Emerging platforms are using an evocative form of storytelling, called long form or immersive storytelling experiences, to effectively communicate information with readers. Built specifically for digital consumption, these immersive experiences have gained prominence as a result of The New York Times’ enormously successful piece Snow Fall that covered the 2012 Tunnel Creek avalanche. The piece won a Webby award and the author John Branch won the 2013 Pulitzer for feature writing. Snow Fall was praised as “the future of journalism.” But it’s not all positive; Snow Fall garnered heavy criticism too. Read on to find out what the pattern of modern media consumption reveals about the future of journalism.
1. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
2. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Implications of a Mobile-First World
3. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
56% of Americans are Smartphone Owners
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
4. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
29% of USA Adults Own Tablet/ eReader
Source: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB): 2012 Update Report.
5. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Global Mobile Traffic Continues to Grow
Source: KPCB: 2012 Update Report.
6. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
There’s More Content Than Ever Before
Source: KPCB: 2013 Internet Trends Report.
7. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Implications of a Mobile-First World
More consumers own smartphones
More consumers own tablets
The internet is increasingly accessed from mobile
devices
There’s much more content
8. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Result: Information Overload
9. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Source: My Life in the Trenches.
10. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
The Future of Online Journalism
11. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
“There’s always room for a story that can
transport people to another place.”
- J.K. Rowling
12. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
The Future of Online Journalism
“Real-time” news
• Quick snippets
• Many articles
• Little connection
Immersive storytelling
• Long-form
• Few articles
• Author/reader connection
13. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
The Future of Online Journalism
Check out the piece: Snow Fall
14. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
The New York Times: Snow Fall Experiment
Covered the 2012 Tunnel Creek avalanche
What did it take?
–16 highly paid professionals
–6 months to put together
What did it achieve?
– Praised as “the future of journalism”
– Author John Branch won the 2013 Pulitzer for feature writing
– The piece won the Webby award for Best Use of Interactive Video
– Sparked discussion regarding the evolution of online storytelling
15. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Snow Fall or Snow Fail?
“The future of online journalism”
– The Atlantic
“Sorry, ‘Snow Fall’ isn’t going to
save the New York Times”
– PandoDaily
“How the New York Times can
fight BuzzFeed & reinvent its
future”
– GIGAOM
“If this was the future of
journalism, there would be no
future of journalism.”
– PandoDaily
16. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Can we replicate this immersive experience?
Scroll Kit: a new type of content editor that allows you
to own the page in one click.
“It took The New York Times hundreds of hours to
hand code ‘Snow Fall.’ ...we made a replica in an hour.”
Source: Scroll Kit
Check out: The Scroll Kit Manifesto
17. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Reinventing the Wheel?
Creatavist is the future of digital publishing, in your
hands. Our storytelling technology lets anyone layer
text, audio, video, animation, interactive elements,
and more within a project and publish across mobile
devices and the Web.
: The Atavist publishes award-winning, bestselling
longform nonfiction between magazine-article and
book length. We use our own software, Creatavist,
to push the boundaries of innovative, multimedia
storytelling.
Check out: Bulger on Trial (Built with Creatavist)
18. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Storytelling Re-emerges
: a platform devoted to original, in-depth and untold
stories about New York and, increasingly, other
cities.
View: The Coffee Chronicler
: Medium is a new place on the Internet where
people share ideas and stories that are longer than
140 characters and not just for friends.
View: Welcome to Medium
: Matter focuses on producing individual long-form
stories for consumption on any device, whether it's
your computer, phone, e-reader or tablet.
19. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Storytelling Re-emerges
: a digitally native news outlet, born in 2012, for
business people in the new global economy.
: the world's leading progressive business media
brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in
technology, ethonomics (ethical economics),
leadership, and design
20. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Quartz
21. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Fast Company
22. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
So what were the results of Snow Fall?
23. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Source: Mashable
24. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Storytelling Must Evolve
Platforms are changing
Reading environments are changing
Attention spans are getting shorter
Source: Irony Design
25. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
About Justin
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist
Justin has a deep history of leveraging digital and social technologies to
enhance thought leadership, product and service campaigns for a
variety of organizations. With a unique blend of entrepreneurial
passion and technical skill, he is actively engaged in New York’s growing
tech space. Justin graduated from Binghamton University’s School of
Management Fast-Track MBA program, receiving his Masters in
Business Administration with dual concentrations in Marketing and
Information Systems Management, and his Bachelor of Arts in English,
General Literature and Rhetoric.
Read more posts by Justin on sternassociates.com
26. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
About Us
Stern + Associates is a full-service public relations, marketing and digital
communications agency specializing in thought leadership programming . Our
forward-thinking and holistic Connected Communications® approach fuses the best
of traditional media, digital, direct engagement and marketing strategies to help
our clients compete in today’s ever-evolving economic landscape. We help them
think big, and define, shape and hone their industry- leading innovations. We make
those innovations part of the vernacular to generate leads, impact revenue,
perception and trust amongst the stakeholders who matter most. Read more
27. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Sources – Mobile Trends
Pew Internet & American Life Project
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB): 2013 Internet Trends Report
KPCB: 2012 Update Report
28. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Sources – Snow Fall
Snow Fall
What the New York Times's 'Snow Fall' Means to Online Journalism's Future
How the New York Times can fight BuzzFeed & reinvent its future
The good — and the bad — about the NYT’s Snow Fall feature
Snow Fall: Finally an articulation for the digerati of what a big, expensive
newsroom can do
Sorry, ‘Snow Fall’ isn’t going to save the New York Times
Snow Fail: The New York Times And Its Misunderstanding Of Copyright
29. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Sources – Storytelling Platforms
Scroll Kit
Atavist
– Creatavist
– The Scroll Kit Manifesto
Narratively
– The Coffee Chronicler
Medium
– Welcome to Medium
Matter
Quartz
Fast Company
30. Trends in Online Journalism
Justin Gianninoto, Digital Strategist | @gianninoto
Other Sources
Comic (via My Life in the Trenches)
The New York Times Digital Magazine (via Mashable)