Facebook is developing a metered paywall to drive viewers to subscribe to source publications of stories posted on Instant Articles. The move is in response to the social media platform’s tense relationship with publishers, who are losing viewership of stories on their own websites, as well as revenue. While sources say that discussions about the paywall are in the early stages, and testing won’t begin until October, Facebook is currently introducing a new analytics tool for publishers. Meanwhile, Amazon is now paying publishers and digital influencers to post to its new commerce-centric social network Spark. Continue reading Facebook Develops Metered Paywall, Debuts Analytics Tool

The data coming from cell phones carries with it a huge amount of information about users’ real-world activities and has for years been under lock and key. But now an increasing number of wireless carriers are mining and repurposing that subscriber data to track statistics about how people are living their lives and selling the data to businesses and city planners. This is information that experts believe could change societies. Continue reading Wireless Carriers Selling Subscriber Data to Businesses