The newspaper extinction of the past few years primarily affected numerous local newsrooms and organisations. There are already many regions in the USA without their own regional newspaper. A trend that threatens to continue in Europe. But new ideas, ventures and also the existing market participants are now doing a lot to counter the negative trend: between nonprofit journalism, small newsrooms, membership models and regional digital-only startups, a lot is happening in the area of ​​local news. Probably just a start with more to come. And we think that’s a good thing!

Today, news are primarily consumed on the go. The smartphone is the number one device to follow what is important. There is hardly a successful paid content strategy of a major news brand that does not include an own mobile premium app. Having your own mobile real estate is a central component of a strategy that puts a focus on owning and monetizing direct user relationships, which publishers don´t own on third party platforms.

However, many fear the costs associated with developing their own mobile apps. This is where tchop comes into play with a full end-to-end solution that also allows newsrooms and teams of any size to expand their own product portfolio with real apps without a big operational and financial risk. And to benefit from a continuous improvement process that not even large publishers can otherwise afford.

But tchop is much more than a simple news app framework. Our platform combines editorial news with community features such as comments, likes and a secure real time chat. We believe that journalism needs to not only enable, but also host conversations on owned platforms, on their own websites and also apps. Controlling the direct customer relationship is what counts in the digital world.

Merging content and community in one product results in a lot of exciting possibilities — especially in the area of ​​local news communities. So we though, why not write down a few ideas. Though we bet, there are many more.

A place for really all the news and content

tchop is not just an app-as-a-service framework, but above all a powerful content curation platform that allows content from different sources to be combined in an exciting, mobile feed — curated automatically or manually. With classic content management systems, the integration of multiple digital sources and streams is often time-consuming and complicated. At tchop, this is made easy and efficient with just a few clicks.

As a rule, your own editorial resources are limited and you already have your hands full with the existing channels. Curating existing content is therefore often an effective way to deliver a highly topical news with limited resources. tchop combines automatic content integration with manual curation. On any device, simple and efficient, no matter where you are. With just a few clicks, interesting links and content can be created, edited and published.

Our idea: the simplicity of social media paired with the control and quality of editorial content

Every major city or region has its own local blog, twitter influencer, youtube star or multiple small business producing content. There are reports from the police or the official announcement of the city or local companies and personalities. Sometimes there are even interesting podcasts or newsletters. There is rarely a lack of content — but often a lack of quality and context.

With the integrations (details here) from tchop, content of any kind can be efficiently aggregated and curated. Create a place where users can find all relevant, hyperlocal content — with minimal resources!

One channel for every area, district or neighbourhood

Hyperlocal content and news thrive on proximity and relevance. This usually arises in a trulx hyperlocal context, i.e. not in the entire city area, but in individual areas, district or smaller neighbourhoods. tchop offers a multi-channel system that enables you to structure your mobile community into an unlimited number of different channels. Different (or of course all) channels can be assigned to users with different roles. Channels can be set up on topics such as the local sports club or a sport, current events or in general on certain categories. With just a few clicks.

Pro tip: Think in iterations, start with one or a few channels and then gradually increase the variety and regionality. Without an update, this is dynamically expandable at any time.

By the way, selected content can be synced to all channels. General categories, which are ultimately of interest for every district, like politics, business or culture are often suitable for this. In return, the individual district channels can make real hyperlocal content. Which brings us to the next topic!

Community reporters, hobby curators or contributors

tchop is based on the idea of simplicity. We empower editors and newsrooms ​​to easily contribute, curate and edit content of any kind on the go This also includes the option of being able to share and post content — as with the well-known social media apps — right in your own branded app. Or out of other apps. The good thing about it: It’s really just as easy as sharing content on Facebook, WhatsApp & Co, so everybody understands instantly.

From our experience it does not always make sense to give this right to every user (even if this is possible, more on that below …). Nevertheless, engaged experts with a lot of know how often emerge in the community who not only want to comment and chat, but can also regularly contribute content themselves. Sometimes they even can be assigned to become the chief curator of their own section or channel (e.g. because they get involved for the local football club anyway with their own blog).

This is easily possible with tchop! By assigning the appropriate rights, users can enable the relevant functions temporarily or permanently for dedicated users. Of course, this is also a feature with which you do not have to start from scratch, but which you can introduce step by step as soon as you get to know your own members better and as soon as appropriate users have been identified.

Our idea: your publication becomes a platform itself, a news app becomes a real community — because everyone can get involved, everyone can easily participate, but as an editor you have everything under control. So you decide how social your product should become.

Expert chats in “read-only mode”

tchop empowers both open and closed chat groups. There is also the possibility of so-called “read-only” chats. Only users selected by the editors can discuss here, but everyone can read along. This is ideal for exchanging ideas with experts (think of a “chat interview”) or a selected group of participants who chat or share content on a specific topic. Anyone who wants can read along. And if you want to join in the discussion, you can do that too — the administrators can add or delete users at any time.

The chat can of course also be advertised via content, push notification or email. And if you missed the live discussion (pro tip; just add a “Live” note in the title while the chat is running), you can read the entire chat history in one peace anytime later. An exciting editorial format that wonderfully complements the other content and news.

Confidential 1: 1 chats

Of course there is also the possibility for users to communicate confidentially and securely with editors, curators or with each other via confidential 1: 1 chats. Again you have control how far certain user roles should be permitted.

Fast and direct communication with the editorial team is usually particularly useful. This can be used in both directions: Users can contact individual curators or editors at any time with questions, ideas or comments. The 1: 1 chat is not only an efficient, but also a learned form. It promotes a direct, personal connection and is much better suited for mobile communication than classic, formal email.

The ability to simply write a message to users is also practical in another case: if the editorial team wants to address individual users themselves. This can be done as an automatic welcome message (e.g. when onboarding new members) or targeted based on a comment (if it turns out, for example, that a user has expert knowledge.

Regardless of who writes who first: Most importantly with every message, users receive a push notification, as with WhatsApp or other messenger services. A push with your own brand, from your own app, which also engages and brings back users to the app.

There is no other (and not better way) to place your brand on the smartphone (and on the lock screen) of your community!

Open chat groups

A true “classic” are open chat groups that are permanently offered on certain topics or that are occasionally offered in the context of a subject. Users can enter and exit like in a virtual “chat room”, participate in the discussion or simply follow the whole thing. Such groups can also be used for the aggregation of “User Generated Content”, because users can post links, images, tweets etc. here. The best content can then be trnsformed and edited within an article or post (e.g. in a picture gallery, your own article, etc.).

In general, the experience with such groups naturally shows that they have to be focussed enough. Otherwise the group will simply become too large and the discussion will quickly become confusing. Depending on topic and target group, active moderation is also useful. Either way, chat groups only make sense if the number of users remains manageable. For the exchange within the community, content-related comments are otherwise better. This brings us to the next point.

Comments and threads

On large social media platforms, content-related comments are the main driver of exchange within the community. So the way comments work in the news feed of your tchop app is very similar.

Comments can be activated and managed flexibly for individual content in the dashboard. Users can not only comment, but also quickly reply to other comments or “like” other comments. This paves the way to the real secret sauce on mobile: Push notifications based on your behaviour in the app. Because, of course, as a user I get push notifications when other users like or comment on my comment. Or if a content I liked received a lot of comments.

Thus, as a small hyperlocal community, you can benefit from the mechanisms of the large social media app that successfully engage and activate users to come back more often. This “behavioral targeting” of personalized push notifications is the key to not just engage with users, but really keep them.

Polls and feedback loops

A true community lives from user engagement. In addition to the chat, comment or like functions already mentioned, this engagement can also be specifically addressed through surveys. tchop allows the integration of any feedback tools such as Survey Monkey (more on this in this blog post). Basically you can integrate any existing tools you are already using easily.

We can particularly recommend a tool called Typeform, which we have also integrated more deeply. With Typeform, editors can create surveys in different formats (text, multiple choice, with pictures, etc.) that work equally on all devices. Also Forms can be created easily (e.g. for event registrations). Again with push notifications, you can point users directly to important surveys. Anyone who did not complete the survey within a certain period of time can be reminded of this with another push message.

As you can see, the possibilities for hyperlocal news communities are numerous. We´ve only focused on a few basic ideas here. And of course there are many more to come as we are continuously improving the platform.

Do you have any questions, ideas or comments !? Talk to us at any time!

Originally published at https://blog.tchop.io on May 3, 2020.

Today there is almost no media company, no blogger and no communication department that does not use different newsletters every day and publishes them regularly themselves. Email newsletters are a simple and efficient way to communicate content directly and are very popular. So we thought: why don’t we build an integration to import any content from any email newsletter?!

After all, there is a lot of exciting, sometimes exclusive, content distributed in newsletters today. This is often lost in the general confusion of your own email inbox. Also the user experience is also not always great within the well-known email apps.

In our own tchop channel, on the other hand, you can structure, store and distribute the content as you want. You can comment, edit or remix it with a few clicks since we convert the pieces into real native content types (text, images, links etc). Plus: Within your own branded app you and your users benefit from a premium mobile experience, that is optimized for the device with latest native app technology (email newsletters are simple HTML).

You can also combine newsletter content with other content and functions or create a community around it. Just think of comments and likes here.

How does the newsletter integration work?

