I have a new journalistic mission — storytelling in a mobile world. Sometimes, it takes me back to my first stint at FORBES. In 1999, right before leaving for AOL, I guided the redesign of our magazine. FORBES had been stuck in a text-heavy mindset for years. It was an easy way to fill hundreds of edit pages every issue (ah, for the good old days) and make reporters happy by publishing their words. My goal back then: visual entry points on as many pages as possible — digestible stuff to scan and absorb (see below). Surprise, surprise. In a mobile universe, we’re once again playing with entry points — cards, blocks, call them what you want. Different era, same goal: deliver all kinds of information, the fewer the words the better. This time, instead of standalone items, we’re treating entry points as integral to the flow and structure of a new kind of narrative format for mobile-only consumers.
Mobile-specific formats require mobile-specific content to be most effective. It’s a far cry from squeezing 800-to-1,000-word stories, a newspaper-to-print-to-desktop paradigm, into smaller device screens. In newspaper lingo, stories are built as inverted pyramids — lots of info in the first paragraph, with subsequent paragraphs offering detail after detail. Magazines typically work a different model. A paragraph opens with a flashy sentence, with subsequent sentences providing clarity. The last sentence in a paragraph delivers a kicker to propel readers to the next paragraph. News narratives like these won’t vanish, but something is needed for a generation that prefers tapping over scrolling.

from Forbes – Tech http://ift.tt/1O2Csom
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