The Daily Dot's Doom

Bad news from The Daily Dot, with the site experiencing a sudden drop in traffic that forces layoffs. The speculation here is this is a change in one of the major platforms, with the referral traffic dropping off.

This definitely seems bad, and a sign of worse things to come. News sites have always been overly reliant on referral traffic from the major social platforms. Those platforms do indeed seem to be increasingly hostile and less dependable traffic sources.

I would hope that the preparation at media companies includes more distribution outlets, as well as the more standard user acquisition activity. Decentralization via Blue Sky and ActivityPub promise a lift in traffic, often more with users who are more engaged than from the old platforms. Of course one can't only rely on external platforms, as Darcy notes.

That said, this is the sort of thing I'd expect to hit a lot of other publications, all around the same time. I don't disagree with Darcy's logic or projections, but it should be fairly clear where the drop is coming from--most platforms include referrals that will tell you the platform that is sending you traffic. I'm very confused by that piece not being in the story. With the exception of Mastodon, Tumblr and a few chat tools almost all referral traffic notes where it is coming from. Where did the drop in traffic come from? For something to happen this quickly and all at once I'd expect it to be a major platform--so whose platform suddenly dropped The Dot off the map?

the implications are clear: The Daily Dot’s collapse in traffic—and the layoffs that followed—will almost certainly not be isolated. They’re a preview of what’s coming. Without platforms willing to surface news, the stories don’t get read. When news stories do not get read, advertising models collapse. And when advertising models collapse, news businesses struggle to breathe. Unfortunately, if this trend holds, more outlets will face the same impossible choices White just made.

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Of course, what the Daily Dot experienced is just the latest hint at the cold, bitter winter that is en route for the industry. If publishers are not actively planning for the storm on the horizon, they will risk falling victim to the deep freeze that lies ahead.