Practically all newsletters are based on a fixed content structure, which technically means on a kind of html template. Almost in all cases, a special tool such as Mail Chimp is used for sending the newsletter (we use this tool for our own newsletter as well). Corresponding templates are created in those tools, which provides a consistent structure of almost all newsletters — regardless of whether it is sent daily, weekly or monthly.

And this is exactly where we start! Based on custom processing routine, which is created once for each newsletter format, we are able to transfer texts, images or links from the newsletter into content cards in any selected mix or section. We can create one long text card or deconstruct the whole thing into individual cards. You can display links in the text or parse them as a teaser. That means you can adapt the integration to the individual requirements and the specific newsletter.

We create this processing routine together for our customers. It never works fully automated as every newsletter has a different structure. However, if the routine is set once, all subsequent newsletters are automatically transferred to the predefined structure. Therefore two things need to be discussed in advance:

• which newsletter(s) should be imported and
• how exactly it should be parsed in terms of content structure and
• where it should be integrated

Of course, all content in tchop can then be further processed, edited, commented on or completely restructured. As usual, you can also choose whether all newsletters should be included in one mix. Or whether a new mix should be created automatically for each newsletter. You have full control over the output at any given time.

What can this integration be used for?

The use cases are quite diverse. Of course you can simply use the whole thing to import your own newsletter content. You save your own team double work or the need to manual import or to develop an import from your newsletter tool. Once set up, the integration works fully automatically. If a new newsletter has been sent, the corresponding content automatically appears in the desired structure in your own app. Nobody has to do one click.

Of course, you don’t have to limit yourself to your own newsletters. You can easily curate exciting newsletters on any topic or from any sender and bundle them in your own content stack to keep employees, colleagues or members up to date. Since there is more and more exclusive newsletter content distributed via email, such an aggregation provides huge as you can reach out to the users that matter. You don´t have to force anybody to add another email to its inbox. Plus you can structure, sort and comment within the community right away.

In both cases you have the choice: the parsed newsletter content can be published automatically — then there is no additional effort needed. Or you can import the content first in order to then manage and adjust it in a second step in your editorial dashboard. In this case, you can import newsletters for your own editorial research and then filter what is really relevant for your target group. Since the content is already in the correct card based format, this can be done with just a few clicks and drag & drop.

If you are interested in a newsletter integration, just contact us. Tell us the newsletters you want to import and we can set it up for you within a few hours.

You will be amazed! 💪🏼

Originally published at https://blog.tchop.io on February 21, 2020.

With the comment function, you can allow users to leave feedback on selected or simply all content and thus enter into a lively discussion with each other. As with Facebook, Instagram & Co, the comments are easily accessible directly from the news feed or the respective content card. The operation is immediately understandable and the acceptance of this offer is high.

A variety of use cases can be implemented from the combination of curated, own or third-party content and this comment function. In the following we want to explain some examples.

Comments on selected content

For various reasons, it can make sense that you do not want to activate comments across the board for all content. You can decide at any time whether you want to allow comments on a certain card or on all cards of a certain mix or a certain category. In this way, you can steer discussions in specific content directions and at the same time prevent the exchange on sensitive, controversial topics.

Users can see whether comments are activated or whether comments already exist. A tip: if you want to promote and stimulate the discussion, it is worth mentioning this in the teaser text on the card with a kind of “call to action”. True to the motto: “We are interested in your opinion — discuss now on this topic ..”.

Comments as a discussion thread

All content types and cards can be commented on — regardless of whether it is a link, a long text post, a picture or an audio stream. In their simplicity, text cards are particularly suitable for using the card as a kind of discussion kick-off. The topic can be set and explained here like a kind of thread in a forum. Users know that this is primarily about the discussion.

In addition, there is of course a kind of call-to-action at the end to encourage users to join the discussion.

In principle, the whole thing can of course be realized with all other content cards. Imagine a short video that “sets” the topic and then calls for discussion.

A separate area for comments

Individual mixes can easily be made available as a separate area in the bottom bar. This can happen across organizations or differently for each individual channel. The exciting thing is that it is very easy to create dedicated mixes that are only reserved for comments and discussions.

As in a kind of forum within your own app, topics can be “set” here. Users can quickly find an overview of the current discussions here — just like in a forum! You can also dynamically update the topics editorially and adjust the order — this is also how the exchange can be controlled. Discussions that have ended can simply be taken out.

You can decide whether comments should work as part of the content and news offer and / or whether they should be bundled in a separate, own mix. The combination of both is also possible.

The possibilities are many and there are no limits to your imagination. Experience shows that it depends on the target group, timing, topic and content. Users love comments. The potential is huge. You decide whether and how you want to use the potential.

If you have any questions — please contact our team at any time. We would be happy to show you a few examples and suggestions!

Originally published at https://blog.tchop.io on February 20, 2020.

All new things are often unfamiliar at first, but don’t worry: tchop makes it easy. You will quickly find the best approach and content structure that suits your requirements and target group. In the following, we would like to summarize the most important information for editing, publishing and administration. It should give you an idea of ​​what is possible. And how easy it is.

With few simple features you can turn tchop into a content curation powerhouse for your own mobile audience — without the need of additional editorial resources and without spending a lot of time!

If something seems unclear or if you have any questions, please don’t worry — you can contact us at any time. We are always happy to help!

Add content via URL

tchop is not a classic content management system, but much more a highly efficient content curation platform! Digital content can be easily imported and thus linked in the app — in any form and structure and with the correct comment and context.

The principle is very simple: every content on the Internet has a URL — regardless of whether it’s an article or link, a social media post or an image. Simply copy the corresponding URL into the input field at the top of the respective mix. tchop then automatically imports the content and links it accordingly in the app.

tchop automatically recognizes what type of content it is and creates the right card with the correct format. Before you save and publish the content, you can of course edit everything or simply add a personal comment or headline.

The good thing: user will always stay inside your app also when they consume any kind of third party content.

There are also other settings for cards which you can play with, but we will come to that later.

Sort cards and mixes

Cards in the dashboard are not only easy to create, but just as easy to sort into different sections. tchop calls those categories “mixes”. Sorting simply works by drag & drop from one mix to another.

With drag & drop you can also change the order of the sections in no time and adapt them to your current needs. Everything is fully dynamic and visible for users in your app instantly after the next reload.

You can also read about the structure of channels, mixes and cards here.

Integrate content feeds

However, content cannot only be imported manually in the form of individual cards. News feeds from any source can be integrated — automatically and very easily. The magic feature is called “integration”! Slack users will know what we mean…😁

The corresponding tab on the left side of the dashboard gives you an overview. There you will find the selection of the various standard integrations — from RSS feed import to website scraping, from Twitter to Facebook, from Instagram to Youtube or even a Slack integraion. You can connect integrations easily as an administrator. But we are also happy to help our customers integrate the various feeds and sources — just talk to us.

A pro tip: for each integration, you can choose from multiple settings. You can for instance set whether the content should be published automatically or not. This is especially helpful if you first want to check, comment on or edit certain content. Basically you can use your dashboard as an unlimited aggregation platform and publish only few selected pieces. There are no limits!

If you want to learn a little more about the integration of feeds of all kinds, a look at this page is recommended.

Send push notifications

Push messages are one of the most important smartphone inventions. They are one of the best ways to quickly communicate important information and content. They are also an important “user loyalty tool” because these messages reach your audience outside the app on the lock screen as well as in the so-called notification center.

At tchop, push notifications can be easily sent via the dashboard. You can schedule the messages or send them directly. You can also link any content in or outside the app via a URL. This way your users land directly on an important article, a survey, a podcast or a video.

If you want to know more about push notifications, there is a detailed blog post here.

Reach the dashboard within the app

The editorial dashboard for creating, managing and publishing content is easy to understand and intuitive to use. The best thing: It´s fully responsive and can also be used well on mobile — on any smartphone or tablet PC. There even is a shortcut in the app: administrators and editors can access the dashboard in the app by clicking on your logo in the top left.

This way, content in the app can not only be read, but also changed, deleted, published and much more on the go. You can even send push notifications to your users from here. A full mobile content editing suite!

Share content on the go

tchop makes it very easy to share content in your own app and even from other apps. You don’t have to learn anything new. Sharing works as easily as you are used to from the well-known social network or chat apps.

In other iOS apps, you usually start the process simply using the share button. In the menu you will find your own app alongside the other mentioned apps that you use every day to share content. You can simply select channel and mix, edit or comment on texts.

IMPORTANT: if you don’t see your app in the selection on your iPhone or iPad at first, you have to scroll to the right and click on “More”. Then you will see a list of apps and you can activate your app here and move it forward. Then content can be shared faster and more conveniently.

Of course, you (or any user you assign the necesscary rights) can also add content in the app using the button at the bottom of the news feed. You can take photos or videos, upload them from the media library or share links copied on the clipboard (very useful!).

In this blog post we explain in detail how the addition of content works from other apps. And here we explain further how you can empower all or certain users to also share content same ways.

Select the perfect teaser template

Successful mobile news apps today live from an appealing, up to date news feed. Therefore the news feed needs to provide not just exciting content, but it also needs to be visually appealing and diversified. If everything looks the same, it quickly gets boring for the user. tchop therefore enables article cards and links to be presented with three different teaser styles. Important things can be distinguished from less important ones, your own content can be presented big and curated third party content rather small.

