Rock on & see you in Austin!
Lina

ROCKS REPORT

 #all-social 

• In the last two weeks we discussed one of our all time favourite topics: Who will win - Instagram Stories or Snapchat? A potential decrease of Snapchat views was the basis of the debate, but we still don’t know, if it was because of the loss of autoplay or really because of Instagram’s strength. Well, we did not decide, but maybe you can share your opinion?
• Our second discussion was about the potential of LinkedIn - thanks again to Henrik Ståhl for starting it. I would like to know: How do you use LinkedIn personally and for your company? Is it more important than Facebook or Twitter?

Channel Rockstar: @marcbiskup. Check out the channel for more or contact Marc for questions.

 #audience-development 

• What’s the mechanism behind iOS’ Spotlight Suggestions, @javier_vazquez asks. It does neither seem to contain SEO-optimized nor very breaking or even personalized (at least in Switzerland) news. If you have a clue, please share ...

Channel Rockstar: @mario Check out the channel for more or contact Mario for questions.

 #audio 

• So, please, give the „Check Your Facts“ podcast a very warm welcome by subscribing via iTunes, visiting the website, following the Twitter account, subscribing to the newsletter and, of course, listining to the show.
• The podcast is supposed to be „about journalism, by journalists, for everyone.“ The two want to „strive for clarity in a world rattled by Brexits and Trumps“ and „dig into the emotions tied to the significant moments.“ Or, as David says in the teaser episode: “It’s gonna be a hell of a journey.”
• The first episode of the podcast will also feature a guest you are all familiar with: Lina Timm – our „commander-in-chief“.

Channel Rockstar: @kollege. Check out the channel for more or contact Marc for questions.

 #ddj-dataviz 

Get some news from the Nordic Data Journalism Conference

• @mirkolorenz shared his presentation on data-driven journalism from the Nordic Data Journalism Conference that took place end of January: bit.ly/2krMTsX

Channel Rockstar: @dorien_luyckx. Check out the channel for more or contact Dorien for questions.

 #facebook 

• @dorien_luyckx stumbled upon an interesting live video by The Guardian: a countdown of CO2-emission.
• And as @mattnavarra mentioned, Facebook’s rules for ‘Reactions' being used in polls on Facebook Live have been tweaked. Guess what, polling using reactions is not forbidden anymore.

Channel Rockstar: @davidtvrdon. Check out the channel for more or contact David for questions.

 #mobile-reporting 

• Google News Lab’s plans to launch four drone journalism camps across the US together with Poynter Institute, Drone Journalism Lab, and DJI sparked a channel discussion on drones. @linatimm, @javier_vazquez and @carlosalonso are skeptical about the whole thing, while @johanneskliengebiel, @tilman, @dorien_luyckx, @sashask, and @henrik.stahl are more optimistic. @tilman has even started a research project on drone usage for journalism!

• Also, @sashak and The Guardian’s Mobile Innovation Lab are looking for recent examples of pieces geared to mobile. @linatimm and @martinhoffmann offered some really interesting suggestions. Do you have something to add? Just dive into the (threaded) discussion!

Channel Rockstar: @henrik.stahl. Check out the channel for more or contact Henrik for questions.

 #monetization 

• @sebastianesser introduced Steady, a DNI funded platform which is“Patreon for journalists, bloggers, podcasters and other content creators.” Give them your feedback!
• At @excinit highlighted that ad blocking has migrated to mobile (because making money off of content isn’t quite challenging enough), but surprisingly, with the majority in Asia, rather than Europe or North America.  

Channel Rockstar: @farahcolette. Check out the channel for more or contact Farah for questions.

 #startups 

• Sad news: media startup Odyssey laid off 55 people, as pointed out by @henrik.stahl
• Third round for the Google DNI Fund starting soon: Projects with a potential impact on the European news ecosystem can apply. Applications open on March 7.  

Channel Rockstar: @jankoenig. Check out the channel for more or contact Jan for questions.

 #storytelling 

• @geisenhanslueke’s storytelling platform is finally online – and they started off with the multimedia special Behind Closed Doors. You should check it out. If you know German… ;’(

• During a spying mission in the News Nerdery community, @henrik.stahl came across the newsletter Best of Interactives.

• What we are reading: The FBI’s Secret Rules (The Intercept), You Draw It: What Got Better or Worse During Obama’s Presidency (NY Times), Auf der Suche nach der deutschen Einheit (Berliner Morgenpost).

Channel Rockstar: @henrik.stahl. Check out the channel for more or contact Henrik for questions.

 #tooltime 

• Already started before January 29th, we had a little discussion on the usefulness of Trello over Jira, started by Henrik based on the acquisition of Trello by Atlassian. While Henrik was in favor of Jira (for his work), Natasha put her foot down for Trello. What are you thoughts on this?

• We also discussed Dropbox’s new product “paper”, that came out of beta last week. While everyone (involved) seemed to like the design, we did bump into a few restrictions by our employees, best put in writing by Mr. tin-foil hat Maxi as well as user habits (“[With Google’s] document overview [...], I just couldn’t justify using anything else”)

• There are two more threads, that are still awaiting comments, one by Jon on Editorial Analytics and another one by Johannes on a new Newsletter discovery plattform. Feel free to stop by and let us know what you think.

   

Channel Rockstar: @tilman. Check out the channel for more or contact Tilman for questions.

 GIF of the week 

We all need some good GIFs now and then. And a new channel Rockstar for #catcontent.