Tag Archives: Instagram

VIDEO: Visual storytelling for journalists — from composition and emojis to gifs and memes

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Being able to tell stories visually is a key skill for multiplatform journalists. This video, made for students on the MA journalism courses at Birmingham City University, explains a range of visual techniques that factual storytellers are using, from image composition to gifs and memes, as well as some tools that can help you make your own visuals.

The video was made for students on the MA in Multiplatform and Mobile Journalism and the MA in Data Journalism at Birmingham City University. The series of video posts can be found at this link.

Meme journalism on Instagram in Denmark: “It’s necessary if we want to play a part in the lives of the younger audience”

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When I saw Danish broadcaster TV2 Østjylland’s innovative meme-driven Instagram strategy to reach younger audiences, I immediately wanted to know more. So I spoke to Head of News Louise Petterson and Art Director Kristine Helms to find out how the organisation took on the challenge of a new language on a new platform — and what they have learned along the way.

With TV audiences ageing and public service broadcasters struggling to retain mass appeal, many news organisations have looked to new platforms to reach younger audiences. At TV2 Østjylland, Instagram was part of the mix — but they were acutely conscious that the organisation could no longer rely on traditional approaches to storytelling that journalists were used to.

“We couldn’t take a TV narrative and just put that onto Instagram or Facebook,” explains Louise Petterson. “We had to define a new narrative, a new way of communicating with a younger audience. Continue reading →

FAQ: How has social media changed journalism – and what does the future hold?

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tools on a shed wall

Tools image by Lachlan Donald

This latest set of frequently asked questions comes from a MA student at Coventry University who is researching Instagram. Their questions revolve around the impact of social media on journalism and Instagram in particular.

How are the new social media apps changing the way journalism is produced, distributed and consumed?

There’s a lot of scope in that question so in breaking it down it’s firstly worth making a distinction between apps (i.e. tools, used by producers to capture, publish and share) and platforms (i.e. a place where content is hosted).

So for example Instagram is a platform that hosts content which can be accessed on a tablet, or on mobile, or a desktop or laptop computer, but can also be published to through an app on mobile or tablet. Continue reading →

Using Instagram to cover an election: lessons from #wmmayor

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During this year’s mayoral elections one of my MA Online Journalism students, Sam Gould, adopted an Instagram-first publishing strategy during the lead up to the vote, and on the day of the count. The results were impressive, taking in profiles, interviews, explainers, and live coverage. But equally interesting for anyone considering a mobile-first approach to elections this year was the workflow, so I thought I’d share some of the key points here. Continue reading →

Why salsa dancing is good for Instagram journalists (and other tips on mobile phone health)

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Health and safety guidance for journalists typically focuses on traditional issues like working in dangerous locations, or using desktop computers. Few resources tackle the issues raised by frequent use of mobile devices for work. One exception is a new ebook on Instagram by one of my students, Robyn Bateman. In this extract, Robyn outlines the potential side effects of frequent mobile phone use and techniques to combat that.

I’m interested in Instagram, but I’m also interested in the potential health implications for mobile journalists or, indeed, anyone regularly using a mobile phone to create content out in the field. Including Instagrammers.

I suffer terribly from this. Bought on by bad posture and enhanced by a lot of computer and mobile phone use, I get everything from a numb hand and arm, to tension in my jaw, knotted shoulders, dizzy and tired spells.

So I did some research — and the good news is our mobile phones aren’t to blame: we are. We don’t have to ditch smartphones for personal or professional use (or both), we just have to change the way we use them. Continue reading →

Tap to advance: the rise and rise of the horizontal story

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Snapchat's horizontal navigation

Another month, another set of new feature launches: this time the longform blogging platform Medium announcing ‘Series‘, a “new type of story”, then days later Facebook announcing its ‘Messenger Day‘ feature.

Last month it was Instagram‘s Carousel feature and WhatsApp‘s Status feature.

What all have in common is the almost unquestioned use of a horizontal storytelling mode: a move from scroll-based navigation to navigating through a swipe or a tap.

What does that mean for journalism and storytelling? I think it’s about time we asked. Continue reading →

Instagram has launched a new “carousel” feature – here’s how journalists can use it

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Example of using Instagram's new feature to tell Storm Doris story

Using Instagram’s new feature to tell Storm Doris story. Note the call to action to ‘swipe’: this can also be done in the caption to the first image or video.

This week Instagram announced a new feature that allows its users to share up to 10 pictures and videos within a single post. The feature resembles Stories in some ways, but with this key difference: posts are permanent. In a special guest post, Sam Gould explores how the feature can be used by journalists and news organisations.

You might be mistaken for thinking Instagram’s new “multiple photos and videos in one post” feature is just the same as Instagram’s Stories feature, which they introduced in August. But there is one difference which is key for journalists and publishers: these posts are permanent.

Although Instagram haven’t referred to the new updates as a slideshow or gallery, that is perhaps the simplest way to describe the new feature: users can swipe from left to right to move between pictures, and/or videos. Continue reading →

The most-read posts on Online Journalism Blog — and on Medium — in 2016

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2016

Rounding up the best posts of the year is a good habit to get into, but one that I’ve failed to acquire. In 2014 – the ten year anniversary of this site – I rounded up the year’s best performing posts, which does give you a flavour of what was happening that year — but I forgot to repeat it for 2015.

Here, then, are some reflections on the 10 pieces which did best in 2016 (there were 100 posts across the year), plus the older posts which keep on giving, and a comparison of some pieces which did far better on Medium than on OJB. Continue reading →

7 platforms who became publishers in 2016

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We've got work to do

In 2016 Tumblr got angry

If there was always a suspicion that it would happen eventually, this year it was confirmed: in 2016 platforms from Facebook to Snapchat, Twitter to Tumblr, all took significant steps towards becoming fully blown publishers. Here are 7 things that happened this year that swung it. Continue reading →

How to find ‘feeds for leads’ as a journalist

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When a journalist gets their first job, or switches role to a new area or specialism, they need to quickly work out where to find useful leads. This often involves the use of feeds, email alerts, and social networks. In this post I’m going to explain a range of search techniques for finding useful sources across a range of platforms. Continue reading →