The teaser style can be easily set in each card’s edit mode in the “Teaser Image Style” field. There you can choose between four different options.

In the upper area of ​​each mix, the teaser style can also be automated for all new cards that have been automatically added, for example, through integration. In this way, you can specify that, for example, all articles from a particular source should always have a small or large teaser.

If you want to know more about the possibilities, how and where you can manage teasers, then please follow this link.

Control your news feed

The news feed is the central point where users supposed to find latest, most relevant content. As a default setting the news feed contains a chronological order of all cards nt from all published mixes. However, there are various ways to adapt the composition of the news feed to your individual needs.

In the edit mode of each mix, you have the option of choose from further settings. For isntance you can exclude the content of a mix from the main feed. The mix then remains available in the overview, but the content does not appear in the news feed. n fact that gives you the opportunity to separate mixes and news feed completely.

You can also allow certain users to post content in dedicated mixes (see more on that below). Or you can make one mix more easily available via a separate tab area in the app.

There are lot of options to customise your product proposition. Don´t hesitate to contact us if you have questions.

Benefit from user generated content

The best native apps empower users and tchop provides the perfect base for that. You can not only chat with users or let them comment or like specific content, you can also enable them to post content. And of course you can decide where that content is published, edited or which users are entitled to do that.

Therefore there is a special user role, which you can assign to users. It´s called “Editor Limited”. You can assign this role to single users or all users and of course you can change that anytime.

In the advanced settings of each mix, you can determine whether users with this role are allowed to deliver and post content.

Of course users can use the same well known options in the app to post content in the app or out of other apps via your own branded “sharing extension”.

Feature users who posted content

As the saying goes: Honor to whom honor is due! If users (or members of an editorial team) contribute content, it is of course only fair to display that accordingly. tchop allows you to define exactly how and where user generated content should be presented.

You can set this for each individual card or globally for the respective mix. With that opeion tchop allows you to combine “editorial media” with “social media” in an exciting new way. You can create dedicated news feeds that work like a social feed where all or certain users can post to. Or you can aggregate content from users and filter or edit it in the next step. The possibilities are (almost) endless. You can build a network of curators or experts that post content from a certain niche to enrich your proposition. Or you can

There is so much you can do with it! But most importantly you always have full control over the amount of social integration.

Originally published at https://blog.tchop.io on October 12, 2019.

1. Add content directly in the app

Users with appropriate permission will have a button “add content” in the top part of the newsfeed at the bottom edge of the screen. The good thing: When you scroll down the button disappears, so that nothing distracts from user experience. Scrolling upwards the button will reappear. The button leads to a menu that allows the user to write texts, including a headline, record images and videos or upload files from their own media center. It also allows the user to choose which mix he wants to post to (the “editor limited” will only be shown mixes defined for him). Additionally the user can decide if the content is to be published straight away or made public at a later date.

Once the content will be shared by clicking the button at the top right, our platform automatically generates the correct card.

In order to add a web URL, e.g. an interesting link or a tweet, it sometimes makes sense to simply copy a URL from the browser or another app. As soon as a URL is copied and stored on the phone, there will be an additional option to “insert URL” when adding content. The URL is then — just like in the backend functionality — analysed, the necessary content is loaded from the website and then it is ready to be edited or published.

In Android the button is on the right hand side. It will open the different options for card types the user can choose from. From there the user will be guided to the corresponding form, just like in iOS.

In both iOS and Android, very simple and common functions are adopted, functions that users of each platform are mostly familiar with.

2. Sharing content out of other apps

Let’s say you have an interesting article open on your iPhone or iPad in mobile Safari or in different app on the smartphone which you would like to share with other users in your app. This can now be achieved easily by clicking the share button at the bottom edge (see 1). In each app this button opens a menu which in iOS will then show in the lower half of the screen and on the full screen in Android.

There you can choose your app logo. Then you get to the next and last step in another menu (see 3) where you can edit or change content before posting. For example you can add a headline or image caption or decide if and where you want to publish the content.

TAKE NOTE: Should you not see your app in the selection on your iPhone or iPad simply scroll to the right and click on “more”. You will then see a list of apps and you can activate your app there and move it to the front selection. Content can then be shared quicker and easier. With Android the sharing of content from other apps is just as easy. Through the menu the option “share” can be brought up. The next steps are very similar to those in iOS and most Android users are familiar with them.

3. Opening dashboard in the app

Aside from the native app functionalities, administrators and editors also have the possibility to open the dashboard in the app at any time and manage and organise content in there as usual. To do this you only need to click on the logo in the bar on the upper left. On the dashboard you can then manage existing content or create and publish new content. After closing the dashboard you only need to activate the news feed and all updates will become visible.

Summary

All three possibilities offer users maximum user experience, freedom and comfort in order to create and also manage content, wherever you are, with the smartphone or a tablet pc. Whether it is images or videos or interesting links or social media posts — it works in a real easy way. Not least because we made the conscious decision to apply functionalities users are familiar with from other, favourite apps.Thus staff, colleagues, customers, members or business partners can become content producers — and it does not matter where they are! All you need is the app on the smartphone! And the corresponding permissions, of course!

Originally published at https://blog.tchop.io on October 2, 2019.

There is an undeniable trend of users in the digital world to mingle, exchange views and get informed in closed communities. Even Mark Zuckerberg speaks of the end of the classic Facebook newsfeeds and the fact that the future of his platform will be closed groups.

As a mobile communications platform tchop links communication experts and editors as well as creators and makers with their target groups and users on their most important terminal equipment: the smartphone! Existing online services, communities and content can be extended to mobile in an efficient way, without complicated IT integration and longish start-up costs.

In this blog post we will illustrate why this is exciting for your “Community of Interest”.

More than a mobile playback device

It is essential to view your own mobile app not just as a technical extension of existing online news services. Rather think of them as a part of your product strategy to be permanently developed and understand them as a mobile communications platform which offers more to your own community — and allows more possibilities. Because we think that good mobile apps are always about the notion of “empowerments”, too. It is about what you allow your community to do (or at least selected users within it) on the most successful device in human history, the smartphone; what you empower them to do with it. But it is also about linking the community closer with the editorial side and to equip the editorial (or for example single “reader reporters” as well) with a powerful, highly efficient tool.

After all, every day millions of amateurs become content producers on social networks — so why not transfer the simplicity and efficiency of these mobile processes into professional, editorially managed communities?

As a complete technical solution tchop offers a variety of advantages and exciting opportunities for companies, editors and creators.

1. A Place for (really) all relevant content

Today even for niche topics there is no lack of content. But often there is a lack of context and understanding. This is exactly where “Communities of Interest”, as a central access point for a specific topic, offer a lasting added value. They make it easier especially for users who are not willing or able to follow events on Twitter or the established news tickers and portals on a daily basis.

For many smaller editorial departments it is economically not feasible to cover all relevant topics with their own self produced articles in a sufficiently comprehensive and speedy way. Therefore the curating, commmenting and classifying of third party content plays an important role.

tchop makes it easy to efficiently aggregate your own as well as random external content sources in your own app and create a central access point on users’ smartphones. Lean Input-API and the tchop Integrations allow for scraping of RSS feeds, social media sources or just any website. Newsworthy or timeless content can be combined in one service. In a flexible structure that can be modified dynamically.

And by the way: In many communities content is already curated, only mostly outside of your “own world”, namely on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. An exclusive added value for your own “paid services” goes missing that way. Many users are happy enough with the activity in these open, external networks.

2. Editorial control

There is an obvious difference between an editorial service and a social network. For that matter tchop tries to rethink “community”.

Not that we think it is wise to let all users within a community to become content producers. Many users do not want that either. We believe in the quality of capable moderators and editors, who know exactly which user in the network can deliver a meaningful contribution to which topics and issues, and who ensure a quality in content that is not available for users in “open” networks.

For that reason with tchop the last word and the final control always lies with real people, with editors or a communications team made of flesh and blood. They decide how and where their own offerings will go “social”. This makes sure content is up to date and relevant for the target group. tchop can be considered primarily as an efficient tool for such teams.

3. Share content the easy way

By using the tchop apps editorial and community can share, with just a few clicks, all kinds of digital content either via other apps or directly “in the app” (just like in the well-known social networks). This goes for images and videos as well as for tweets or interesting links, because a community will only become a place for all relevant content if the right users in editorial and community are enabled to take part in an efficient way.

The focus is on simplicity and comfort, because in the long run something like this can only work if technology makes it as easy as possible for the user. Therefore tchop deliberately goes for well known functionality and “user patterns” most of us are familiar with from other apps.

The possibility to share content in an easy way within your own app or via other apps and to add it to your own offerings — regardless of where you are — allows even small teams to curate a daily up to date, relevant news app service.

4. Discussing content in a simple, direct and safe way

Today exchanges in closed groups on smartphones takes place in chats. It doesn’t matter if it is professional communication in a company (e.g. Slack or MS Teams) or on a personal basis — real time chats are standard. However, for your own community these platforms come with disadvantages: Not every user is willing to use any of these or other specific channels. Users relinquish a lot of control and questions regarding data and privacy protection have to be raised, which has to be regarded as critical especially with WhatsApp.

tchop is the first platform to link up to date content with a real time chat — in an app of your own. Makers always keep full control over who gets to have an exchange with whom and in which chat group, which chat groups are visible for everyone and which are private. In private 1:1 chats users can give feedback or editors can communicate with users directly. The possibilities are manifold and we illustrate them in this separate blog post here.

