simon-owens

Simon Owens


Simon Owens is a technology and media journalist living in Washington, D.C. He's a former associate editor for PBS’ MediaShift and assistant managing editor at US News & World Report. His bylines have also appeared in the Atlantic, New York Magazine, Scientific American, Forbes, and others.

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Email newsletters are the new zines

Who would have thought there’d be an ‘email newsletter resurgence’ in 2016?

On Feb 29, 2016 by Simon Owens

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Science in the age of Reddit

Here's why academic journals are teaming up with the site.

On Jul 21, 2015 by Simon Owens

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Your Twitter hashtag is probably useless

For a platform that limits you to 140 characters, why waste the space?

On Jul 17, 2015 by Simon Owens

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Sony executives ordered edits to Wikipedia pages

The finding reveals just how easy it is to tip the scales on Wikipedia.

On Apr 23, 2015 by Simon Owens

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Should Reddit’s powerful mods be reined in?

Reddit thrives on the whims of unpaid moderators. Is it time to reel them in?

On Apr 14, 2015 by Simon Owens

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How Twitter has stripped pop culture of its context and nuance

No form of culture, no matter how self-explanatory, will escape unscathed.

On Mar 16, 2015 by Simon Owens

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Crowdfunding isn’t about money. It’s a publicity machine

Who would pass up on the opportunity to convert beta users into outspoken evangelists?

On Feb 27, 2015 by Simon Owens

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Why it matters if Facebook is rejecting advertisements critical of it

Why won't Facebook let me promote this story?

On Feb 15, 2015 by Simon Owens

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How Jon Stewart changed late night TV forever

If you're watching a viral video of John Oliver on the Internet, you have Jon Stewart to thank.

On Feb 11, 2015 by Simon Owens

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5 things we learned from Andrew Sullivan’s independent journalism experiment

It’s pretty damn hard to get people to pay for text-based news content online.

On Feb 3, 2015 by Simon Owens

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It’s not just podcasts—audiobooks are booming too

Audiobooks are still outsold by their print counterparts, but they’re no longer a niche market.

On Jan 22, 2015 by Simon Owens

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When a Twitter parody account isn’t just a parody

A more insidious form of impersonator has begun to emerge.

On Jan 8, 2015 by Simon Owens

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The publishing platform that’s making LinkedIn suck less

You should probably be blogging on LinkedIn.

On Jan 2, 2015 by Simon Owens

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Why Facebook’s new search features don’t go far enough

Here's why it's so hard to find what you're looking for on Facebook.

On Dec 17, 2014 by Simon Owens

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Why zombie ebooks are killing it on Kindle

Indie authors are succeeding with what one author described as "crack dealer marketing."

On Dec 4, 2014 by Simon Owens