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Wednesday, May 11, 2016
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From bingo games to brackets, The Washington Post is building “alternative story forms”“We want something easy for Post journalists to go into, find, and embed within their stories, and to get the whole organization thinking: what’s the best way to get a user to understand and engage with a story?” By Shan Wang. |
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Newsonomics: Facebook's Trending Topics and the growing power of the funnel filterPlatforms aren’t neutral — but it’s not just a digital problem. By Ken Doctor. |
What We’re Reading
AdWeek / Marty Swant
The Economist is looking to bolster its content with virtual reality and mobile video →
For instance: Espresso TV, a daily video feature that ranges from two to five minutes in length that will be featured in its daily Espresso morning briefing news app and distributed to the publisher’s more than 6 million social media followers.
Poynter / Alexios Mantzarlis
This Spanish-language messaging bot will text users fact checks →
Univision and SMS bot service for election news Purple are partnering to send users fact checks (Text “Univision” to 359-45).
Ad Age / Jeremy Barr
Millennial-focused media company may experiment with paid subscriptions →
Licensing is becoming a very interesting business for video producers, Mic CEO Chris Altchek said on Twitter: “Experiments in subs coming.”
Digiday / Jordan Valinsky
Four things The New York Times has learned using Facebook Live →
Build suspense, don’t always tie videos to specific stories in the paper, answer commenters’ questions. The Times is also "being sophisticated" in what it measures to judge a video's success, rather than focusing on the average time people watch it and share it.
Journalism.co.uk / Mădălina Ciobanu
Seven months after launch, El Español finds it challenging to pursue both high traffic and subscriptions →
After a successful crowdfunding campaign and a high-profile full launch last fall, El Español isn’t seeing much growth in paying subscribers: It has around 12,000 paying readers now. We reported “approaching 11,000” back in October.
Recode / Kurt Wagner
WhatsApp just launched a new app — on desktop →
“It allows people to continue conversations they start on their phone even if they switch devices. That’s useful, and something that Google and Apple also allow with Hangouts and iMessage respectively.”
Journalism.co.uk / Mădălina Ciobanu
Washington Post’s first augmented reality experiment provides a visual account of the Freddie Gray case →
“The project can be accessed by downloading the ARc app and pointing a smartphone at the Washington Post logo featured both on the website and in the newspaper.”
The Verge / Nilay Patel
Let’s say obvious things about Facebook and conservative news →
“The Facebook trending news box also completely sucks. It’s basically a cable news ticker with worse taste and more celebrity selfie posts. It should either go away or get dramatically better.”
Online News Association
Online Journalism Awards are now open for submission →
The deadline to submit an entry is June 3, 11:59 p.m. EST. The categories you can submit for, here.
Vox Product Blog / Courtney Leonard
Behind the scenes of the Recode redesign process →
“We had to imagine the brand in a more physical sense and extend the design to Recode’s booming events and conference business.”
From Fuego
Will Video Advertising be the Next Media Bubble to Pop? —fortune.com
My Father, Woody Allen, and the Danger of Questions Unasked (Guest Column) —www.hollywoodreporter.com
The Dig: How to Background Your Tinder Dates —www.propublica.org
The Times Launches Native Series for Facebook Live: The Whistleblowers | The New York Times Company —www.nytco.com
Uber Adds Worker Advocacy Group To Its Payroll —www.buzzfeed.com
Fuego is our heat-seeking Twitter bot, tracking the stories the future-of-journalism crowd is talking about most. Usually those are about journalism and technology, although sometimes they get distracted by politics, sports, or GIFs. (No humans were involved in this listing, and linking is not endorsing.) Check out Fuego on the web to get up-to-the-minute news.