Upworthy’s Focus on Data, Facebook’s ‘Freebooting’ Problem, IoT Content Strategy, Hearst’s Viral News Push, TFP’s Media Metrics, Women in Media, TFP’s Infographic Pick of the Week, InDesign CC Tip: Using Paragraph Shading
Welcome to Technology for Publishing’s roundup of news and tips for media industry pros! This week, we’re sharing stories about how Upworthy is using a mix of data to shape its original content, claims of piracy overshadowing Facebook’s video growth, how content strategy will need to evolve to meet the demands of the Internet of Things, Hearst’s new hire to fuel viral news, and more.
- At Upworthy, data is shaping a shift away from clickbait and curation toward original content that engages readers at a deeper level with elements such as humor and suspense, Nieman Lab reports. Leading the transition is editorial director Amy O’Leary, a digital veteran recruited from The New York Times to help reverse some hefty drops in traffic over the past few years. Now, with O’Leary at the helm, data informs all editorial direction. Though she won’t reveal her “secret sauce,” a new metric called attention minutes along with a mix of other information provides a more “three-dimensional view” of readers’ behavior, helping editorial staff better understand emotions and motivation around content. Still, while Upworthy’s transition to more original articles and video gears up, the site will continue to offer stories curated for its audience, O’Leary says, with the goal of providing “a healthy mix.”
- Some are claiming that part of Facebook’s astronomical video growth of late is due in part to “freebooting,” a practice said to be rampant on the social platform. As an article on Slate explains, freebooting is when original video is lifted from places like YouTube and uploaded to Facebook and other social sites to the benefit of those doing the lifting—in other words, it’s theft of intellectual property, with the goal being to gain viral attention, including likes, comments, shares, and new followers. If left unchecked, Facebook could “squeeze out” YouTube, the report said, noting that in February last year only one in four videos were uploaded natively to Facebook, with the remainder shared from sites like YouTube. However, in the same month this year, some 70% of videos were hosted on the site. For more on Facebook’s “piracy problem,” see the full article on Slate as well as a post from Business Insider detailing this and other issues around the platform’s video strategy.
- Another interesting read: The Guardian looked at the impact of the Internet of Things (IoT) and how content strategies will need to evolve to meet the demands of new consumer touchpoints, from home appliances and services to personal items like watches. The goal, it notes, is to deliver the right content in the right context, requiring strategists to collaborate with engineers, technologists, and designers on systems where “hardware, human habits, and physical spaces intertwine.” According to the article, a primary focus of strategists will be determining how content will drive connected devices and the role it will play in the user’s experience.
- Finally, Hearst announced it’s ramping up breaking and viral news coverage with a new hire for the 24-hour news desk it launched last year to increase traffic across its 18 magazine sites. Capital New York reported Michael Sebastian from Advertising Age will lead the operation in an effort to push out more viral stories on social media. This is Hearst’s latest move to increase its overall digital presence—and based on recent numbers, its strategy is working: In May, its sites saw more than 130 million unique visitors, a year-over-year growth rate of 32%.
- On the Technology for Publishing blog: Our latest Media Metrics roundup takes a look at a jump in brand content engagement rates, the declining tablet market, and growth in book and journal publishing, among other trends.
- This month’s Women in Media covers Elle’s “Women Who Rule Silicon Valley” issue, a new Vice channel focused on content that matters to women, how Rebecca Wesson Darwin grew Garden & Gun magazine through hard times, Vox.com VP Melissa Bell on merging editorial and tech, and more.
- Also, TFP’s Infographic Pick of the Week highlights the evolution of social media, from early chat apps and blog tools to today’s sophisticated platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
- And see this week’s InDesign CC Tip to find out about a great new feature called Paragraph Shading, along with our InDesign CC 2015 handbook for more on all the updates!
Image: Nieman Lab
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
