New iPad app lets you ‘DJ your news’
We’ve seen RSS feeds and news subscriptions on countless devices, but what about an app that lets you customize how your favourite news and social media streams appear on your tablet PC? Taptu has developed an iPad app allowing you customize what news sites appear on the app, offering a broader spectrum of news than its smartphone apps.
In the “stream studio” found on the iPad app, Taptu lets you curate your own news stream based on topic, for instance, even allowing you to change the colour of your “mixes” so they’re easily identifiable.
Taptu can also created mixed streams for you, and you can later edit what news source you don’t like. Also, there isn’t a limit on the amount of streams you can have.
A press release from the company states: “Based on your searches and interests, Taptu’s recommendation algorithm will serve up new content in the form of articles, sites and blogs you’ll love.”
Social media sites play a role in this revamped app. “[You can] include full articles from Facebook and Twitter links, allowing you to see the news your social circle is sharing both on Twitter and Facebook – article cards display the full story.”
Taptu was originally conceived as an app to help you discover “iPhone friendly content,” as VentureBeat wrote in 2009.
Its biggest competitor is thought to be Flipboard, the developer of a social magazine app for mobile devices. It recently raised $50 million in funding and also announced a new partnership with OWN, the cable network venture between Oprah Winfrey and Discovery, according to Digital Media Wire.
To read Jonathan Franzen article on New Yorker Facebook Page, you need to “Like” it
You’ve heard of paywalls but what about “like walls”? New Yorker magazine is mimicking the music industry by locking a new article on their Facebook Page and interested readers can only access the full article by clicking the “Like” button on the publication’s Facebook Page.
If you don’t “like” it, you can only read the intro to Jonathan Franzen‘s lengthy article about visiting Alejandro Selkirk, the island where the book Robinson Crusoe was said to have been based. Once you “like” it, the entire article becomes available immediately.
So far, more than 203,000 people have “liked” the Page. Earlier today, the count was closer to 200,000.
The New Yorker is experimenting with an idea often seen in the music industry. Last month, Jennifer Lopez asked Facebook fans to “like” a song if they wanted to download the track on iTunes. Also, Lil Wayne unlocked a track off a new album once fans “liked” his Facebook Page.
Future of Media recap: Start-ups, gamification and ‘pay-what-you-can walls’
by David Silverberg and Chris Hogg
The future for media organizations is not all doom and gloom, and there is more opportunity and experimentation happening today than ever before. That was the overall discussion at Digital Journal‘s Future of Media panel discussion last night in Toronto.
In a meaty conversation that sunk its teeth deep into topics of start-up culture, gamification and paywalls, editors and experts discussed why we should be optimistic for legacy media and start-ups experimenting with innovative news projects.
The insightful debate included a wide array of media experts: Jamie Angus, acting head of news at BBC World News; Jon Taylor, senior director of content for Bell Media Digital; Chris Boutet, senior producer for digital media at the National Post; Mathew Ingram, a senior writer at GigaOM; and Kathy Vey, editor-in-chief of OpenFile. The discussion was moderated by David Silverberg, managing editor of DigitalJournal.com.
The theme of the night could be summed up by Ingram’s poignant one-liner: “When you’re on Death Row, it’s easy to find religion.” He referred to the important wake-up call many newspapers faced with plummeting ad revenue and an upturned business model.
Boutet of the National Post agreed and said his outlet has adopted a digital-first strategy to allow readers to easily consume online news, while making sure the print product still had strong long-form content. “It needs to start with digital and end in print,” he said.
The conversation often veered into the benefits and dangers of using on-the-ground reporting from citizens in global hot spots. Angus said the BBC had previously ignored social media but now the organization is increasingly incorporating tweets into its reportage. “That could never happen two or three years ago,” he admitted.
Ingram replied, “When Twitter came out, I don’t think anyone would have predicted newspapers would have entire staff devoted to their Twitter account.”
