Yes, iTouch: a case study of the first Brazilian news media for tablets
Soraia Herrador Costa Lima
Professor at Centro Universitário Estácio Radial de São Paulo e Serviço Nacional de
Aprendizagem Comercial (SENAC)
Reporter at Plástico Industrial
Rua Rafael Correia Sampaio, 724, apto 114
São Caetano do Sul
São Paulo – Brazil
CEP 09541-250
Phone: 55 11 4221-3828 / 55 11 9882-3154
[email protected]
Paper submitted to the 13th International Symposium for Online Journalism
Austin, Texas / April 20-21, 2012
Abstract
This paper examines the first Brazilian news vehicle for tablets, named Brasil 247. In order
to do a complete analysis of the journal, the research included interviews with journalists
and others professionals involved with the project; detailed reading of Brasil 247, which
includes news and publicity; and also approached the content of its social media accounts
(Facebook, Twitter) and website, to be able to verify if contents are different and why does
that happen. All the analysis is based on concepts learnt in the bibliographic references,
which will provide the concepts needed to base theoretically what will be seem in practice.
Moreover, the paper includes researches about the Brazilian market of tablets and its
consumers, and who are the readers of Brasil 247.
Yes, iTouch: a case study of the first Brazilian news media for tablets
Introdution
On February 2011, The Daily (USA) was launched. It was the first news vehicle worldwide
produced exclusively for iPad, developed by Rupert Murdoch. One month later, in March,
some Brazilian journalists realized that this kind of media could provide also a great
opportunity locally. That was the beginning of Brasil 247.
Like The Daily, in the beginning it was a vehicle made only for reading in iPads. Its name
reflects the intention of the vehicle: provide quality national news, 24 hours a day, seven
days a week. In order to do this, it has two daily editions, with news and articles about
culture, politics, economy, technology, media, agriculture, celebrities, ecology, sports and
trips.
During the 12 months since the first edition, Brasil 247 has improved. It has its own
website, has social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter) and also has segmented
newspapers in three states and Brasília, capital of Brazil (Bahia 247, Brasília 247, Rio 247
and Pernambuco 247). Furthermore, now it also has apps for tablets that uses the Android
platform.
For Brazilian journalism, it was an opportunity to develop a new language and an
innovative vehicle. Tablets are getting popular1 and paper based format of publications still
are in crisis2, trying to figure out how to adapt and compete with online journalism.
However, as it was presented by Ingrid Bachmann and Summer Harlow (University of
1 Tablets are getting popular indeed, but it's necessary to explain some particularities of Brazilian
population and the social and digital inclusion in this country. The last research made in 2010 by IBGE
(Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, or Brazilian Institute of Geografy and Statistics) verified
that Brazil has 192.376.496 residents. It's an impressive data. Although, the same institute in 2008
announced that only 34,8% of the local population have access to Internet. The information was obtained
during the PNAD (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios, or National Research of Home
Samples).
It's true that electronic devices are cheaper than 20, 10 years ago, but they're still too expensive for most
of Brazilian citizens. IBGE also did a investigation about the medium wage of the population, and
discovered that a half of these people obtain R$ 375 a month (US$ 187,5 / month). Tablets cost, on the
avarage, US$ 550. So there are few individuals in this country that could be able to buy these devices.
Therefore all these observations, that must be done to understand the full concept of Brazil's reality, the
market research company International Data Corporation (IDC) verified in September 2011 that Brazilians
will buy at least 300.000 tablets in 2011.
2 Brazilian newspapers are increasing their circulation (2% in 2010), according to IVC (Instituto Verificador
de Circulação, or Circulation Verification Institute). Despite this, these vehicles are still trying to find out
another ways to get profits. One resolution is to invest in paywalls models, which are been used in many
countries, as United States.
Texas at Austin) at the 12th International Symposium for Online Journalism during the
lecture “Opening the Gates: Interactive and Multi-Media Elements of Newspaper Websites
in Latin America”, this modality in Brazil is still attached to paper based format, not only in
its practices, but also in its way of presentation (design).
