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Story, Snapchat’s Signature Format, Has Totally Conquered Mobile

The Washington Post recently posted a documentary-style mobile video series entitled "Our journey to the front lines of the fight against ISIS."

Rather than the words-in-columns-and-a-same-old-photo slideshow, the series is a VR-style experience with photos by Alice Martin that operate much like the New York Times' VR app, where you tilt your phone to look around a lively street scene in the Syrian town of Tal Abyad.

"The only way in and out of the enclave controlled by Syria's Kurds is on a rusty iron boat that ferries passengers across the Tigris River from Iraq," writes Liz Sly, who traveled through Syria last year with Martin. "Alice and I boarded one of those boats to head for the front lines in the fight against the Islamic State."

This is not another YouTube video, or even another Facebook video. It is one of the first stories in Medium's new mobile video addition, the "Series." Much like Snapchat Stories, the Medium app now has a "new type of story," mobile stories that records short clips that can be grouped together to tap through. Apparently, "it's a new way to tell deeper, more meaningful stories that develop over time," writes Katie Zhu, a product manager at Medium who announced the new Series in a blog post last week.

Back in the desktop days, and carrying over into the mobile era, the dominant format was the feed: Facebook News Feed, Twitter, even Instagram's news feed. But after the success of Snapchat Stories in 2013, followed by Instagram stories, WhatsApp status updates and now, Medium's series, the "story" has become the fresh, new formula and the feed is feeling old. Even Messenger, Facebook's popular messaging service, has aped some of Snapchat's DNA in its latest update this week.

"All of the platforms are playing a game of 'Follow the Leader' to stay relevant and align with how media is being consumed today," Ryan Detert, the CEO at Influential, a marketing company for social media influencers. "It's the most popular way to share real-time dynamic content. And financially, it allows platforms to place more ad units in between content at higher CPMs [cost per thousand, a common measurement for ad rates] with interactivity."

Everyone becomes the main character in their own story.

Medium's Series offers push notifications that alert followers new stories have been added, much like Facebook Live or Instagram live and they don't expire. Series is not on the Medium website when accessed on a laptop, so it's a strictly mobile experience. But isn't that a bit weird?

"It's a natural evolution, as the screen changes and as the over-share generation gets older with better video tools, everyone becomes the main character in their own story," said Detert. "The story is more personal and creative; it gives you a glimpse into someone's life."

But while individuals may use the story in more of a personal way, brands will emulate that approach to get a larger audience or sell products. Medium's series is a brand-building tactic that allows businesses to use storytelling to get more customers. Mobile video is a way to seal the deal.

"I always tell my clients to make their posts more personal and geared towards your personality and point of view," saidRavi Shukle, a social media expert based in London. "This makes it a lot easier for fans to build that emotional connection which leads to more engagement and trust."

Mobile video is the ideal way to make a soft sales pitch, so the story could soon be a way to get more paid subscribers, like the Washington Post's introductory post on Medium, for example, and connect with potential customers. But it doesn't come without legwork.

"The reason it's important to clarify your message is so your audience knows your view on a particular topic or industry," said Shukle. "Your customers don't relate with the individual, they relate to the shared thought process. This is why when you see a puppy video on Facebook it gets a lot of shares. It's not the actual puppy that we like, it's the fact we all think it looks cute."

from Story, Snapchat’s Signature Format, Has Totally Conquered Mobile

How Snapchat Became More Important Than TV to Its Young User Base

"I took Plan B before sex because I think ahead," said comedian Amy Schumer. "Plan A, that's how I used it. They said I'd be nauseous; I went to yoga and felt fine. I wonder if the class knew I was aborting."

Snapchat, where I first saw this video clip, is the video app that offers distraction after distraction. The addictive app is flooded with teenagers, has caused car accidents, made DJ Khaled famous and is now becoming the side dish of TV programming—that's to say, if TV programming is your meat, this mobile mainstay is definitely your potatoes. More and more TV outlets are taking original video onto the world's fastest growing app, proving it's becoming the hottest place for new content. It's the new mobile TV, especially for established media brands that need a new lease with millennials.

"Fifty years ago, it would have been hard to believe people have little TVs in their pocket," said Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel in a scripted ad sales spiel, but that's not where it ends.

"I fully believe that Snapchat's main goal is to be a complete television provider that fits in your pocket," said Snapchat expert Mark Kaye. "The way they have started producing and distributing content is very similar to traditional TV networks and most of their content partners are television networks that are looking to remain relevant and grow a younger audience."

Comedy Central has nine new series on the app, including "Quickie with Nikki," a sex talk show with comedian Nikki Glaser. Her weekly Snapchat segment is complementary to her TV show "Not Safe with Nikki Glaser," where she asked her dad if he's ever had anal sex.

These minute-long shows are short for a reason. "Fans are on the go on their phone and expect videos to be a bit more snackable—quicker, more aha, less serious," said Deb Puchalla, vice president of content development for Food Network.

"We tend to be looser and as a result, there is a casualness and wit to our digital video that resonates."

Puchalla recently launched a Snapchat series on health and wellness tips called "Feel Good with Hannah" hosted by Hannah Bronfman, co-founder of the beauty app Beautified. They've also launched "Budget Bytes," a show about money-saving meals hosted by cookbook author Beth Moncel, who finds penny-pinching recipes for leftover stuffing muffins.

It's a huge step for Snapchat, an ephemeral messaging app that deletes all its content every 24 hours. Co-founded in 2011 by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown at Stanford University, it has grown to be one of the biggest social media apps with 100 million daily users, 8 billion daily video views and over 70 percent of users being under 34—reaching the prime demographic that is watching less TV and streaming more on their phones.

Aside from sharing video and photo snaps to a personalized set of contacts, the app has a "Discover" section featuring exclusive content by their 19 media partners, earlier this month Entertainment Weekly and Essence were added to the mix.

Since January 2015, brands like MTV, The Wall Street Journal and VICE offer daily stories on the platform which over 70 million view monthly, making it an exclusive club for millennial-savvy media elite.

Those TV dollars, you ask? Advertisers love that Snapchat casts a wider reach of younger audience than TV networks. According to a Nielsen study, Snapchat reaches 41 percent of all 18 to 34-year-olds living in the US, which is far more than the top 15 American TV networks that reach only 6 percent of that demographic.

"When we talk to publishers, many of them point to their Snapchat channel as one of their top media assets," said Ryan McConville, chief operating officer and president of mobile advertising agency Kargo. "That said, most people probably still go to Snapchat for content produced by their peers, then once they're there, consume publisher content."

A Snapchat representative declined to comment about how much each media partner pays for a prime spot on the app, but some say the media partners sell the ads for Snapchat who take a 30 percent cut with ads coming from Snapchat being 50-50.

"The Snapchat revenue model is very similar to traditional broadcasting, they get a whole bunch of eyes looking at a series of snaps, sneak in an ad and charge the advertising based on the number of views," said Kaye.

It's a mystery as to how many people watch each channel's clips, as there is no view count and their media partners are not allowed to share numbers because of a non-disclosure agreement. But some millennials say the worst brands for speaking to a young audience are National Geographic and ESPN, while one survey shows the most popular channels are Buzzfeed and Comedy Central.

"We have to stop thinking about TV in the way we have done for decades," said McConville. "The video we used to watch was television programming in 30 or 60 minute episodes, today the majority of video we consume might be video in 10 to 30-second bursts. Snapchat is a new TV in your pocket, but for many younger users, it is the TV of choice."

from How Snapchat Became More Important Than TV to Its Young User Base

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