Welcome to the FIMS Lab newsletter

In this edition:

• FIMS Lab highlight: The Gazette’s Zach Kucharski interviews Frances Haugen for their Iowa Ideas Festival

• One Marketing Thing: The power of defaults

• One Trending thing: Gen-Z loves… LinkedIn?

• 🤖 One AI Thing: Recommendations from the Journalism AI survey

Total read time: ☕️

FIMS Lab highlights:

Last week The Gazette attracted hundreds thousands of 👀 viewers across Iowa to listen and discuss ideas important to their lives. Their tentpole Iowa Ideas Festival is planned throughout the year and attracts sponsors of all sizes.

This year, the virtual two-day event featured whistleblower Frances Haugen being interviewed by Gazette editor Zach Kucharski 👏 

Help shape phase two of the FIMS Lab 💕

One marketing thing: The power of defaults

Product marketer and Nudge podcast host Phill Agnew takes pride in studying and understanding consumer behavior. In a recent experiment he uses this example from Wix as an effective demonstration of the power of defaults.

Instead of promoting two options equally the way most (polite) businesses do, he suggests making their annual subscription, and more profitable option, the default.

Here’s an example from Puck news where they not only highlight the annual option but also highlight membership benefits.

Sidebar, look at that signup flow — no address, date of birth, double password or zodiac sign required. 💪 

One Trending thing: Gen Z is loving LinkedIn?

Fast Company journalist AJ Eckstein recently wrote up this hot take: LinkedIn is increasingly a place for Gen-Z to find meaningful professional advice AND community.

An Axios report found while 82 percent of surveyed young people believe they will achieve their goals, only 44 percent say they feel prepared to do so.

To be fair, a quick Google search shows LinkedIn has been written about as the go-to for Gen-Z since 2021 and not all the coverage is flattering.

More than 60 percent of LinkedIn users are between 25-34 with traditional Gen Z’ers around 20 percent of that total.

If LinkedIn is not part of your marketing strategy, or something you offer business clients, consider this HubSpot stat: LinkedIn generates leads 277 percent more effectively than X and Meta (Twitter and Facebook). In just a few short years, GenZ will make up more than a quarter of the workforce.

The sentiment in the Axios report that Eckstein echos, is that members of Gen Z feel they're lacking support networks for entering the workforce and navigating it. As community leaders and professional guides, this is an opportunity.

Here are a few LinkedIn strategy tips that might help you reach and befriend these young workers seeking support.

• Steer clear of jargon and lingo. To many young people, reports Sanika Newaskar in USC Annenberg Media student publication Capsule, LinkedIn feels like being forced into a room filled with middle-aged white men talking about things that don’t excite us, using words that don’t come naturally us, who are competing in a race none of us want to be in.

• Levity and humor FTW. Newaskar says toxic positivity and capitalistic notions of success, so often found on LinkedIn, are not what Gen Z is after. A little self-deprecation can go a long way, her article suggests.

• Celebrate your colleagues, not yourself. 🙏 

• Be authentic. Newaskar writes, everyone on LinkedIn is constantly elated delighted, excited, happy, or thrilled to announce. What angers youth, she says, is celebrating toxic traditions like hustling, overworking, and brown-nosing. Here is one example of a possible antidote.

Do you find engagement success on LinkedIn? Tell us about it!

One AI thing: The JournalismAI report

*ChatGPT assisted in creating this summary

The report "Generating Change: A global survey of what news organisations are doing with AI" explores the impact of Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI on journalism. It is based on a survey of 105 news and media organizations from 46 countries. The report investigates how AI is being utilized in the journalism creation and distribution process, including news gathering, production, and distribution. It also discusses the ethical implications, challenges, and future prospects of AI in journalism. The report emphasizes the need for strategic planning, ethical guidelines, and cross-departmental collaboration for effective AI integration.

Highlights include:

• Geographical Disparity: AI benefits are concentrated in the Global North, leaving the Global South grappling with challenges.

• AI Adoption: Over 75% of respondents use AI in at least one area of the journalism creation and distribution process, including news gathering, production, and distribution.

• Efficiency and Productivity: The primary driver for AI integration is to free up journalists for more creative or intensive work.

• Strategic Planning: About a third of respondents have or are developing an institutional AI strategy.

• Ethical Concerns: Ethical considerations like algorithmic bias and editorial quality are significant concerns for respondents.

Recommendations:

There is transformative potential for AI in journalism alongside ethical and operational challenges. News organizations need to focus on strategic planning and ethical guidelines for AI adoption. Cross-departmental collaboration and training are recommended for effective AI integration. The report calls for a 'human in the loop' approach and stresses the importance of transparency from both AI system designers and newsrooms.

Upcoming:   

• Our next FIMS Group call: Jim Brown from Borrell Associates will talk about local advertising trends, sales hiring and retention, affiliate marketing, events, video and more. Today! Tuesday, October 17 at 4pm ET

• Our October 31 call will feature marketing campaigns from Shaw, NOLA, The Gazette and Sonoma on acquiring paying audiences for new publication launches, premium content offerings and prep sports coverage!

• Register now for the next Big Branded Call: Cause marketing with Dallas Morning News, October 18 at 1pm ET. Last month’s feature: How the Advocate went from $0 to $1 million in branded content revenue

• INMA Media Subscriptions Summit: February 26-March 1 Link