Rappler shifts away from platform dependence amid AI, algorithm disruption
By Marchel Espina
“We’re in an age of eternal disruption,” Glenda Gloria, told participants at WAN-IFRA’s recent Digital Media Asia conference in Manila, Philippines, and noted the January traffic spike on their website that later turned out to be ghost traffic from bots infiltrating Google Analytics.
The IP clusters were traced in Lanzhou, China and Singapore, she said. “The biggest question there was not why, but actually, if AI is messing with our dashboards, how can we even plan for the day, much more for the future?”
She stressed that the technology that enabled their newsroom to grow is “atomising our journalism, splintering our communities and killing our business.”
In April, 76 percent of global advertising revenue went to Facebook, Google, and Amazon, she pointed out.
Glenda Gloria pointed out that a large share of global advertising revenue went to big tech companies such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon in March this year.
“But I guess the reality is that all of us here have been adjusting to the ebbs and flows of platforms over the years. You name it, we’ve done it. Clickbait, viral videos, creative memes, dropping long forms to short forms, everything. To survive tech’s choppy waters, we’ve had to learn by doing, but we also have to unlearn what we just learned,” she said.
Gloria said that when they set up Rappler in 2012 as a digital-only website, “it was tech, notably Facebook, that made us grow exponentially. But it was also tech and notably Facebook that spread propaganda networks against us, demonised us, and almost killed our business under the years of (former Philippine president) Rodrigo Duterte,” she added.
She said journalism is a public service mission and that the mandate is to stay alive. “And to stay alive, you need to stay relevant and regain control of the path ahead,” she added.
‘Hard pivot’ and greater collaboration with readers
In 2024, they decided on a “hard pivot,” which involved not only tweaks to their social media strategy but also “fundamental shifts in the DNA of Rappler.”
Gloria described the pivot as “sugar-free, low-carb diet,” adding that “it is difficult, the birth pains are real, and the old habits die hard … because a newsroom cannot survive by being the fastest at repeating what everyone else is saying.”
“And when the algorithm stops serving news, the news must find a new home. We shifted resources and time to what we do best: explaining, contextualising, investigating,” she further added.
Gloria also said they reorganised their newsroom into clusters that combined staff, content, community, and technology. She added that each cluster was given the autonomy to engage and execute.
“But beyond that is the editorial agenda that we now set, which reflects, for the most part, collaboration with our readers. We have set up mechanisms for readers to be more involved in the major stories that we pursue, through the Rappler Communities app, where they can ask our journalists and also provide us information,” she said.
She said that Rappler’s community-first initiatives app, which they established three years ago, has built channels for reader collaboration and reporting. She added that there is “real engagement” from their readers.
Reminding the public why journalism matters
Its #FloodControlPH campaign, which focused on the alleged corruption scandal involving flood control projects in the Philippines, turned into a content-community-tech investigation, with users submitting text, videos, and photos about local leaders suspected of corruption.
“We were deluged with information, a happy problem, but because of that, we were able to plot a nationwide map of political contractors, politicians who own construction firms. We would not have been able to do this without the mechanism, which is tech, which is the app, and the people who really believed in what we do … we reached audiences and sectors that barely knew Rappler. I think the challenge for us is now, do not assume you that citizens know your brand. We also reminded the public of why journalism matters,” Gloria said.
She said the team was also able to gather more data that helped them pursue further investigations. “We have not given up on long forms. The algorithms will tell you long form is dead. It’s not. Our data shows that there’s a highly engaged and loyal audience for long investigative stories,” she emphasised.
Gloria pointed out that with Rappler on TikTok, the fastest-growing platform in this part of the world, they convert their investigative pieces and explainers into short verticals and “it works.”
Pushing away from platforms
Moreover, she said it was hard to shift away from the platforms, “for a newsroom that relies solely on social media for distribution, this was a bitter pill to swallow. We have left X. The Rappler content that you see on X is automated pushes.”
“We have stopped relying on Facebook as a major traffic source,” Gloria added. “Instead, we treat Facebook now as a space where we promote our own channels. Consider it like an experiment, when we are on Facebook but are attempting to change the user habits there. So that instead of clicking on the video on Facebook, they go to YouTube because YouTube pays more than Facebook does. Or asking users to instead go to the Rappler app or visit the site itself.”
She also said they have already dropped “vanity metrics” such as likes, shares, and views because “it gives us sugar. They’re not sustainable. They’re only sustainable for the big tech.”
Focus on deepening engagement
Right now, they are focused on gathering first-party data, or registered users of the Rappler site, Gloria said.
“First-party data helps the newsroom in content strategy, allowing them to further personalise reader journey and deepen engagement. In this case, then, the conversion funnel becomes narrower but deeper. Now, we’re more targeted in the net that we’re casting out there and more targeted in how to retain those we catch,” she explained.
“We’ve always believed that tech should serve journalism and not kill it. We still hold on to that belief because we do not want to lose this bar by default,” she added.
The decision to build the Rappler app is really meant to get the “safe space that is within our control,” Gloria said.
She added, “It is also envisioned to build the future of news that is accessible to all newsrooms. Currently, we’re in active discussions with various newsrooms here and in Southeast Asia for a shared platform where we can recirculate at the very least each other’s content, monetise each other’s audiences, and learn from each other’s best practices.”
Gloria said the “most urgent task for us is really to hold the big tech to account, to make it more transparent and accountable for what it does, and especially as it experiments with AI tools that could one day obliterate us.”
”I believe that journalism will outlast authentic AI, because while AI probably can process the truth, it cannot stand for it, nor can it fight for it. But journalists can,” she said.
About the author: Marchel Espina is a freelance journalist from the Philippines and a consultant for WAN-IFRA Women in News.
