I admit that I like Snapchat. And I am fond of Snapchat Discover, which hosts newspaper content to introduce it to its young audience.
It is visual. It is snappy and one gets to see how the most serious stories (try the North Korean nuclear saga) can be made to look appetizing. The youngsters who come to Snapchat have short attention spans and their eyeballs land on the visual. Snapchat knows it.
I have no data on how successful Snapchat has been for The New York Times, or any of the many classic, quality newspapers that have made their stories accessible to the young audience there.
But now, I am delighted to read the effect that Snapchat has had for The Telegraph.
It joined Snapchat in 2017, posting some of its stories with animated, visual storytelling to attract those precious younger readers–the under 25 bracket. The Telegraph was the first quality UK news source to join Snapchat Discover, which it did during the 2017 UK general election.
The Telegraph approached this challenged the right way: it formed a team of designers who could could create a unique visual language that appealed to the young, but kept The Telegraph’s distinctive brand and design aesthetic at is heart.
A dedicated Snapchat Discover editorial team was put in place to pick and tailor stories for the new audience. From the copy to the story sells and designs, everything was reworked with the Snapchat audience in mind.
The result?
Now The Telegraph can boast of its 313,000 subscribers and counting.
“….we’re now looking ahead to developing the channel further, with a raft of new format and content ideas in the pipeline. The project has proven that The Telegraph brand has impact across age demographics.”
Bravo to The Telegraph’s team. I would welcome news from other news organizations that have had this type of impact with their content on Snapchat Discover.
Several of you asking if these videos were still available. Check them out!
Center of Visual Impact
Text size
Typography essentials
August 2, Digital House (Facebook workshop), Buenos Aires
October 6, 20, 27–King’s College, New York City
The Basics of Visual Journalism seminars
October 25, Eidos Media Keynote, New York City