If you are interested in predictions related to journalism and technology, then you need to read the “Journalism, Media, and Technology Trends and Predictions 2023” report. The report comes from the the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism with the support of the Google News Initiative, and was based on a survey of 303 individuals in senior positions at leading media and digital companies.

The report focused on trends related to journalism and technology, and here are four key takeaways.

1. Publishers are focusing less on Facebook and Twitter, and more on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. And why wouldn’t they? TikTok and Instagram is where people 30 and below spend their time, and Facebook and Twitter seem far away from being in vogue. With 78% of news publishers already on TikTok, perhaps short form video becomes your main source of news.

2. LinkedIn may be the new Twitter for publishers. Most journalists in the report indicated that it would be bad if Twitter entirely disappeared, but the report showed more journalists saw LinkedIn as the next Twitter over other alternatives like Mastodon, Facebook, or a possible new network. With such access to leaders of all industries, 850 million users, and its air of authenticity, LinkedIn is an intuitive replacement.

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3. Publishers aren’t interested in the metaverse, yet. 2023’s focus is podcasts and email newsletters, not VR applications. The metaverse and augmented reality are very cool; however, they are still in their infancy, and mainstream adoption is not necessarily guaranteed. We certainly don’t have a crystal ball, but look at VR’s current usage. 51% of the metaverse is 13 or younger, and 68% of adults in the United States aren’t interested in Meta’s metaverse. In contrast, podcasting continues to grow, and email isn’t going anywhere. 

4. Most publishers are using AI at least for experimentation, with more than a quarter using it quite a bit. If you need a wake up call about AI use, this is it. The world wide web as you know it will soon be written, in a significant part, using AI. This even includes how you search, with both Google and Microsoft releasing chatbot features to their search engines. For more on this topic, What’s New In Publishing wrote an excellent overview of the report, specifically related to what it said about AI. You may also, of course, refer to the Rueter’s Institute report.