Futures Lab Update #163: NPR’s Approach to Snapchat

This story first appeared on RJI’s Futures Lab. Reporting by Mitchel Summers.

NPR has found creative ways to use the most basic features in Snapchat to connect differently with its audience.

For more information:

The NPR social media team has shared many posts about Snapchat strategies and experiments on its blog. Some of those posts include:

• A brief history and breakdown of how NPR has changed its approach to Snapchat since 2013
• Six ways to engage an audience on Snapchat
• Takeaways from a viewer callout on Snapchat from intern Vesta Partovi
• Two examples of different Snapchat Stories from NPR: one on the Pope’s visit to Washington, D.C., and the other a step-by-step look at how one story came together for All Things Considered

NPR has recently updated its “introduction to Snapchat” digital training guide, which was compiled using work from former social media desk interns.

You can find the social media team’s work on Snapchat under the username npr.

Rachel Wise is an editor at the Futures Lab at the Reynolds Journalism Institute and co-producer of the weekly Futures Lab video update.

The Reynolds Journalism Institute’s Futures Lab video update features a roundup of fresh ideas, techniques and developments to help spark innovation and change in newsrooms across all media platforms. Visit the RJI website for the full archive of Futures Lab videos, or download the receive email notification of each new episode.

Reminder: Upcoming related DigitalEd training: Snapchat and Instagram Stories for Journalists