and interactive content targeting youth on digital platforms, while still maintaining the foundations and principles of professional media (1) .
Because interaction and sharing are the backbone of social plat- forms, AJ+ has adopted the unique approach of engaging users in build- ing its digital stories, transforming them to indispensable sources of news and commentary. It has shown how political implications, if prop- erly presented in an interactive journalistic format, can be rich materials for social media users. While the general assumption is that entertain- ment content is the most consumed and accepted material on social media by young people, the reality is that this is not necessarily true, as seen in the AJ+ experience. 5. From A New Media “Team” to A Digital Transforma- tion “Division” From an institutional aspect, new media work at Al Jazeera started in 2006, with a small team that had a simple organisational chart includ- ing three units: 1. Internet Media Unit, which focused on the network’s standards, distribution and shares 2. Mobile Media Unit, which focused on building mobile experi- ments such as applications, content distribution using communications companies and field contributions 3. Social Media Unit, which focused on leveraging online commu- nities to support production and promote engagement This team oversaw a number of technical projects and, with the help of the administration, contributed to cementing a new organisa- tional culture. For example, the network was the first to build the “Al Jazeera Correspondent Mobile App”, which allows correspondents to create their entire report without the assistance of a team. In June 2011, (1) Lahcen Sakour, “Conveying News via Video in Arabic: between Sensationalism and Qual- ity Media Content”, Al Jazeera Media Institute , 31 July 2018, https://bit.ly/3v2dQpF (accessed 11 October 2020).
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