Slides from Newsrooms X Social Media

Recently we welcomed a room full of journalists and media professionals at the Newsrooms X Social Media event in downtown Helsinki. It was a rare chance to exchange experiences between newsrooms and learn about the latest trends in social media. Our luminary speakers talked about how to turn a print-first paper into a digital success …

Live Video Polls – Never Underestimate a Publisher’s Ingenuity

Live video is Facebook’s current star feature. Ever since its launch this spring, Facebook has been heavily promoting it in the News Feed, giving live videos immense reach and therefore engagement. The idea is not new – Meerkat, Periscope, and other dedicated live-streaming apps have popularised live video over the last few years. Though the …

X Factor UK – Will Saara Win?

Will Saara Aalto win the UK’s X Factor? Or will it be Matt Terry? Or maybe 5 After Midnight will take the trophy home? Follow the finalists’ results from the EzyInsights’ data, updated regularly. We measure each finalists’ Facebook pages’s engagment twice a day. We started on Monday, 5th December, after the X-Factor semifinal, where the three finalists …

Hidden In Plain Sight

On Tuesday last week, we looked at the US presidential candidates’ presence on Facebook. In short, it was clear that Donald Trump’s ability to engage with his following on social media far outweighed that of his rival, Hillary Clinton. While the Clinton campaign opted for a rather conservative strategy of a steady, predictable stream of content …

Newsrooms and Social Media – Let’s Discuss

It’s a love-hate relationship. On the one hand, social media helps publishers spread their word far and wide – for ‘free’. On the other hand, social networks and Google are cannibalising media’s advertising revenue stream. And then there’s everything in-between. Some publishers – like BuzzFeed or Attn – exist and thrive in large part thanks to …

Why Nordic publishers lead Europe on digital

A robust digital media market heavily relies on well developed infrastructure – things like broadband penetration, high internet speed, and universal coverage. It’s no wonder back in 2012 HBO chose the Nordics to test their first ever standalone video streaming service. Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark have some of the highest percentages of households …

How Spain dodged the Facebook algorithm changes

In July we reported on how Facebook algorithm changes affected Nordic media publishers. SocialFlow had previously analysed the impact of the changes in the USA. They reported a worrisome 42% drop off in news publishers’ Facebook reach in the US. Our main takeaway was that Nordic news publishers got off quite lightly – except Norway who was affected to the same degree …

How worried should publishers be about the latest Facebook algorithm change?

Yesterday Facebook announced an upcoming change to News Feed ranking that essentially further prioritises stories posted by friends over ones posted by anyone else – including publishers and brands. Engineering Director Lars Backstrom reiterates Facebook’s priority of keeping users connected to the people, places and things they care about, people on their friends list being the most important. …

Facebook News Feed Changes And How They Affect You

A couple days ago, Facebook announced the latest changes to its ever-evolving News Feed. Most importantly, the News Feed algorithm will now put a greater emphasis on time spent reading an article. Whether it’s an Instant Article or a click-through does not matter. Average time spent in an article is a key metric in newsroom analytics.   I liked what …

Facebook Instant Articles now available to all publishers

Cashing in a promise made in February, Facebook has opened up its Instant Articles platform to all publishers. The release coincides with Facebook’s annual F8 conference, held in San Francisco this week. As part of an ideal of enabling users to take care of business without leaving Facebook, Instant Articles provide Facebook mobile users with fast-loading, sleek, mobile-optimized versions …