"Data and visual stories are pretty consistently among our most saved and forwarded content," Emily Laermer, managing editor for Ignites at Money-Media, told us at SIPA 2019 in June in a session titled Numbers Drive Engagement: Telling Compelling Stories Using Data.

"The digital business that we run today requires that we have a direct relationship with our users," said Meredith Kopit Levien, chief revenue officer of The New York Times. While The Times' proprietary app lives on millions of mobile screens, she explains that social is invaluable for driving sales. "We are most focused on that: building subscriptions and also selling advertising."