Huffington Post is taking a strong stance on appealing to mobile-first consumers by upgrading its application to include virtual reality content and launching a comical sticker pack in relation to the presidential election. 

The digital publication updated its mobile app this week to include virtual reality capability as it starts to launch video content that brings users further into the setting of the news story. Huffington Post also launched a sticker keyboard within the messaging application Viber that puts a humorous spin on the current election, as social media merges further with news. 

?We are constantly looking for fresh and fun ways to reach new audiences,? said Ashley Alman, social media editor of politics at The Huffington Post. ?The HuffPost Elections Public Chat on Viber not only reaches new audiences, but the chat gives our readers a unique glimpse at the kind of candid conversations we typically have amongst the politics team in the D.C. Bureau surrounding the news of the day. 

?The release of the sticker pack will only add more flare to our conversations, while giving Viber users a way to join the conversation,? she said. 

As Huffington Post?s mobile app now supports virtual reality viewing, users will be able to watch a wide range of news content in a 360-degree view. 

Publications need to compete with social media platforms as they are exceedingly becoming a source for news. For instance, yesterday Pac-12 announced a partnership with Twitter in which it will live stream many of its college sports, which competes with major sports media outlets. 

Viber?s new sticker pack will be another push to help Huffington Post appeal to millennials, by playing into many consumers? beliefs that the current political race is comical. The keyboard is only available within Viber?s mobile app and features characterized portrayals of well-known political personalities. 

The Gothamist similarly provided advertisers with a social media button that leads readers to their Snapchat page, driving visibility for brands on the popular social media platform (see more). 

After years of failing to innovate on the digital front, the newspaper industry is now jumping in, with the next few years critical to whether traditional print brands can survive in a new era of decentralized news consumption, according to a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (see more). 

?Millennials are the mobile-first generation, getting news from mobile apps and expressing themselves with emojis and GIFs,? Ms. Alman said. ?The HuffPost Elections Public Chat and sticker pack on Viber tap right into that, giving millennials a fun and conversational news source while arming them with a topical way to express themselves.?