Make the news lively and fun.
Editor’s note: This article is from the micro-channel public number “Tak No. 5” (ID: dewaiwuhao), Source: Niemanlab, Author: SARAH SCIRE, compile: Zhang Chunhua.
Yahoo News is one of the online news media with the most users in the world. However, the general impression of it is that the user base is too old. On TikTok, 63% of users are under 30 years old. This makes Yahoo News face many challenges in entering the short video platform.
Currently, Yahoo News has become one of the most popular media accounts on TikTok. Since entering in March last year, the short video account of Yahoo News has accumulated 1.1 million fans. This number has left many large traditional media behind, such as: “CBS News” (CBS News), “USA Today” “(USA Today), “Washington Post” (Washington Post), “NBC News” (NBC News); but still dominated by “Now This News” and “Daily Mail” (Daily Mail) )after that.
In 2017, Verizon, the US telecom giant, acquired Yahoo News and Yahoo Finance for US$4.48 billion and became the parent company of Yahoo News.
Yahoo News short video editor Julia Munslow and Verizon Media’s user department director Joanna Lambert talked about many topics in an interview recently, including why Yahoo News entered the TikTok platform in the first place? And what new characteristics do they think the media usage habits of Generation Z have emerged? This article extracts the essence of the content for compilation.
1 Yahoo launches TikTok strategy
So far, the Yahoo News website has about 40 news editing rooms, and it also aggregates the news content of more than 100 partner websites. Yahoo News does not launch a subscription product. Its homepage is a fairly simple list of news stories with advertisements interspersed in between. Yahoo has paid close attention to the trend of traffic changes and found that more and more Internet traffic comes from mobile Internet access.
Label: 2021 3Month, the number of users of some media on the TikTok platform (data source: Niemanlab, self-drawing chart)
Verizon Media’s user department director Joanna Lambert said: “We are aware that the way news is consumed has changed dramatically, so we need to improve the way we reach users and proactively go to places where users are concentrated to attract them. In 2020, we will develop A series of targeted strategies are committed to move to the mobile terminal and attract users on emerging platforms. The core of the strategy is the TikTok platform.”
In 2020, affected by the new crown epidemic, many people working at home have caused an unexpected increase in the use of desktop computers. However, compared with 2019, Yahoo’s mobile network and mobile APP users still increased by 24%. In addition, Verizon Media announced in January this year that its first quarterly revenue growth since its acquisition of Yahoo in 2017: advertising revenue increased by 25% over the previous year, while daily active users of news media increased by 11%.
In the context of successive years of declining income, this year’s growth data makes them feel that they have found a feasible strategy. Lambert said: “The trend of mobile Internet access will not change in the short term. In the future, we will continue to focus on mobile users and bet on more resources.”
2 One of Yahoo’s TikTok account operating secrets: “Post-95 production, post-95 service”
Munslow, the creator and operator of the Yahoo News TikTok account, is only 24 years old this year, a post-95s. She used to be an intern and associate editor at Yahoo, and returned to the company after teaching in Malaysia for a year. The students recommended TikTok to her. She found that the platform can not only practice oral English, but also has a very convenient and flexible access method. More importantly, it is also fun to use. Therefore, the first day she came back to Yahoo, she told the manager: “We have to open a TikTok account.”
Yahoo believes that its TikTok account must not simply copy and paste the content of the website, and at the same time they hope to leave a neutral, objective and true impression on users who log in for the first time.
Lambert said: “I think we have successfully built our own brand and audience on TikTok, sincerely telling the audience who we are and what content we can provide. We did not directly carry the content on the Yahoo News website, and It is to let young reporters participate in the report, and the credible Yahoo News Room will release news related to young people. We provide real news and at the same time inject fun and participation elements.”
How do young editors work? For example, Munslow will spend a long time browsing other media on TikTcontent on the ok platform, and “immerse” in the TikTok community, looking for inspiration and information. Then all the editors brainstormed together in the middle of the night to discuss how to improve the reporting methods, and this was the result of their “Super Tuesday” series of reports.
Munslow believes that Yahoo News on TikTok must not only attract traffic, but also maintain the basic characteristics of a news media. These two points are very important. “We focus on reporting credible news in a down-to-earth manner. We know what is important to the post-95s, and then analyze the news to them. We dig into the topics that post-95s care about and make them find our news very attractive.” /p>
So what are the topics that post-95s are concerned about?
