Familiar themes resonated at the NMA's mediaXchange conference in New Orleans this week.

If you think Facebook is a problem now, consider for example, the comment from US news partnerships manager Jason White that the platform is only one per cent done, "and two per cent is a long way off".

While they're trying to figure out how people share and consume information and connect with friends, delegates were left to wonder who their friends were. White says publisher relations are a priority.

For others perhaps, his company was the "big bad wolf" of keynote speaker Mitch Joel (pictured). The president of digital marketing leader Mirum said many saw industry disruption as the wolf, with transformation, innovation and transactions as the three little piggies.

"People have very different definitions of the word and to me, their definitions always sound more like destruction than disruption," he said.

Of the first two, he urged delegates to stay up-to-date and be sure they were using the same technology and their consumers, and know the difference between innovation and iteration. A security camera app not only created a deeper relationship with users but provided the maker with more information about them, "a powerful form of true innovation."

Transactions got Joel's nod approval as the third "little pig", with a description of the way in which some publishers were using micro transactions, forcing users to think differently about their business models.

What he called "the impermanent internet" was changing consumer habits - as in the case of music streaming services - with technology "removing technology from technology".

The programme has been wide-ranging, with discussions on journalism in "the Age of Trump" as the president reached his 100th day in office, strategies for reader engagement, and insights from a new American Press Institute study into reading habits. Among findings were that 36 per cent of people under age 35 pay for news in some form, that more than half of the 53 per cent of adults who pay for news subscribed to a newspaper. Even among non-payers, 52 per cent were still active news seekers and 26 per cent of those would be willing to pay.

The study of 2100 adults was the subject of a panel discussion with contributions from research scientist Jennifer Benz, Ann Poe of Cox Media, Esfand Pourmand of Hearst Newspapers, and Tom Rosenstiel and Jeff Sonderman from API.

• The formal business of the conference included election of a new chairman of News Media Alliance, with Michael Klingensmith, publisher and chief executive of Star Tribune, getting the nod. NMA president and chief executive described Klingensmith - who joined Star Tribune in 2010 after spending most of his more than 30-year publishing career with Time Inc, where he shared development of the Entertainment Weekly concept - and an "incredibly well-respected leader".

Terry Kroeger, president, chief exectutive and publisher of Warren Buffett's BH Media Group was elected vice chairman, with Mark Aldam (Hearst Newspapers) and secretary and Anna Sedgley (Dow Jones) as treasurer. Joining the board on initial two-year terms are Edward Bushey (Newsday Media Group), Roland Caputo (The New York Times), Ann Caulkins (McClatchy, Charlotte Observer), Toni Cook Bush (News Corp), Justin Dearborn (tronc), Amy Glennon (Cox Media) and Alex Skatell (Independent Journal Review).

• More mediaXchange reports at https://www.newsmediaalliance.org/news-and-insights/