Vey, who runs the collaborative news start-up OpenFile, said she’s optimistic about journalism’s future, considering how many important news start-ups have made an impact in the U.S. She just wishes Canada could better nurture start-ups and entrepreneurs.
The conversation around start-ups took up a better part of the night, with each panelist discussing how a news organization could benefit by having an entrepreneurial approach to media production. Panelists agreed the lean approach without expensive overhead and the willingness to try new things is an important part of determining media’s future.
That said, Boutet, Vey and Ingram agreed entrepreneurial skills are not something journalism students learn in school, and students don’t enter j-school with the goal of graduating, starting their own company and trying to compete with a big newspaper.
Boutet said newsrooms need to create an environment where experimentation is encouraged, and an entrepreneurial mindset helps. He noted how the National Post has designers, programmers, digital media producers and journalists within the same area to facilitate collaboration.
Ingram agreed, saying a news experiment today can happen in an afternoon with $1,500 and a programmer who fires out some code. But that often doesn’t happen because the small numbers and quick turn-around time are not how media executives typically think. “They think in terms of months, not days,” Ingram said.
Some mainstream media outlets are stepping up their online news initiatives and experiments. At the National Post, for instance, the newspaper partnered with GeoPollster to allow people to check-in to venues with Foursquare with their political party affiliation, so a certain restaurant can be Conservative if enough Conservatives check-in to that spot en masse. “We wanted it to be fun,” Boutet said, and many panelists agreed entertaining media projects and “gamification” could benefit news outlets.
Taylor, from the newly minted Bell Media, said the growth of mobile and tablet platforms have also dramatically shifted focus and opened up many new opportunities for media outlets, especially broadcasters. “My job has 100 per cent changed because of those platforms,” he said. “We’re learning with everybody else. It’s constantly evolving.” Taylor said he’s hopeful the rules of the TV game will evolve into a more futuristic model, where it’s not just watching TV on your tablet PC, say, but also being able to swipe something from your tablet onto your TV somehow.
He also spoke about new revenue possibilities for broadcasters, saying there’s “no magic bullet” but that old ideas are becoming new again. “I think the answer is going to be a multitude of things, which include digital sponsorship, we have sponsors we have advertisers,” he said. “In the TV world you can only get so innovative, in the digital space it’s nearly unlimited.”
Taylor said the “This show is brought to you by…” line is something we’ll likely hear more often, but that media organizations have to be careful how they balance sponsorship and production. He said sponsors need to be happy with the presence, but broadcasters have to make sure content is not overly swamped with advertising messages.
Angus agreed that mobile is an integral part of the future of media, noting that rapid adoption of mobile phones in some places such as Africa have replaced more traditional platforms such as radio. Angus said the BBC, and media organizations that reach massive audiences in very rural places, have new challenges because they must think about the medium or platform through which the message is being delivered. In some areas, media is consumed through more than just a newspaper or Internet connection. Angus said organizations who want to reach wide audiences now have to think about how much the end-user will have to pay to consume content via mobile versus other platforms when they decide where to invest and how they want to target new audiences.
On the topic of cost, the panel discussed paywalls and how they fit in the media’s future. The BBC’s Angus and Ingram were at odds on this issue. Angus suggested the paywall experiment by the Times of London and New York Times could be the harbinger of things to come. ”What if they’re right, doesn’t that change things?” he asked. Ingram shook his head and said “But the Times of London lost a lot of pageviews…and now they’re just an expensive newsletter.”
After some debate among panelists, Angus went back to the idea and admitted that while it may not be popular among readers it may be necessary for media outlets. He said if it becomes the norm, it may give media organizations enough of a revenue stream to encourage them to invest in the digital media space.
