What people really need from news
Different people need different things from news, and the user needs model has been developed to determine just that: six different reasons why people consume news. These needs go beyond just getting the facts, and stem from basic human desires: understanding the world around them, being able to join in on the conversation, share information with others and determine whether something is bad or good, wrong or right. For an increasingly large number of people, especially the younger generations, it's not enough to simply know what has happened. They want to understand the news, and find out how it affects them or if there are possible solutions to problems. In short, they need stories that educate, inspire, divert, and give perspective. We're big fans of this model and have started the Triple N project with Dmitry Shishkin to fuse it with our predictive analysis.
What are the user needs exactly, and how can you recognise them? Dmitry Shishkin was one of the first advocates of the user needs model when it was developed at the BBC, and he explains everything right here. You can watch the video below or continue reading.