Publishers’ Mobile Tactics, What’s News App, Ad Blocking Tech, New Vjoon Release, Idealliance “Going Mobile” Briefing, TFP’s Infographic Pick of the Week, InDesign CC Tip: Graphic Cells in Tables
Welcome to Technology for Publishing’s roundup of news and tips for media industry pros! This week, we’re sharing stories about tactics publishers are using to hold on to mobile users, The Wall Street Journal’s What’s News app, why ad blocking tech isn’t such a big deal, a new vjoon release, TFP’s sponsorship of the upcoming Idealliance “Going Mobile” event, and more.
- Publishers are trying everything they can to get fidgety mobile users to stick around, one trick being the truncated article page, Digiday reports. As more and more traffic comes in from social sites, media outlets like The New York Times, Huffington Post, and Quartz are employing techniques like integrating “read full story” buttons into articles, hoping mobile readers will click on them and spend more time on their sites. At the Times, which now gets 60% of its traffic from mobile, the “read more” tactic has netted a “moderate increase” in time spent. “We’re constantly trying to find the optimal yield for mobile because there’s only so much real estate on the screen,” notes Times product VP Alex Hardiman in the report. “We have to make sure that we’re being very consistent and thoughtful about what we’re asking and suggesting our readers to do.”
- The Wall Street Journal is joining the march to mobile with its upcoming What’s News app, named after its popular front-page column of news briefs. Expected to launch later this summer, the app will deliver to subscribers an editor-curated digest of 10 articles that will be updated throughout each workday, according to Nieman Lab. Deputy EIC Matt Murray says that when news desk editors were brainstorming ideas as part of a push to “think mobile,” they realized the What’s News column provided the perfect concept. “If you want to scan the news quickly, a phone isn’t always friendly for long stories. We were thinking about what readers might want when they’re not sitting down reading the paper,” Murray says.
- While there’s been a lot of hand wringing over ad blocking technology coming with iOS 9 and its potential to wipe out the publishing business as we know it, Fusion columnist Felix Salmon writes, relax, that’s the least of our worries. What we’re forgetting, he says, is that a certain percentage of advertising isn’t going to be seen anyway—for any number of reasons—and that’s always been the case. It’s a “lossy” business, as Salmon puts it, and advertising on smartphones will be no different. He concludes that, if anything, ad blocking technology will force advertisers and publishers to design better ways to reach readers, which in turn means reaching more readers. And that’s not a bad thing.
- Following the launch of the new Adobe Digital Publishing Solution (DPS) last week, vjoon released Version 6.10 R1 of its vjoon K4 cross-media publishing platform, announcing that it is fully integrated with the latest DPS publishing tool. It said the update simplifies and streamlines workflows and enables users to create interactive content for mobile devices along with HTML-based DPS articles.
- Also, we are excited to announce that Technology for Publishing has signed on as the media sponsor for the Idealliance Tech & Trends “Going Mobile” industry briefing slated for Sept. 10 in New York. Hosted by Hearst Corp. and co-sponsored by WoodWing and MarkLogic, the event will focus on technologies and strategies publishers can use to successfully develop and deploy digital content products for mobile platforms. Registration details are available on Idealliance’s site. We hope to see you there!
- On the Technology for Publishing blog: Timing is everything when it comes to Facebook posts. Our Infographic Pick of the Week shows you when your content is likely to get the most reaction.
- With the InDesign CC 2015 release, you can place images directly into the cells of a table. Technology for Publishing’s Monica Murphy explains how the new feature works in this week’s InDesign CC Tip.
- ICYMI: Ready to build some apps? Our Adobe Digital Publishing Solution infographic is a handy guide that highlights the things you need to know to get started. Also, TFP CEO Margot Knorr Mancini looks at the importance of effective process and workflow in her latest post.
Image: Digiday
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
