Mobile messaging service Snapchat unveiled Snapchat Discover yesterday, a new portal feature that includes articles, music and other media content from 11 new partners such as CNN, Comedy Central, Cosmopolitan, ESPN, National Geographic, Vice and Warner Music. Full-screen video ads from leading brands will run with the content; a portion of the ad revenue will be shared with publishers. In contrast to the user-shared media currently prevalent on Facebook and Twitter, Snapchat will reportedly maintain tighter control over its content. Continue reading Snapchat Discover Aims to Become Internet Portal for Mobile

According to a new Pew Research study, American adults are increasing their use of traditional social networks, while teens are spending more time with messaging services such as Snapchat. Facebook use has leveled off, but Pew points to increases in the use of Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Twitter. Pew found that adult Facebook users log in at least once per day, while almost half of Instagram users visit daily, and 36 percent of Twitter users visit daily (a drop from 46 percent in 2013, which Twitter refutes). Continue reading Pew Research Study Says U.S. Adults Using More Social Media

The latest software update to Amazon’s Kindle Fire will bring the new Washington Post app to users for free. The ready to read app features the latest news with various articles, images and advertisements. The app was designed with significant contributions from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who purchased the news source last year for $250 million. The release of the app on the Kindle marks the first formal collaborative effort between The Post and its parent company Amazon.  Continue reading Kindle Software Update Comes with Free Washington Post App

Snapchat is in talks with Buzzfeed, ESPN, CNN, Vevo and others to help launch a new feature for its popular app that offers a much wider variety of content than friends’ selfies. These media companies will produce articles, music and video for the upcoming “Discover” section of the Snapchat app, making it more of an all-inclusive media consumption app. No date has been announced regarding when the “Discover” section will make its debut on the popular photo- and video-messaging app. Continue reading Snapchat Teams with Major Media Companies on New Feature

CBS announced yesterday that it would likely offer programming from premium cabler Showtime via a streaming service for viewers who do not pay for TV subscriptions. The move follows the launch of a service for the CBS broadcast network and news of HBO’s standalone service. Meanwhile, CBS News is expected to announce a video streaming service today. CBSN will reportedly be distributed via broadband as an effort to attract viewers who are increasingly turning to social media and mobile devices for their news. Continue reading CBS to Offer Showtime and CBS News as Streaming Services

“WSJ: Interactive” — now available on desktops, tablets and newer Android devices — is a video series produced by the editorial staff of The Wall Street Journal. Powered by TouchCast technology, the series delivers breaking and trending news while integrating the interactivity of the Web into its videos. TouchCast enables viewers to take a more active role in consuming content by flowing between interactive on-screen graphics involving multimedia and websites while remaining within the primary video experience. Continue reading The Wall Street Journal Launches Interactive Video Series

Facebook, which reaches around 1.3 billion people monthly, currently makes up 20 percent of traffic to news sites. The social media platform provides around 30 percent of U.S. adults with news, acting as the leading news source for many consumers. Facebook, which sees itself as a personalized newspaper, is hoping to lead the change in how readers consume journalism. The company, along with other social media sites, could potentially control the future of certain news sites. Continue reading Social Trend: Facebook Changing the Direction of Journalism?

Deezer, one of the most comprehensive music streaming services, operates in more than 180 countries with an active user base of around 16 million. Deezer has yet to launch in the U.S., but its arrival is expected soon. When it does, the streaming service will feature podcast support, now that Deezer has acquired podcast and talk radio platform Stitcher, which currently carries 35,000+ shows from ABC News, AP Radio, BBC, CBS Sports, KROQ, MSNBC, NPR, PBS, TED, WNYC and many others. Continue reading Deezer Plans to Add Podcast Support with Stitcher Acquisition

The CNNgo app for tablets and desktops may just be what the future of television will look like. The app opens automatically to a live feed of the current show airing on CNN, and along the bottom, viewers can browse video, text, tweets, and photos related to the live programming. Another menu shows segments about different topics from the past couple of hours or days. The app abandons the traditional linear and often problematic model of consuming television news. Continue reading CNN App Combines VOD and Live TV on One Second Screen

Dataminr is a software tool that can find patterns in the millions of tweets posted every day to help news organizations spot leads for breaking news. CNN, BBC, and Gannett had already been testing Dataminr before the software was officially released on Tuesday. The new “Dataminr for News” includes a new mobile app, which will send alerts to notify journalists of developing stories. Dataminr is one of several technologies that media companies are using to mine social media. Continue reading New Software Can Detect Breaking News Leads on Social Media

The Des Moines Register, which reaches 420,000 readers, has launched a virtual reality story to examine how the demographic and economic changes in Iowa are affecting one farming family. The readers of the paper can step into the Dammann family farm and click on objects to learn about how different issues impact Iowa residents. Only 125,000 Oculus Rift headsets are in circulation, but this story may be one of the first steps toward integrating VR into journalism. Continue reading Iowa Newspaper Uses Oculus Rift for ‘Explanatory’ Journalism

Social network Facebook is making changes to its algorithm that determines what stories show up in its users’ News Feeds. The update will give major news events like the Ferguson riots more priority, so that people can share and discuss these stories as they unfold. Facebook has also been able to convince advertisers to spend on high user engagement. An eMarketer report shows marketers’ digital ad spending share is higher than the share of time people actually spend on Facebook. Continue reading Facebook Updates News Feed to Include More Current Events

About 14 percent of Twitter’s 271 million users do not log in directly to the mobile app or website, where Twitter features its ads. These 37.9 million consumers instead access Twitter content through third-party apps such as Flipboard, Instagram, Foursquare or various news sources. When Twitter filed its IPO last year, the company projected that the number of people accessing via third-party apps would decline. However, growth of the third-party app population has doubled since then. Continue reading Nearly 40 Million Twitter Users Do Not See Ads on Site or App

Swedish startup Newstag has developed a compelling revenue-sharing approach that it hopes will solve the “broken economic model” of today’s news dissemination and consumption. Newstag plans to help professional news organizations, brands, NGOs and general consumers make money from news when it launches its service commercially in September. According to journalist and ETCentric contributor Adrian Pennington, the company recently announced $1.3 million in seed funding. Continue reading Newstag Slated to Launch Crowd-Curated Video News Service

While the FIFA World Cup continues to break viewing records around the globe, a new record was set during Germany’s stunning 7-1 victory over Brazil in the semifinals. The match marked the most Twitter activity around a single sports event ever, easily surpassing this year’s Super Bowl. At 24.9 million tweets, February’s Super Bowl between the Seahawks and the Broncos set the previous Twitter record, while Tuesday night’s World Cup semifinal generated 35.6 million tweets during the match. Continue reading FIFA World Cup Sets TV Viewing and Social Media Records