But having your own chat is also a perfect “retention” instrument, because — like we know from WhatsApp & Co — users get push messages for chat news even when not actively taking part in the app. And with each push message your own brand will make an appearance in the “message center” of the user’s smartphone!

5. A premium user experience

The majorty of smartphone use takes place in native apps. Basically every important app with corresponding userbase is natively programmed and differs regarding user experience and often functionality of mobile websites and the Safari browser, too. On smartphones the brower based internet rather plays the role of final destination — but not that of access point.

Users demand a great deal of today’s mobile apps. This presents a problem for many online publishers and communities, because developing your own app is complex and expensive.

That is why tchop apps rely on state-of-the-art, native app technology. Because only a premium user experience creates acceptance and secures lasting user commitment. And native features like real time chat can only be realised on such a premium quality level with true app progamming.

The apps are optimised for iOS and Android, which means they are not one hundred percent identical, but use the strengths of each platform. So for users UX details are familiar straight away.

7. “Killer Feature”: push messaging

Some apps also offer further USPs not available on a responsive website, as an addition to an existing online news service. One of the key points here are the famous “push messages”. If used correctly these are, for many users, of central added value, because they keep the community up to date even ouside of the app. Often these messages perform better than the classic newsletter, with opening rates between 60 and 70 percent.

Push messages bring users back again and again and in doing so offer additional added value for a brand, because the app icon becomes visible and relevant in the daily news stream of a user. tchop allows for the sending and “timing” of push messages with just a few steps. That way linking important content in or outside of the app is a walk in the park.

Summary

If you are looking to not rely solely on existing platforms when building your own community in the mobile world, investing instead in your own customer relations, tchop provides you with a powerful and complete solution.

A solution which combines the main advantages of native apps with the possibility to bring together all relevant content in one place, in a most easy and efficient way.

All the while we at tchop will take care of the complex technology, so that communication experts, editors, creators and makers can concentrate on the most important issues: content and target group!

Originally published at https://blog.tchop.io on October 1, 2019.

Unmittelbar nach dem Steve Jobs 2010 das iPad stellte, begannen viele Verlage mit voller Energie in Apps, innovative Ideen und neue Technologien zu investieren. Die Hoffnungen waren gross. Es war “Peak News App”. Mit meiner Agentur clapp haben wir damals zu den ersten Dienstleistern mit Fokus auf Verlage und Medien gehört. In den letzten zehn Jahren durften wir dutzende Premium-News-Apps, mobile Websites oder Newsportale für große Verlage und Medienhäuser entwickeln. Und ich denke man kann behaupten, dass wir die diversen Trends im Mobile Publishing fast alle mit erleben durften.

Nach der Tablet-Ernüchterung war die große Party schnell wieder vorbei und die ehrgeizigsten Projekte wurden eingestampft oder zumindest stark heruntergefahren. Die meisten Verlage und Content-Anbieter konzentrierten sich wieder auf Investitionen in web-basierte Angebote bzw. Dienstleistungen und behandelten ihre mobilen Apps entweder als Nebenprojekte oder entwickelten überhaupt keine neuenApp-Angebote mehr. Das “Responsive Web” genügte vielen als Antwort auf steigende mobile Reichweiten.

Aufwand und Ertrag standen bei nativen Apps selten in einem gesunden Verhältnis, zumal die Entwicklung für zwei neue Softwareplattformen, iOS und Android komplex und aufwendig war. Die App Stores, als große Hoffnung in Sachen Paid Content gestartet, trugen zur Enttäuschung bei. Denn nur für wenige Anbieter entwickelten sich nennenswerte Erlöse.

Die verlorenen Jahre

Stattdessen folgte man den Nutzern. Und konzentrierten sich auf die Maximierung des eigenen Social Media-Traffics. Der Mehrwert im Rahmen des werbefinanzierten Geschäftsmodells “mehr Reichweite, mehr Umsatz” lag auf der Hand. Und der Blick auf das nächste Jahresergebnis und wachsende IVW-Zahlen, erstickte notwendige strategische Diskussionen im Keim. Alle waren verrückt nach “Likes”, “Followers” oder “Fans”. Und aus BuzzFeed sollte das nächste weltweite Medienimperium werden.

Bekanntlich kam es anders. Zu spät erkannte die Verlags- und Medienbranche, dass Facebook letztlich ein direkter Konkurrent war, wenn es um Werbekosten, Daten und die direkte Nutzerbindung ging. Ein Konkurrent, der in Sachen Content-Distribution und -Monetarisierung viel stärkeren Einfluss ausübt als Google, der mit seinem Newsfeed viel stärker im direkten Wettbewerb steht mit dem klassischen Medienmodell. Mark Zuckerberg macht Hunderte von Millionen zu kostenlosen Content-Lieferanten und betrachtet Verlage aus gutem Grund wohl eher als überflüssige Zwischenhändler aus einer alten Zeit (auch wenn die PR-Lobbyabteilung mittlerweile ausgestattet mit üppigen Mitteln etwas anderes behauptet).

“The best way to think of the web as a direct-to-customer distribution channel, whether its for information or commerce. It bypasses all middlemen.”

Steve Jobs, Interview in WIRED, 1996

Stattdessen folgte man den Nutzern. Und konzentrierten sich auf die Maximierung des eigenen Social Media-Traffics. Der Mehrwert im Rahmen des werbefinanzierten Geschäftsmodells “mehr Reichweite, mehr Umsatz” lag auf der Hand. Und der Blick auf das nächste Jahresergebnis und wachsende IVW-Zahlen, erstickte notwendige strategische Diskussionen im Keim. Alle waren verrückt nach “Likes”, “Followers” oder “Fans”. Und aus BuzzFeed sollte das nächste weltweite Medienimperium werden.

Bekanntlich kam es anders. Zu spät erkannte die Verlags- und Medienbranche, dass Facebook letztlich ein direkter Konkurrent war, wenn es um Werbekosten, Daten und die direkte Nutzerbindung ging. Ein Konkurrent, der in Sachen Content-Distribution und -Monetarisierung viel stärkeren Einfluss ausübt als Google, der mit seinem Newsfeed viel stärker im direkten Wettbewerb steht mit dem klassischen Medienmodell. Mark Zuckerberg macht Hunderte von Millionen zu kostenlosen Content-Lieferanten und betrachtet Verlage aus gutem Grund wohl eher als überflüssige Zwischenhändler aus einer alten Zeit (auch wenn die PR-Lobbyabteilung mittlerweile ausgestattet mit üppigen Mitteln etwas anderes behauptet).

Für Verlage und Medienhäuser stellt sich nun die Frage wie ein eigener, von den Plattformen und vor allem Facebook unabhängiger Weg aussehen kann. Was braucht es, damit sie im Marktumfeld des nächsten Jahrzehnts endlich erfolgreich sein können? Wie lassen sich Angebote schaffen, die prinzipiell unabhängig sind von anderen? Und wie lassen sich diese effizient monetarisieren?

“The emerging model for publishers is to meet their audiences away from platforms entirely — on their own apps, and in real spaces at events and conferences — and to find revenue from sources that cannot be withdrawn by a third party’s algorithm change.“

Emily Bell, Director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School

Ein baldiges Comeback

Es gibt heute fast keinen Verlag, der in der Antwort auf diese Fragen nicht an irgendeiner Stelle das Zauberwort “Paid Content” erwähnen würde. Viele hoffen, dass es ein bisschen wie beim Gartner Hype Cycle ist, denn er damalige App Hype war — Stichwort App Store — ebenfalls schon mit Paid Content-Hoffnungen überzogen: nach erstem Enthusiasmus folgt Enttäuschung bis sich dann Jahre später ein nachhaltiges Wachstum einstellt.

Mehr und mehr Redaktionen bewerten Inhalte anhand der Anzahl an Nutzern, die sie zur Anmeldung oder noch besser zur Zahlung bewegen. Echtem “Pay Value” gehört die Zukunft, Reichweite ist für viele nur noch ein Aspekt von vielen. Inhaltliche Strategien konzentrieren sich — endlich — wieder auf Qualität. Dedizierte Teams beginnen, sich tatsächlich um den Leser zu kümmern und nicht nur um das maximale Maß an Aufmerksamkeit oder den Werbekunden.

Das klingt alles erstmal gut. Ob diese Hoffnungen sich langfristig erfüllen, steht auf dem berühmten anderen Blatt und betrachtet man den Status Quo sind in vielen Fällen Zweifel angebracht. Tatsächlich stellen immer mehr Verlage fest, dass es eine Sache ist, Benutzer dazu zu bringen, sich für ein kostenloses Angebot anzumelden oder das bestehende Print-Abo für kleines Geld ins Digitale zu verlängern. Nennenswerte Conversion Rates und Umsätze mit digitalen Neukunden sind aber etwas ganz anderes.

Ganz zu schweigen von dem Thema “Churn Rate”. Im Zeitalter von Netflix&Co erwarten wir einfache, monatliche Kündigungsmöglichkeiten. Den Kunden in langen Verträgen zu knebeln, ist Vergangenheit. Sogenanntes “Churn Management” war und ist schon immer einer der kritischsten Faktoren jeder Paid Content Strategie. Vor vorgehaltener Hand berichten Verlage genau hier über Probleme. Eine zu hohe “Churn Rate” verhindert wirtschaftlicher Erfolg, denn neue Kunden zu gewinnen ist teuer und wird im Laufe der Zeit immer teurer.