These characteristics were also stablished at a previous analysis of Brasil 247 which
pointed to an urge to understand why it happens and how the vehicle evolved in these 12
months since its release. That being said, the main research questions are:
RQ1: Why is Brasil 247 structured as a digital version of magazines, both in content and
design?
RQ2: What are the challenges for news vehicles for tablets in Brazil?
RQ3: What are the differences and the similarities between online journalism and the
journalism made for tablets?
The methods chosen for this paper were interviews with professionals who edited the two
daily editions, from March 2011 until March 2012. Subsequently, the data was compared
to the material published in Brasil 247. All these information together and the theoretical
base provided by different authors helped with the comprehension and identification of
three of the most important concepts in digital journalism: interactivity, usability and
navigability.
Four professionals were selected for the interviews: Leonardo Attuch (publisher), Felipe
Lima (art editor and programmer), Adalberto F. Souza Junior (sales representative) and
Gisele Federice (reporter). Each was inquired about their activities in the vehicle and about
the content, so it would be possible to confront the information presented by the
interviewees with the content.
The content analysis of the news and publicity in iPad format covered almost 800 editions,
and also approached the social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter) and website, to verify
if contents are different and what are the reasons.
The methodology selected was Linguistic Theory of Enunciation (Bahktin, 2003; Flores &
Teixeira, 2005), concepts about power and speech (Foucault, 1996), and different issues
about Internet and online journalism (Castells, 2002; Franco, 2009; Miranda, 2011; Silva,
2010).
Those authors will provide the theoretic knowledge needed to base theoretically what will
be seem in practice, during the analysis of the editions.
Inside Brasil 247
In the last ten years, people were introduced to new kinds of platforms and technologies,
like e-readers and tablets3. These technologies also provided a modern way of
communication and journalism. It's what can be called “new media”, which is changing
traditional media and making mass communication vehicles respond with innovation at
their content and structure. (Straubhaar, LaRose and Davenport, 2010)
It's a new era when digital and analogical vehicles have to adapt in order to survive. One
of the ways found by the media was what Jenkins (2008) called technological
convergence, which includes content stream by multiple platforms, cooperation between
different media markets, and also migratory behavior of the communication media's
audience.
The technological convergence didn't happen instantaneously. It was a reflection of the
present society, which is, according to Castells (2002), the network society, where cultural
expressions are interceded by the electronic media network, that interacts with (and by)
the audience in different kind of codes and values, which are included at a digital
audiovisual hypertext.
The audience is not the same anymore. They interact, comment, touch. It's the Web 2.0,
defined by O'Reilly Media, where users actively participate in the media, which includes
the production of their own content. In order to satisfy this new audience, the media had to
develop special vehicles that could provide information they needed at any time,
anywhere.
Digital media is an instrument for that. Kolodzy (2009) explains that digital media could be
able to provide the urges of the digital society because they can give fast information in
any place the user wants. In addition to that, this media can provide more interaction than
the conventional (one touch and the user can change the news format, or make a
comment, or see more of the issue), tablets could offer all of this: the technology needed
to provide mobility and be an alternative to newspapers. Launched in 2010, iPad (Apple)
was the first official tablet in the world. The technology was so impressive that other
companies (Samsung, for example) are still trying to match. Nowadays, there are 34
million devices all over the world (Cisco, 2012) and 196.000 tablets in Brazil (Ipsos, 2011)
This phenomena could be explained by Gartner Inc. (1995) hype-cycle, which is a graphic
3 In CES 2010, Steve Balmer, Microsoft's CEO, showed three most important technological tendencies:
screen proliferation (PC, smartphones, GPS etc.); cloud computing and NUI (Natural User Interfaces),
which provides to the users to interact in a natural way, by instinct.
representation of maturity, adoption and social application of a specific technology.
(Source: Gartner Inc. Created by Jeremy Kemp)
All these phases can be explained. The first one (Technology Trigger) means that a trigger
stimulated the attention of the market and media; it can be a product, for example. Peak of
inflated expectations is when publicity creates a lot of expectation and enthusiasm about
the technology, but it still shows some problems. The next phase (Trough of
disillusionment) happens when the media stop looking with such excitement at technology
and it becomes regular. Trough of enlightenment is when some business starts to try the
technology in order to understand it and develop products attached to it. The last one, is
Plateau of productivity, when the technology evolves and stabilize. The Apple's device is in
the last phase4.
