I have a problem with Failing Fast. It’s a phrase that crops up in discussions around newsroom evolution, and in presentations at journalism conferences, and I have to wonder, did whoever first coined the phrase (in a non-Product context, at least,) really believe a failing quickly and moving on to the next thing a good thing?... Continue Reading →
#ONALondon session: Reaching Unexpected Audiences With New Platforms
Erica Berger, who is founder of Catchpool and Co-Founder of Mileage Media, kicked off her session with some impressive facts: 30 mins a day spent per day for average users of Snapchat Instagram has 77% of audience outside the USA Soundcloud has 350m users a month WhatsApp has 990m users - 70% use it daily;... Continue Reading →
Instant Articles for regional news
Here’s something that put a smile on my face today (no, not the drink drive mum) - it's a Manchester Evening News Instant Article on Facebook. The MEN and WalesOnline are the two Trinity Mirror regional sites signed up for the UK Instant Articles roll out (announced today) - The Mirror is also participating. The only... Continue Reading →
15 thoughts on innovation for smaller newsrooms
How do you innovate in smaller newsrooms, was one of the questions that was sought to be addressed at the WAN IFRA international newsroom summit I attended in Hamburg on October 5. My answer is an emphatic: “Better, and more ambitiously than anyone tends to give us credit for”. The big guns, like the NYT and The Guardian,... Continue Reading →
#formatDEN: Audiences, realities and goats in hats
Recurring themes in journalism conferences I’ve been following (and sometimes attended) this year are: Try innovating, not imitating (aka don’t be Buzzfeed-lite) Everyone is a reporter, so be a curator and editor Don’t be scared of failing Get developers coding in the newsroom At FormatDEN this week, these were raised but so were some others…... Continue Reading →
#mojocon15 part I: Talking mobile innovation and storytelling
March 27 and 28 were spent immersed in the world of mobile, journalism, storytelling and content creation, courtesy of the first Mobile Journalism Conference held in Dublin and organised by broadcaster RTÉ. It was the most rewarding, packed and inspiring event - filled with incredible journalists and storytellers doing wonderful things, often armed with just... Continue Reading →
Pix or it didn’t happen?
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/200471527-001 So, Meerkat, eh? It was, by all accounts, the darling of SXSW and digital acres have been given over to assessing its worth (and here I am, adding to them). Search Twitter at any given time and it's everywhere, being [LIVE NOW]... Tweets about [live now] meerkat // I downloaded it a few weeks ago when... Continue Reading →
Up the Boro! Tapping into the fans’ mood on Twitter
This is my new favourite thing, courtesy of the @GazetteBoro team in Middlesbrough (disclosure: yep, they're part of Trinity Mirror Regionals, like me). The gif (you might need to click to activate) is a simple, neat idea, and really summed up the how fans feel about being up in the rarified atmosphere of the top of the table. Lots... Continue Reading →
Talking innovation, skills and the future with journalism students
After decades of not going to Sheffield, 2014 was the year I found myself there on several occasions - incidentally, what a fine city it is, once you manage to negotiate the frankly rubbish rail links that run from west to east. My most recent trip was at the invitation of Sheffield University journalism professor Peter Cole,... Continue Reading →
Six thoughts on emerging opportunities for journalism
Attending the Society of Editors* conference on November 10 and 11 meant a trip back to my old stamping ground of Southampton. I spent several years there in the '90s with the Southern Daily Echo (editor Ian Murray completed his term as SoE president this month) and it was good to go back - not least to see how much the... Continue Reading →
Alison Gow | Building the New 