Fortune 500 Fusion Table

Journalism's Golden Age?

The world of online journalism is forever changing, as I've talked about here on this blog. However, there is a question I would like to ask. Is this the "golden age" of journalism? Take a listen to some of my thoughts...

Here is the link to the Wired article I spoke about: https://www.wired.com/2014/08/smart-phone-journalism/

Pick your Platform

In 2018, technology is at an all time high, and continues to advance. People are tending to move away from news on TVs and desktops, and making the jump to tablets, phones, or even their Amazon Echos and Google Homes. I'm right there with the rest of you right now, writing this on my IPad Mini.

The 2017 Digital Report from Reuter's, which helps to show international trends in online journalism, shows that 43% of Canadians now get their news on smartphones, up four points from 2016. This highlights a major movement in viewership. Desktop views and the purchasing of print copies continue to drop, and readers are continuing to plug in.

It's important for journalists online to adapt to these changes as well. In my opinion, one of the most important things an online journalist can do, is make stories mobile friendly. Layout your work so that is easily accessible, and that everything can be done with a swipe or click of a button.

The world of online news continues to grow and change. At this point in time, it's a completely different beast than the days of print. Everything is instant, advanced and accessible. it's up to journalists who are online to come prepared for the fight, so that they can reach the most people that they can.

The Related Stories Game

A few years back on Youtube, there was a challenge that lots of channels were making videos for. It was called “The Wikipedia Challenge”, in which players would try and connect two things together by only clicking hyperlinks. For example, connecting wrestler John Cena to Buddha.

Why would I bring this up? In my opinion, this game relates directly to one of the biggest things that journalists online need to keep an eye on. Bounce rate.

Bounce rate is a simple concept. It measures the percentage of people that complete one action, and then leave the page. In a news context, an example would be logging onto a homepage, reading one story, and leaving. Bounce rate can be tracked on most analytics trackers, such as Google Analytics.

How does this relate to the Wikipedia challenge? If you are a journalist online, you want readers to keep clicking hyperlinks, keep reading stories, and stay on your page. Bounce rate is a great way to keep track of reader interaction, and it’s important that it stays high.

So go ahead journalists, play “The Related Stories Game”. It might not be the new big trend on Youtube, but it’s definitely something that will keep readers entertained, and your bounce rates high.

Snapchat: Making the news more instant than ever

Attention spans are getting shorter. Chances are if I wrote more than say, 500 words, you'd lose interest. Which is why I'll try to keep this relatively short. I think that the traditional news industry is facing this issue more and more every year. People aren't reading as many long articles, due to the rushed lifestyle that most people have adopted in this day and age. One major change in online journalism to accommodate those short of attention has been the emergence of Snapchat. 

Snapchat is very simple, take either photos, or ten second videos, and send them to friends on the app. After 10-20 seconds, the video is no longer viewable, unless you designate the video as part of your "story", which stays live for 24 hours. Studies show that Snapchat is the most popular social media network among teenagers. But you probably knew that anyway. 

Over the past few years, as a Snapchat user myself, I have noticed more and more news sites have moved to Snapchat, with the goal of reaching the next generation of readers and viewers. You enter the discover tab on the app, and some of the biggest news organizations have stories at the top of the page for people to see.

For example, CBC, BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera English have all embraced to Snapchat.  The main use of Snapchat comes in quick hitting videos that tells the news of the day. This format is popularized by "E!," with their incredibly popular, bi-weekly celebrity news show, "The Rundown", made exclusively for Snapchat.  

I think using Snapchat as a news platform has pros that definitely outweigh the cons. Snapchat videos are often instantaneous and quick hitting, which helps people to stay involved and interested. Plus, most people would agree that it's easier to sit and watch a video, versus sitting down to read an article. If you are a journalist reporting on a scene, you can snap about what's going on, show what's happening, how people are reacting, etc. 

People are in a rush these days; they have places to go and people to see. They don't have time to sit down and read articles. News on Snapchat, in my opinion, is still in its infancy, but it has the potential to change the way that we view the news in the next 5-10 years.