And Now For Something Completely Different!
Five For Friday #1
Lately, I have been curious about the dynamics of posting on Substack and other online platforms. My primary focus was on the optimal length for articles. How long is too long, and how short is too short? The people who run Substack say the optimum article length is between 500 to 1000 words. They have discovered that shorter articles generally perform better in terms of readership. Why?
An article of 1000 words takes most people less than five minutes to read. We are busy people, and our time is a precious commodity. When a person writes for online publication, they want people to read what they’ve written. They are actually competing for people’s time in our busy world. People will likely give 5 minutes, but most won’t give the 10 or 15 minutes required to read longer articles—unless they are really interested in the topic and the article is well written.
Everyone is busy, and in our information-saturated world, our attention span continues to decrease. We tend to filter the articles we read and the online videos we watch by the question, “Is it worth my time to read or watch this?” Then we go through the process of “triaging” what we do read and watch — we consciously or subconsiously categorize the article we just opened in our browser, the email we see in our inbox, or the video we just clicked on. Here is the five-step approach I think most people use to triage posts and articles.
This is not really something I am interested in, so I am not going to open it.
This interests me, so I’m going to open and read it.
As I begin to read, I realize that it is not what I thought it was, so I close it.
ORAs I begin to read it, I realize it is very long, so I either skim it or stop reading it altogether.
ORThis is a great article, so I read it all.
I have combined the above facts with my training as a certified Christian Coach to develop a new weekly article series that I am calling “Five For Friday.”
Don’t worry! Monday Missives is not going away and will continue in the current format. I have received so much positive feedback and encouragement concerning my Monday’s poem, prayer, and passage. Thank you for your awesome support!
In coaching, the primary “tool” used is asking powerful questions. So, “Five For Friday” will consist of articles between 500 to 1000 words in length (this article has 556 words). Each article will end with five thoughtful questions for you to ponder and process. It should take only 3 to 4 minutes to read each article, but you might be thinking about the questions all day. That is their purpose!
Here are this week’s “Five For Friday” questions.
What are your primary concerns about social media?
What online sites and sources do you usually visit in a typical day?
What is your triage process for the articles you read or videos you watch online?
How do you go about skimming articles or fast-forwarding through online videos?
What are your primary motivations for what you usually watch or read online?
Next week’s Five for Friday continues with a focus on online engagement, looking at “what is the message?”