e.g., CRM systems, email marketing platforms).

     • API Limitations: Check if the CMS's APIs are restrictive or lack necessary endpoints.

3. Compliance Limitations:

   • Compliance Issues:

     • Data Protection Laws: Ensure compliance with regulations like  GDPR, CCPA, and WCAG.

     • Accessibility Standards: Verify adherence to WCAG guidelines for users with disabilities.

4. User Experience Limitations:

   • Backend Usability:

     • Training Requirements: Assess how much training new users need to operate the CMS.

     • Customization Limits: Determine if you can customize the interface to suit your team's needs.

   • Frontend Limitations:

     • Design Restrictions: Check if the CMS limits your ability to implement desired frontend designs. You can find some insight in this comparison of 4 CMS candidates for newsrooms.

     • Mobile Responsiveness: Test how your site renders on various devices.

Question 3: How well-supported and scalable is the CMS? 

A good CMS is more than the technology itself. An active support system ensures you can resolve issues quickly, minimizing downtime and maintaining productivity. 

How to make sure your CMS can support you:

1. Official Support Evaluation:

   • Support Channels:

     • Availability: Check if support is available via email, phone, live chat, or support tickets. Open-source CMS options like WordPress or Ghost don’t have this type of support. Instead, they have active communities and abundant repositories.

     • Response Time: Look for published average response times or SLA commitments. Alternatively, send a non-critical support ticket to see how long it will take them to respond.

   • Support Resources:

     • Knowledge Base: Explore the depth and breadth of documentation, tutorials, and FAQs.

     • Training Materials: See if the vendor offers training programs or certifications.

2. Community Activity Assessment:

   • Forums and Discussion Boards:

     • Activity Level: Visit official and unofficial forums to gauge the frequency of posts and responses.

     • Quality of Interaction: Evaluate the helpfulness and expertise of community members.

     • StackOverflow and similar forums: You can test how well the community works for you by posting a question and see how fast and helpful the replies are.

   • Social Media Groups:

     • Reddit Communities: Participate in subreddit discussions related to your CMS. You can also ask around about any other support features of the CMS you may not know about. 

3. Third-Party Ecosystem:

   • Plugin and Extension Libraries:

     • Quantity and Variety: Check the number of available plugins to extend CMS functionality.

     • Update Regularity: Ensure plugins are regularly updated to maintain compatibility and security.

   • Developer Community:

     • Contribution Rates: Look at the number of active contributors on platforms like GitHub.

     • Meetups and Conferences: See if there are events where users and developers share knowledge.

Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your current and potential future CMS provides a baseline for evaluating new systems. This assessment helps you pinpoint essential features and improvements needed to support your strategic goals.

Need More Advice? Need a Tech Partner?

Refact has helped well-known brands like Workweek, Hubspot’s The Hustle, and Stacked Marketer migrate to a new CMS and launch with a new design. Contact us to learn more.

What Inspired Me This Week

Saeedreza Abbaspour

“A bottle so distinct that it could be recognized by touch in the dark or when lying broken on the ground.”

 Wow! This is Coca-Cola’s design brief for its famous bottle. In 1915, the “Trustees of the Coca-Cola Bottling Association” issued a challenge to design and manufacture a unique glass bottle to replace the generic one they had been using until then. This initiative also combated copycats that were weakening Coca-Cola’s brand positioning at the time. 

 That's the brief! Simple, effective, no long list of specifications and pre-requests that gave us one of the most iconic objects you can ever encounter.

This makes me think about how I approach website design for my clients. Like Coca-Cola’s brief, the most effective designs often stem from simplicity. Instead of overwhelming clients with lengthy lists of features and requirements, I focus on capturing the essence of their brand—creating websites that are as distinct and memorable as the Coca-Cola bottle.

Whether it's a bold color scheme, a unique layout, or an intuitive user experience, the goal is to ensure that anyone who visits the website knows instantly who the brand is and what it stands for.

Meet our Partner: Flexpress 🚀

We’re excited to feature Flexpress as a trusted collaborator, helping us provide the best to our community. Flexpress’s superior infrastructure sets up high-traffic websites to increase revenue, grow audience size, and reduce engineering costs by 20%+. They offer best-in-class, thoughtful developer solutions for growing high-traffic websites.

Learn more about Flexpress here.