Dabei gilt eine einfache Regel: Wenn die Abwanderungsrate zu hoch ist, ist das Produkt einfach nicht gut genug.

Und genau hier beginnt die Diskussion über eigene native Apps plötzlich wieder interessant zu werden. Mobile Endgeräte bilden die bei weitem größte “Computing Platform” unserer Zeit. Smartphones sind die erfolgreichsten Hardware aller Zeiten. Die Zahlen zur mobilen Revolution sind beeindruckend und niemand kann bestreiten, dass vor allem jüngere Nutzer (also die Zielgruppen der Gegenwart und Zukunft) vor allem mobile Dienste nutzen. Ohne eine erfolgreichere Mobile-Strategie wird es schwierig ein nachhaltiges Geschäftsmodell rund um Nachrichten zu etablieren. Niemand wird das ernsthaft bestreiten.

Warum in eigene Apps investieren?

Dennoch werden nennenswerte Investitionen in eigene native Apps von vielen immer noch kritisch gesehen. Neben dem populären Argument “Wir haben es ausprobiert und es hat nicht funktioniert” gibt es noch andere Einwände, die sich hartnäckig halten. Diese reichen von “zu teuer und kompliziert” bis zum finalen “Rettungsschuss”, dass Nutzer doch sowieso keine Apps mehr herunterladen oder nutzen würden. Bei näherer Betrachtung erscheinen Verlage hier jedoch auf durchaus einsamer Front.

Warum entstehen in vielen anderen Branchen — von Banking bis Versicherung, von eCommerce bis B2B — eigentlich fortwährend neue Start Ups und Geschäftsmodelle mit ausgewiesenem “Mobile-First”-Ansatz, wenn das mit den Apps doch schon “durch”” ist?!

Wenn die meisten Benutzer es so satt haben, neue Apps herunterzuladen oder auszuprobieren, wie kann man dann ein Phänomen wie “Face App” erklären?! Tatsächlich wächst die Gesamtzahl der App-Downloads von Jahr zu Jahr weiter: Von 2016 bis 2018 sind die Downloads um 35% gestiegen (siehe hier).

Wenn Benutzer keine Apps mehr mögen, warum zeigen Zahlen, dass Nutzer/innen tatsächlich jedes Jahr mehr Zeit mit Apps verbringen? In den USA wird in diesem Jahr erwartet, dass das Smartphone (und damit vor allem native Apps) das Fernsehen als das minutenreichste Medium übertreffen wird (siehe hier).

Wenn Benutzer mit dem mobilen Web zufrieden sind, warum verbringen sie dann 90% ihrer mobilen Zeit in nativen Apps — und nicht im vorinstallierten Webbrowser? (siehe hier) Tatsächlich wuchs die Verweildauer in der App von 2016 bis 2018 um 50%! (siehe hier)

Wenn native Apps für Nachrichtenmedien nicht das Richtige sind, warum sind dann praktisch alle großen, erfolgreichen Nachrichten- und Unterhaltungsmarken von der New York Times bis zur Washington Post, von Spotify bis Netflix vor allem auch mit ihren eigenen Apps erfolgreich?

Das “Killerargument” kommt oft am Ende einer solchen Diskussion: Im Vergleich zu dem wirtschaftlichen Potenzial ist die Entwicklung von echten Apps einfach zu riskant, kompliziert und teuer. Jeder der einmal eine mobile App entwickelt und vermarktet hat wird das nicht einmal bestreiten und besonders bei kleineren Verlagen stehen Kosten und Potenzial schnell in einem ungünstigen Verhältnis. Ein einfacher Vergleich zeigt jedoch, dass hier bei fast allen Luft nach oben ist: Während in der Regel heute mindestens 60–70% der Nutzung mobil erfolgend, ist der Anteil des in mobile Angebote investierten Budgets bei Verlagen und Medienhäusern selten zweistellig. In Häusern mit hunderten von Mitarbeitern, kümmern sich um die mobilen Apps — wenn es sie denn gibt — selten mehr als eine Hand voll Personen. Eine Art mobiles F&E-Budget existiert praktisch nirgendwo.

Über den Tellerrand hinausdenken

Es steht ausser Frage, dass die Mehrheit der News Apps, die von Verlagen in den letzten Jahren entwickelt wurden, die Erwartungen selten erfüllt hat. Anstatt an dem Format und dem Kanal an sich zu zweifeln, sollte man sich ´ jedoch auch Fragen, ob es vielleicht am Angebot lag, welches man den Kunden gemacht hat. Denn die meisten News Apps funktionieren heute in der Regel noch genau wie vor einigen Jahren. Innovationen sind selten geworden. Vielleicht lässt man Nutzer ein paar Einstellungen vornehmen, indem sie ein Thema oder eine Region auswählen, aber im Grund finden sich meist die gleichen Inhalte wie auf der mobilen Website. Nur in etwas anderer Darstellungsform. Gut ist was wenig kostet und Aufwand macht.

That´s it.

Für wenige internationale Marken, die ein weltweites Publikum mit qualitativ hochwertigen oder exklusiven Inhalten ansprechen können, mag das sogar ausreichen. Tatsache ist jedoch, dass die überwiegende Mehrheit der Nachrichtenanbieter nicht in einer solchen Position ist. Die meisten Verlage (oder auch Unternehmen) sprechen eine Community an, die durch eine bestimmte Sprache, ein bestimmtes Thema, ein bestimmtes Interesse und einen bestimmten Standort vereint ist. Sie alle stehen vor dem Dilemma, dass es keine Knappheit an Inhalten und Nachrichten gibt — oft nicht einmal innerhalb ihrer Nische! Und dennoch müssen Sie Ihre Marke, Ihre Inhalte und Ihre Community irgendwie effizient an sich binden und monetarisieren. Jeff Jarvis beschreibt es in diesem Medium Post sehr gut.

Um zu verstehen, wir man mit Communities Geld verdient, lohnt sich wieder ein Blick auf Facebook. Facebook ist (oder vielleicht sollten wir sagen, “war”) letztlich auch eine News App mit Community-Funktionen. Der Begriff “Social Media” ist Ausdruck dessen. Ein Blick auf die Social Media Giganten lohnt sich aber auch noch aus einem anderen Grund: Kein anderes Unternehmen hat die Art und Weise, wie Nutzer Inhalte auf einem Smartphone konsumieren so beeinflusst und optimiert. Es hat damit auch die Erwartungen verändert, die vor allem Nutzer jünger als 50 an ein mobiles Content-News Angebot haben.

Erfolgreiche Apps befähigen Nutzer neue, faszinierende Dinge zu tun. Dieses “Empowerement” war und ist bis heute der Kern der mobilen Revolution aus Nutzerperspektive. Facebook hat dies vielleicht besser verstanden als jedes andere Unternehmen. Verlage mit Ihren News Angeboten dagegen verweigern sich dieser Revolution bislang meist beharrlich. Dabei sollten Sie gerade jetzt wo es um die Durchsetzung von Bezahlangeboten geht, in das investieren was aus Sicht Ihrer Nutzer einen Mehrwert darstellt.

Dabei wage ich eine These in Sachen mobiler Produktentwicklung: mit den Inhalten alleine werden es nur die wenigsten im Bereich “Mobile Media” und damit auch Paid Content schaffen. Im Bereich Strategie haben Verlage verstanden, dass es nur mit Diversifikation möglich sein wird die fehlenden Umsätze aus dem klassischen Geschäft zu kompensieren. Vielleicht ist es Zeit, dass Medienanbieter auch die eigenen mobilen Angebote funktional, inhaltlich und strategisch “diversifizieren”?!

Anfangen mit den richtigen Fragen

Der immer lesenswerte Kevin Kelly betont in seinem Buch “The Inevitable” die Bedeutung von Fragen. Er glaubt, “dass es bei einer guten Frage nicht um eine korrekte Antwort geht. Eine gute Frage kann und sollte oft nicht sofort beantwortet werden. Stattdessen schafft Sie Freiraum für neue Denkweisen und Ideen.

Zweifelsfrei gibt es mehr als genug Fragen im Zusammenhang mit der Zukunft mobiler News-Angebote. Einige der aus meiner Sicht interessantesten habe ich versucht im folgenden aufzuschreiben:

Wie kann eine News App relevante Mehrwerte bieten, die bestehende digitale Kanäle nicht bieten und die besonders mobil gut funktionieren?

Seien Sie ehrlich was den echten Mehrwert für Ihre Zielgruppe angeht. Apps ohne relevanten Mehrwert kann man sich schlicht sparen. Eine andere Darstellung der überall verfügbaren Inhalte mag ein gewisser Mehrwert sein, aber dieser wird nicht ausreichen, um neue Zielgruppen für sich zu gewinnen. Fragen Sie sich: Was können Ihre Benutzer mit der App machen? Zu was befähigen Sie Ihre Nutzer konkret? Millionen von Nutzern lieben es, Fotos zu machen und diese mit anderen auf der ganzen Welt zu teilen. Sie kommentieren und diskutieren Themen mit Fremden oder Freunden. Apps ermöglichen es Nutzern in Echtzeit miteinander zu kommunizieren und Ideen, Emotionen und Feedback auszutauschen. Wie können Sie dies alles für sich nutzen? Wie können Ihre Inhalte zum Ausgangspunkt von mehr Interaktion, Austausch und Konversation werden — in einer eigenen App?

