Reimagining the live blog as a mobile-first experience
By: Madeline Welsh
Tags: Breaking News, Mobile, Considerations, Innovation

Reimagining the live blog as a mobile-first experience

Live blogging has not kept pace with advances in reporting technology, and on mobile, the experience feels pared down.

Photograph by Manjunath Kiran for AFP/Getty Images

In my first week at the Guardian mobile innovation lab, I started a new project: to gather information about the live coverage experience on mobile. On March 21, the day I started it, most of the US press was focused on President Obama’s visit to Cuba. A pool of photographers and reporters from all the major news organizations were there to document the first American presidential visit in over 80 years: following the president, talking to Cubans, and publishing all the while for readers left at home and monitoring the news from their phones.

But on March 22, I woke up in New York to notifications on my phone about the attacks in Brussels. I swiped on the Guardian alert and started reading the live blog to see what I had missed: what we knew, and what we didn’t.

Breaking news can happen anytime, anywhere. And by virtue of the shape of the earth, some people are always going to find out later than others. When you find out about a breaking event, often the first thing you want to know is: What did I miss?

Originally developed in the early 2000s, the live blog has become digital journalism’s industry standard for how to cover a live news event online. As a way to follow all the developments on desktop as they happen, a live blog has become a codified, albeit formulaic, storytelling technique. There are benefits to having such a staid format on desktop. For one thing, the user always knows with relative certainty what they are going to get: consistent updates, ongoing explanations of what we know, and coverage from a variety of angles.

But live blogging has not kept pace with advances in reporting technology, and on mobile, the experience feels pared down, rather than enhanced.

On mobile, smaller screens and a single-panel stream mean that the context-building elements we have come to expect from live blogs, like maps and and timelines of key events, get lost or are left off entirely. And for readers who come in at the middle of a story, the live blog format as styled on mobile leaves them playing catch-up from the moment they enter. These are issues that result from an existing format being adapted — but not pushed forward.

Live blogs across a variety of sites have a few standard elements that seem to be things every news organization has agreed need to be present. I looked at a sampling of different types of live blogs on mobile from the Guardian, New York Times, Buzzfeed, Wall Street Journal, and AP, and pulled out a few elements common to all:

Reverse chronology: On mobile, as on desktop, live blogs have a streamlike format, where updates (or a notification that a new update is available) appear at the top of a screen in reverse chronological order.

On mobile, as on desktop, live blogs have a streamlike format, where updates (or a notification that a new update is available) appear at the top of a screen in reverse chronological order. SEO-driven headlines: Most live blogs have an SEO-friendly main headline, which changes as coverage is updated. Most organizations follow the main headline with four or so related subheadlines that provide an outline of the main elements of the story as they have happened. Later in coverage, these subheadings are generally clickable links to their own stories.

Most live blogs have an SEO-friendly main headline, which changes as coverage is updated. Most organizations follow the main headline with four or so related subheadlines that provide an outline of the main elements of the story as they have happened. Later in coverage, these subheadings are generally clickable links to their own stories. Predictable pace: There are three main types of news for which news outlets usually launch live blogs: breaking news, planned news coverage (like a state visit), and culture and sports events (like the Oscars or the Super Bowl). Depending on the type of coverage, the pacing of updates varies. For a planned news event, updates appear once or twice an hour, often in the form of several graf long text updates. During cultural coverage, updates are timed to the major expected moments (Best Actor award, half-time, etc.). For breaking news, updates tend to be much shorter and published more frequently — usually every 20 minutes or so, or as news is available.

There are three main types of news for which news outlets usually launch live blogs: breaking news, planned news coverage (like a state visit), and culture and sports events (like the Oscars or the Super Bowl). Depending on the type of coverage, the pacing of updates varies. For a planned news event, updates appear once or twice an hour, often in the form of several graf long text updates. During cultural coverage, updates are timed to the major expected moments (Best Actor award, half-time, etc.). For breaking news, updates tend to be much shorter and published more frequently — usually every 20 minutes or so, or as news is available. Visual elements : Although embedded tweets, photos, video, and user generated content are included, the default language of a live blog is a text update.

: Although embedded tweets, photos, video, and user generated content are included, the default language of a live blog is a text update. Summaries: After several hours in each live blog, a bullet-pointed list of the events thus far is presented as a summary.

After several hours in each live blog, a bullet-pointed list of the events thus far is presented as a summary. Conclusion: After a set amount of time, a final update on a live blog will inform readers the blog is shutting down. In the case of a breaking news event, this is often after 24 hours, and provides a final summary of events up to that moment.

