Storytelling on mobile: making smart choices. More than 8 in 10 U.S. adults now get news on a mobile device. We need a new storytelling tool kit to attract and better serve our audience on mobile. On a small screen, what’s the best way to tell a particular story: digest, explainer, bulleted live updates or what-we-know lists, photo, video, graphic, audio, games, curation, or some combination? And what are the tools to make that happen as efficiently as possible? (Instructor: Christy Robinson)

1. Smart Mobile Storytelling
Christy Robinson | @christyrobinson | crobinson@KERA.org
//TOOLS
Structure helpers and elements
● Genius Web Annotator: genius.com/web-annotator
● Simple Tooltips plugin for Wordpress: wordpress.org/plugins/simple-tooltips
● Knight Lab's timeline tool: timeline.knightlab.com
● Infogram chart, infographic, etc. creator: infogram.com
● Knight Lab's Storyline, for a chart and timeline mashup:
storyline.knightlab.com
● Knight Lab's story map creator: storymap.knightlab.com
● Knight Lab's audio clip tool: soundcite.knightlab.com
Alternate story forms
● Anchor podcasting app: anchor.fm
● Twine game creator: twinery.org
● Qzzr quiz creator: qzzr.com
● 4screens quiz creator: 4screens.net/engageform
360 | VR | AR aka immersive
● Robert Hernandez's (@webjournalist) immersive tips and tools: bit.ly/vrtipsheet
● StorySpheres, for interactive 360 experiences and VR lite: storyspheres.com
● ThingLink, for interactive images, including 360: thinglink.com
● Google Street View app, for quick 360 embed solution:
google.com/streetview/apps
● WP-VR-view Wordpress plugin for 360 embeds: wordpress.org/plugins/wp-vr-
view
● Vizor for 360 embeds and multimedia touchpoints: site.vizor.io
● Journalism 360 collective on Twitter: twitter.com/journalism_360
● Facebook 360: facebook360.fb.com
● Google Tour Creator, for 360 and VR: vr.google.com/tourcreator
● Knight Lab's Scene VR story creator: scene.knightlab.com
● Metaverse augmented reality creator: gometa.io

2. //TIPS
4 basic optimization steps before publishing your story:
● Write alternate headline(s) for social and search, or write your main headline as if you
were writing for social and search
● Internal links within the body
● At least one image with alt-text copy
● One heading or so for short stories, more for longer stories
Good headline writing for search/social:
● I.D. the story’s main keyword or phrase and include it in the headline.
● Place it as close to the beginning of the headline naturally possible.
● Aim for 60-63ish characters for your search and social headlines
(charactercountonline.com).
Internal linking (very) general guidelines:
● Aim for 60-63ish characters for your search and social headlines
(charactercountonline.com).
● Short- to average-length stories: two or three links total
● Longer stories: A link every two to three swipes
Heading tips:
● Aim for 60-63ish characters for your search and social headlines
(charactercountonline.com).
● When not awkward, try to include your story's main keyword or keyphrase in one or
more of your headings ... IF (and only if) it’s natural.
● Aim for one heading for short stories (about 300 words or fewer), if there is a natural
breaking point. Add more headings for longer stories — let your instinct (and the story)
be your guide for how many.
● Of all the heading tags available — H1 through H6 — choose H2, H3 or H4. Whichever
you like best. Why? There should only be one H1 on the page (the headline) and H5-H6
tend to be too small to look right.
● Do you have an older CMS that doesn't have a heading drop-down menu? Just bold your
headings, or try alternate formatting like block quote. Anything that visually breaks up
your story into sections.
●
//BONUS
● Future Today Institute's 2019 Trend Report for Journalism: bit.ly/2QLpuAT
@ChristyRobinson | KERA | crobinson@kera.org | linkedin.com/in/christyrobinsonweb