It is always a source of pride to see that teams of journalists with whom we have worked “get it” and proceed to practice good mobile storytelling skills.
This time, it is the team of the Khaleej Times, Dubai’s leading English-language newspaper, with which I have been engaged as a consultant and workshop instructor for over a year. During these workshops we have exposed the editorial team to the way stories are told for mobile devices.
As I write in my latest book, The Story:
Storytelling is linear
That is exactly how we tell stories; not all stories, but stories where we wish to engage the readers and let them know that we care for how they consume information on their phones. For mobile, storytelling
is linear, and it weaves prose and visuals. It is intuitive. It is the normal flow of information on the smallest canvas on which journalists work (unless you include push notifications on your Apple Watch).
In a nutshell:
- Mobile storytelling involves the combination of text and visuals.
- Stories appeal to the senses, with audio and video as important assets to enhance the story’s content.
- Visual assets are not just incorporated freely into the story. Instead, the narrative and the visuals combine to relate the content and to engage the reader. It is all about weaving the words and the visuals.
- The approach to mobile storytelling is one that imitates the way we communicate with each other via text messaging, for example. We write and we show. That’s exactly the flow of content and visuals that you will see in these good examples from the Khaleej Times.
The stories
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/food/how-dubai-graduated-from-starbucks-to-artisan-coffee
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/spotlight/vinyl-forever-are-lp-records-here-to-stay-in-the-uae
Of related interest: our previous posts about mobile storytelling
Garcia Media mobile storytelling
For the complete guide to mobile storytelling: The Story
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
TheMarioBlog post # 3352