Quality of Bloggers and Websites Going Downhill?
01.09.08 - 02:25pm
More often than not I read and feel that around the net quality is being sacrificed within articles in favor of quantity. Users are quick to blame the authors but is it really the authors fault for writing brief articles? It takes so much more effort to write a lengthy article and with longer articles users are less likely to actually absorb all the material. In the end I feel this issue has less to do with the authors intellect or the subject material and more with the desired format of information transmission over the Internet by the average consumer.
Fahrenheit 451
“What the hell?” might be going through your head with that header, but it is very relevant. In Fahrenheit 451, television has lead to the destruction of all written works with the systematic shortening of consumers attention spans to those that rival little children. One hour television shows were shortened to thirty minutes and subsequently shortened to fifteen minutes. When fifteen minutes became too lengthy they were shortened to five minutes and then three minute summaries. This was all done so the consumer could stay “happy“, short attention spans were a product of instant gratification which lead to shorter episodes.
This all relates to the trend I’ve seen in online publications including my own writing and reading patterns. As the consumer, I rarely will read an article from top to bottom but rather I skim through the article, searching for interesting facts and analysis that pique my interest. High on my priority list are charts and graphs which can be glanced at in a second versus thirty seconds to read the same written material. Pictures also garner attention quicker than blocks of text for the instant-gratification they provide. Sure, reading 150 words might enlighten me further but that takes time, time that I have precious little of.
Instant Gratification, Just Add Visuals
I have a love/hate relationship with Digg.com but it will provide me with the perfect sample data to show this trend of instant gratification on a large scale. On January 9th, 2008 at 3:22pm EST there were fifteen stories on Digg’s frontpage. Three were for Videos, one was a Picture, and five were Lists/Compilations. So of the fifteen stories, nine were articles based on instant-gratification. With the inclusion of images and videos as separate categories within Digg’s hierarchy there has been a sharp rise in the number of instant-gratification links compared to the old technology-focused Digg. This increase in simple links would be the result of Digg selling itself out for more traffic while losing touch with what originally made Digg the place to watch.
The Future?
Honestly, I don’t see this trend reversing much at all. Fahrenheit 451, written nearly half a century prior, did a great job plotting out how consumer attention spans slowly shrink with greater exposure to television. I’m guilty of it and I’m sure you are too, there is no denying that fact. I am certain, keeping with the trend of shorter is better that maybe five individuals will read this article start to finish compared to reviews and quick posts with 300-500 views. Do your best though, surprise me! I myself will most likely continue along with my trend of short posts mixed with a lengthy piece every few days as it works well with my schedule. Now time to go burn some books, seriously.
Short doesn’t always mean you sacrifice quality. Depending on what and how you write it, sometimes few words can have a deep impact on who reads it.
Of course, that’s not counting the amount of information overload that we now have to deal with. Unless more people start selectively choosing what they want to know, the amount of things people go through and the span of time they have to go through it all is considerably shortened.
Personally I still belong to the sort of people that will sit down and appreciate the time something was written. This from a person who always adds something personal when he writes. More isn’t always better, not where I’m standing from.
Very good point, didn’t even think about that little aspect. More often than not I associate quality with length in that it takes 500-1000 words to really hammer an idea out compared to 100-150 word posts. I suppose it all depends on the writer in that instance, I myself happen to be very verbose.