How The National stays relevant in the swirl of likes, swipes and hashtags

Never-complacent head of digital strategy Alex Gubbay reflects on losing hair but gaining perspective

The National's app and website. Victor Besa / The National

In 2008, I was leading a digital team in a multi-platform, global newsroom. Today in 2023, I am fundamentally still doing likewise. But beyond just trading some hair for memorable moments, mistakes and perspective during the 15 years in between, that is where the headline similarity in terms of the job ends.

Because instead of being at the BBC based in London, I’m now at The National working in Abu Dhabi. And where our sole digital outlet back then was our website or “online” – still the young pup compared to the established TV and radio – we’re now present across all manner of digital platforms and products, including podcasts, newsletters, video, pictures and stories on Apple, Spotify, Google, YouTube, MSN, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, email, mobile app on iOS and Android. The website, thenationalnews.com, is just one, albeit still an important one, of those channels.

And yes, we still publish in print too.

Could I have predicted all of that at the time? No way. Have there been guiding principles, consistent patterns and key milestones along that journey? For sure.

Take the explosion of social media. I had the privilege of being the first social media editor at BBC News in 2010, when we were just dipping our toes into the “web 2.0” water with a couple of those services, and the rest were still to emerge. Now those initial accounts we established on Twitter and Facebook have around 200 million followers worldwide between them.

News or footage inevitably emerges on social platforms first, shared by influential people or accounts not affiliated to mainstream news media, whose role then becomes as much to verify and contextualise as it is to break the actual story.

And yet, not every “next big thing” has taken hold, with many launched with great fanfare having since withered on the vine.

What about the increasing dominance of mobiles as the priority device for digital news updates? Initially, basic text and images were the additional feeds we provided for early adopters consuming content on phones, almost as an afterthought. These days the mobile experience is absolutely the primary and richest format most will experience – for video and audio as much as for pictures and words. At The National around 80 per cent of traffic is mobile.

And yet, ignore the humble desktop or laptop user at your peril – not least when it comes to more considered searches and especially e-commerce or sizeable online purchases.

Indeed, traffic source is just one of so many data information points we are fortunate to have at our fingertips, thanks to smart tools that provide real-time insight and intelligence on content that is resonating, with whom and from where.

Tools that indicate audience interest, search trends and behaviour we can immediately incorporate into coverage, rather than in the past having to wait for overnight rundowns, by which time the follow-up had often already moved on or been covered elsewhere.

And yet there also still remains a valuable role for qualitative surveys, focus groups and verbatims, to provide the extra insight and testimony that anonymised, quantitative data or an avalanche of figures might otherwise obscure.

With such rapid transformation, I would contend those in the media who have most successfully adapted have been very open to change and experimentation, while staying true to their brand values and the core tenets of responsible journalism.

Confidently harnessing new technologies in ways that best fit their content, audience and business models, rather than the other way round.

After all, a balanced, well-sourced package should still represent all sides fairly, even if condensed to a 30-second clip on TikTok or Instagram Reel.

An enticing headline and summary need to work just as well whether crafted for a web story, tweet thread or LinkedIn post. A discussion about your favourite football team, shows or musicians will be all the more rounded and informed with different voices and views from passionate experts, be it a YouTube livestream, downloadable podcast or morning radio show segment.

And in-depth analysis of complex geopolitical or macro-economic trends will be worth subscribing to and perhaps even paying for – be it in an email newsletter, printed or digital magazine, mobile app or even combination of them all – if the topic really interests you and the commentary is sufficiently distinctive.

To stay relevant amidst the swirl of likes, swipes and hashtags undoubtedly demands constant flexibility, but also the ability to distinguish a flash in the pan from a fundamental game-changer. It remains a fascinating challenge to navigate, and on your behalf it is one we should never be complacent about mastering.