These standard elements reflect the fundamentals of what readers need to know in fast moving or developing coverage, as well as news organizations’ best understanding of how readers want to follow developing news on desktop. But where are places to experiment? Where is there room to take cues from a more sophisticated and perhaps customizable mobile experience?

Consider where the live blog’s structure and format might not be so mobile friendly:

Only one way to move through it. The way we read a live blog is to scroll through in reverse chronological order. This makes sense, except that when a user comes into the story in the middle (or whenever they have time to engage), they might need to do a lot of scrolling in order to see a summary post, a map, or any other non-text element that gives context and allows them to catch up quickly.

The way we read a live blog is to scroll through in reverse chronological order. This makes sense, except that when a user comes into the story in the middle (or whenever they have time to engage), they might need to do a lot of scrolling in order to see a summary post, a map, or any other non-text element that gives context and allows them to catch up quickly. Text is still the main means of information delivery. Some live blogs can be more pre-planned than others, but even in cases when areas of coverage are decided in advance, this tends to lead to longer text updates. Video and other forms of media do exceptionally well on mobile, but the live blog in its current form doesn’t take advantage of their mobile friendliness.

Some live blogs can be more pre-planned than others, but even in cases when areas of coverage are decided in advance, this tends to lead to longer text updates. Video and other forms of media do exceptionally well on mobile, but the live blog in its current form doesn’t take advantage of their mobile friendliness. Doesn’t immediately let you know where you are in the story. On desktop, it is common practice to have a timeline of key events that accompany the rolling live blog. On mobile, this feature is missing, save the periodic summary in an update, with the effect that it is hard as a reader to know how much farther the story goes.

On desktop, it is common practice to have a timeline of key events that accompany the rolling live blog. On mobile, this feature is missing, save the periodic summary in an update, with the effect that it is hard as a reader to know how much farther the story goes. Doesn’t save your place. For reasons that may have to do with the sheer amount of device memory required, live blogs don’t hold your place — meaning that if your phone goes to its lock screen, or you move to another app and then return to the live blog, you lose your place. That’s fine for users only returning for additional updates — it will always jump you to the top — but if you are in the process of catching up, and either get distracted or interrupted by a new update, it is disruptive to scroll, sometimes a long way, all the way back to find where where you left off.

For reasons that may have to do with the sheer amount of device memory required, live blogs don’t hold your place — meaning that if your phone goes to its lock screen, or you move to another app and then return to the live blog, you lose your place. That’s fine for users only returning for additional updates — it will always jump you to the top — but if you are in the process of catching up, and either get distracted or interrupted by a new update, it is disruptive to scroll, sometimes a long way, all the way back to find where where you left off. Doesn’t consider that a user might find one update more important than another. As it stands, a live blog is a live blog is a live blog. It looks the same for every user, regardless of that reader’s preferences. With more information from users, what if a live blog could give you geographically relevant information, or information personalized to what you’ve already told news organizations you care about?

If the live blog mostly worked in an era when news was read primarily on desktop, we now need to find a way to present live coverage that feels mobile-first. Part of the beauty of mobile devices is that they live in users’ pockets and are with them as news breaks. A truly mobile-first live blog would take advantage of this, rather than assume they will wait by their desktop for the next update or scroll and scroll to find the latest news.

Here are some preliminary ideas of features which might make for an improved mobile experience:

Decide what you want and lose the rest. Allow users to filter or organize live coverage in a way that shows them only what they want to see. For example, users could choose to see just summaries, just video coverage or just information relevant to where they are or by an author they trust.

Allow users to filter or organize live coverage in a way that shows them only what they want to see. For example, users could choose to see just summaries, just video coverage or just information relevant to where they are or by an author they trust. Jump right in. Offer more context and better navigation to a user who joins live coverage after it has begun. For example, show users a summary card with the start time of live coverage, the length of time the blog has been running, who is editing it, what the key events have been and a way to sign up for alerts. Offer the option to jump between where they are in the stream, any incoming update, and back.

Offer more context and better navigation to a user who joins live coverage after it has begun. For example, show users a summary card with the start time of live coverage, the length of time the blog has been running, who is editing it, what the key events have been and a way to sign up for alerts. Offer the option to jump between where they are in the stream, any incoming update, and back. Stay ahead of the news. Allow users to sign up for notifications when a fact is confirmed, or when a milestone is hit. For example, a user may want to know when a suspected terrorist is caught. Or, by contrast, allow users to opt out of notifications they don’t want, like the final score of a game or the winner of an award.

Clearly this isn’t a comprehensive list, but it’s somewhere to start.

What makes live blogs still so useful is their versatility. The same general format can be used by most desks at a news organization, with the expectation of commanding readers’ attention. This experience should be even more dynamic and versatile on mobile, to reflect the ways different readers are looking to interact with the news as they go about their day.