Wemap at SND CLT
Take-aways from our participation as sponsors of the Society for News Design’s annual Workshop and the unique potential of ‘near me’ news.
Our Ignite talk focused on making the connection between the rising phenomenon of ‘near me’ searches and the implications of this shift in consumer behavior for news organizations.
As consumers increasingly rely on mobile devices, they are also depending on them to make decisions about where to go, what to do and, often, to know more about where they are at any given moment.
To date, most news organisations have struggled to find a way to tap into their vast local knowledge dataset — the amazing trove of articles they’ve published and continue to publish.
By building connections their content to smart maps, publishers are able to build map-based products that unlock the story-telling and service-orientated potential of their articles.
Approaching the combination of the content they produce and maps from a novel perspective — how to put this local information into our audience’s hands on any device and at any moment instead of merely relying on maps as a static data point — news organizations can enter the ‘near me’ space.
You can watch our presentation here.
In addition to contributing to the community during our Ignite speech, it was also a wonderful experience to listen, learn and share with all of the participants.
Let’s look at five key takeaways that were gleaned from attending various sessions and our numerous conversations.
Templating only goes so far.
Newsrooms are faced with hundreds of design decisions everyday, in particular for their printed products. The online sites are more streamlined but major, traffic driving stories break-the-mold and require flexibility to deliver a quality product to audiences.
Focus on Augmented Reality.
AR represents a more approachable product development horizon that more ambitious VR projects. The proliferation of AR-capable devices and the relative scarcity of VR-equiped consumers is compelling organizations to explore more AR initiatives.
Location is a critical feature of story-telling.
The local/regional audience for every publisher save the international brands drives the overwhelming majority of traffic and subscribers. Compelling local content is integral to the growth strategies of all publishers as they strive to remain the brand of reference for local content.
Infographics and immersive stories drive traffic and engagement.
Feature articles incorporating infographics (maps, interactives, large format pictures/video, infographics) are phenomenal showcases of the newsroom’s vast capabilities. In some cases, tying these larger stories into local narratives is critical yet often difficult to deliver.
Maps
Newsrooms are increasingly relying on maps as part of their story-telling process. Maps help the audience make quick contextual determinations thus improving comprehension of the stories being told.
We can’t wait for SND 2018 in New York City.
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Wemap developed a breakthrough map technology that has been adopted in a few months by global leaders like Le Parisien, Hachette and ministère de la Culture et de la Communication. The French-American start-up is building a smart maps platform to offer individuals and organizations a bridge to the real world: combining meaningful information and practical services. Wemap combines an intuitive user experience and a powerful tool to connect a map to any sources and publish it. By empowering publishers to create and embed live maps with their content in minutes, Wemap has already reached 4 million monthly viewers of its maps.
To learn more about Wemap’s technology: https://getwemap.com.