Traditional media understood the scenario and developed their versions for tablets (apps).
However, for some media owners, the question was more than just copy the content in
their paper versions. They decided to create a new vehicle for a new platform. On
February, 2nd, 2011, in New York city (USA), News Corporation and Apple launched The
Daily, an exclusive news media for iPad. In March, 13th, 2011, Brazil could appreciate the
4
Gabriel (2010) explains at her book Marketing Digital that the concept of mobility is related to the
constant and available access to the technology that is becoming reality, even in countries like Brazil. The
mobile platform is going to be to the traditional web what television was to the cinema, which means that the
users will face smaller screens, portability, changes at the language and constant and distributed
accessibility.
same initiative: Brasil 247 (at first, also only for iPads).
The idea of making a vehicle for tablets came to sight from my
experience as a reader at iPad. I realized that every publication that I
subscribed in paper version were still untouched. It means that my
activity as a journalist in the paper world was threatened. (ATTUCH,
5
2011)
The vehicle is guidelined by four standards: interactivity, plurality, agility and democracy.
I believe that the most important difference between this journal and
the other vehicles of communication is the agility and the editorial
freedom. We take position, have opinion and also believe in an
horizontal journalism, with effective participation of the readers.
6
(ATTUCH, 2011)
Alongside Leonardo Attuch, a well known journalist in Brazil, there are other journalists
such as Marco Diamiani, Hélio Doyle, Natália Rangel, Marco Kroehn and Francisco
Vasconcellos, who work for the vehicle. The whole project has more than 40 people
involved, which includes journalists, designers and sales representatives. The content has
also material obtained by news agencies, like Reuters, Agência Estado, Agência USP,
Agência Brasil, Agência Lusa, Agência Brasília and official information from the Brazilian
government. All the programers responsible for the vehicle are outsourced.
According to Attuch (2011), the content of the journal is hybrid and depends on the
platform that the reader uses. In iPad, for example, it seems just like a paper based
magazine. On the other hand, in Android operational system, the navigability seems like
an usual site.
During the first year, there were 40.000 downloads (apps) for iPads. The vehicle has also
partnerships with Positivo (a Brazilian manufacturer of PC's) and Samsung. The last one
will provide the Brasil 247 app in Android platform for all its tablets.
Content analysis
Brasil 247 has two daily editions: one at 6 a.m. and another one at 8 p.m. In each, user
can access issues like:
Poder (“Power”) – personages and facts of national and local politics;
Brasil (“Brazil”) - news of the most important cities and facts in the country;
Mundo (“World”) - information about the world;
st
5 Leonardo Attuch, founder of Brasil 247, in interview to the author on November, 11 , 2011.
6 Idem
Economia (“Economy”) - production, jobs and investments: the macro and micro economy
in Brazil and the world;
Portfolio (“Portfolio”) - the money-market in Brazil;
Agro (“Agriculture”) - business in the Brazilian country side;
Eco (“Ecology”) - information about nature and environment;
Cultura (“Culture”) - news about culture in Brazil and in the world;
Mídia & Tech (“Media & Technology”) - relational network and tools to use in digital age;
Games & App's – information about new games and apps;
Esportes (“Sports”) - Sports in Brazil (soccer, volley, UFC etc.).
Seu Dinheiro (“Your Money”) - news about personal finance;
Motor (“Engine”) - information about automotive industry and new models of vehicles;
Oásis (“Oasis”) - a digital magazine about health.
In addition, each one of these issues can have from four until ten pages.
There is also a cover page, which synthesize the most important news in the journal (like
any kind of journalist vehicle), a editorship called Imagem (“Image”) (a photo that covers all
the screen with subtitles and credits) and a page called Ajuda (“Help”), where the user can
learn how to navigate the pages. It's also important to say that each editorship has a cover
by its own inside the content. Each cover has a main image and the titles of the news.
