Top stories on Journalism.co.uk in 2014

2014 was a busy one in terms of digital media debates, and we've been looking at how media outlets are handling user generated content and what's happening to readers' comments among others.

We've also explored new tools to help journalists build better stories and work more efficiently – but what has stood out most to you, our readers?

Here are the top 10 most popular stories we published last year, based on the total number of visits to each page.

1. 10 key skills for digital journalists to hone in 2014

The top story of the last year looked at essential digital skills journalists need, like the verification of rumours and pictures found online.

The piece offered some tips for the efficient administration of social media accounts, and pointed out that journalists should also be aware of digital threats and some security best practices. Keep an eye out this month for a podcast exploring the new skills journalists need in 2015.

2. Guardian forms new editorial teams to enhance digital output

Aron Pilhofer joined the Guardian as executive editor for digital last summer. He told Journalism.co.uk about his plans to restructure the newsroom, and change the ways the media outlet's data and visual journalism teams currently work, as well as appoint an editor for audience development.

He said his plans were inspired by visits to newsrooms like NPR, for example, and by digital start-ups.

Pilhofer is also a keynote speaker at our upcoming news:rewired digital journalism conference next month.

3. 10 digital trends for journalists to track in 2014

Our technology editor spoke to five industry experts about their predictions for digital news in 2014, highlighting 10 trends to watch during the course of the year.

The compiled list included private social media, as apps like Snapchat became increasingly popular, and short form video as more people watch video on their smartphones.

4. Guardian launches open-source data journalism tool

Swarmize is a data journalism tool for creating surveys and real time visualisations that launched internally at the Guardian in October.

It is open source and built to promote innovation in data journalism, as tools currently in use such as Google Docs are too limited according to project lead Matt McAlister, general manager of new digital businesses at the Guardian.

5. Five social media tips from The Wall Street Journal

Liz Heron, former emerging media editor at the Wall Street Journal who now heads news partnerships at Facebook, gave us an insight into what made the Journal's social media accounts successful.

She emphasised the importance of visual posts, as well as an adaptable social media strategy that can be changed to suit any updates in the algorithms of key networks.

6. How the BBC and Guardian are innovating on Instagram

2014 was a good year for Instagram, as the network reached 300 million users in December.

This piece looks at ways the Guardian and BBC have been experimenting with the app, both with video and still images.

Since publication, the BBC service Instafax discussed in the story has been renamed BBC Shorts, and is now in use on other social networks including instant messaging platform Line.

7. 10 essential self-taught journalism skills

Coming back to the topic of journalism skills, this year we've also crowdsourced a list of skills journalists can teach themselves, and looked at some tools and resources that could help along the way.

The recommendations included data visualisation and scraping, as well as coding and other in-depth digital skills.

8. 50 blogs for journalists, by journalists 2014

What better way to get an insight into the industry and keep an eye on digital experiments than by hearing from the journalists on the front lines themselves?

This updated version of our 2013 list of blogs written by journalists for journalists makes an appearance in our top 10 again, bringing together a variety of international sources for first hand accounts of how the media is – or could be – embracing the newest digital tools.

9. The web at 25: tools for journalists

With the World Wide Web now around for over 25 years, we had a look at the job of a modern journalist.

This piece offers recommendations for tools and resources to help with basic tasks such as verification or managing sources, but also looks at the new jobs that have emerged online like social media monitoring, liveblogging and building interactive stories.

10. New photography site uses 'smart frame' to protect copyright

Photographers showcasing their work online have long been worried, and rightly so, about others using their work without permission.

Portfolio site Pixelrights launched last year with a focus on copyright protection, planning to work towards being recognised as 'anti-circumvention technology' as a further deterrent against unauthorised use.

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