Was bedeutet “mobile first” eigentlich aus inhaltlicher Sicht?!

Der inhaltliche Fokus der meisten Verlage liegt auf der Produktion von “Need-to-know”-Artikeln, denn so funktionieren ihre Nachrichtenangebote seit Jahrzehnten. Digital und mobil wird das schlicht weitergeführt. Eine aktuelle RISJ-Studie zeigt jedoch, dass vor allem junge Nutzer/innen Interesse an für sie nützlichen Inhalten haben, an Inhalten, die Spaß und individuellen, emotionalen Mehrwert bieten. Besonders mobil scheint dies relevant. Der Blick auf Facebook, Instagram&Co. und die dort erfolgreichen Inhalte bestätigt dies. Diese Plattformen haben einen Kosmos des “Snackable Content” geschaffen, der perfekt auf die mobile Nutzung zugeschnitten sind. Dieser reicht von GIFs bis zu Hochformat-Videos oder den aktuellen Story-Formaten und er wird ständig erweitert.

Fun Fact: Verlage und Werbetreibende produzieren solche Inhalte täglich für Facebook, Snapchat&Co. — aber ihre eigenen mobilen News-Angebote bestehen immer noch ausschliesslich aus traditionellen Teasern und Artikeln. Warum macht das was bei diesen Plattformen offensichtlich sehr gut funktioniert, nicht auch als Teil des eigenen mobilen Angebots Sinn?! Sprechen wir letztlich nicht die gleichen Nutzer an? Warum versuchen wir nicht beide Welten auf neue, kreative Weise zu kombinieren?

Wie können — ausgewählte — Nutzer selbst Inhalte beitragen, sich äußern oder einbringen?

Viel zu oft gilt das Prinzip, dass nur die eigenen Inhalte gut und nützlich sind für den Nutzer. Dabei machen die Plattformen vor, dass “Content Curation” ein zentraler Mehrwert ist in einer Welt voll “Information Overload”. Machen Sie Ihre News-App doch zu einer Plattform für alles, was für Ihre Zielgruppe relevant ist — und eben nicht nur für Ihre eigenen Inhalte. Dies öffnet ausserdem Möglichkeiten in eine andere Richtung: Benutzer lieben es, Inhalte auf ihrem Smartphone zu teilen und zu kommentieren, wenn man es ihnen leicht macht. Warum sollten wir dies also nicht effizienter für das eigenen News Angebot nutzen — vor allem, wenn man “User Generated Content” mit redaktionellem Kontext, Qualitätskontrolle und Veredelung kombiniert (was genau das ist, was heute in Social Media fehlt)? Nutzen Sie Ihre eigene mobile App, um die besten Amateurredakteure und Blogger zu identifizieren, zu unterstützen und mit ihnen zusammenzuarbeiten. Mobile Technologie bietet alles was dafür notwendig ist. Ihr inhaltliches Angebot wird attraktiver, aktueller und auch hinsichtlich der eingesetzten Ressourcen effizienter.

Wie können Sie Konversationen rund um Nachrichten und Inhalte auf der eigenen Plattform bündeln und davon profitieren?

So wie die Kombination von mobilen und sozialen Medien die traditionellen Medien disruptiert hat, haben Chat-Apps die Art und Weise, wie wir kommunizieren, revolutioniert. Nicht wenige glauben, dass WhatsApp eines Tages größer sein wird als Facebook und Instagram. Wer einen Blick auf Mark Zuckerbergs Zukunftsvision werfen will, muss sich nur WeChat in China anschauen.Eine Plattform, die weit mehr ist als ein Chat. Verlage und Medienschaffende liefern mit Ihren Inhalten das Futter für diese Chat Plattformen ohne davon zu profitieren. Wäre es nicht viel besser, wenn Sie zumindest einen Teil dieser Konversationen auf eigenen Plattform ermöglichen, fördern und Nutzer Ihrer Community so an sich binden?! Dabei geht es nicht nur um den Austausch der Community untereinander, sondern auch um den mit der Redaktion. Viele innovative Mitglieder-Modelle basieren schon auf der These, dass der Inhalte nicht hinter einer Paywall liegen muss, aber viel mehr die Konversation innerhalb der Community. Mobile News Apps müssen zu technischen Plattformen dafür werden, es gibt kein besseres Medium dafür.

Wie können Sie Konversationen rund um Nachrichten und Inhalte auf der eigenen Plattform bündeln und davon profitieren?

So wie die Kombination von mobilen und sozialen Medien die traditionellen Medien disruptiert hat, haben Chat-Apps die Art und Weise, wie wir kommunizieren, revolutioniert. Nicht wenige glauben, dass WhatsApp eines Tages größer sein wird als Facebook und Instagram. Wer einen Blick auf Mark Zuckerbergs Zukunftsvision werfen will, muss sich nur WeChat in China anschauen.Eine Plattform, die weit mehr ist als ein Chat. Verlage und Medienschaffende liefern mit Ihren Inhalten das Futter für diese Chat Plattformen ohne davon zu profitieren. Wäre es nicht viel besser, wenn Sie zumindest einen Teil dieser Konversationen auf eigenen Plattform ermöglichen, fördern und Nutzer Ihrer Community so an sich binden?! Dabei geht es nicht nur um den Austausch der Community untereinander, sondern auch um den mit der Redaktion. Viele innovative Mitglieder-Modelle basieren schon auf der These, dass der Inhalte nicht hinter einer Paywall liegen muss, aber viel mehr die Konversation innerhalb der Community. Mobile News Apps müssen zu technischen Plattformen dafür werden, es gibt kein besseres Medium dafür.

Zusammenfassung

Verleger und Medienschaffende müssen über den Tellerrand schauen und vor allem für mobile Nutzer innovative, neue Angebote schaffen. Wer mobil nicht erfolgreich ist, hat einen schweren Stand in der Zukunft. Dabei ist es an der Zeit über das traditionelle Nachrichtengeschäft und die Verbreitung von Inhalten hinaus zu denken. News Apps müssen zahlenden Nutzern mehr bieten als nur die eigenen Inhalte, müssen mehr Funktionen bieten als das Lesen von Artikeln.

Die großen Social Media Plattformen zeigen was Nutzer heute von einer mobilen App erwarten, denn sie haben diese Erwartungen in den letzten Jahren selbst geformt. Content-Provider müssen diese Standards aufgreifen, ohne selbst zu einem sozialen Netzwerk zu werden. Die Müdigkeit vieler Nutzer im Zusammenhang mit diesen Netzwerken ist eine Chance, aber deren Funktionalitäten und Möglichkeiten auch eine Herausforderung.

Dabei hat Jeff Jarvis Recht: Journalistische Inhalte sind ein ein leichter austauschbares Gebrauchsgut — gefühlt gibts es aus Sicht der Nutzer keinerlei Mangel. Der vorrangige Wert des Journalismus liegt in dem durch ihn ermöglichten gesellschaftlichen Diskurs.

“Journalism exists to be of service to the public conversation.”

Jeff Jarvis, January 2019

Mobile Nachrichtenangebote müssen sich in eine Plattform, einen Service verwandeln, der Konversationen und Interaktionen beherbergt, die denen heutiger Social Media Plattformen überlegen sind. Inhaltliche Qualität und Vielfalt sind die perfekten Grundlagen dafür, aber sie alleine sind nicht ausreichend.

Es wird immer viel davon geredet, dass man in der mobilen, digitalen Welt Experimentieren und Neues ausprobieren muss. Es gibt keinen besseren Zeitpunkt als damit jetzt zu beginnen. Mobile First!

Anmerkung zum Autor: Heiko Scherer ist Gründer und Geschäftsführer von tchop.io. tchop bietet Unternehmen, Verlagen und Medienhäusern eine Plattform an, die redaktionelle Inhalte und Social Media Funktionalitäten in einer eigenen App verbindet. Niemand kann und muss diese Idee alleine umsetzen. Technologie, die von vielen eingesetzt wird, schlägt langfristig die Eigenentwicklung.

tchop™ is a thin, smart layer that lets curate all your digital content in one spot. And combine it with the real time conversation you need — with your employees, clients, members, stakeholders or subscribers. As an end-to-end solution we provide you with everything needed.

Our philosophy is simple:

1. We don’t want to be a social intranet that solves all your internal communication challenges and ends up bloated and complex. We want to make it simple, give you full control and integrate easily with systems and sources you already have.
2. Our mobile first approach includes a premium user experience as the basis for a long term relationship with your users. We provide you with native apps which have a better user experience, better performance and which are more secure.
3. Consider the role your content, your users, your data play for third party platforms like social networks and chat apps. We believe it makes a huge difference to create an own, secure space to communicate with your target group and provide content that matters.
4. Providing a mobile communication hub might be mission critical, but often you need to manage it with existing resources and can´t hire additional staff. That´s why we focus on efficiency and a high degree of smart automation.

After Steve Jobs presented the iPad 2010, publishers started investing heavily into apps, innovative ideas and new technology. It was “Peak News App”. With my agency clapp we have developed numerous premium news apps, mobile websites or news portals for major publishers over the last ten years. So it´s fair to say that I deal with mobile publishing products since the early days.

