This Friday morning I decided to challenge my always-present, always-prepared robot friend at ChatGPT with a simple proposal:
Hello, friend, help me put together an article about best practices for journalists attempting linear, mobile storytelling.
Within a minute, ChatGPT streamed this piece for me. It mentions me, but the robot does not seem to have a clue that he/she/them is having a dialog with me. Oh, well, AI does not make those connections, I guess.
Here is the article as drafted by ChatGPT:
Title: Crafting Linear Mobile Storytelling for Journalists in the Digital Age: Incorporating Mario Garcia’s Insights
Introduction:
As the digital age continues to evolve and the consumption of news shifts increasingly toward mobile devices, journalists must adapt their storytelling methods to meet the changing demands of their audience. Mario Garcia, a renowned designer and strategist in the journalism industry, has developed a philosophy of mobile storytelling that emphasizes the importance of empathy, engagement, and experience. By incorporating his insights, journalists can create compelling linear mobile stories for today’s media landscape.
1. Brevity and Clarity:
Mobile users typically consume content on-the-go and have shorter attention spans; hence, it is crucial for journalists to get to the point quickly by using concise language and a clear narrative structure. Avoid long paragraphs and complex sentences, and focus on using short, informative segments that readers can easily digest.
2. Empathy:
According to Mario Garcia, one of the most important elements of mobile storytelling is empathy. This means that journalists must connect with their audience on an emotional level by understanding their needs, interests, and motivations. Through insightful reporting and careful consideration of readers’ priorities, journalists can create content that truly resonates with their audience.
3. Strong Headlines and Subheadings:
To capture mobile readers’ attention, headlines should be eye-catching and compelling, while also accurately reflecting the content of the story. Subheadings can be used to break up text and make it more digestible, as well as provide readers with a clear understanding of the article’s structure.
4. Engagement and Interactivity:
Garcia emphasizes the importance of interactive storytelling that captures the reader’s interest and sustains their attention. Journalists should seek to create immersive experiences by integrating multimedia elements (such as photos, videos, and infographics) into their content and encouraging readers to engage with the story through features like comment sections and social sharing buttons.
5. Visual Aids and Responsive Design:
A picture is worth a thousand words, and this is especially true in the mobile environment. High-quality images, videos, and infographics can help to supplement the text and create a more engaging experience for the reader. Furthermore, utilizing a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes is essential when incorporating multimedia elements into the narrative.
6. Experience:
Mario Garcia highlights the need to create memorable, emotional, and impactful stories in mobile journalism. By employing various storytelling techniques such as data visualization or multimedia storytelling, journalists can craft a unique experience that leaves a lasting impression on their audience.
7. Shareability:
An important aspect of mobile storytelling is its potential for sharing. Journalists should strive for their stories to be shared on social media and other platforms, increasing their reach and impact. To achieve this, reporters should consider creating content with a strong emotional, informational, or practical value that resonates with their target audience, and include easy-to-use share buttons.
Conclusion:
Effective linear mobile storytelling entails combining brevity, empathy, engagement, and visual appeal. By incorporating Mario Garcia’s insights and focusing on the unique consumption habits of today’s mobile audience, journalists can transform their reporting and create truly captivating stories that resonate with readers in the digital age.
My own conclusions
This is impressive, indeed, especially the speed at which the piece was assembled and presented to me, about one minute.
I am flattered to be mentioned, but, while I agree with most of the statements in the piece, I don’t recall using Empathy as a key element for mobile storytelling. Not that I am against it, but that is not in any of my presentations, or in my book, The Story., which shows that ChatGPT expands its tentacles into a variety of sources, composing a fast piece, but one in which elements from many sources come together.
ChatGPT wrote the following and attributed it to me. While I agree with the idea, I don’t recall ever writing or discussing empathy per se anywhere:
According to Mario Garcia, one of the most important elements of mobile storytelling is empathy. This means that journalists must connect with their audience on an emotional level by understanding their needs, interests, and motivations. Through insightful reporting and careful consideration of readers’ priorities, journalists can create content that truly resonates with their audience.
I continue to do my daily learning ritual with ChatGPT. I am impressed by a lot of what ChatGPT does and think that AI will become a useful tool for those seeking information.
Of related interest
Here is my recent interview on the subject of Artificial Intelligence for Newspaper Design:
https://newspaperdesign.in/ai-is-the-next-big-media-revolutionmario-garcia/
Our mobile storytelling workshops train, inspire teams in newsrooms, corporate communications
It is a mobile world, and 82% of all content is consumed on a mobile device worldwide, not just news, but all sorts of documents, especially pdfs. If your company is in the business of creating content, then you need to start thinking from small to large. Create that content for the smallest platform, where a majority of the users are consuming it.
Our Garcia Media Mobile Storytelling workshops are proven to introduce your editorial team to the way we write, edit and design for mobile platforms. It is a one-day program that involves a presentation (where I summarize my Columbia University class content), and follow it with a hands on workshop.
I urge you to consult my latest book, The Story, a trilogy full of tips and explanations about mobile storytelling, which represents the latest genre for journalists to explore. See information below:
The full trilogy of The Story now available–3 books to guide you through a mobile first strategy. Whether you’re a reporter, editor, designer, publisher, corporate communicator, The Story is for you! https://amazon
Volume 1: Transformation
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-story-volume-i/id1480169411
Volume Two: Storytelling
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-story-volume-ii/id1484581220
Volume Three: Design
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-story-volume-iii/id1497049918
Order the print edition of The Story, from Amazon, here:
The Story, en español:
TheMarioBlog post # 3364