Happy New Year !
I imagine that, like me, you are all reintegrating yourselves to your work. It’s a new year. It’s a chance to turn the page, or swipe the screen, and think new year, new strategies.
In my prediction for 2019, I have emphasized the role of the content manager:
A highlight:
Content managers may have different names, such as assignment editor, or even “pilots,” a preferred term with German and Scandinavian editors. Regardless of what the name is, the function is one of identifying content early in the process, working with small teams to manage the story throughout the day and making sure that stories are updated regularly if applicable.
Indeed, more newsrooms are going to be marching toward a mobile first strategy, which starts with abandoning the notion of editions and embracing the concept of following stories, for which a content manager is key.
I see 2019 as the year where writing, editing and designing for the small screen—the mobile first strategy—will become more widespread. With about 80% of readers consuming news and information on their smartphones and other small mobile platforms, it is imperative for editors to create content specifically for these devices.
Going Mobile First
My mobile first workshops emphasize just that. What are the three key points to get serious about a mobile first strategy?
- Transform the thinking and the rituals of the newsroom to embrace many short meetings during the course of the day tracking stories, and not concentrating on tomorrow’s print edition.
- Appoint content managers that will take stories and make decisions about how those stories will be updated and/or promoted. The more content managers that are trained, the more effective that the transformation will be.
- Have reporters come back to the newsroom to write thinking of how to present the story on mobile devices, which will lead to more use of multimedia, such as video and audio.
Let be the year that your newsroom makes the transformation. January is a good month to get started!
TheMarioBlog post # 2973