In all these pages, there are icons that guide users through the best ways to navigate the
journal. At the bottom part of the pages, there is the icon “Nova Edição” (New Edition),
where readers can download old and new editions; “Biblioteca” (Library), where users can
see all editions that s/he downloaded; “Últimas Notícias” (Last News), once the user touch
this icon s/he is redirected to Brasil 247 webpage; and “Conteúdo” (Content), that provides
images that conduct to the journal contents in a separate way (news and advertisement),
just like an index.
At the top of the pages, there are icons to the audio volume control; to favorites news
(Favoritos), index (Índice), back and forward icons and also an icon for sharing the news.
With this last icon the user can share each page or only part of the page. In both options,
the reader can share it by Twitter or email. If s/he chooses to share the entire page, they
only need to pick the social digital media and send it. If the reader chooses to send only
part of the page, s/he has to touch the screen to select it and then send it by Twitter or
email.
Texts are always available on the left side, and images and videos on the right.
During its first year, Brasil 247 had a rough average of 23.9 news not signed (provided by
news agencies or journalists not mentioned), 5.3 news with credits to journalists, 2 articles
in each edition (the articles appeared only in the two first months of the vehicle), and 29.3
news, which had photos or videos.
The first issue was not impressive and its appearance was of a printed version of any
magazine. It was static and didn't provide any kind of interaction with the users, except for
the touch form in the screen. There wasn't many videos, audio archives or even
advertisement that could allow readers to use all the tools provided by technology in
tablets. Brasil 247 was just a digital magazine that could be found online. It seemed that
the preoccupation was only to launch the first edition, the first journal exclusive for tablets
in Brazil. They were not concerned about how to use all tools that a tablet can provide to
digital vehicles. The whole project changed in the next editions.
If there were problems with the interaction and absence of videos and audio archives, the
texts on the other hand were very amiable. They had a critical position, but they weren't
offensives or had many adjectives. The news are not too long and that made it easier for
the user to read all the text.
Only in some exceptions, the user could see a link at the end of the text with the words
“Leia mais aqui” (Read more here). By touch the reader was conducted to a landing page
in the Brasil 247 site, where he can learn more about the subject. That is what happened
with the text “Ex-banqueiro acusa interventor do BC de roubo” (Ex-banker accuses Central
Bank interventor of robbery), in the editorship “Economia” (March, 3rd, 2012 issue – 6
a.m.).
Its language7 is clear, objective and simple, in order to facilitate access and the reading of
7
The theory chosen in order to understand the content was the Linguistic Theory of Enunciation,
which helps to comprehend the speech used in the news and the signification of what is been transmitted by
the journal. Authors like Charles Bally, Roman Jakobson, Émile Benveniste, Oswald Ducrot, Jacqueline
Authier-Revuz and Mikhail Bakhtin, among anothers, where some of the ones that developed and
consolidated this concept.
Bakhtin's theory enables to see that the communication is a dialogical relation, where the human
beings react and interpreted the words, so they can understand on your own way what the authors are trying
to say.
The enunciation becomes the result of two people socially organized, althought this interlocutor
could be a representative virtuality of the community where the locutor lives, and offers the idea of speech
interaction. (Flores; Teixeira, 2005)
Bahktin believes that the context in which the enunciation is added is also an important object in the
moment of analysis of the text, because it shows the changes in the language, not in grammar, but in the
signification of the words in some special cases.
The language is, thus, a necessary instrument to human action, and it reflects in these activities,
which influences the content, in what Bahktin (2003) calls of “speech genders”.
The author also comprehends that the communication act is a dialogue, so there are answers for
what is written, and these responses aren't indifferent. In other words: the receiver of the messages always
produces responses for the messages that he/she receives.
So, these speeches can impact the readers (or receivers), who can accept, reject, assimilate or
elaborate any other type of reaction to what was transmitted. But the response is not restricted to the
reader. The one who wrote the texts can also be impacted by the comments of the readers, because it is a
its content, just like a customary online journalistic text. They use the new orthography of
the Portuguese language8.
