Because of the advanced technology we have now, it has become extremely difficult for publishers to gain and keep an audience. Many try to depend on social networks like instagram, twitter, and especially facebook!
Facebook has offered publishers to simply send pages to them so that they live inside the social network's mobile app. Sounds like a great opportunity right? to publicise the work because of the traffic facebook has, but why do many refuse? Because once these publishers decide to this, they have no name. They are obeying and living under facebook or any social network they decide to collaborate with. Your work is not seen as YOUR work anymore. The public sees it as facebook, which is really sad because these publishers want the traffic, but aren't getting enough recognition.
According to Digiday.com many believe this to be true. For example like Anil Dash. In this article he says "Attention publishers:IF you obey Facebook here & make your mobile content live within their platform, you are DUMB" mentioned in a tweet Dash posted on Oct.27. Also in this article it states Ryan McConville, publisher telling digiday "Publishers will continue to rely on facebook for traffic because that's where their readers are today, but that doesn't mean they also want to give facebook power over their ad sales. They'd like to keep that seperate" (Article written by John McDermott)
This is a huge struggle for publishers because there seems to be no other way, but i'm sure there is, we just have to figure it out so they can all be recognized! We have to stick around and see!