Upcoming.nl ist das niederländische Pendant zu Buzzfeed. Es gibt Listicles, bunte Bilder, Videos und ein amüsantes Themenangebot – „20 Gründe warum Willem-Alexander der perfekte König ist“, „Wie überlebe ich ein holländisches Volksfest“ oder „Die 15 besten Chuck Norris Witze“. Doch ist das Journalismus? Welche Vorteile bieten diese Listicles? Und retten Upcoming und Buzzfeed gar die Medienbranche? Die Antworten dazu im Interview mit Nine Taihuttu-Ludwig, Chefredakteurin bei Upcoming.

In February 2013, Upcoming.nl went online. Since then you are very successful with your website, actually you are working on a German spin-off. What is the secret behind Upcoming.nl?

The combination of a innovative system that shows the most trending articles and topics and a great editorial team that live and breath the internet turned out to work really well. The technology that we use is a state of the art one, which was developed inhouse by our developers.

And what is your main interest, what are you reporting? Is it just stories about the sweetest kittens or do you also cover more traditional fields such as politics?

We cover pretty much anything that people talk about on the internet, whether it be the newest video of a dancing puppy or controversial quotes of our King or prime minister. It is the content that you want to share with your friends, family and co-workers. Most importantly, our articles have to be taken with a pinch of salt.

What strikes as quite obvious is your usage of listicles – this short-form of writing with a list as its thematic structure: Why did you decide to present information in this manner and do you think that it has some advantages compared to the traditional way of journalism?

Our articles have a visual focus, text is mainly used as context. Therefore lists work as a format. Also, lists are perfect for sharing. You can look at it as snacks, easy to consume at any moment of the day.

On another account: What is your business concept? How do you finance Upcoming.nl?

Through native advertisement, which pretty much means that clients can make lists with content around their brand, as long as it fits into our editorial format.

Do you think that Upcoming is a new kind of journalism or does it just combine the old roots with new technologies?

Writing and producing content about what people talk about right now, instead of yesterday, is definitely different.  The system we use to get to this knowledge, on a real-time basis, is not just a new technology: it is actually a new way of covering what is going on. Instead of gut feeling we make choices based on hard proof.

Do you think that websites such as yours are going to save the media industry or does it rather represent the dawn of journalism?

In my opinion, the industry is changing but definitely not dying. The challenges lay in making online translations, with focus on social media and the fact that people consume news in a different way. Add the fact that young blood needs to have a bigger part in the industry, because the internet natives of today can lead the way.

In a nutshell: What can traditional media learn from Upcoming.nl?

We work fast and we evolve along the way, just the same as today’s customers do.

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Mehr zum Thema „Native Adds“: Journalist Martin Giesler wirft einen kritischen Blick auf das Finanzierungsmodell von Buzzfeed und Co.

Folge der Autorin @JanaHannemann auf Twitter.

Foto: Screenshot von Upcoming.nl