Over the last few years, live video has taken center stage in many newsrooms across the globe, but it’s had to grow up in front of mass audiences both on- and off-platform.
Live video, or live journalism as I like to call it, will become much more sophisticated from a planning and production standpoint in 2018 as a result of vast amounts of experimentation in 2016 and 2017. From exploding watermelons to highly specialized live programs, content creators have experimented with many different formats, but there’s a new rise of thinking around live video, which consists of:
BuzzFeed News has a three-prong live strategy across Twitter:
All of this, coupled with using other platforms, has enabled BuzzFeed News to expand its reach and build new audiences.
Live video experimentation is going to continue in 2018 with an eye towards nuanced coverage that audiences can relate to. This coverage will be brand safe and highly monetizable, much like Bloomberg’s upcoming global social news network, Tic Toc, which is live on Twitter starting today.
It’s also a great sign that a digital upstart like Cheddar, whose main vehicle is live coverage, recently announced some strong hires to helm its editorial efforts.
Live journalism has become essential to advancing stories across platforms and the stage has been set.
Let me leave you with a quote from Hamlet (Act 1, scene 3, 78–82) that I like to keep in mind personally and professionally that applies to live journalism and this current shift of pivoting to video: “To thine own self but true.”
Niketa Patel is head of strategy for news at Twitter.
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Mariano Blejman News games rule
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
AX Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Juleyka Lantigua Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea