Tasked with sharing the news on Jürgen Klopp’s departure from Borussia Dortmund, Ben Bloom’s live coverage shifts from excitement into a state of bewilderment as he shares:
“Right we have a slight issue… they are speaking in German and my GCSE in the subject isn’t much help.“
2 minutes later, and increasingly unnerved, Bloom posts “Why can’t I speak German???????”
All the while I’m giggling to myself, I can’t help thinking that this has got to be pre-planned; a deliberate attempt by The Telegraph to deliver News from a different angle to engage a new, younger audience hell-bent on instant gratification and social validation.
A change in content style
What happened to Bloom was completely unexpected for him (apparently!) and for the reader, however, the blogging style and informality of the content is becoming all too familiar. Traditional methods of organised and formal journalism, although still very popular, are having to contend with short form digital content which also has the potential advantage of going viral.
This change in journalism can be marked clearly by (love it or hate it) The Daily Mail Online, who have fast become one of the industry leaders, seeing on average 55.8 million global visitors every month. This can be attributed to its easily accessible content and attractive images, all of which are completely shareable across social channels.
Perhaps an even better example of how content can be delivered is from social news and entertainment company, Buzzfeed. Ben Bloom’s live-blog instantly reminded me of a Buzzfeed article; a bit like the ones titled ‘50 things I thought when…’, know the ones I mean? With a global audience of more than 200 million, Buzzfeed is redefining the way we share, engage and interact with content across digital platforms.
Content topics range from breaking news to entertainment, written in a variety of short formats including lists, quizzes and videos. Designed to enhance engagement with the social media generation, Buzzfeed categorise their content into the following titles; cute, LOL, omg, fail, trashy, wtf, win and trending. This appeals directly to a younger audience as well as helping readers to obtain information quickly and with a positive user experience. Buzzfeed also provide their users with the option to have their say in what category articles should belong, aimed to encourage user interaction.
The website receives over 44 million views a month and its easy to see why; Buzzfeed’s informal and fun techniques are what is successfully capturing the attention of the socially savvy.
Another statistic to bear in mind is one that shows there are 3.6 billion unique mobile users, just under half of the global population. Combining this with the rising popularity of more mobile-orientated services such as Whatsapp, Snapchat and Timehop, means the pressure is really on for publishers to ensure their content is available to read and share on the move.
The Telegraph – was there method in the madness?
The Telegraph are following suit by producing content which is entertaining and, just like Buzzfeed articles, they have delivered a sports report made up of snack-size pieces of content that can be easily digested with little or no effort. Most importantly, it was highly shareable, the most prized word in Internet virality these days!
If we take an in depth look at some of The Telegraph’s behaviour in recent years, a trend starts to appear. They have been experimenting with new initiatives, Project Babb being the most successful of these. Armed with this, we begin to see Bloom’s fail in a completely different, more pragmatic light.
For those of you who don’t know, Project Babb is The Telegraph’s experimental micro-site. Initially introduced to engage a new, socially savvy audience during the 2014 World Cup, Babb has become a permanent feature on the sports section of the website after being met with such great positivity.
With its emphasis on ‘pro-fun, pro-laughter and pro-joy’, Babb was designed to break down the barriers and communicate directly to a wider audience, outside of their traditionally middle class, middle aged readership, through social, shareable means. Bloom’s recent report certainly reflects this objective, with content rather than format leading the way.
The Telegraph are clearly adapting well to the digital shift and what I think we have here is a deliberate attempt to bring this new informal method of communication into another section of their publication.
What we think the live-blog fail really means…
Here’s my point: call me a cynic but I think Bloom’s funny fail was preempted. Why? Because amongst the hilarity of confused questions and attempts at recognising GCSE German words, Bloom does actually provide his audience with the fundamentals of conference, but sneakily done in and amongst an engaging stream of English thoughts, written in an attractive, shareable form.
“Someone that speaks German has actually done some proper translating! Praise the lord. Right I’m going to pass this off as my own and hope no one notices.
Klopp: “I always said in that moment where I believe I am not the perfect coach anymore for this extraordinary club, I will say so.
“I believe this is the right decision at the right time.
“I have not had any contact with any other clubs, nor have I any plans to take a sabbatical.”
He also throws in a few ‘educated’ predictions which to me, gives us a little reminder of his credibility and sporting knowledge.
Above all, when we look over the recent developments made by The Telegraph to connect with a different audience on a social platform, Bloom’s piece doesn’t seem so random; this and Project Babb are well aligned with Buzzfeed’s easily-absorbed content style, with a focus on ‘anti-dullness’ and comedy.
Regardless of whether or not Bloom’s language barrier was a mishap, the article certainly was a success because sure enough, we all seem know what happened at the Borussia Dortmund press conference, but most importantly because The Telegraph certainly seem to be on their way to extending their readership and reaching a wider, more socially engaged audience.
