Media Week's most read in August
Here are the stories that resonated.
In addition to the above, two stories emanating from the US are also worth noting. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge clearly offered some welcome light relief during a summer dominated by global unrest and political turmoil.
The simple format of somebody having cold water thrown over their heads, and nominating others to do the same, has proved to be phenomenally successful at raising money and generating awareness.
Narcissim masked as altruism, perhaps, social media exhibitionism, definitely, but there’s no escaping the fact it has worked for the ALS on any metric.
In August, the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Association in the US received $98.2m – compared with $2.7m donated during the same period last year. Its British equivalent, the Motor Neurone Disease Association, has also benefited, with average weekly donations of £200,000 rocketing to £2.7 million between 22 and 29 August.
There have been more than 2.4 million ice bucket-related videos posted on Facebook alone, with Instagram hosting 3.7 million videos tagged #ALSicebucketchallenge or #icebucketchallenge.
There has even been a halo effect on other charities this summer, with Macmillan Cancer Support reportedly raising £3 million from water bucket challenges. Water Aid has also reported 50% increases in donations from people concerned at the water wasted in the challenges.
The charity’s viral success is certain to form the basis of social media case studies in the months to come, fuelled by the penetration of smartphones and rise of social media.
Also on the other side of the Atlantic, the debate about the rise of native advertising and what this might mean for publishing's traditional "Church and State" entered the mainstream last week, when HBO's John Oliver offered his take.
If you haven’t seen it yet, the 10-minute rant, where the presenter takes on industry leaders and their explanations of native and general use of jargon, is well worth watching.
Those included in his crosshairs are Buzzfeed’s Jonah Peretti, Joe Ripp’s Time Inc and The New York Times’ Meredith Kopit Levien.