Who reads anymore? We’ve discussed that ad nauseam with other public relations (PR) professionals, communicators and social media marketers. We often discuss how the next generation of auto spell-check, no punctuation, abbreviating (you know, SMH, IMHO and LOL) individuals will absorb information.
In an article by Stephan Boissonneault in Vue Weekly, he describes a few chapters of the debut novel Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq that “only last three to five pages and read like entries found in a memoir.” Tagaq responded, “I think it was a side effect of doing so much social media and getting used to taking in information in small bites. Inadvertently and subconsciously, that might have affected my writing style in some ways.” This isn’t surprising and the appeal of writing long articles and reading long articles or books, are resonating less and less with the people around us.
In 2015, we watched a presentation by Quartz editor in Hong Kong about the data revealing their ideal article length for their online articles. In their research, they discovered that articles less than 800 words were consumed the most because writers would stick to their A-content, not focus on the other B factors associated with the story. Articles within the 800-3,000-word count were less appealing to their readers. They also noticed that articles with a lot of imagery and video content were more and more popular. This was very telling for those of us in the communications industry and highlighted how we needed to create content consumed by mass audiences.
What that study indicated is that we want easy to consume pieces of information, bite-sized bits of news. Only when we are truly interested in a subject do we want additional information and details that lead to a more in-depth understanding of the issues of the day. For those of us who still read the newspaper (anybody still out there? Bueller?), how often do you read it in its entirety, from front to back? Rarely, right? Most people will scan the headlines and then scan the full article if of interest. If the subject is of poignant interest, we will often go deep dive online to seek out more information.
It is likely that this is the reason that video content is becoming so much more popular on social media. We always recommend video content as part of our clients’ communications strategy because it is that much more consumable for larger audiences. Clients can share their story, their message, in an entertaining and engaging way. When PR Consult created promotional videos in the past, we saw our social media engagement increase by 800%. Understanding what services we offer was much more accessible through a video, than through written content.
So, what does this all mean for the writing style of communicators in the long-run?
The truth is that the long-form of writing will continue. We may never again see novels the length of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, but writers will continue to write long-form and reporters will continue to create stories that exceed 800 and 3,000 words. Google also rewards original writing to allow organizations to rank higher when being searched; long-form writing is very helpful for organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
However, long-form may see some changes in how it is presented. It may need to be broken up into a number of sub-sections and add interactive elements to stories, like video content that provides a new layer of information for the reader. We may see more novels written in the style of Tagaq that should appeal to a new generation of readers, with shorter chapters but more of them. We may see more print media focussing on the long-form story for their online versions and focus on their shorter stories for print – much like already seen in the StarMetro.
For PR Consult, we will continue to use a variety of ways to communicate our clients’ ideas with audiences. PR practitioners know their audiences and will understand the best way to reach them and can suggest the best messages and how they should be presented. Despite the way communications and story-telling is changing, some things will always remain the same: a good story is only as good as its story-teller.