Ocasionaly the journalists even use humor or incisive comments in the first page,
headlines and titles. An example was the cover (first page) of June, 1st, 2011 edition (8
p.m.). It presented a caricature of Antônio Palocci, former minister of the Brazilian
Government (Ministério da Casa Civil), who advises the President in his/her relationship
with the ministries, specially about issues related with coordination and integration in
government procedures. In the editorship called “Poder”, the piece of news was
questioning the minister's situation after an accusation made by a text published at a
Brazilian newspaper called “Folha de S. Paulo”, which showed that Palocci had his
personal patrimony raised 20 times between 2006 and 2010, and used a provocative
image to illustrate the situation.
Another example could be found at the same edition, at an editorship called “Esporte”.
There was a, informal title: “Pelados em Valência” (Naked in Valencia), about soccer
players who appeared naked in a video.
Although it has two daily editions, the news aren't the same and issues are rarely
repeated. When it happens, they have different approaches. An example of that was the
issue about the death of José de Alencar, ex-vice-president of Brazil. In both editions, on
March, 30th, 2011, users could see completely different articles about the same fact, which
complemented the journalistic covering. Another aspect that has to be mentioned is about
the photos in the first page (cover). There the user could touch and change the images
about the main theme (José de Alencar).
The articles were presented only at the first months of Brasil 247 and they could be found
in many editorships and on video. On video, Lu Miranda was responsible for giving users
some hints and opinion in the editorship “Portfólio”. After that period, the articles could only
be found in the website.
Six months after its release, Brasil 247 consolidated its own way of making Journalism.
There weren't articles as part of content any more, they developed standards for the
credits at the texts9 and invested in interaction with the users, with videos and audio
archives. Both could be easily found on the first page (cover) and in the editorships
“Cultura” and “Esportes”. But only few editions have a large number of videos. That's the
part of a complex chain of speeches.
This resume tried to show some of Bahktin's concepts, which will help to analyze the corpus.
8 In 1911, the Portuguese Republic charged a commission of philologists to define a standard orthography
for all the countries that have Portuguese as their main language. It's been put into effect in Brazil since
2009.
9 Basically, there were three forms: the name of the journalist, or 247, or the name of the news agencies.
case of April, 9th, 2011 issue (6 a.m.). In its content, users could find six videos, most of
them were movies trailers.
It has also created segmented vehicles in three states and Brasília, capital of Brazil (Bahia
247, Brasília 247, Rio 247 and Pernambuco 247). All of which have local news to help
focusing the issues in these Brazilian states. In fact, some of the news present at these
vehicles are also present in Brasil 247 content, as can be seen on January, 29th, 2012 (8
p.m.) at “Poder” editorship (news from Brasilia 247 and PE 247). Furthermore, now it also
got apps for tablets that uses Android platform, and for smartphones. During this period,
there were more than 30.000 downloads (apps – iPad).
On March, 13rd, 2012, the vehicle celebrated its first year. There was a special text, an
image of Brasil 247 logotype with Marilyn Monroe, and also a very known video of Marilyn
Monroe singing Happy Birthday. The same text, image and video could be seen on the 6
a.m. issue (iPad), in Facebook and the webpage. The text resumed all Brasil 247
achievements during that period. Although it wasn't in the 8 p.m. issue, there was a
mention about the growth of tablets consumers in Brazil, in “Mídia & Tech” editorship.
Brasil 247 had improved, but there were still problems that needed to be solved. The fact
that it has two daily editions sometimes can contribute to some mistakes. So, it's not
unusual to find words that should be in bold without it or lack of credits/subtitles in photos,
but these things don't contribute in a negative way to the content. It's something very
common in any kind of media. But maybe this kind of mistake is related to the way they
make the editions and the fact that the programmers are outsourced. According to Attuch
(2011)10, the editions don't have a concern like the ones that newspapers have to be
prepared (industrial process). The edition is available to readers immediately after is
ready. That way, there is no time for a detailed review.
Interactivity, usability and navigability
Tablets provide the mobility needed by the network society and develops a newspaper that
can use this environment to promote a new way of interacting and engaging users. That is
a task that demands great responsibility. After the release of The Daily, Leonardo Attuch
realized it could be also a great opportunity for Brazilian journalism and for users. One
month later, Brazilians could download Brasil 247 apps to read for the first time.