After some years the party was over and most ambitious projects were killed (or at least scaled down heavily). Many publishers focussed on investments in web based products and services again treating their existing apps either as side projects or not developing an app presence at all. The responsive web made everybody feel as if mobile distribution was covered.

When everything was about marketable reach, in most cases native apps didn´t add enough value from an economic point of view that focussed on the next financial statement. There seemed to be no scalable business model back then, especially considering the often underestimated costs and efforts for developing complex apps for two new software platforms, iOS and Android. Paying for content was the exception and often difficult from a user point of view. At least for publishers the app stores were not the solution to that problem, they were a big disappointment.

The Lost Years

Instead many publishers followed user´s eyeballs. They focused on maximizing social media traffic helping Facebook to become the biggest social network. Everybody went crazy about “Likes”, “Followers” or “Fans”. BuzzFeed was destined to be the next media giant.

Technically that felt much easier and returns showed faster. Too late the publishing and media industry understood that Facebook eventually was a competitor when it comes to advertising dollars, data and the direct user relationship. From those platforms point of view publishers were just intermediates from old days.

“The best way to think of the web as a direct-to-customer distribution channel, whether its for information or commerce. It bypasses all middlemen.”

Steve Jobs, Interview in WIRED 1996

But it´s obvious that the days of Facebook as the key middlemen with it´s news feed are counted, just as the belief of publishers and media houses that digital advertising and reach based on social media traffic can save their future. Social Media platforms are under pressure from regulation and users that, tired of hate speech and fake news, start to move on to closed user groups, chats or communities for communication and information.

Assuming there is a — for some maybe “the last” — window of opportunity as media consumption on social networks is decreasing and big tech players being under growing public scrutiny, the question is: what does it need for publishers and media companies to succeed in that new market environment?! If we agree that we need to invest into own property again, how should these products look like this time?

“ The emerging model for publishers is to meet their audiences away from platforms entirely-on their own apps, and in real spaces at events and conferences-and to find revenue from sources that cannot be withdrawn by a third party’s algorithm change. “

Emily Bell, Director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School

Times are about to change also in media business itself. There´s is probably no publishing house big or small that is not investing into paid content, that is not building new product management teams with a focus on paying subscribers and not advertisers. Startups that connect creators and writers with users and combine it with simple payment models like Substack raise serious financing. The hope is that subscriptions or membership models (where users pay to support the project by choice) can be a growing part of a diversified revenue portfolio that doesn’t rely on advertising alone (or not at all). A strategy back to the roots: back to the direct customer relationship without any intermediates.

About to make a comeback

Newsrooms start judging articles based on the number of user they convert. Editorial strategies refocus on quality. Reach alone is not the most important metric any longer. New teams start to take care about the reader and not just the maximum amount of awareness.

But more and more publishers find that making users sign up to a first free tier is one thing. In a world where we all expect that cancellation is possible on a monthly basis with just a few clicks, keeping users in reasonable priced tiers is much more difficult. Eventually churn management is and always was a key challenge for digital paid products. If your churn rate too high, your product is probably just not good enough.

After publishers have updated their web proposition technically, visually and operationally, converting users to paid products will soon become a marketing and communication topic. But making their product propositions more valuable and more relevant for the user will be the major battleground of the future. Nobody can compensate a high churn rate with great marketing in the long run. Publishers can scale down costs to a certain point, but the quality of the product proposition will determine future economic potentials.

And this is exactly where the discussion about native apps suddenly is heating up again. Mobile is by far the biggest computing platform of our time and smartphones are the most successful devices ever made. It´s the platform where you meet potential users and serve existing subscribers. If you don´t succeed on mobile, it seems difficult to sustain a healthy business for media and content providers.

Why invest in mobile apps?

Ultimately as it appears significant investments in own branded native apps are still seen critical — whether it is about development, marketing or editorial resources. Apart from the popular argument “We have tried and it turned out that apps just don´t work” there are some other objections that put up a good fight. But if you stop arguing from past fails and look at some of todays facts and figures, it´s difficult to keep up such prejudice.

If most users are so tired of downloading or trying new apps, how can you explain a phenomenon like “Face App”?! As a matter of fact the overall number of total app downloads still grows year by year: from 2016 to 2018 downloads are up by 35% (see here).

If users don´t like apps anymore, why do numbers show that users spend more time in apps every year? In the US this year it is expected that mobile will surpass TV as the medium attracting the most minutes (see here).

If users are happy with the mobile web, why do they spend 90% of their mobile time in native apps — and not in the preinstalled web browser? (see here) In fact time spent in-app grew 50% from 2016 to 2018! (see here)

If native apps for news and media are not the right thing to invest in, why do practically all scalable, successful news and entertainment brands from the New York Times to the Washington Post, from Spotify to Netflix see most of their subscribers using their native apps?

The “killer argument” often comes at the end of a discussion: Compared to the returns it´s simply too risky, complicated and expensive to develop your own native premium apps. That might be the most dangerous point of view as it shows a strategic fallacy, refusal to invest in the future. Just do a bit of benchmarking: Compare the mobile market share with the budget that most publishing and media houses assign to that channel and the dilemma becomes obvious: While usually at least 60–70% usage is mobile, budgets assigned to a great mobile experience are often not even a few percent of the total budget that is invested in the whole user proposition! In most publishing house that have a total staff of several hundred people, the mobile team is often not five people strong.

“ What’s really important right now is to get the mobile architecture right. Mobile will ultimately be the way you provision most of your services. The way I like to put it is, the answer should always be mobile first. You should always put your best team and your best app on your mobile app. “

Eric Schmidt, Google in 2010

While tech giants like Google started a “mobile first” philosophy in the early days of the iPhone, the media and content industry often thinks that responsive websites already form the perfect mobile strategy. With the move towards direct customer relationship business, it becomes obvious that this will not be enough to succeed. If “mobile first” just means that editorial teams check performance of an article in mobile channels, you haven´t fully understood the impact of mobile.

Especially as there comes another serious challenge with the move towards paid content: Paying customers have higher expectations. And if those expectations are not met on the mobile device of their choice, they will likely move on and spend their money somewhere else.

Wanted: Thinking out of the box

When it comes to traditional news apps the question what a user can do with it, is still stuck in the early days being mostly an extension of the website and its news feeds. Users can read the news, great. Maybe they can customise their news feed by choosing a topic or a region, but it´s basically the same content with the same structure you can find on the website. That´s it.

What might be a sufficient strategy for some international publishers that can address a worldwide audience with enough unique quality content, the vast majority of publishers will not be able to scale content and brand in such a way. Their potential target group is and always will be a community that is united by a specific language, topic, interest and location. They all face the dilemma, that there is simply no scarcity of content and news — often even within their niche! The mighty Jeff Jarvis describes it very well in this Medium post.

To understand what it needs to serve your community and succeed on mobile, it´s never a bad idea to take a closer look at Facebook. Facebook is (or maybe we should say “was”) basically a news app with community features on top. The term “social media” is an expression of that. When the news feed with its smart personalisation was introduced in 2006 it soon became the key to the platforms mobile proposition. It shaped the way users in many western countries consume content on mobile and also what they expect from a premium mobile app.

But the good news for publishers: the time of the news feed powered by algorithms seems to come to an end. The idea of social media platforms that enable everybody to do anything is under pressure and Facebook, Twitter&Co. are in trouble controlling the content that its users generate. Hate speech and fake news have arrived in the middle of politics and currently nobody knows what regulation will bring. Facebook’s attempt to give human curation another chance is poised to make the discussion about filter bias probably just more evident (read more here).

Publishers and creators shouldn´t follow Facebook´s money that they offer to them. The media industry should be encouraged to invest in own mobile products and services in order to attack in a changing mobile landscape.

It´s time to start thinking out of the box, focussing not only on your standard news and content portfolio with the usual feature set, but to rethink mobile from a users point of view — with news and content at its heart.

Asking the right questions

In his book, “The Inevitable” Kevin Kelly underlines the importance of questions. He believes “a good question is not concerned with a correct answer. A good question cannot be answered immediately. Instead a good question creates new territory of thinking and it reframes its own answers.

Without any doubt there are more than enough questions when you think of the questions around mobile product propositions. Here are some of the most vital ones I can think of:

How can your mobile app become a service that adds unique value to your product proposition on top of your existing digital channels?

Lets just stop making native apps for the sake of making apps. If your mobile app is not adding something new and unique, if it just represents your news portals content in a different way, then you can probably really just save the time and money. So let´s be honest about the real added value for your target group. What can your users do with it?! Mobile is about empowering users. User love apps because they enable them to do new things, because they make daily life easier and existing tasks much more efficient. Millions of users love to make photos and share them with others around the globe. Apps let users connect with each others in real time, sharing ideas, emotions and feedback.

What does “mobile first” mean from a content point of view?!

The main focus of most publishers is to produce “need-to-know” articles, cause this often is how their websites work (and its basically how newspapers and magazines work). But Facebook, Instagram&Co. established a new world of micro content, that users scroll through in their news feed several times a day. A recent RISJ study found that especially young audiences are also interested in what is useful to know, what is interesting to know, and what is fun to know. Mobile content needs to empower users not just from a functional, but also from an editorial point of view.

