This is the weekend edition of TheMarioBlog and will be updated as needed. The next blog post is Monday, August 6.

As days have it, Thursday, Aug. 2, was a busy one for me, but it was rewarding in that it was a day for exchanging ideas.

First, I conducted an all day workshop at Digital House, a coding school in Buenos Aires, in a program titled Facebook Journalism Project, aimed at teaching journalists about the benefits of utilizing video as part of innovative storytelling.

Attended by 45 editors, designers and reporters from Argentina and neighboring Chile, the workshop examined storytelling strategies for mobile, the habits of readers who get their news via social media, and, specifically, tips for using video better.  I recruited the help of my colleague, Robb Montgomery, the master video journalist based in Berlin, and creator of the Smart Film School, and I am thankful for the tips he sent for me to share with the group.

Main takeaways from my Facebook workshop:

1. Develop stories specifically for consumption in mobile devices.
2. The use of video is essential, especially for social media. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), 47% of users of live videos globally are consuming more videos today than the same time a year ago.  Facebook alone now boasts 1.09 billion mobile daily active users (a 22% increase year over year).

   In other words, over 92% of Facebook users access the platform via mobile – making it critical for businesses to optimize their content for the mobile user.

3. Videos do not have to be polished. An amateur video to enhance a story is better than no video at all.
4. Square videos do better than landscape.
5. Sometimes sound is not necessary. Gifs do well to attract readers to your story.
6. Emphasize linear storytelling for mobile: combining videos and other visual assets is key.
7. Appoint a content manager to follow the flow of a story across platforms.
8. Update information regularly: readers are aware of stories that sit without updates for hours.
9. Train all reporters about the basics of using video.
10. The essential takeaway: it is all about a good story. The story continues to be what matters, then it is important to treat that story specifically for the platform in which it will appear.

Below two moments during the Facebook workshop in Buenos Aires.

An appearance on CNN en Español

Following the workshop I was driven to the CNN en Español studio in Buenos Aires to appear live in the evening show CNN Dinero (Money), where I was interviewed by host Xavier Serbiá for my views on the ongoing crisis at Univision, the US’s largest Spanish-language TV network.

The situation:

On Wednesday, Univision began laying off about 6% of its workforce, or around 270 people. Several key executives have quit or been fired. The financial woes of Univision are well documented since last year when executives cut 2018 earnings forecasts by $275 million, or 20%, potentially shaving billions of dollars off Univision’s valuation.

The challenge:

As I mentioned during my CNN interview: what Univision is going through is also part of what other TV networks are experiencing.  Like newspaper companies, TV networks are having to adapt to different consumption habits among the audience.  It is an “on demand” TV world today.  Many TV networks, Univision included, continue to program newscasts in the traditional time slots, but perhaps the readers are no longer inclined to tune in at 6 pm or 10 pm to catch up on the news of the day when they can do—and, indeed, do that—during the course of the day via their mobile devices.

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