Business Insider attracts 230,000 Line users in two weeks

Lucinda Southern of Digiday writes about how Business Insider attracted 230,000 Line users within two weeks of posting content on the social media application.

Southern writes, “Business Insider has been posting around 10 pieces of content each day. Much of it falls into BI’s core verticals of technology and finance rather than aggregated stories or listicles that sit so well on Facebook.

“‘Our daily foreign exchange story really shines here,’ said Meena Thiruvengadam, head of audience development for the publisher, explaining that the publisher’s daily coverage of the state of foreign currency and global stocks garners more engagement on Line than anywhere else. ‘This is the hardest content to make sing on Facebook or other social platforms.’

“‘The Line audience is interested in finance news,’ she added, citing the Wall Street Journal’s quick growth on the platform. It’s no coincidence that the Economist and CNN are among the few publishers on Line. ‘It’s a different pace of news consumption for the markets they are in.’

“In the U.S. and the U.K., Line adoption among messaging-app users is low at 12 percent and 3 percent, respectively, according to Global Web Index data. In Japan, Thailand and Taiwan, this is over 85 percent, presenting a tempting untapped audience to drive back to the BI site.”

Read more here.