texting is lit rn, fam

“It’s the best of both worlds: Outlets can choose what type of content they want to share — video, text, image — and who they want to share it with. And users feel like they’re getting exactly the kind of info they want, in the place where they’re making most of their daily interactions.”

It’s not where you go for your news. It’s how you get it.

News is about to get personal.

I came to this realization after a few job interviews over the last month or so. I recently left my position at Google to pivot back into media and spoke to a number of different editors at different organizations. One of their biggest questions seemed to be where I got my news. Instead of naming a few publications, or networks, I told the truth: everywhere. Or rather, I get my news from whichever publication provides the information to me in the fastest and most convenient places. If a story is packaged creatively on Instagram Stories, Twitter, or through a push notification, that’s where I consume it.

In 2018, I predict news organizations will turn that up a notch — with messaging. Imagine if we could get the news, or news we want, where we get every other urgent message sent to us? Just as The Skimm built a brand on meeting people in their inbox, the same could be said of using messaging for news outlets looking to get even closer to their readers.

With social platforms that tout quick news “highlight reels” and the increasing use of on-the-go devices, the organizations that will make reading lists are the ones with the most interesting content in the most convenient places. As messaging apps create a higher thirst for personalization and immediacy, they also open the lines of communication between reader and journalist and news organizations or individual journalists alike should definitely take advantage of a relationship that’s much more direct.

Unlike bots, the way journalists use text message or messaging services won’t try to interact with readers so much as they try to get them their news in a more personal and direct way. Instead of solely relying on these social pages for traffic or brand awareness, media companies will have the ability to build a reliable trust with users through texts. And unlike a push notification that has a shelf life, a text will become a personal way for readers to save or archive their news for when they’re ready for it, much like a text from anyone they deem worthwhile in their life.

Facebook Groups and social live streams have allowed outlets to get closer than ever to certain demographics, but messaging services will not only expand on these interactions, but allow outlets to segment and target their readers, too. This is especially important if an outlet is attempting to reach a younger audience, like Gen Z. Facebook is no longer the best option. Texting, or direct messaging, is where it’s at. I’ve seen this slowly start to happen already. Earlier this year, I subscribed to a text service in beta called Hope. Hope sends a text each time big news happens along with a link to a way for subscribers, in this case millennial women, to take action.

It’s the best of both worlds: Outlets can choose what type of content they want to share — video, text, image — and who they want to share it with. And users feel like they’re getting exactly the kind of info they want, in the place where they’re making most of their daily interactions.

One of the reasons I love my Apple Watch is because I feel like it’s meant just for me. I know everything that comes through is tailored to my needs — and the most vital messages are the ones that I see. And while I will always pledge allegiance to certain outstanding outlets as a journalist, I will still maintain that I get my news everywhere. The same is more true than ever for the rest of my generation, and those who are even younger, too. Instead of building something and hoping readers will come, journalists should figure out a way to get closer to where they already are, and always have been. Right now, that’s in the nearest group chat or text convo.

Mandy Velez is a contributing writer at Yahoo and a freelancer.

Mandy Velez   texting is lit rn, fam

Emily Goligoski   Looking beyond news for inspiration

Sally Lehrman   Trust comes first

Eric Ulken   The year local publishers get smart(er) about change

Jennifer Coogan   The future is female

Caitria O'Neill   The new court of public opinion

Sue Schardt   Jump the niche

Ariana Tobin   Too tired to tap

Corey Ford   The empire strikes back

Lucas Graves   From algorithms to institutions

Dan Shanoff   You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)

Raju Narisetti   Mirror, mirror on the wall

Ståle Grut   Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks

Julia Beizer   A longer view on the pivot

Luke O'Neil   The end is already here

Amy King   Let’s amplify visual voice

Gordon Crovitz   Serving readers over advertisers

Kinsey Wilson   Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up

C.W. Anderson   The social media apocalypse

Jennifer Choi   Standing up for us and for each other

Trushar Barot   The Jio-fication of India

Cory Haik   Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact

Imaeyen Ibanga   Longform video leads the way

Monique Judge   Letting black women tell their own stories

Michelle Ferrier   The year of the great reckoning

Alastair Coote   The year of self-improvement

Lam Thuy Vo   Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest

Will Sommer   The year local media gets conservative

Alice Antheaume   Are you fluent in AI?

Jacqui Cheng   Retailers move into content

Jim Brady   With the people, not just of the people

Kim Fox   Audience teams diversify their approach

Rubina Madan Fillion   Unlocking the potential of AI

Michael Kuntz   The only pivot that might work

Mi-Ai Parrish   Blockchain and trust

Jesse Holcomb   Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you

Charo Henríquez   Training is an investment, not an expense

Neha Gandhi   Filler killers

Almar Latour   Conquering calm

Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer   Skepticism and narcissism

Jassim Ahmad   Thriving on change

Francesco Marconi   The year of machine-to-machine journalism

Manoush Zomorodi   Self-help as a publishing strategy

Kathleen McElroy   Building a news video experience native to mobile

Mary Meehan   Real lives are at stake in rural areas

Jared Newman   Venture funding and digital news don’t mix

Frédéric Filloux   External forces

Jake Levine   The return to now

Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán   The editorial meeting of the future

