Fresh Powder: Snapchat, NYT, and SJW2015

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A weekly summary of journalistic tidbits
brought to you by  SNO

  • Snapchat recently released a new mobile news feature called “Discover,” which allows users of the app to swipe to the left to access news updates from a variety of partners; CNN, Yahoo, and ESPN, just to name a few.  This is a significant development in mobile news for a few reasons; the first being extreme accessibility.  Discover brings news to where the audience already exists.  It’s able to reach an audience that may otherwise not seek out news, while still appealing to current news junkies.  It also exists entirely within the app– any “links” to stories or videos do not link out to a web browser or a third-party hosting site, it’s all right there.  Plus, it’s already getting a ton of positive feedback from its younger users; check out the reviews on this article from Nieman Labs.
  • The New York Times is planning on offering courses as part of a new effort called “NYT EDUcation”, in collaboration with the Cambridge Information Group.  The New York Times’ previous attempts at getting into the education game haven’t been that successful, and this new initiative is still in the early stages (potential courses haven’t even been announced yet.)  However, it could be a great resources for those involved in journalism, provided the courses the Times ends up offering are accessible and useful to a variety of people involved in journalism.
  • Local radio is beginning to look even more appealing to local newspapers and other local news sources– why? Because it’s popular, accessible, and an easy way to distribute content even further.  Plus, it provides some pretty great, interactive advertising opportunities that you couldn’t get elsewhere.  It’s also relatively inexpensive to get involved in internet and local radio, which keeps the risk factor low.  You can read more about it here.
  • The popular internet-controlling app IFTT appears to be getting even better; it announced some new apps that could be very useful for media journalism.  There’s the new camera that lets you automatically back up any photos you take to dropbox, as well as allowing you to publically share your snapchats.  Their new note feature allows you to post to Twitter or Facebook from a single app, as well as instantly adding events to your calenders.  This app is all about convenience, so if fast and breaking news coverage is something you’re into, it’s probably for you.
  • And, on a more resource-related note, we recently stumbled upon this article that complies six useful tools that can help you create stellar educational fliers or posters for your classroom.  It gives you a variety of options and styles, so if you’re in need of some new hand-out materials and feeling creative, you should give it a go.

Noteworthy happenings less relevant to scholastic journalism:

 

And, hey, it’s Scholastic Journalism Week! Stay updated by following @SJW2015 on Twitter, and making use of the #SJW2015 hashtag!