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Hi everyone,

wow, that was fantastic! 🤠 🙌 We had our very first meetup yesterday at SXSW in Austin, Texas! I was so excited to finally meet some of you. We had a terrific lunch, awesome DJR cupcakes and the most fabulous DJR people in the German Haus!

Thanks to everyone who joined us and thanks to our partners Invest in Bavaria, NewsWhip, Edenspiekermann, Google Digital News Initiative, Journalism.co.uk and the Global Editors Network for making this possible! 🙏

In this newsletter I put some photos shot by the wonderful Dan Taylor (and me... the crappy ones are from me) for all of you who were (or weren't) there.

Oh, and: I will be in Perugia for the International Journalism Festival around April 6th. Who of you would like to meet there? Head over to #headquarter and tell me, so I can work something out!

Now rock on, have fun with this newsletter and read you in Slack (well, at least once I've recovered from my SXSW party hangover...)! 🙌

Lina

ROCKS REPORT

#all-social

New Report on What's Working for Publishers on Social Platforms

You have all heard about Newswhip, right? In the Digital Journalism Rocks community there is also Newswhip’s very own Liam Corcoran who shares some insights. He told us that Newswhip published their Three years of Social Data report with findings on what's working for publishers on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and more today. If you are working with any of these platforms, feel free to read the fantastic report for free.

Channel Rockstar: @marcbiskup. Any questions? Shoot Marc a message!

#audience-development

Legal Walls in Journalism and why they are not going to work

We’re continuing our discussion about commenting online this week based on the idea to answer a quiz before being allowed to comment. Interested? Read about it here and comment on it here.
@maxieq shared some thoughts on legal walls in journalism and why they are (not) going to work the way some publishers want them to work. Read and discuss!

Channel Rockstar: @mario. Any questions? Shoot Mario a message!

#audio

Which One is the Best Podcasting App?

I am quite sure that many of you have already subscribed to DJR’s based Check you facts podcast. If not, then do so right away. Since last time Henrik and Dávid published two great new episodes. One about mobile innovation and mobile apps featuring The Guardian’s Sasha Koren. Last week’s episode is about newsletters, guest is DJR’s #newsletter rockstar @nikkyhofland. Make sure to check them out - and check your facts ;)
There was a poll about the question, what podcast apps are used by the DJR members. It turns out that there is no killer app, but iTunes (iOS) and Pocket Casts (Android) were the top mentioned answers.
And what about that? Anchor got a huge update. It is like Snapchat but for audio. The iOS app has even more features than the Android app (yet). If you like snackable audio podcast-like bits, make sure to check out Anchor 2.0.
Guess what: Google Play Music started its very first original podcast. So maybe some of the Android podcast freaks out there start using Google Play Music as their regular podcast app.

Channel Rockstar: @kollege. This week: @marcbiskup. Any questions? Shoot Marc a message!

#design

Medium now got Stories. Not the Old Type of Stories. But Those Snapchatty Instagramming Stories

Medium published their new Story-feature, which looks like Snapchats infamous stories, but has a couple of different functions. Especially, when it comes to text.
Also @henrik.stahl shared an article on best practices of release note writing. Yes, write better release notes, folks!

Channel Rockstar: @johannesklingebiel. Any questions? Shoot Johannes a message!

#facebook

Facebook Goes into Machine Learning

If you haven’t read yet the very long and very nerdy piece on Facebook’s machine learning efforts, do not miss it.
Also do not miss this unbelievable story, where BBC tracked child porn on FB and after sending the photos, as requested, to FB, FB reported the BBC to police.
Lina wondered, how do you deal with fact checking on Facebook in your country. @kollege pointed out, that Facebook in the US started to flag fabricated stories as "disputed". It took 5 to 6 days to flag a story on Facebook that even the source itself flagged as false ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And @henrik.stahl shared FB is testing a second news feed in the mobile app that would appear under a new "Explore" tab, and include photos, videos and articles geared toward the users' interests. Plus Matt specified the tab is going to have a rocket as an icon.
Finally, FB is testing Reactions and a Dislike button in Messenger.

Channel Rockstar: @davidtvrdon. Any questions? Shoot David a message!

#messaging_bots

Here is a Conversational Story Format That Works Without a Chatbot App

The one link you have to check this week is the conversational article by Typeform which was first brought up by @johannesklingebiel. It basically is a classic text with some conversational elements that try to enrich the story. A really cool form of storytelling! Also there have been good news for the messaging world lately: After WhatsApp announced plans to launch WhatsApp for Business in India soon, Facebook itself finally introduced the possibility to completely deactivate the freeform text input field on any bot with the latest update on its Messenger platform.

In other news:

Tilman noticed the new “feed” item in the options menu of Purple’s Messenger bot.
The BBC launched a quiz bot for its World Service.
The New Yorker launched a poetry bot.

Channel Rockstar: @martinhoffmann. Any questions? Shoot Martin a message!

#mobile-reporting

Have a Look at this Journalistic Spectacle Story from one of our Members!

@yusufomar did an engaging video from the Stockholm suburb Rinkeby, Sweden, which he shared in the #snapchat channel since he used the Snap Spectacles during the recording. It’s really impressive, and it's just one example of Yusuf doing some great mobile reporting. Have you seen the video? If not – you should. It’s inspiring!

Channel Rockstar: @henrik.stahl. Any questions? Shoot Henrik a message!

#newsletter

We now have a Newsletter Channel! 🙌 💌

As this was the first week of the #newsletter channel we shared our favorite newsletters. We also discussed why newsletters are so often used by journalists currently. @johannesklingebiel is a big fan as he can send his content directly to his readers, without having to deal with third parties. I shared a report that showed that the spotlight is indeed shifting. Journalists engage heavily with readers directly, who in turn are more likely to follow the journalist rather than the publications. @martinhoffmann stated that without the mobile revolution there wouldn’t be a newsletter comeback.
Also make sure to check the Check Your Facts podcast from @davidtvrdon and @henrik.stahl where they introduced the #newsletter channel and had a great time geeking out about the wonderful topic of newsletters.

Channel Rockstar: @nikkyhofland. Any questions? Shoot Nikky a message!

#snapchat

Should Snap buy Twitter with all this Money they got from the IPO?

A lot of discussions happening in the Snapchat channel. After Snap’s IPO, many are left wondering what this will mean for Snapchat. Some analysts suggest Snap will be finished by the end of the year, others fear Snapchat might lose its authenticity. or that the company should buy Twitter with all the money they’ve collected.
On the other end, Spectacles are finally reaching audiences outside of the US, even though they are still only available in the US. Selfiejournalist @yusufomar has been using them for a story in the Stockholm suburb Rinkeby, Sweden.

Channel Rockstar: @dorien_luyckx Any questions? Shoot Dorien a message!

#sta rtups

Meet the Newspaper that did too well to be shut down

@farahcolette shared the story of a print startup that’s apparently doing pretty well: This anti-Brexit newspaper first launched as a pop-up, but it’s doing well enough to continue indefinitely
@valeriobassan shared an interesting report from the Knight Foundation about their Prototype Fund. You can download the PDF here. Also, look out for a new call for projects sometime in March, with the focus on misinformation and fact checking.

Channel Rockstar: @jankoenig. Any questions? Shoot Jan a message!

#storytelling

Info Cards. Your Thoughts on them?

@farahcolette shared Axio’s What you need to know about the right-wing movement consuming Europe, presented in 12 simple info cards. “Super simple, but really effective,” Farah says. @davidtvrdon and @sashak like the general idea, but Dávid wants the ability to share a separate card, and Sasha thinks the design of the cards is uninviting. What are your thoughts on this matter?
@subhajitbanerjee came across the surprisingly good native articles on Washington Post, 1983: The most dangerous year.
Also, @kolja.langnese shared The Atlantic’s How Will History Remember Your Lifetime? and @davidtvrdon shared Al Jazeera’s Want to understand the media better? Media Theorised.

Channel Rockstar: @henrik.stahl. Any questions? Shoot Henrik a message!

#tooltime

How Do You Get Through Your Reading List?

Our main discussion since the last update is best described in Lina’s words: ”What do you guys do when you encounter articles you really_want to read but don't have the time to do so now”? - kicked off by the announcement that Pocket was becoming an integral part of the Mozilla Foundation. Among the many suggestions were:

Pocket (e.g. by Henrik, Nallur, Adam and others) - for storing articles, but still being overwhelmed by the amount, leaving lots of stuff unread. IFTTT might help solve that issue.
Simply more planning - and putting out a newsletter (Johannes K.).
Using tab snooze until it annoys the heck out of you (Simon).
Sticking to where you get most your articles: Facebook. (David T.)
It’s worth looking into the different threads on this, or - if time matters - you can read through the wrap up I wrote, that includes even more suggestions like refind & unhoard (Martin H).

We started off a second discussion on verification automation. Max Q. is planning to develop a tool for that. We already had some suggestions on this, plus looking at similar initiatives, but are happy to hear more!

Channel Rockstar: @tilman. Any questions? Shoot Tilman a message!

#video

We Need Better Rewards for Online Courses

If you’ve ever wondered how to make @marcbiskup and @tilman attend an online course on immersive storytelling, we have the answer for ya! One of them wants a LinkedIn Pro account for free, and the other demands a free SecondLife Pro account. Want to know who wants what? Go to #video and find out! ;)

Channel Rockstar: @henrik.stahl. Any questions? Shoot Henrik a message!

#vr-ar

Is Apple Working on AR Features?

Apple seems to be working on AR-features for its next iteration of iOS. Keep an eye on that! (Thanks, @henrik.stahl)
Also there is an Buzzfeed video about room-scale VR-painting, if you don‘t want to do any work at the moment ;)
CNN also invested heavily in 360° and VR by launching a dedicated news plattform. (Thanks, @subhajitbanerjee)
Speaking of platforms: Vimeo also launched 360°-support and Playstation VR gets some sweet upgrades. Nice!
Also @tilman mentioned a challenge by the KinghtFoundation for people, who are interested in working on VR/AR/360°. You can apply here.

Channel Rockstar: @johannesklingebiel. Any questions? Shoot Johannes a message!

GIF of the week

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Carefully selected by @marcbiskup.

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OUR ROCKSTARS

I couldn't do this newsletter alone. These people contributed moderate their channels and sum up the discussion every second week just so you can keep up with everything. Thanks so much, guys and girls!

@marcbiskup, @mario, @kollege, @dorien_luyckx, @johannesklingebiel, @davidtvrdon, @martinhoffmann, @henrik.stahl, @farahcolette, @nikkyhofland, @jankoenig and @tilman.

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