Newsrooms are built to find, assess, report and publish stories. Traditionally, a journalist identifies or develops a story, an editor decides whether and how to pursue it, and the newsroom produces the strongest version it can. Other teams may later adapt it for social media, video, audio or newsletters.

Research for our recent book, "The Age of News Experience", showed that neighbouring media industries work differently. Social platforms, games and television focus on the experience created by each item and, just as importantly, on the wider sequence of experiences around it. The item still matters, but it is rarely expected to carry the whole relationship with the audience.

This gap creates an opportunity for newsrooms. By introducing experience thinking earlier, they can make more of the journalism they already produce without weakening the story itself.

The competition is not another article

Think about how people use a social platform. One post may be excellent, but the platform’s power lies in the flow around it and the expectation that something else worth seeing will follow.