Platforms
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How BBC News is experimenting with Instagram Stories to engage younger audiences

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For the past two years, the social media team at BBC News has been experimenting with video content on Instagram, producing 15-second videos named #BBCShorts, in a bid to engage younger, on-the-go audiences with the news of the day.

But since the social platform lauched Instagram Stories in August 2016, a feature that allows users to publish a stream of videos and pictures that disappear after 24 hours, the BBC has been able to try and draw in followers in a new way, explained Mark Frankel, social media editor, BBC News.

“We thought it would be interesting to try and experiment with a different kind of storytelling, breaking down the component parts of a story into a number of short videos or series of animated stills, so our followers would experience the story as it unfolds,” he said.

Until recently, users of Instagram were unable to add any form of hyperlink to their posts, but the platform now gives publishers the ability to direct audiences out of the social media app to their own content.

“Before, it was just all about brand identity on the platform, but now there is a referral opportunity for us – we choose to add a hyperlink to frames within our Instagram Stories which encourage people on the platform to go to the BBC website,” he said.

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