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When Univision announced expanded local news apps for seven of its top markets this week, one of the platforms for “integrated social media sharing capabilities” was a channel you won’t usually see in similar English-language-station releases. It’s WhatsApp, the world’s most popular messaging app, but one that’s little-used by U.S. newsrooms.
If you want to understand Univision’s embrace of WhatsApp, just ask Esteban Creste, VP of News for Univision’s New York station, Univision 41 Nueva York (WXTV). Creste’s station has a 12-year consumer franchise called 41 A Tú Lado (41 On Your Side) that’s now using WhatsApp as a new way to connect directly with viewers. When A Tú Lado correspondent Berenice Gartner suggested establishing a WhatsApp number for her franchise, “a light bulb went off,” says Creste. “Why didn’t we think of that before?”
Berenice Gartner
Gartner humbly refuses to take full credit for the idea, saying it came up when she and her cameraman were talking about new ways to reach the audience. Gartner believes the WhatsApp messenger is a powerful and valuable tool journalists like her can use to connect with their viewers. “We know all of our viewers have smartphones,” she says, “and they are on them constantly.”
In fact, Pew Research found that 74 percent of Latinos get their news via social media or smartphone app on a typical weekday. At first, the A Tú Lado team got plenty of news tips, Gartner says, but also a fair number of simple greetings: “You know, people