Research shows that videos on topics such as climate change, social justice, student loan debt, and personal finance produce good results. Munslow said that the post-95s generation has experienced many economic recessions, so they are generally interested in budgeting, investing and making money.
“During the 2008 recession, they witnessed their parents, relatives and friends lose their jobs. Now, the new crown epidemic has dealt a huge blow to the U.S. economy. TikTok has a huge amount of financial management content, and we know they really care about this issue.”< /p>
Yahoo News does not shy away from heavy topics. For example, they have released more than 30 video reports about the violence in the Capitol in early January this year. Among them, Yahoo News reporters’ live interviews with video clips from “Elizabeth of Knoxville” have received more than 31 million views, and are very popular on the Internet.
3 Cheat Sheet 2: Don’t be so serious! Make the news lively and fun
Munslow said: “TikTok is a fun and creative place. There are no dance videos on the Yahoo News account, partly because I am not the strongest dancer in the world.” But there are other popular elements here.
The editors use Slack, a team collaboration tool, to open a channel to discuss TikTok trends and exchange ideas for building accounts. Therefore, as soon as the “group chat recording” video format became popular, the Yahoo News team designed a “fake group chat recording” news to explain every Republican leader’s stance on impeachment.
TikTok platform allows users to easily recreate with the sound or music of other videos. Yahoo News will consciously use popular clips, which has also won them the love of many new users. For example, recently, in a video in which a reporter took his mother to vaccinate against the new crown, they used a very popular piece of music on TikTok (“The Juice by Mr. Fingers”), which was selected by more than 27,000 videos.
But no matter how fun the content is, Yahoo NewsEvery TikTok video released is produced through a strict and formal editing process.
Munslow usually first goes through the videos produced by partners and Yahoo News editors once a day, and selects available clips. She compiled a list of topics and articles to be used as a reference for future conversions to TikTok videos. After selecting and editing the video clip, Munslow or another editor will upload the rough cut video, subtitles, tags, and title screen on TikTok to the team collaboration tool Slack. The editors will check the facts, check and correct the subtitles. , Typing errors in comments, etc.
Before making original videos (such as the “Yahoo 360” series of original videos), the video script must go through a similar editing process.
Bonus tips: Subtitles and subtitles are strongly recommended.
Munslow said: “Subtitles make it easier for viewers to understand what’s happening in the video, and are more friendly to viewers of various needs. Moreover, we need to ensure that the content is accurate during the editing process. Subtitles do make this work more convenient. .”
4 Rethink user participation! The experiment will continue!
Although Yahoo News has cancelled the comment function, Munslow said that on TikTok, she prioritizes user participation and encourages comments and questions. “We often read reviews, and reply as many as possible, answer user questions, or have more interesting and relaxed conversations. This shows that we are human beings and we care about their lives and things related to their lives.”
Munslow said that reaching 1 million fans in a year means trial and error. Elements that went viral this week may be dead next week, or they may become unpopular when used in other accounts. Sometimes the effects of certain videos are not as good as expected. Trial and error and failure are also part of this process.
Munslow recommends that news media try different types of videos and formats, and try to keep the video within 30 seconds.
She said: “We have been trying to crack the algorithm since we opened the TikTok account. But the best advice I can give you is to try. Whether it is the media or other organizations, entering the TikTok platform is to experiment.”
Conclusion
Yahoo News’s successful experience on the TikTok platform also applies to other news media. In the final analysis, on a platform that focuses on young people like TikTok, news products must be lively, interesting, fashionable, and creative from the perspective of young people.
In fact, other media are also performing their own unique charm measures under this big framework. For example: At the beginning of 2020, Buzzfeed recruited high school students and universities to become “special reporters for the general election”. After intensive training, they were asked to creatively produce video reports dedicated to the TikTok platform under the guidance of professional reporters. What Buzzfeed values is the unique perspective and creativity of this group of teenagers.
NBC News’s experience is that reporting on the same thing must take different forms on different platforms. Videos on the TikTok platform should be short, allow users to participate in conversations, and make them feel useful. For example, “On the Snapchat platform, we will broadcast the presidential candidate debate throughout. On TikTok, we let everyone try to read the names of candidates.”
The editor of the Washington Post pays attention to interacting with users as much as Munslow: “If the user applauds you, you will give him a high-five.”
Label: The editor of the Washington Post must return almost every comment (Source: Niemanlab)