El País: Creative storytelling via What’s App

Oh, so many ways to tell stories these days for mobile devices. I am always doing detective work to discover stories that seduce and that are specifically told in ways not tried too often before.

Such is the case of this story from Spain’s El País. I admit that I was introduced to this story by our Rodrigo Fino, president of Garcia Media Latinamerica, in Buenos Aires, who was judging entries for best examples of mobile storytelling in the Spanish language.

Spain’s El País surprises with this innovative approach to a story about how children experience their first time with their own mobile device.

Fino agreed that this one was unusual. As the first screen below shows, El País makes this part of a series titled Growing Connected (Crecer Conectados):

The premise:

What does a child do with his/her first mobile device? El Pais team asked that question via What’s App—one of the most popular ways for the young to communicate with the world and each other. Surprisingly, NOT many US kids are into What’s App yet, but to the rest of the world it is the main highway to communication heaven.

The headline

I am 10 years old and breaking in my first mobile phone

In Spanish: Tengo 10 años y estreno móvil

The summary before you begin to read the story via What’s App:

What does a child do with his/her first mobile device? We asked the kids themselves via What’s App, their most often used app–so we went to three fifth graders who have only had use of their own phone for a few months, but that has already become a constant companion.

The El Pais team , with journalists Manuel Viejo and Ana Torres, suggests that, for a total experience, consumers of the story see it on their mobile device and raise the volume, since there are audio elements from the children, telling about their experience. You don’t have to know Spanish to admire the innovative approach to this story, but, of course, it is best if you can follow the texts.

https://elpais.com/especiales/2019/crecer-conectados/whatsapp/

The stats

The El Pais story tells us that by the age of 11, half of the children in Spain already have their own smartphone, with the numbers rising to 93.3% by the time the children are 15 years old.

Take a look at the images here, a story made in mobile heaven, a simple conversation.

As the grandfather of 11 who communicates with even the youngest of those grandkids via mobile devices, Instagram and Snapchat, I can tell you that the story from Spain rings true with us in the United States.

My take

Reading this El País story, admiring the innovative approach and reading the comments from those 10 year olds in the story, I can only reaffirm what I already know well: the generation that will be consuming the content we produce is going to be more mobile adept and driven than any other.

How can those in a newsroom in 2020 NOT make it an essential part of their professional development and survival tactic to learn how to do linear, mobile storytelling.

I repeat: This is the best time to be a storyteller. We have more options to tell stories, as the El Pais story shows.

The technology is there to allow us many possibilities for how we tell that story. But technology without a journalist’s initiative is worthless.

As Rodrigo Fino wrote me as we discussed the winning entries:

“Unlike other eras, today’s technology allows creative ways to tell stories. The only limit could be one’s own.”

I would add that with today’s technological offerings, we can serve the storytelling process with endless possibilities.

It all begins with The Story—and a journalist’s initiative and vision to make it better.

The gallery

In the screen grab below, Adri, one of the kids quoted in the story writes;

I am Adri, of Valencia. I am 11 and with mobile since this year. For my profile image I have a photo of XXXTentacion, my favorite rapper, who died recently.

The next image is from Adelina, who writes:

I am also from Huelva. My name is Adelina, and I am 10 years old and with mobile since shortly after the arrival of The Three Kings (January). In my profile photo I chose an image of my First Communion with a friend.

Here we see other images from the What’s App chat between El País journalists

Storytelling Webinar Nov. 6

https://www.inma.org/webinar-detail.cfm?w=91

About this Webinar

In this Webinar, famed designer and consultant Mario Garcia will present the necessary strategies to create a mobile-first operation, including conceptualizing, editing and designing for the small screen of a smartphone, where the majority of the audience is consuming information. Dr. Garcia has served as a consultant for more than 730 media projects in 121 countries.

Date

Wednesday, 6 November 2019

Time

10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. New York time

Where

New York, United States

Cost

This Webinar is free but only available to Full INMA members:

Check to see if your company is a Corporate Member (request to be added to the membership)

Join INMA as a member and register for the Webinar

For all inquiries, send an e-mail to Krista Avedikian at krista.avedikian@inma.org

Launch party for The Story in Zurich

From Monocle Weekend

THE INTERROGATOR / EDITION 30

https://monocle.com/minute/2019/09/21/

Mario García

Editorial consultant Mario García has advised the most important newsrooms in the world on design – and how best adapt to a digital transition. More than 700 publications, from The Wall Street Journal to the South China Morning Post, have received his strategic steer. Other than being an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of Journalism, he also runs his own consultancy firm: García Media. Nowadays his speciality is how digital devices influence narrative structure and consumption; his latest book, The Story, was written specifically to be read on a phone. Here, though, he confesses to a few analogue pleasures.

What they are saying about The Story!

The Story is here!

You can now download my new mobile storytelling book, The Story, from Apple Books at $6.99
This is Book 1 of a Trilogy! The other two books coming soon.
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-story-volume-i/id1480169411

The newspaper remains the most powerful source of storytelling on the planet. But technology threatens its very existence. To survive, the Editor must transform, adapt, and manage the newsroom in a new way. Order The Story by Mario Garcia, chief strategist for the redesign of over 700 newspapers around the world.

My chat with in Monocle Radio

Listen to my chat in Monocle Radio’s The Stack: Latest episode‘The Face’ and ‘The Story’:We welcome the return of the print version of ‘The Face’ and talk to legendary newspaper designer Mario Garcia about his latest book, ‘The Story’.
https://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-stack/368/play/

My interview with CNN en Español

I was a guest in the program Encuentro, hosted by Guillermo Arduino daily at CNN en Español. The interview was about how we read on mobile devices and my introduction of my new mobile storytelling book, The Story, to a Spanish-language audience.

García: Si tienes una buena historia, la gente la va a leer