I recently titled one of my presentations “2017: the year storytelling (finally) adapted to the platform.” Indeed, this past year has been one in which many major newspapers took giant steps forward to advance storytelling specifically written and designed to be consumed on mobile platforms.
However, the year about to end has only been a springboard to what is to come in the area of what I refer to as linear visual storytelling. In this type of storytelling, the narrative and the visuals flow in a linear way from top to bottom, exactly the way we communicate when we text or use WhatsApp on our phones. I show you here an image from my presentation depicting the way we do narratives in our daily lives:
But a majority of newsrooms continue to prepare stories in the traditional manner of headline, summary, and text, the way information is presented on the printed page, with any visual assets displayed separately, often as photo galleries, isolated from the flow of the text.
That is simply not how we read on our mobile devices.
So I predict that we will see a stronger movement to favor customizing stories, especially those that are rich in visual assets (photos, videos, infographics) to be presented in a linear way, then adapted for other platforms. Warning: What works for mobile storytelling is not necessarily right for print, for example. Videos will play a vital role as visual assets in linear storytelling, with a reminder to editors and designers that videos on mobile should be short and informative.
Digital transformation will continue to be a major theme in 2018, an advancement for some, a beginning for others. Smaller regional newspapers globally will aim for some type of strategy leading to digital transformation. It’s begun to happen, although not expediently enough.
This will bring about greater need for training, especially in the area of storytelling for mobile. Newsrooms need to become classrooms where training is constant, and laboratories where experimentation is part of a strategy.
We will also see greater experimentation with advertising that is suitable for mobile platforms. Publishers are aware that Google and Facebook are projected to account for about 61 percent combined of the U.S. digital ad market. The audience is there, too. The way we present news and advertising on those platforms must be customized as well.
For 2018, I see major progress in how we tell stories on that preferred platform which is our phones. Because the traffic is going to be there, so will be opportunities to monetize with creative advertising that includes sponsored content.
Finally, let’s remember that in the digital world, experimentation never stops, new product creation is always welcome, and the interest of our readers in news has never been greater. This is a good formula on which to base our plans for 2018.
Mario García is CEO of Garcia Media and senior adviser on news design and adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
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Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
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Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
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Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
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Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
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Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
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Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
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Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
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Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
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Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
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Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
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Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
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Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
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Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
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Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
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Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
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Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
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Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
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Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
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Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
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Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
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Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
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Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
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Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
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Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
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Juleyka Lantigua Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time
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Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify