Facebook Instant Articles, Instagram vs. Twitter, New Chart Tool From Quartz, Forrester Report on App Usage, TFP’s Infographic Pick of the Week, Great Stuff: Adobe CC 2015, InDesign CC Tip: Update to the Color Theme Tool
Welcome to Technology for Publishing’s roundup of news and tips for media industry pros! This week, we’re sharing stories about publishers getting ready to post to Facebook’s Instant Articles, Instagram’s push to compete with Twitter, the launch of a new Quartz tool for sharing and creating charts, a Forrester study on app usage, and more.
- Publishers are gearing up for their big debut on Facebook’s Instant Articles over the next several days, The Wall Street Journal reported, with news outlets like The New York Times and The Atlantic planning to post more than 30 stories a day. While publishers caused quite a ruckus when they announced in May that they had inked deals to post their content directly on the social media platform, only a handful of “test-run” articles have been posted under the arrangement so far. Concerns about the industry’s growing reliance on Facebook traffic aside, publishers see the direct-to-social model as a way to expand the reach of their content, better serve mobile readers with improved load times, and increase ad revenue to boot. Although Facebook isn’t releasing details, the Journal said the floodgates could open as early as Thursday.
- Instagram’s making a run at Twitter with its just launched Explore button, offering millions of photos and videos that put users “in the middle of current events,” a New York Times article said, adding that the platform has also improved search functions for easier discovery. While Twitter is known as the dominant platform for reporting live events, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom told the Times that it doesn’t do a good job of making users feel like they’re part of what’s going on because it’s text-based. Twitter’s answer to that is Project Lightning. Launching in the fall, it will highlight top content chosen by editors (vs. algorithms) alongside its traditional reverse-chronological feed in an effort to maintain its status as “the public square,” the report said.
- Quartz is another digital player looking to tap the power of visualization. With the launch of a new “clearinghouse” for all Quartz-produced charts, the publisher is enabling readers to share and create charts, as well as embed or download versions of chart image files and underlying datasets, Nieman Lab reported. “We’re creating a platform for data and charting that minimizes friction for use elsewhere on the web [and] that spreads on social media,” noted editor Kevin Delaney. The news outlet is also seeing an opportunity to put a native advertising spin on Atlas with “sponsored charts,” an offering that gives marketers a way to reach readers beyond its site, across all platforms. Over time, the article added, Quartz expects to reap the added benefit of users helping to enhance the platform, much like what it’s seen with the Chartbuilder app it launched two years ago.
- A heads-up for app creators: A new Forrester study found that while we’re in apps 85% of the time we’re using our smartphones, the overwhelming majority of our time (84%) is spent using just five non-native apps from the App Store. While the data shows those apps—from social and other media to gaming and instant messaging—vary by user, the overall findings support recent studies from Nielson and others highlighting the fact that just a few big companies rule the apps business. So who are among the select few? TechCrunch said communication and social apps see the most usage, with Facebook accounting for 13% of U.S. minutes spent on apps, followed by Google at 12%. Behind them are Amazon (3%), Apple (3%), Yahoo (2%), Microsoft (1%), and eBay (1%).
- On the Technology for Publishing blog: Our Infographic Pick of the Week takes a fascinating look at how Facebook deals with the dark side of social media, from the massive number of moderators it employs worldwide to the types of content that get moderated to the inner workings of its reporting process.
- In case you missed it, visit our blog for all the essentials on new features and updates in Adobe InDesign CC 2015. Want to learn more? Check out our Products page to get our latest handbook!
- Finally, with the latest InDesign CC release, you can add color themes directly to Creative Cloud Libraries so you can share colors with colleagues and use them in other Adobe desktop and mobile applications. See this week’s InDesign CC Tip for details.
Note: This Week in Publishing will be on hiatus next week in observance of the July 4th holiday. We’ll be back on Friday, July 10. Enjoy, everyone!
Image: The Wall Street Journal
Check out our blog for highlights of interesting and noteworthy stories from the publishing world every Friday, and sign up for TFP’s This Week in Publishing newsletter. Think we missed something great? Let us know! Leave a comment below or drop us a note.
Posted by: Monica Sambataro
