Live social media coverage, website redesign, special topical content areas also part of expanded digital focus.
By ELANA KIRSHJPost mobile apps 370(photo credit: the jerusalem post)The Jerusalem Post has launched a new range of free apps for Apple and Android devices as part of an expanded digital focus.Editor-in-Chief Steve Linde hailed the plan as bringing the Post to the forefront of the new digital age.“Integrating ourselves into digital media is an exciting journey for The Jerusalem Post,” Linde said. “For the past 80 years, the Post has reported and recorded Israel’s most significant historic events in its printed edition.Thanks to digital media, we now can not only inform our readers about the latest situation, but also engage them, receive feedback on our reports and be more active in giving those who love our newspaper the stories and information they need and want.”The channels for news consumption these days at the Post are more varied than ever. While many consumers still prefer to come straight to the source – the “classic” daily newspaper and its website www.jpost.com – millions of people use social media sites as news aggregators, prefer apps over browsers, skim daily email bulletins for updates or rely on search engines for the most relevant results.That’s where the easy-to-navigate apps for Apple and Android devices come in.Readers can now select the appropriate JPost channel wherever they are and enjoy the same free online experience.Like jpost.com, all JPost apps are updated 24/7 with breaking news from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world. Original current affairs analyses and feature pieces are also showcased on the new apps, as well as Facebook, Twitter and email share buttons.The Post is also developing its social media program to keep readers updated all over the Web.Its social media team – headed by Social Media Editor Ruth Eglash and Social Media Manager Zohar Friedman – is intent on getting JPost updates and features out to readers on the Web. According to Eglash, the Post has a responsibility as the oldest and most widely read English-language newspaper in Israel not only to keep up with the changing times, but to lead the way forward.
“Digital media is the future of journalism, and that includes utilizing social media platforms to engage the audience like never before,” she says. “We are very excited to start using these new platforms to interact with The Jerusalem Post’s loyal readership and use them to reach out to a new audience worldwide.”The Post’s Twitter feed provides minute-by-minute headline updates as well as live coverage from the paper’s team of new-media-savvy reporters. On its Facebook page, a growing community of users shares ideas, photos and stories, and debates the big issues with users from all over the world.JPostTV’s YouTube channel is now also open for subscription, with email updates whenever a new video is uploaded, including both breaking news clips from across the country and original feature videos.JPost.com, too, has been undergoing remodeling, with a recent redesign streamlining the homepage to highlight more news and fewer ads in a clear, easy-to-skim format.New topical content areas covering the ongoing violence in Syria, this week’s opening of the London Olympic Games and the US Presidential race have also been introduced to provide the reader with even more indepth coverage of the events shaping our time.
