This handbook aims to provide practical guidelines, tips and best practice for social media news video production, based on the experience the Al Jazeera Media Network has been building over the last few years.
From the introduction to the manual:
These days, anyone can film with their smartphones and upload the footage to social media.
There’s a difference between uploading content to social media and telling a story, however.
Journalism is increasingly exploring and adopting new forms of visual digital storytelling. News video for social platforms is one of these. If produced successfully, it can unfold stories in less time, and simultaneously engage and open a dialogue with the audience.
As journalists, how do we tell stories through social video? How do we create compelling pieces that successfully inform and reach our audience?
While the manual examines what entails producing for platforms such as YouTube, more detailed content is provided for producing real-time news videos for Facebook, given that it is the most popular platform worldwide, with 1.97 billion monthly active users. Its video-first strategy, including Facebook Live and 360 video, has increasingly required news organisations to develop or ad just their social video strategies, and is likely to keep on doing so in the coming years.
The guide was developed by Diana Larrea Maccise and Montaser Marai, from the Al Jazeera Media Institute.
Download the manual “Producing Video for Social Platforms“