The journal is very interactive, has many tools for usability, and the navigability can be
intuitive. The pages are simple and most part of the icons are common to Internet users.
Even so, Brasil 247 has a special icon indicated to users that need some explanation
st
10 Leonardo Attuch, in an interview to the author on November, 11 , 2011.
during the navigation. It's called “Ajuda” (Help) and it conducts the user to the final page of
the journal. There, the reader can find useful information about navigation and interactivity
in order to make a better use of all the content. First of all, there is a short text explaining
that the content can be better used if the reader is connected (3G or Wi-Fi). Then, there is
another text which says that Brasil 247 is available in iOS and Android platforms, which
stimulates the user to mobility. There are also icons to news feed (RSS), Facebook and
Tweeter, and contact (sales representative and comments). So, engagement is a real
concern of the newspaper.
In addition, the page still has icons to explain navigation like: slide to see all the text,
cameras to explain that there are videos and a different icon to show that there is online
music with certain news. All these icons help the user to improve his/her navigation in the
journal.
More than a news vehicle for a tablet
Brasil 247's webpage has also the three most important characteristics of Internet:
usability, interactivity and accessibility. The user can interact in an intuitive way and there
is more content than in the tablets version. There are more articles, not only from
specialists in different areas, but also from readers who want to participate. According to
Leonardo Attuch (2011), the content found in the webpage isn't the same that the reader
can see in the tablet version. “Not everything that is on the Internet (which space is
unlimited) goes to the iPad edition, where news are more selected and the space is finite”.
11
The Brasil 247 website has an expressive audience on Internet. In March 2011, there were
1,5 million page views and 5,000 single visitors; in March 2012, there were more than 60
million page views and more than three million single visitors.
Moreover, in its front page, it also has links to connect readers with Facebook and Twitter.
It demonstrates that the webwritters/journalists are concerned about social media, and
want to engage their users in this area.
According to Gabriel (2010), almost every publication has associated its vehicles to social
media, including blogs and Facebook profiles. These are tools that could provide a low
cost method to produce content and interaction with the users. That's the case of Brazil
247.
In addition to that, Attuch (2011) says the decision to attach social media to Brasil 247 was
st
11 Leonardo Attuch in an interview to the author on November, 11 , 2011.
mainly strategic: “Twitter, for example, is a great creator of audience. Because of that we
hired a professional to manage our social media accounts”. (ATTUCH, 2011)
Its Twitter account is not as impressive as other vehicles12. The numbers are 11.116
tweets, 637 following, 11.767 followers and listed. For example, traditional publications like
“Veja” magazine and “O Estado de S. Paulo” newspaper have more audience than Brasil
247 in Twitter (“Veja” – 66.319 tweets, 31.035 following, 1.505.084 followers and listed.
OESP – 51.448 tweets, 72.442 following, 372.480 followers and listed). The vehicle
publishes very short texts (most of the times shorter than 140 characters allowed),
sometimes uses images, and always has links to send (or stimulate) the followers on to its
website to read the news there.
The same pattern is used in its Facebook13 account: short texts, pictures and images in
order to lead users to the website. The Fan Page has 3.952 likes and an impressive
number of comments (almost five in each post).
So, the publishers strategy seems to be establishing a bound with users not only through
the website content, but also through its social media accounts. It's possible to say that's
why the language used at all its digital media is so much alike and make references
among them (Internet webpage and social media).
In order to do so, its social media accounts have specific spaces for inquiries, images and
comments, that stimulate users to participate with their on stories/facts. In Twitter, for
example, the most effective way used to engage the audience are retweet actions from
Brasil 247, which include tweets from followers and writers not only from the webpage but
also from artists, politic etc.
As a matter of fact, in all of its social media accounts the tone can be defined as “light and
friendly”, but the content always discuss serious subjects such as politic and economics. It
uses this language to engage users/readers to participate and comment all the news and
articles posted in the webpage.
