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