Fun fact: publishers and advertisers produce such content for Facebook, Twitter&Co. — but their own mobile offerings still just consist of teasers of traditional articles. So why not mix these two worlds in a creative new way within your own mobile app? It´s obvious that mobile apps have reshaped ways and formats of media consumption, so rethinking your mobile product should start with rethinking the content formats you are using. With the “Story” format (which was originally introduced by Snapchat) a new content portrait format is currently emerging. So question is: if users obviously get hooked up to these kind of mobile first formats, why can´t publishers try to implement these formats also into their own mobile products?

How can you let users contribute via your own mobile app in an easy way?! At least selected ones? Why not let your news app become a platform for everything that is relevant for your target group — and not just your own content?

Users love to share and comment content on their smartphone if you make it easy for them, so why not use this more efficiently for content production and sourcing? Especially if you combine that with editorial context, quality control and filtering, which is exactly what is missing on social media today. Why not use your own mobile app to identify, support and collaborate with the best amateur editors and bloggers? Rethinking mobile in small communities needs to tear down the walls between editors and readers, between the ones who want to contribute content because they would like to and the ones that earn a living from editorial work. I know this is a sensitive issue today, but maybe editorial teams should see themselves also as curators? It could open a lot of opportunities in a world where there is too much content anyway. Users look for one place where they can find all relevant content, they don´t care so much who has produced it originally (which is exactly the business of platforms like Facebook). Publishers should mix content creation and curation in an efficient, cost saving way.

How can you add real time conversations to your product to benefit from the discussion that happens around news every day?

Just like the combination of mobile and social media has disrupted traditional media, real time chat apps have revolutionized the way we communicate. Many belief that WhatsApp will be bigger than Facebook and Instagram one day. In China WeChat is leading the way and you can expect Facebook to follow that route. Today publishers provide the content, but engagement around content happens on those chat platforms where few players monetize it successfully. Instead of triggering conversations, publishers should host conversations on mobile platforms. Like townhall meetings, where decision makers, editors and readers come together. Mobile provides all the necessary means and patterns. And the editorial control can add exclusive value to it, which no chat platform would be able to. In the future users might pay not just for reading content, but for being part of a community of interest that gathers around conversations. Mobile news apps need to become the technical platforms that aggregate both — content and conversation.

How can your mobile app support and strengthen other business you have diversified into?

Driven by the realization that solely ad-funded models won’t work, a lot of publishers focus on diversified revenue models, made up of a combination of advertising, ecommerce, events and subscriptions. Your own mobile apps should support all these activities, not just necessarily subscriptions or advertising. Especially events and conferences are a growth segment where mobile is a perfect accelerator. So why not think your mobile proposition as something that bridges real and digital life?! The questions above from user generated content to real time chats work perfectly with events and conferences. Why not let mobile become a platform that supports also that?

Summary

The behemoth called Facebook is struggling, at least a bit. The window of opportunity is open. But publishers need to think out of their boxes now! Especially when it comes to mobile. It´s time to think beyond the traditional digital news business that just presents endless amounts of content and news in a never ending stream protected by a paywall. Content providers need to embrace the standards that todays social networks have established without becoming a social network themselves, avoiding the mistakes and problems current platforms face.

The mighty Jeff Jarvis is right: Content is a commodity. Information is a commodity. The unique value of journalism lies in the conversation.

“Journalism exists to be of service to the public conversation.” Jeff Jarvis, January 2019

Quite obviously that conversation happens on other platforms that have created a wealthy business on top of it. So journalists and publishers, creators and content producers need to bring that conversation back to their own estates. They need to develop mobile platforms that empower users to create substantial value from content and conversations, cause mobile is the key battleground of todays attention economy.

Publishing needs to turn into a platform, a service that hosts conversation around content, news and knowledge in a way that is superior to the way social media works today. News platforms of the future need to be mobile first, empowering users with features that are more than bookmarking, article commenting or maybe the option to choose regional news. Instead users need to be enabled to contribute in the way news are being curated, delivered and understood.

Do we know exactly how this could work? And do we know the answers to all these questions above?

No!

But do we think that it´s just the right time to start investing, experimenting and testing?

Definitely: Yes!

Check our platform tchop.io and get in touch if you´re interested!

Originally published at https://blog.tchop.io on September 10, 2019.

We work continuously on the improvement of existing functionalities and features as well as on the introduction of new integrations, which make our platform more exciting and interesting for the users and more efficient and successful for editors and clients.

The further development of our platform always happens in close coordination with our customers and their requirements. We are therefore happy to share some considerations regarding our upcoming product development. Of course, timings can always change for different reasons. Nevertheless, this list is a good point of reference. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us!

Push Notifications

Sending push notifications to users is a central benefit from our point of view and an absolute USP of native apps. There are already several ways to send pushes to channels and users. For example: push to all users of the app, push to all users of a particular channel or pushes in connection with chat (in chat groups or in 1:1 chats).

We are currently planning to implement so called “Push Topics” for single channels or for all users of the app in order to give users the possibility to simply subscribe to or manage individual Push Topics in the app as per their interest. That enables users to personalize pushes to suit their needs. On the other side it enables clients to structure push content in a more sophisticated way.

Additionally we plan to extend the analytics from push notes displayed in the dashboard, so that clients have a clear overview about the success of each push message.

TIMING: End of 3rd Quarter

Audio

Podcasts are a big hype nowadays. And we think: for good reasons! Hence we have already introduced native audio cards. Using a special audio teaser, audio streams of any length can be started or paused directly via a simple player in the news feed. This can be used for all types of audio content — from podcasts to music. The audio stream can also be listened to after closing the app — just like a podcast.

In the next step we plan to make this even more exciting! User will be enabled to bookmark and download audio feeds, so that they can listen to them at anytime — also when they are offline (just like in a podcast app.)

Plus: we will build a podcast integration, that lets you automatically import any podcast that provides a proper feed (essentially podcasts are based on RSS, so this is very straight forward). Editors will be enabled to subscribe to podcasts and decide which audio feeds will flow into their backend, where they can comment, edit and publish them!

TIMING: 3rd Quarter

Teaser Templates

On our platform content is organized in “cards”. We cover all relevant content formats with different card types — from social posts to articles and links, from native audio to video or text. In order to make the news feed even more exciting and varied, we have recently introduced so-called “teaser templates” for article cards. The link to any web content or URL is a core feature of our platform. There have been already different options based on the existing content elements (e.g. picture, intro text etc.). Now editors can choose between small and large teasers as well as special teasers like picture plus headline.

To make this even more useful we will provide the option to automatically set teaser templates for dedicated integrations as well (you can already set it for certain mixes). That means all article cards provided by a specific source will use a certain template.

Your news feed will look amazing — with almost no work!

TIMING: 3rd Quarter

Personalized News Feed

A particularly exciting feature for use cases with a lot of daily content (e.g. news apps) is the option to let users personalise their news feed in a simple way. At the moment we are thinking in the following direction: the user can “follow” an entire channel or individual mixes in a channel (e.g. as in the app of Medium). The news feed is then aggregated from the channels or mixes that the user follows.

The existing content structure of mixes and channel is the perfect basis, while the user can choose the most exciting feeds for himself from the multitude of contents. In the personalized news feed, user would only see the content from mixes he follows.

In the long run we believe that the personalisation of news feeds based on additional logics (e.g. algorithms) is an exciting topic. There are exciting services and start-ups that could be integrated. The technical requirements on our side are perfect for this. Anyhow we believe that personalised news only make sense if there is enough content that users can filter from.

TIMING: End of 4th Quarter

Image Galleries

Images can already be integrated and managed in different ways. In the future, we will also integrate the possibility of creating picture galleries natively and making them consumable for users using swipeable image galleries. This principle has already been considered as standard and can also be implemented well within the framework of our card-based approach.

TIMING: 3rd Quarter

New Integrations

We are currently planing some new standard integrations, which should especially facilitate the import of structured data formats such as JSON or XML outside of special “custom integrations”. This is a requirement that we encounter again and again and for which there are different approaches. The aim is to make the integration of existing data sources even easier — without the technical necessity of IT integration.

TIMING: 3rd and 4th Quarter

Extension of Chats

We plan to improve and extend the real time chat with features that will make the exchange and discussion of content in chat groups or 1:1 chats easier and more efficient. Integrations can be used to integrate content feeds into any chats in the sense of a content chat bots. We also plan to offer new APIs to implement third party services in chats (e.g. for translations)

In addition, there will soon be even easier ways to move and share content in the app between “mixes” and chats. We are also planning functions in the sense of chat bots as well as central chat features such as broadcast messages to all users.

TIMING: 3rd Quarter

In-App Messaging

We believe in the power of Google´s Firebase platform. Therefore we are happy that Google has decided to extend the platform with an extended integration of analytics but also with more exciting features, which our customers will benefit from in the future.

With so-called “In-App Messaging”, editors can send flexible notifications to users even during the active use of an app. This can be used for different goals. In-App Messaging is therefore a variant or supplement of classic push notifications that are sent via Firebase Cloud Messaging.

Firebase can be used to link in-app messages with analytic data so that messages can be sent based on profile data (such as language, app version or country), current behavior (purchases, screens visited, buttons clicked) or predicted future behaviour (engagement rate, migration risk).

TIMING: 3rd Quarter