Media Insider: Twitter Unveils Message Button, Publishers Mixed on Facebook’s Suggested Videos, and BuzzFeed Upgrades News App

Welcome to Media Insider, PR Newswire’s round up of journalism, blogging and freelancing stories from the week.

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Twitter Launches Message Button to Make Sharing Tweets Easier (SocialTimes)

SocialTimes reports Twitter has updated its iOS and Android app, introducing a new message button that makes it easier for users to share tweets in direct messages. Users now can tap the envelope icon beneath a tweet to share it in a private conversation, SocialTimes says. Twitter said the number of direct messages sent grew more than 60 percent in 2015, and the number of privately shared tweets grew 200 percent in the second half of last year, SocialTimes reports.

Publishers Say Jury is Still Out on Facebook’s Suggested Videos Product (The Wall Street Journal)

It appears the Suggested Videos program has translated into new viewers for some publishers, but advertising revenue thus far has been meager. The Wall Street Journal reports while publishers are starting to see a trickle of advertising revenue come in from Suggested Videos, reviews so far of the evolving initiative are mixed. Some media companies are optimistic Facebook could soon become the next big platform where they can make money from video ads, yet others believe Facebook has a way to go in terms of fine-tuning its user experience and ad model for video, The Journal reports.

Paid or Ad-Supported: Pick One Model, and Stick With It (Monday Note)

The digital media sector has become unforgiving for unclear business models, Monday Note says. Monday Note continues: Publishers of legacy media often like to play on both sides of the game – they want to imitate pure players natively designed to collect ads while preserving their legacy paid-for model. But there’s a problem with this: Compromise breeds weakness, no choice is often the worst choice, Monday Note says.

Inside BuzzFeed’s Mobile Plans for Breaking-News Domination (Digiday)

BuzzFeed wants to lead breaking news on mobile globally, and it’s pinning all hopes on a newly upgraded international news app. Digiday reports BuzzFeed extended its U.S.-based news app to include the U.K., Australia, and Canada. The app features original BuzzFeed stories and third-party aggregated content, Digiday reports.

The Underlying Skills of 21^st Century Journalism (theMediaBriefing)

In an ideal world, journalists would be able to do everything. But things have changed. The discipline is much broader in 2016 than it has ever been in the past, theMediaBriefing says. ‘Reporter’ is no longer a catch-all term for journalists; each role is likely to be much more specific and require different tool sets, it says.

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Christine Cube is a senior audience relations manager with PR Newswire and freelance writer. Follow @cpcube or check out her latest on Beyond Bylines on PR Newswire for Journalists.