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New News Formats on/by Digital Social Networks
Over the past two years, new informational objects that choose short video format as their main form of content production have been emerging in France. They have been successful in reaching younger audiences through Digital Social Networks (DNS). They are produced by Brut, Monkey, Konbini and Minute-Buzz, and others are under development. Meanwhile, international Web companies such as Snapchat or Facebook have also developed applications dedicated to news. While their implementations are of varying quality and not always successful, some of them, diffused over our digital social networks, are gaining ground and, with them, a short information format combining video and text as they diffuse their content over DSN.
The objectives of these media1, who share their content on DSN, are multiple. In particular, they offer new information formats – that they described as “powerful” and that are adapted to mobile phone use – to audiences between the ages of 15–35 years who use traditional media less frequently.
The work presented here is based on a reflection on media devices and their evolution. The confrontation with these new informational objects questions certain notions within the framework of media research, including that of device or even editorial enunciation. We wish to examine these media objects by questioning their methods of writing current events in a context that has been marked for more than 20 years by the diversification of information devices, actors and practices.
The hesitation in the title of this chapter, “by/about DSNs”, reflects the ambiguity of the link between these new media and DSNs: they tend to present themselves as mere content diffusers, while we try to show their role in co-construction of information.
Considering that information media on the Web initially sought to free themselves from the materiality of traditional media, a process often referred to as dematerialization or digitalization, would the contemporary period correspond to a “deformalization” of media? Not that media no longer has forms, but that it no longer has its own form, or models, only fragmented formats, partly imposed by the DSNs, who guarantee access to the public. That is the assumption behind this work. At the heart of our questioning is the type of relationships that are being built between news producing media and DSNs.
1.1. Framework for the exploratory analysis
Our approach is based on a twofold theoretical approach. The first is the socio-economics of media, which analyzes the relationship between media and Web industries (Smyrnaios 2017). These new media are editorial manifestations of the power relations that are established between traditional media, or pure players, and DSNs. The battle between content producers and those controlling access to audiences has been analyzed from the point of view of the cultural industries to be examined (Bouquillion et al. 2013).
Our second theoretical approach is the study of media devices, media narrative and editorial enunciation. The study works on two levels. At the macro level, it seeks to understand the diversity of editorial systems. They are not all equivalent and, if their common denominator lies in their mobilization of DSNs, their modalities vary: it is about beginning an attempt to distinguish them in a changing media landscape that is difficut to read.
At the micro level, we look at the particularities of the productions of three of these new media to identify the proposed information discourse, while considering their semiotic density. The implementation of meaning involves several combined languages (icon, sound, verbal, gestural, computer-based) in a limited space (often the screen of the mobile phone). To take into account the details of the articulation between the material and the symbolic in this discourse is to understand which editorial enunciation is at work.
These informational objects, particularly semiotics and discourse, are so resistant to analysis that they can be difficult to grasp. They are therefore characterized by a high degree of diversity in their production and distribution methods. We have selected three of them, based on their differences and their emblematic character. All three media are free of charge and are financed by, among other sources, paid publications and commercial partnerships.
- – Brut is a recently established French media outlet, created in 2016 by personalities with experience in information, generally audiovisual, as well as Web-based information. It is enjoying rapid success and is currently developing versions abroad, particularly in the United States. It presents itself as “a new information medium, 100% video, 100% digital” and publishes videos (between 1 and 3 minutes in length) that are shared or diffused exclusively on DSNs. These are systematically subtitled. Brut has no website, and the content is produced for distribution on digital social networks2. Recently, thematic channels have been developed: Brut Nature, Brut Sports. Always looking for a profitable business model, this outlet broadcasts content that is displayed as “paid”, i.e. videos are produced in partnership with a brand, institution or other media outlet and are therefore comparable to promotional content.
- – Konbini, launched in 2009 by two advertising and Web entrepreneurs, is the oldest of the three media outlets selected for this study. Initially, Konbini did not produce informational content, but promoted itself as a branded content production company. The link with the journalistic world was therefore very weak. It is only recently that it has emerged as an infotainment medium, with pop culture-related content. The information shift took place in 2017 with two concurrent events: the creation of the Konbini News channel and the arrival of Hugo Clément, a journalist known for his participation in the television show Le Petit Journal3. Konbini highlights six thematic channels on its website, including a channel dedicated to information. Some are produced in permanent collaboration with a brand (Coca-Cola, Netflix). Konbini also distributes its content on its DSN, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat accounts.
- – Le Monde (on Snapchat), whose configuration is very different here as it is a known medium, publishes in its name via the Snapchat application, according to the rules laid down by the latter within a kiosk-type space called “Discover”, which hosts some media (L’Équipe, Vice, Paris Match, Konbini, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, MTV, Melty, L’Express), as well as, more recently, publications by influential personalities and brands. The form of Le Monde’s publications is very elaborate: still and animated images with folders, sometimes large, that you can choose to open to read (no buttons, everything is activated by sliding movements on the screen) according to the “map” model4 and only visible for 24 hours by the users of the application.
Our observations took place over a week, from March 19 to 24, 2018. The informational productions were captured and cross-referenced from several DSNs. We looked at both the devices and the content produced, while trying to measure their degree of “informational sociability”, i.e. the way in which information is mobilized to generate commitment from users (Nicolas 2018). This is also a question of understanding the internal mechanics of each of these media, their editorial policy and also the editorialization met...
