Slate columnist, Farhad Manjoo asked Josh Schwartz, a data scientist at the traffic analysis company Chartbeat, to explore the scrolling habits of its readers; just how far down the page would users scroll before hitting the exit button?
For Manjoo, the data that Chartbeat pulled out wasn't reassuring; the vast majority of readers scrolled no further than halfway down the page (typically, the 1000 pixel mark).
The writer concluded that readers online today couldn't stay focused. In his report, You Won't Finish This Article, Manjoo said, "the more I typed, the more they tuned out". He found the relationship between scrolling and sharing even more disturbing. Schwartz discovered that people were tweeting links to articles they hadn't read in their entirety. He found the same casual approach to comments; people were often commenting on articles they clearly hadn't finished reading.
When we accept that digital content is a fluid and fast-moving entity, we can monopolise on it. This might, at the very least, mean offering more choice where format is concerned or managing exit-points more mindfully. Isn't this text-ploitation? Yes, the user is exploiting the text, but we can capitalise on this nevertheless.
From my own perspective as a content provider, I think it would be wrong to look at the stats and weep. I think there is a great deal to be gained from recognising that web users arrive at a page for a variety of reasons, and these reasons are naturally going to determine how they engage with content. Marketers can no longer see content as a fixed entity. For me, the tragedy isn't that this is happening; the tragedy is that we are often failing to manage these responses well enough.
Content Marketing is faced with a challenging situation, yes, but not an unfavourable one and there are many different options available. Whilst you may not be able to control the message throughout the delivery process, there are ways and means to maintain some dominance. Start by defining the rules of engagement. Here's how we can do this:
