What grabbed people’s attention most at ONA 2016? We round up three takeaways that we found most interesting from the event.Â
ONA 2016 was an amazing conference for digital journalists, with a wide range of topics from content creation to revenue models, and everything in between.
The NewsWhip booth is looking good and ready to go at #ONA16! Stop by and see us! pic.twitter.com/gk1hChw03r
— NewsWhip (@NewsWhip) September 15, 2016
Throughout the conference, we heard from newsroom innovators that are looking to connect with audiences in new and meaningful ways, and heard what’s working for publishers in social streams this year.
Here were five of our takeaways from the conference. What were yours? Let us know on Twitter @NewsWhip.
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‘Native content’ is no longer a mystery for publishers
After last year’s conference, we talked about how publishers needed to start figuring out how they were going to start figuring out measuring their native content strategies.
This year’s conference showed that the native question is no longer a curious sideshow or mystery for most sites. Almost all publishers we talked to at ONA had experimented with off-platform content in some format. The reasoning is simple: audience attention shifted fast in the last 12 months.
It was obvious in the conference programming itself, there was a multitude of ‘how-to’ sessions. Standing room only at multiple sessions on streaming and messaging bots confirmed the level of interest.
Publishers of all types, from local to global, explained how they had harnessed audience attention using off-site formats like Snapchat stories, messaging and chat bots, and of course, Facebook Live video.
What most publishers have now taken onboard is that quality control of their off-site editorial process has to be as strong as what they’d expect on their own site. There’s just too much stuff being posted every day for inconsistency.
2. More video is on the way for Facebook
Facebook product director Fidji Simo talked to CNN’s Samantha Barry about the platform’s immediate plans of interest to publishers.
Needless to say, much of the conversation focussed on video.
We heard examples of good examples of live-streaming, including breaking news events, and more unusual stories, like NYT reporter Deborah Acosta’s investigation into the story behind dumped personal camera slides on a New York sidewalk.
For a full write-up of different experiences and advice for live video, see BBC News Social Media Editor Mark Frankel’s excellent write-up.
There are also going to be plenty of new features. To that end, Facebook will be rolling out some new features to help publishers engage with video, from the ability to schedule video posts, and pinning comments to live videos to help provide context for viewers.
The upshot: we definitely haven’t yet hit peak video just yet.
Future of FB new feeds: likely more video, more immersive (360), more social #ONA16
— Niala Boodhoo (@NialaBoodhoo) September 15, 2016
3. Audience development teams need to share data and work with their product teams
At the ‘developing the audience you don’t have‘ session, we heard that closer integration between product and audience development helps close the loop between delivering content and building lasting audiences.
This is key. What should you be doing on the audience development team to improve reader experience on all devices, and through all channels.
So the editorial team aren’t the only people that you need to share your audience data with (although they’re important too).
Audience engagement is about more than working with the newsroom. It's also about working with the product. #ONA16aud
— Elizabeth Wiley (@ewiley) September 17, 2016
For more on ONA 2016, check out recordings of all sessions on the ONA’s Soundcloud. If you met any of the NewsWhip team at ONA and want to follow up, get in touch.
