How do you read TheBurg?
Perhaps you loyally pick up our award-winning print magazine every month, like tens of thousands of your fellow midstaters.
Or maybe you read it mostly online, as we break important community news nearly every day.
Some people read TheBurg via our email service, TheBurg Daily.
Personally, I hope you do all of the above, so that you get the best of all worlds: daily news, monthly features, blog posts, reviews, events and so much more.
On the other hand, there is one method that I hope you avoid—social media.
Like most news organizations, TheBurg is active on several social media platforms. Social media, however, has never been a reliable way to consume news and, in recent months, it’s become worse—much worse.
Several social media behemoths have begun de-emphasizing news on their platforms. Maybe you’ve noticed this yourself? I sure have.
My personal Facebook feed, for instance, was once filled with local news posts, both from professional reporters and active community members. Today, that’s largely gone, and in its place—ads, ads and more ads.
Some ads seem creepily targeted to me, while others are more random, stating they’re “suggested” for me. Why am I being fed posts of someone selling fine art prints of Irish train bridges? I have no idea.
Over the years, TheBurg has built a large fan base on Facebook—over 20,000 followers. However, you sure wouldn’t know that from your newsfeed. For a price, they’ll “boost” our posts, but we refuse to further enrich a multi-billion-dollar company based 3,000 miles away.
But, like I say, our readers have other, much better options.
You and I don’t need these faraway, unpredictable social media companies to stand between us. We easily can have a direct relationship.
Visit our website regularly. Bookmark it. Subscribe to TheBurg Daily. And, of course, pick up our monthly magazine. If you’d like, we’ll even mail the issue directly to your door for a subscription fee—check our website for details.
This month, I hope you’re in a locally owned café reading our October issue, filled with local news, local features, and local ads (that aren’t stalking you). In my book, each read is one small victory over big tech.
Lawrance Binda is publisher/editor of TheBurg.
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