Now that chat or messaging apps have more global users than traditional social networks, they could become an important distribution platform for digital journalism.

The apps provide news outlets a new way to reach new or hard-to-reach groups as well as opportunities for higher user engagement, audience development, and building community, according to the Guide to Chat Apps report by the Tow Center for Digital Journalis. BuzzFeed, Mashable, The Huffington Post, and VICE are among outlets using such apps.

Most interestingly, the Tow report noted, “There is emerging evidence that messaging apps may drive traffic back to outlets’ other, more traditional platforms (e.g., CNN’s Snapchat Discover drove people to seek out longer-form content on CNN’s TV news channel).” 

Messaging apps offer opportunities:

• to enable news outlets to gather (potentially exclusive) user-generated content and become a major source during breaking news situations (e.g., as in the BBC’s coverage of the second Nepal earthquake in 2015). 
• to provide unique opportunities for giving audiences direct access to content and publishers, be it through tailor-made WeChat platforms (Cliff Central) or Public Chats on Viber (The Huffington Post). 
• to provide a space for news outlets to engage their audiences with different—possibly lighter—types of content (e.g., The Washington Post has used Kik to distribute games, quizzes, and chat adventures). 
• to not only facilitate communication with eyewitnesses in areas where other forms of communication aren’t functioning (e.g., during extreme weather conditions), they can also provide a platform for people who don’t feel safe speaking on the telephone. Additionally, apps such as Telegram focus strongly on encryption and security.

The full report offers details and examples of actual uses.