What Can You Listify? The Sky’s The Limit

In an age of the shrinking attention span, the only way for content to sink in is for it to sink us in. It has to be tailored for our modern experiences (for better or worse). And what’s more modern than being hooked into our devices? We are busy, 21st century people who are reading on-the-go with less time. So how can publishers adapt to how readers read? How can they package content to compete for their attention?

The answer is lists.

As publishers, the question then becomes what content can you listify? Why does it matter?

Lists matter because we like them. We like knowing how long we’ll have to spend reading. We like the difference a number makes in a headline. There are (at least) four scientific reasons why we like lists, according to Maria Konnikova’s New Yorker article:

1. the headline catches our eye in a stream of content
2. it positions its subject within a preexisting category and classification system, like ‘talented animals’
3. it spatially organizes the information
4. it promises a story that’s finite, whose length has been quantified upfront.

The source material above, is all from The New Yorker article, but do you see how much easier it is to retain information once I arranged it vertically? How the information is appealingly finite? Lists are actually how our brain wants to process information because we like to process things spatially, regardless of what kind of learner we are. It’s easier to remember bullet points vertically than a paragraph of information.

Of course, as a publisher you are wondering how this can apply to you. Not all content can be formatted into lists, right? Of course they can.

Lists are applicable to a broad variety of content if you get creative. Traditionally, lists are compacted to a “Top 10 New Vancouver Restaurants You Must Try” or a hyperbolic list like “12 TV Shows I Can’t Believe I Watched As A Kid.” These lists are light and fun, things you can share to your Facebook Timeline, but lists as a concept can do more than this.

One of the increasingly used ways to create lists is to take long form of a subject and condense it to short, list-worthy points. This allows the content to be repurposed as a summary—drawing readers into the longer form content. Ignore your writer’s ego for a moment and consider the possibilities:

1. Increase in mobile readership: lists can be optimized for the mobile experience, whereas long form has struggled.
2. Reading comprehension and attention spans are optimized: a list is shorter and can have more visuals, and just like the decreased attention span, is easier to comprehend. When writing a list, you are pulling the key concepts from the article out. It can compliment your long form writing.
3. Content can be pulled from anything: quotes, takeaways, key messages, other sources that you refer to. It’s easier to link to other sources and prevent plagiarism.

Let’s use one of my lists as an example.

http://beta.quiet.ly/list/share/bcfbb-the-future-of-newspapers-remains-hopeful?width=600&height=0&showMapView=false&showAuthor=false&showLogo=false&showListTitle=true&showListDescription=true&showTitles=true&showDescriptions=true&showWeblinks=true&makeClickable=true&sharePage=true&showIcons=true&titleSize=22&titleType=sans-serif&descriptionSize=16&descriptionType=sans-serif&useOriginalImages=false

To talk about the future of newspapers, I used one long form source from Michael Kinsley’s Vanity Fair piece about the state and future of newspapers. I included background from other sources in a few items, quotes credited from his article, overall takeaways from what he wrote about it 9 items. The article is about 2,000 words; mine has a maximum of 1800 characters. His article has one photo; mine has 9 (some of them are even memes, which we know the Internet loves). Though he references many sources, he doesn’t link to them. I link to four other sources for more information.

The pieces complement one another. This gives facts and centralized positioning. His long form article gives anecdotes, insights and longer points. Not only can they stand alone, but more importantly, they can work together.

Lists are more valuable to publishers than how they are currently being used—they don’t have to be reductive and fluffy, but rather, can add to the content that’s already been invested in. The potential of lists in publishing is just beginning to become untapped.

For more on list making 101, check out this list:

http://beta.quiet.ly/list/share/fb5e5-the-10-commandments-of-list-making?width=600&height=0&showGradient=true&showMapView=true&showAuthor=true&showLogo=true&showListTitle=true&showListDescription=true&showTitles=true&showDescriptions=true&showWeblinks=true&makeClickable=true&sharePage=true&showIcons=true&embedTheme=dark&titleSize=22&titleType=quietly&descriptionSize=16&descriptionType=quietly&useOriginalImages=false&lastSlide=like&lastSlideMsg=Like%20us%20on%20Facebook!&lastSlideUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FQuietly

Image Credit: James via Flickr