Monday Mashup: Digital media news and conversation starters to get you through the week

Each Monday we bring you digital media news and conversation starters to get you through the week. If you appreciate a good pre-meeting icebreaker, this is for you.

To keep you thinking

Swag of freebies and perks may spell doom for social media ‘influencers’

There is no question the new world of the social media celebrity is a peculiar place where brigades of bloggers, from fashion to food, are revered like Hollywood film stars.

But are these influencers being misleading about their commercial relationships and the products they “promote?”

Read more here

How messaging apps are changing social media

As we progress through 2016, and beyond we’ll start to notice most social activity is no longer going to happen in public, instead transitioning to private groups and messaging apps. This represents a significant change in what “social media” is.

Read more here

Nine CEO Hugh Marks: Questions about 60 Minutes answered ‘when everyone gets back’

The CEO of Nine Entertainment, Hugh Marks, has written to Nine staff seeking to reassure them the network is doing everything it can to free its 60 Minutes crew currently facing charges in Lebanon.

Read more here

Conversation starters

The Origins of office speak

Even the most cynical cubicle farmers are fluent in buzzwords. An email might be full of calisthenics, with offers to “reach out,” “run it up the flagpole,” and “circle back.” There are nature metaphors like “boil the ocean” and “streamline,” and food-inspired phrases like “soup to nuts” and “low-hanging fruit.” For the fiercest of office workers, there’s always the violent imagery of “pain points,” “drilling down,” and “bleeding edge.”

Read more here

Controversial convos

A week behind the great firewall of China

Behind the filters that collectively make up the so-called Great Firewall, we would be unable to access huge swaths of the rest of the web, and be restricted to (mostly native) apps and software and websites approved and monitored by the Chinese government.

But thanks to China’s homegrown digital ecosystem, life behind the firewall isn’t exactly the exercise in deprivation that you would expect.

Read more here