{"id":175,"date":"2022-07-23T15:33:17","date_gmt":"2022-07-23T07:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mojomanual2022.flywheelsites.com\/?page_id=175"},"modified":"2022-09-25T01:07:03","modified_gmt":"2022-09-24T17:07:03","slug":"storytelling-for-horizontal-platforms","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mojo-manual.org\/storytelling\/storytelling-for-social-media\/storytelling-for-horizontal-platforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Storytelling for Horizontal Platforms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Social media platforms are an important space for newsgathering, audience interaction, and sharing multimedia content. Your story must grab the viewer\u2019s attention<a href=\"https:\/\/buffer.com\/library\/facebook-video\/#2-catch-people-s-attention-within-the-first-3-seconds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> within three seconds<\/a> and remain interesting, to stop your audience from scrolling on to the next post in their timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When creating multimedia for your social platforms, it\u2019s useful to think and plan for two broad categories:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Platforms where videos are mostly watched in a horizontal format, like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn<\/li><li>Platforms where videos are displayed vertically, like Instagram Reels and TikTok<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Facebook<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Nearly 3 billion people use Facebook at least once a month, and it\u2019s the third most visited website in the world, behind Google and YouTube.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hootsuite.com\/how-long-should-a-social-media-video-be\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ideal duration<\/a> for a Facebook video is less than a minute, unless you are making a series of videos, in which case 3+ minutes is recommended. Here\u2019s an example from Al Jazeera:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watch: <a href=\"https:\/\/fb.watch\/e8Ey7p4xm9\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Plastic-eating caterpillars<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Video files should always be uploaded directly to Facebook, rather than posting a link to another platform like YouTube or Vimeo. We recommend reading <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/business\/help\/718033381901819?id=208060977200861\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook\u2019s own guide<\/a> to the criteria it applies to determine who will see a piece of content.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Facebook has increasingly integrated its fellow platform Instagram, in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.socialmediatoday.com\/news\/facebook-to-focus-on-serving-young-adults-in-new-push\/608943\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">efforts to attract younger users<\/a>, and both platforms now place more emphasis on video, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/6\/15\/23168887\/facebook-discovery-engine-redesign-tiktok\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">compete with TikTok<\/a> via Facebook Stories and Instagram Reels.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What does this mean for video created for the platform? It means that as well as producing a horizontal video in a traditional 16:9 <a href=\"https:\/\/invideo.io\/blog\/aspect-ratio-for-videos\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">aspect ratio<\/a>, you may need to plan a vertical version as well.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">YouTube<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>YouTube is the second-most visited website in the world after Google, and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/journalism\/2020\/09\/28\/many-americans-get-news-on-youtube-where-news-organizations-and-independent-producers-thrive-side-by-side\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2020 study<\/a> in the United States found around a quarter of all American adults rely on the platform for news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is no \u2018perfect length\u2019 for a video on YouTube. Learning to use <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/youtube\/answer\/9002587?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube Analytics<\/a> will help you find out what types of content your audience is most likely to watch, including preferred tone, style, and duration.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>YouTube is owned by Google, and the Google News Initiative has <a href=\"https:\/\/newsinitiative.withgoogle.com\/info\/youtube\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">guidance<\/a> for news outlets on using the platform, including this simple explainer about how news works on the platform.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Ever wonder how news works on YouTube?\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n-OMhLhg3tY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s worth mentioning that YouTube does have a vertical platform called YouTube Shorts, to compete with Instagram Reels and TikTok. Here is a <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/youtube\/answer\/10059070?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">guide<\/a> to using it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">LinkedIn<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/us-digital-trust-study-from-insider-intelligence-2020-9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2020 study by Business Insider<\/a> found LinkedIn is the most trusted social media platform. Survey participants said they felt their data and privacy was protected on the platform, that they were less likely to see misleading information, that they felt safe, and that they were seeing relevant ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can post a wide range of multimedia to LinkedIn, including website links, images, document files like PDFs, and video. The platform is not widely used for video, but given the high level of audience trust, it is worth experimenting with.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can upload videos of up to 10 minutes, but as most people use the platform for work, LinkedIn <a href=\"https:\/\/business.linkedin.com\/marketing-solutions\/success\/best-practices\/video-ad-tips\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recommends<\/a> limiting videos to 30 seconds or less, unless you are telling a complex story of strong interest to your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ability to go live is available to \u201capproved members and Pages\u201d, and to learn more, read this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/help\/linkedin\/answer\/a554240\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Twitter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Between 2016 and 2020, there was a <a href=\"https:\/\/business.twitter.com\/en\/blog\/video-advertising-best-practices.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sharp rise<\/a> in the amount of video people were watching on Twitter, so if your audience is on the platform, it\u2019s time to consider sharing video content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The platform has a <a href=\"https:\/\/create.twitter.com\/en\/articles\/best-practice\/2020\/twitter-for-journalists-ten-protips-for-using-twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">guide for journalists<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/help.twitter.com\/en\/using-twitter\/twitter-videos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">specific tips<\/a> for improving your video strategy and engagement.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Individual accounts are limited to 140-second videos on Twitter, but videos of under a minute work best. Twitter\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/business.twitter.com\/en\/blog\/creative-roundup-4-best-practices-for-short-video-on-twitter.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">advice<\/a> is to focus on short snippets of your best footage, and write short text posts when uploading video. Here\u2019s an example:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ash rains down <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/F8w0mLXLN5\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/F8w0mLXLN5<\/a><\/p>&mdash; David Lipson (@davidlipson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/davidlipson\/status\/1154709173164056576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">July 26, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also go live from your phone by selecting the camera icon when starting a new Tweet, and choosing \u2018LIVE\u2019 as an option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Social media platforms are an important space for newsgathering, audience interaction, and sharing multimedia content. Your story must grab the viewer\u2019s attention within three seconds and remain interesting, to stop your audience from scrolling on to the next post in their timeline. When creating multimedia for your social platforms, it\u2019s useful to think and plan [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":173,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mojo-manual.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mojo-manual.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mojo-manual.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mojo-manual.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mojo-manual.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mojo-manual.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/175\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mojo-manual.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mojo-manual.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}