An interesting thing that happened during the final analysis of Brasil 247: the webpage was
attacked by hackers and it was offline during some hours on March, 15th,, 2012. Because
of that the owners chose to use the Brasil 247 accounts in Twitter and Facebook to publish
the news. There was also a concern to explain what was going on in the site by social
media accounts. Users were kept informed about the situation and also invited to debate
this kind of action on the Internet.
th
12 Measured on March, 15 , 2012.
th
13 Measured on March, 15 , 2012.
Advertising issues
During its first year, Brasil 247 had a rough average of five advertisements in each edition.
Except for the first edition, when the publicity didn't provide any kind of interaction, the
other editions provided many ways of user interaction, as videos, landing pages and popup images. Most of them were government publicity (66,6%) and the others were about
things like cars, banks, mobile operators, beers etc.
According to Adalberto F. Souza. Jr. (2011)14, the publicity can be included in one page
and in multimedia format. It can be included in what is called horizontal navigation
(“navegação horizontal”), which means that it will appear between editorships, or in a
vertical navigation (“navegação vertical”), which means that it can be included between the
news. Most of the advertisements were in the first type of navigation.
Publicity prices are more expensive than websites, from R$ 35,000 (more than US$
19,000) to R$ 150,000 (more than US$ 85,000), which explains the scarse number of
advertisers.
Other news vehicles
Brasil 247 publishers also released other vehicles for tablets. They were “Oásis”, “Seu
Dinheiro”, “Motor” and “Olímpica”. The first one was “Oásis”, which looks like a digital
magazine. Its texts are long, just like a magazine report, and prioritizes images,
illustrations and videos. The issues don't have publicity and always have an editorial.
“Seu dinheiro” was released after Oásis and also reminds a digital magazine. It's
sponsored by Caixa Seguros (a sector of an Brazilian bank) and have many short texts.
The vehicle emphasizes images and photos, and sometimes has articles about personal
finances.
Motor was the third one. The texts are very short and emphasize images and photos of
vehicles (most of them cars). Sometimes Motor is sponsored by some automotive
manufacturer, as in the first issue, when Ford sponsored it, on August, 4th, 2011.
“Olímpica” (Olympic) was the last one and it's about Olympic sports in Brazil15. Its a little
bit different from the other three and it's almost an invitation to users interaction. This
invitation begins on the cover. There is a main tittle and a headline, followed by an icon
called “E +” (“And +”) on the left side. When readers touch it, a kind of pop-up with the
th
14 Adalberto F. Souza Jr., business executive of Brasil 247, in interview to the author on November, 29 ,
2011.
15 In 2016, the Olympic Games are going to be in Brazil.
others tittles of the news comes up. The texts are short and easy to read. Additionally,
there are many illustrations, graphics and photos.
Conclusion
Brasil 247 was the first news vehicle for iPad in Brazil. Nowadays, it also has accounts on
social media (Facebook and Twitter), website, mobile pages and apps for other tablets
(Android platform). As the second newspaper for iPad in the world, its structure has
improved during its first year, when the vehicle evolved from a digital magazine format to a
newspaper where users can interact with the content in many ways as possible by tablets.
The publishers and journalists learned how to make a new vehicle for this technology, and
readers are still dealing with how to use all the possibilities provided by tablets. It seems
they are both trying to find out together this new language and new kind of journalism, and
during the issues it's easy to see they are finding the answers.
It has impressive numbers, specially considering that tablets are still very expensive in
Brazil. It's becoming popular, mostly because of the website, and unlike its rival “Globo a
mais”, Brazil 247 is for free.
Journalist content is similar to online journalism, and there aren't many differences
between the journalism found in websites, except by the absence of hyperlinks in the texts.
There are also many images and videos to illustrate the news. Advertisements are very
interactive too, and users can explore the content in countless ways.
The vehicle still have problems with revisions and it's hard to access the first issues. Since
February, 2012 you can only access the latest issues (no more than three weeks).
It also seems that publishers have found a great opportunity in tablets. After Brasil 247,
they released what can be described as digital magazines. They are thought for tablets,
but still don't have a new language or even try to be different from a paper based
magazine.
Acknowlegments
The author wish to sincerely thank the financial support provided by Centro Universitário
Estácio Radial de São Paulo, and her colleagues at Aranda Editora and SENAC.
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