Mario García   Storytelling finally adapts to mobile

Pia Frey   Address users as individuals

Miguel Castro   The arrival of the impact producer

Laura E. Davis   Writing answers before you know the question

Brian Lam   Sketchy ethics around product reviews

P. Kim Bui   The reckoning is only beginning

Corey Johnson   The pro-fact resistance

Adam Thomas   Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor

Marie Gilot   No assholes allowed

Nicholas Quah   Stop talking trash about young people

Nushin Rashidian   Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives

Mary Walter-Brown   Show a little vulnerability

David Skok   Finding an information-life balance

Elizabeth Jensen   Show your work

Bill Keller   A growing turn to philanthropy

Vanessa K. DeLuca   Women’s voices take center stage

Errin Haines   At the ballot, it’s time to count black women

Andrew Haeg   The year journalists become relationship builders

Feli Sánchez   The year for guerrilla user research

Alfred Hermida   Going beyond mobile-first

Caitlin Thompson   Podcasting models mature and diversify

Pablo Boczkowski   The rise of skeptical reading

Craig Newmark   Working together toward sustainable solutions

Ray Soto   VR reaches the next level

Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg   (Hint: It’s about your brand)

Carrie Brown-Smith   Transparency finally takes off

Joyce Barnathan   It will be harder to bury the news

Kelsey Proud   No, no, no

Jamie Mottram   From pageviews to t-shirts

Kyle Ellis   Let’s build our way out of this

Kristen Muller   The year of the voter

Ernst-Jan Pfauth   Publishing less to give readers more

Ruth Palmer   Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities

Andrew Losowsky   The year of resilience

Sarah Marshall   Loyalty as the key performance indicator

Sam Ford   The year of investing in processes

Christopher Meighan   Passive partnership is in the rearview

Edward Roussel   Eyes, ears, and brains

Juliette De Maeyer   A responsible press criticism

Tanya Cordrey   Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention

Amy Webb   Listen to weak signals

Sydette Harry   Listen to your corner and watch for the hook

Renée Kaplan   The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)

Dannagal G. Young   Stop covering politics as a game

Amie Ferris-Rotman   More female reporters abroad (please)

Borja Echevarría   TV goes digital, digital goes TV

Nicholas Diakopoulos   Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity

John Keefe   Scooped by AI

Juleyka Lantigua   Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time

Evie Nagy   Pivot to mobile video frustration

Emma Carew Grovum   Newsroom culture becomes a priority

Hannah Cassius   The year of the echo-chamber escapists

Valérie Bélair-Gagnon   Seeking trust in fragmented spaces

Rachel Schallom   Better design helps differentiate opinion and news

Pete Brown   Push alerts, personalized

Alan Soon   The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media

S. Mitra Kalita   The arc of news and audience

Tim Carmody   Watch out for Spotify

Jarrod Dicker   Honesty in advertising

Tracie Powell   The muting of underserved voices

Jessica Parker Gilbert   Design connects storytelling and strategy

Rodney Benson   Better, less read, and less trusted

Matt Boggie   The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea

Rodney Gibbs   Tech workers turn to journalism

Daniel Trielli   The rich get richer, the poor scramble

Umbreen Bhatti   The trust problem isn’t new

Dheerja Kaur   Fun with subscription products

Helen Havlak   Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds

Julia B. Chan   Looking for loyalty in all the right places

Michelle Garcia   Navigating journalistic transparency

Lanre Akinola   Making noise is not a strategy

Molly de Aguiar   Good journalism won’t be enough

Paul Ford   Go global

Jim Moroney   Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for

Joanne Lipman   Journalists inventing revenue streams

Mariana Moura Santos   Think local, act global

Matt DeRienzo   A recession, then a collapse

Rachel Davis Mersey   AI, with real smarts

Vivian Schiller   Pivot to tomorrow

Claire Wardle   Disinformation gets worse

Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy   Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism

Rick Berke   Value is the watchword

Burt Herman   Things get real

Andrew Ramsammy   The year ownership mattered

Nancy Watzman   Know thy TV

Joanne McNeil   Gatekeeping the gatekeepers

Raney Aronson-Rath   Transparency is the antidote to fake news

Damon Krukowski   Reviving the alt-weekly soul

Steve Grove   The midterms are an opportunity

Dan Newman   A return to trust

Federica Cherubini   The rise of bridge roles in news organizations

Susie Banikarim   R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)

Mira Lowe   The year of the local watchdog

Rasmus Kleis Nielsen   The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms

Basile Simon   We need better career paths for news nerds

Carlos Martínez de la Serna   The new journalism commons

Mike Caulfield   Refactoring media literacy for the networked age

Sara M. Watson   Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters

José Zamora   Revenue-first journalism

Justin Kosslyn   The year journalists become digital security experts

Matt Carlson   Attacks on the press will get worse

Taylor Lorenz   Social and media will split

AX Mina   Memes and visuals come to the fore

Richard Tofel   The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention

Matt Thompson   Here come the attention managers

Sam Sanders   Shine the light on ourselves

Kawandeep Virdee   Zines had it right all along

Yvonne Leow   The rise of video messaging

Hossein Derakhshan   Television has won

Niketa Patel   Live journalism comes of age

Cindy Royal   Your journalism curriculum is obsolete

Aron Pilhofer   We can’t leave the business to the business side any more

Usha Sahay   Wallets get opened

Tanzina Vega   It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic

Cristina Wilson   The year of the Instagram Story

Eric Nuzum   Beyond the narrative arc

Alexios Mantzarlis   Moving fake news research out of the lab

Nikki Usher   The year of The Washington Post

Heather Bryant   Building the ecosystems for collaboration

Felix Salmon   Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin

Debra Adams Simmons   And a woman shall lead them

Monika Bauerlein   The firehose of falsehood

Mariano Blejman   News games rule

Nathalie Malinarich   Peak push

Doris Truong   Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes

Zizi Papacharissi   Women come back

Tamar Charney   We get serious about algorithms