Working with WhatsApp, UK regional publishing group Reach has transformed the way it delivers content.
And says engagement director Dan Russell in an INMA Ideas blog, the cooperation with the Meta-owned app – say it quietly – “appears to be working”.
Nottinghamshire-based Russell says relying on the algorithms of major tech platforms to help news publishers distribute content organically is becoming more difficult. “When Facebook supported news, Twitter was not X, and Google wasn’t making what seems like constant changes to search and discover feeds, things were a lot easier to navigate and understand.
“But now Meta tells us their users do not want news, Elon Musk has a lot to say about legacy media and wants to compete directly as the place to be informed, and Google is moving to serve up answers directly in the search engine or through their phone’s operating system – one to keep an eye on for sure.
“This isn’t to say that solid search and social strategies don’t offer benefits and rewards; they absolutely do. However, the highs aren’t as high, and the lows tend to be a lot lower if you get it wrong, which is a dangerous place to be at a time of hardship, as seen recently with the sad closure of several large publishers.
He says the solution is top grow relationships without algorithms, “while maintaining what we have worked so hard to build already on the existing platforms”.
By growing both WhatsApp Channels and WhatsApp Communities, more than two million people now receive Reach’s pictures videos, and links directly without an algorithm involved. “It is incredibly liberating and rewarding to be able to send a piece of content exactly how you want it to look and read without the risk of tripping over machine learning, which automatically decides how many people should see your story.”
And after just a year, Reach’s newsrooms are successfully growing their WhatsApp offering, month after month, by launching new communities based on one-off events or large channels covering ongoing topics and football teams.
“We learn something new every day, and readership ranges from one page view per person to 14 page views per person, which is a very healthy return on the time and energy invested in getting the project up and running. It isn’t the silver bullet the industry would love to have, but it is a weapon in the developing news publishing arsenal that must be put into service.”
However, Russell says there are challenges: “When you send something people don’t like, they leave almost immediately and you receive very few second chances – you don’t get that on social media.”
And he points out that with WhatsApp owned by Meta, support for it is very limited, and likely to remain that way until Meta can monetise these parts of its vast ecosystem. “There is also the elephant in the room that both WhatsApp Channels and Communities could be restricted, like news on Facebook, ” he says, “or even shut down entirely if Meta wishes.”
Does WhatsApp fill the audience hole left by changes made by Google, Meta, and X? “No,” he says, “but alongside newsletters, Web push, SMS and other messenger services, and numerous new-ish closed distribution environments, it cuts out the algorithm and allows us to build direct relationships with our readers.
“This is incredibly valuable, and it is a good bet that this will play an important part in the future of news publishing.”