Journalists must start to think of their work in dramatically different terms. How they create, organize and display digital content needs to change. Content engines, old and new, need to be reconfigured to match the trifecta of audience, device and context. Is the consumer on the beach, the train, having a cup of coffee or racing from meeting to meeting? Most journalists have taken to 140-character Twitter bursts to get their message out. Oddly, Facebook is reinforcing old ways in The Age of the Millennial. With help of an army of Facebook and NYT developers, the old Gray Lady published its first Instant Article a few weeks ago, meaning thousands of words loaded instantly on a mobile phone. The question remains, how many actually read its girth on Facebook’s app?
…Millennials. Mobile. Social. They are catalysts for the latest grand forces that have been in play for years. From offline to online. From printing presses to the Web. From quotes to sound bites. From TV to cable. From newspapers to blogging. From message boards to social networks. The lexicon will continue to evolve as technology drives new generations to change their behavior. Media institutions adjust with fearful, stubborn reluctance, always losing valuable time. Now is the moment to get on with it, building the experience consumers want on the platform of their choice.
Read the full piece at Forbes