Boutet didn”t like the idea of a paywall because it’s an ultimatum that does not allow the reader to suggest how much they think content is worth. Telling a reader to pay $10 per month or go away, Boutet believes, is the wrong approach because it’s an all-or-nothing attitude. “What about a pay-what-you-can wall?” he suggested, saying some readers may not want to pay $10 per month but would be willing to pay $5. Having the option to let people price a product themselves provides a news organization with the opportunity to market-test various pricing options and determines what people will pay.
The panelists generally agreed a paywall or pay fence would work with specialty content, such as Wall Street Journal‘s financial news or ESPN.com‘s in-depth sports coverage. Ingram was unsure what metric would be used to measure success, though. “Does it look like 200,000 people paying to read your content, or does it look like millions?”
So what’s in store for the future of media? The panelists all seemed to agree experimentation is important and that the news industry as a whole is in better shape today than it has been over the last few years. That said, there are still a number of questions that need to be answered as far as concrete business models that will take shape.
New technologies such as augmented reality provide some really interesting opportunities to media companies, and mobile phones, apps and tablets are a game-changer for how, when and where people consume content.
The overall tone of the night was optimistic, with panelists agreeing wholeheartedly the future looks much brighter than the past. Media organizations now need to focus on experimentation, and partnering with start-ups is a cost-effective way to innovate new ideas.
The panel also agreed newsrooms need to shed old attitudes and get people to talk to their audience in a two-way conversation via social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter, while at the same time remember that every word they say is essentially speaking on behalf of their respective media outlets. What you say, when you say it, and how you say it, are guidelines that media organizations need to quickly decide.
Watch video from this event here
Future of Media Preview: A Q&A with Jon Taylor, Bell Media Digital
Media leaders from the UK and Canada will meet tonight to discuss rapid and significant changes in media at Digital Journal’s Future of Media event in Toronto. Bell Media Digital’s Jon Taylor will weigh-in on intersection of broadcasting and digital media.
Jon Taylor is Senior Director of Content for Bell Media Digital. He is responsible for the acquisition, creation and measurement of Bell Media Digital’s online content.
Jon most recently worked as an Executive Producer in the Programming and Production departments at CTV and continues to work closely with those groups.
His work creating web-exclusive complementary content for Bell Media’s digital platforms includes So You Think You Can Dance Canada, The Juno Awards, We Day and The Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Tonight, Jon takes the stage at Digital Journal’s Future of Media event along with the speakers from the National Post, BBC World News, GigaOM and OpenFile. In a Q&A with Digital Journal ahead of the event, Taylor touches on what’s in store for broadcasters and where digital media fits in the TV business.
Digital Journal: As someone who manages the content side of a media business, how has your job changed over the last year and where is it going?
Jon Taylor: As the business model evolves, the focus has turned to user engagement and user experience and how people consume content online and on mobile platforms.
There is much more focus on companion content and unique online executions. Bell Media has had some good success with unique online programming like WE DAY, largest youth empowerment event, and programming several original series last summer. We’re going to see more of this in the future.
In a way, everything has changed because the delivery method changes quickly, but nothing has changed insofar as content is still king, regardless of platform.
As for where it’s going, I’ve noticed a definite shift in business function within a large organization. Whereas new media was often a peripheral business unit, there is a more definite seat at the table for everything from programming and production to sales and marketing.
Digital Journal: Where is programming heading? Outside of news, what kind of content should a modern media business focus on/produce/deliver?
Jon Taylor: Strategy is challenging since it needs to be two-fold.
First, it needs to make money, and second it needs to be somehow innovative. There is no right answer for this one. Nobody has the brass ring for content production and delivery.
Innovation is expensive and can be risky. However, what we are focusing on is strong content, year-long strategy and, currently, integrating and exploiting the strength of Sympatico and the Bell Media (former CTV) properties.
Digital Journal: We’ve seen significant changes in journalism with the rise of digital media and the Web. How is television being affected by these changes? Where is it heading?
Jon Taylor: The revolution might not be televised, but you can bet it will be online.
By aggregating or curating first-hand accounts from social media, blogs and other sources that have access to a wealth of bleeding edge information, news becomes part of the revolution.
