An exploration of how internet readers never finish the
It takes spectacular writing to hold my attention.
This one didn't grab me. But also: is it so bad to not finish an article?
-- and here's another thing, I might forward, but not finish reading because I'm not the best audience for a certain important article -- but I know who is and what they are studying or enthusiastic about. I'm grateful to the posters and forwarders on hubski. The other week mk posted an article on advances in the use of gesture to control an envrionment. I read the beginning, then forwarded it to two people who are developing ways of gesturing at computer screens in hospitals to summon nurses or send messages.
I think many people tend to ignore the medium as well. In a print magazine, I can put it down, or leave it open to the page I'm on and come back to it later. I can do the same online, but sometimes it feels like there's no good stopping point and then I end up half-heartedly skimming the rest just to be done with it. Also, it was a bit whiny.
I will occasionally post an article to finish reading it later, but that almost always means that I'm interested in what I've read, and I don't have the time to enjoy it. It might also be considered that the web is like a magazine when you are looking for something to read. You flip through, scan an article, flip through some more, then finally settle upon something that catches your interest. Visiting a page in a magazine isn't considered a commitment.
It takes good writing to hold my attention too. As for sharing posts on Hubski that I don't read fully, I do it all the time. Almost every time I do this it has to do with the comments in the thread. I'll share a post that has a good back and forth between mk and cliffelam or b_b after reading their conversation without having read what prompted it. I feel like I have a responsibility to let others know that theres a cool conversation going on. I do this often.
You are so responsible.
I know you think I'm the bee's knees... but these are not particularly responsible knees. I often start to contribute to a discussion and then delete my message before posting it because I'm called away or just change my mind. I go to a lot of trouble thinking of a response and then delete it. I'm about to even delete this one... YIKES I'M GETTING a 502 BAD GATEWAY ON THIS... maybe I should delete it.
(oh good, it finally posted)I feel like I have a responsibility to let others know that there's a cool conversation going on
and then there's the thoughts that come up while reading people's comments that do not even make it to the reply box -- so for example, this morning I was thinking about your comment which I read last night. Step 1 - hey I'm noticing myself thinking about b_b's comment Step 2 - and my thought was ... Step 3 - write it... but wait, this isn't what I was actually thinking... this is a meta-response, as they say in litcrit -- a response about responding (I have a feeling humanodon knows of what I speak), I start to write and then get distracted in a McLuhanesque way, the medium being the message Step 4 - Delete response, it wasn't what I was thinking anyway. ha ha, I won't incur the wrath of b_b... in fact my thought this morning was this: when I visit Hubski during the day, I first look for "text" -- what's on someone's mind today? Then I look for something with several comments: what are people saying today?
My question to you: are you aware of a process or do you just skim down the headings?
Note: when I open a newspaper, I often go to the letters to the editor first.
The reason is this: EVERYTHING written anywhere is subjective, including the headlines, the choice of headlines, and so on. At least in the letters and op-ed columns they admit their subjectivity. Does that make sense? thenewgreen do you have a process in your skimming of your feed? So you are right. Now I'll hit reply.
I go to "chatter" a lot and I go to the first global page quite a bit to see new posts with no votes. If there's an interesting post that doesn't have a comment and I feel like I have something to say or wish to give it acknowledgment beyond a "share," I will comment. Sometimes, literally just to say "wow, that was amazing" or something similar, which doesn't necessarily spark amazing conversation but sometimes I genuinely think something is amazing and have to say so. I look in chatter for conversations that are happening and will only join in if I have something to ad. If I read something that I have a question about, I'll post that. I tend to shout-out to people when I know they'll have an answer to a question that someone else has posed. For example. I also will leave links to past posts/comments in my comments. I spend a lot of time here and have a catalog of past posts and conversations kicking around in my head and I like for others to see some of the cool things that have happened in the past. For example, remember when I posted the link to caio's post My name is Harvey Pekar to your post? So I skim the feed both for things I want to read, conversations I'd like to join and places where I can link to past posts/comments that may be relevant. It's fun. Lots of fun.
I couldn't agree more. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. When we talk to one another IRL, we aren't so particular. A good conversation doesn't require perfect, but it does require a reply.
It's a personal objective -- or so I say. Usually, I skim everything I read, and if, at any point, it catches my attention or what the specific information I'm looking for comes along, I will actually take the time to read it from the start. Speed reading is the only way to push through the over-froth of words out there... well, to me.
Brilliant marketing, I bet the percentage of reads all the way through far exceeds the norm.
I'll be honest, I didn't read all of that article, I found myself disengaged about 2/3 of the way through. But believe it or not I do try to finish reading most articles I link to on here.
I read tons of articles every day. I share dozens of links on Twitter and Facebook. But how many do I read in full? How many do I share after reading the full thing? Honestly—and I feel comfortable saying this because even mom’s stopped reading at this point—not too many.
Pretty sure I've done this maybe twice in my life. A thoughtful web!