More leaders are going to emerge in this space, and I think Canada is poised to be a leader in how digital is leveraged for journalism. Our proven objectivity — not quite British, not quite American — puts us in a unique position.
Digital Journal: What affect have start-ups had on media businesses? How do they play a role in media’s future?
Jon Taylor: From an online video standpoint, Netflix and other over-the-top services are going to be an obvious concern. But in general, the proliferation of services and add-ons is endless.
We’ll continue to see the rising-up of the most-needed or wanted services. How they’ll continue to change media will be part of the greater evolution of how we all do business.
In this case, I’m not sure that being a fast adopter of these kinds of services really benefits the business. For example, is the company that first integrated Facebook into their site right now better off than those companies who went down that road a little later?
Digital Journal: What do you think makes a good “digital-first” strategy for a media company, and should modern media businesses approach with a digital-first mindset?
Jon Taylor: The right strategy is to make sure that the right platform or platforms are taking the lead. I keep going back to it, but there is not a one-size-fits-all strategy in the digital or multi-platform world.
Digital should be first when it makes the most sense, and when compared to the still-formidable power of broadcast television, isn’t going to be the case 100 percent of the time.
More and more, we’re seeing the prominence of digital as it stands on its own or as a companion piece to television and radio.
The modern media approach should be to marry the right content with the right platform and match it to an audience.
Digital Journal: What revenue channels beyond advertising do you think we’ll see become more prevalent in the digital media space?
Jon Taylor: Subscription models will be more dominant, but I don’t believe we’ve see the end of what advertising online is or does. There is still a huge frontier of advertising opportunities in the digital space and there will be more creative integrations with content.
Digital Journal: How will rapid and significant changes in digital media over the last few years affect the average person at home in the years to come?
For sure people who haven’t already will come to expect all media to be available on all platforms. The idea of having what you want when you want will be a given.
It’s easy for us, as fast adopters, to think that we’re there now, or that the omnipresent expectation already exists, but we’re only at the tip of the iceberg.
My kids, who are four- and six-years old, have no idea what linear TV is. They only know on-demand and they rarely see an advertisement. How advertisers reach viewers is what is really going to change and evolve. Content will inevitably be where you want to be in the future.
This Q&A is part of a 5-part series:
Future of Media Preview: A Q&A with Jamie Angus, head of BBC World News
The acting head of news at BBC World News explains how one of the most well-known journalism brands is adapting to the digital era. Jamie Angus will discuss his ideas in person at Digital Journal’s Future of Media event on April 6 in Toronto.
When you think of global news, BBC News is likely a company that comes to mind. Known for dispatching reporters in political hot zones, BBC has expanded its coverage in light of journalism’s changing face in the last few years.
Jamie Angus has seen this transition up close. The acting head of news at BBC World News, he runs the busy newsroom day-to-day.
Angus has also worked as editor of Daytime News Programmes at BBC World Service and was editor of The World at One, BBC Radio 4′s lunchtime news show. Prior to that, he was Editor of Daytime News Programmes at BBC World Service (English), where the output included the flagship Newshour programme, which is widely re-broadcast by partners in North America.
He has been responsible for news programming on TV, radio and online, and yes, he has time to sleep.
Angus spoke to Digital Journal prior to visiting Toronto this week for his appearance at the April 6 Future of Media event, where he’ll join other news leaders and executives to discuss the challenges media outlets face today and how best to adapt to the digital age.
Digital Journal: How has reporting world news changed in the growing world of digital media? Where is it heading?
Jamie Angus: I think the linear style of news that audiences were used to a generation ago has been changed forever by digital media.
If you look at a developing story like the Arab Uprising from this year, you see clearly that public discussion of the story and the issues surrounding it, in social media and elsewhere, is part of the story itself. It poses a challenge to traditional media organizations to sort the important information from the unenlightening ― probably the same values journalists have practiced for many generations. But we have to maintain a balance between real events on the ground, and digital activity surrounding them.
A media organization that is truly in touch with its audiences allows them the space to discuss current events in a way that plays into the content of their own coverage ― and we can see from the Arab Spring that media organizations who really own this idea benefit enormously.
Digital Journal: We’ve seen significant changes in digital media and news production for the Web. What does the future of media look like in the digital/online space? Where are current changes going to take us?
Jamie Angus: I’ve been really struck by the success of “live page” coverage of news. There is a real appetite amongst audiences to see stories unfolding in real time, in text audio and pictures, and to have the chance to interact with that.
The technology to drive these, and social media’s ability to allow audiences to discuss events in real time, is still in its infancy.
Digital Journal: How do rapid changes in media affect a public broadcaster?
Jamie Angus: The values that public broadcasters generally embody ― reputation, balance, editorial integrity ― also make them vulnerable to fast-moving technological change. They tend to act slowly, and their innate caution means there are always newer operations who can make more noise on any given platform.
I also worry about the decisions to commit public money to supporting specific platforms and how those are taken. Some social media would envy the support given by the BBC to more established social media.
Digital Journal: What medium do you think is likely to change the most in the next year or two?
Jamie Angus: I’m fascinated by the changes that IP TV, streaming video, and on-demand, direct-to-home TV sets will make to all output, especially news. I don’t begin to understand the details of this, but I wonder whether a huge change in distribution is around the corner. That could have a huge effect on the industry.
At home in the UK, we’ve seen how the cost of maintaining “old” distribution has been a huge problem for World Service Radio in the last decade, and I wonder how that will play out for TV.
Digital Journal: How can mainstream journalists reach out to the start-up world to make their jobs easier and to make their reporting better?
Jamie Angus: I think public broadcasters gravitate quickly to established technologies and media. I don’t see a lot of journalists experimenting beyond those.
I wonder what the implications are for news-gathering, with the explosive growth in location-based social media. Or tools like AudioBoo, for example.
So far, I don’t think we’ve scratched the surface of that.
Digital Journal: What start-ups do you think are making a big difference or impact in the world of media? How so?
Jamie Angus: As previously mentioned, I’m a big user of AudioBoo, and I would like to see more people using it in news. It offers a real way of expanding radio production, for example.
I would anticipate more use of social media and mapping technology in combination, and I think they are well placed to exploit that.
Digital Journal: What do you think makes a good “digital-first” strategy for a media company, and should modern media businesses approach with a digital-first mindset?
Jamie Angus: It depends what your market is, and on the media side what your distribution model is.
The big question is whether digital-led ways of consuming media will really be retained for life, or whether as people age and their lives change, they become more receptive to traditional ways of consuming the news.
There’s evidence on both sides, but I think the great variety of user experience that digital offers is changing how journalism is delivered for good, and it will always be necessary to have a digital dimension to launching new products.
Digital Journal: How will rapid and significant changes in digital media over the last few years affect the average person at home in the years to come?
Jamie Angus: Platform convergence seems like the big issue to me. It looks more and more as if the number of devices you use will fall and fall, probably to around a handful in any household.
As radio, TV, and online come ever closer together, the key driver of audiences will be strong content. If you have it, audiences will find you, but less and less in the traditional way.
I also think that households with children and young adults in them are driving digital uptake incredibly quickly. I am struck by how much parents talk about their childrens’ ways of consuming news and entertainment, and that feels like a tipping point to me. It’s a world in which the younger generation are driving what older generations do more than ever before.
Just look at what’s happened to newspapers; if you wanted to pop out and buy a paper today, your choice would be considerably less than it once was, probably because of what people younger than you are doing. Yet free sheet consumption is massive, and at the same time it’s moving young people back to a model of actually reading real papers. How is that all going to play out? And how can media companies figure it out before anyone else does?
This Q&A is part of a 5-part series: