{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
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    "type" : "single",
    "title" : "The Content Corner: Quality Over Quantity—a Case for Long-Form Content |Digital.gov",
    "description": "The Content Corner: Quality Over Quantity—a Case for Long-Form Content",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/25/the-content-corner-quality-over-quantity-a-case-for-long-form-content/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"The Content Corner: Quality Over Quantity—a Case for Long-Form Content","summary" : "Content can be categorized in many ways. While breaking down your website analytics, pay a bit of extra attention to the difference between your short- and long-form content; you may find some interesting discoveries. Let’s first define the two terms: Short – Content that is generally created quickly, and consumed just as fast; e.g., tweets,","date" : "2016-07-25T15:00:38-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"kyle-s-richardson" : "Kyle S. Richardson"},"topics" : {
        
            "analytics" : "Analytics",
            "content-strategy" : "Content strategy",
            "mobile" : "Mobile",
            "product-and-project-management" : "Product and project management",
            "social-media" : "Social media"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2016-07-25-the-content-corner-quality-over-quantity-a-case-for-long-form-content.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2016/07/2016-07-25-the-content-corner-quality-over-quantity-a-case-for-long-form-content.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2016/07/2016-07-25-the-content-corner-quality-over-quantity-a-case-for-long-form-content.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2016/07/2016-07-25-the-content-corner-quality-over-quantity-a-case-for-long-form-content.md","slug" : "the-content-corner-quality-over-quantity-a-case-for-long-form-content","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/07/25/the-content-corner-quality-over-quantity-a-case-for-long-form-content/","content" :"\u003cp\u003e****Content can be categorized in many ways. While breaking down your \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/topics/analytics/\"\u003ewebsite analytics\u003c/a\u003e, pay a bit of extra attention to the difference between your short- and long-form content; you may find some interesting discoveries.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLet’s first define the two terms:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eShort – Content that is generally created quickly, and consumed just as fast; e.g., tweets, status updates, short blogs and articles (350 words or less).\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eLong – In-depth content designed to give a large amount of detail and info; e.g., e-books, white papers, and long blog post series.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese days, we could probably most agree that short-form content makes up the majority of what is released. With the \u003ca href=\"http://www.statisticbrain.com/attention-span-statistics/\"\u003eaverage attention span\u003c/a\u003e of today’s media consumers continuing to decrease, developing \u003ca href=\"http://www.business2community.com/infographics/create-bite-sized-content-infographic-01440378\"\u003ebite-sized content\u003c/a\u003e is key for those of us striving to create the most valuable and useful content for our audience. \u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/06/600-x-400-Smartphone-Marco_Piunti-iStock-Thinkstock-476864628.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Woman using a smartphone\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut, according to a \u003ca href=\"http://www.journalism.org/2016/05/05/long-form-reading-shows-signs-of-life-in-our-mobile-news-world/\"\u003ePew Research study\u003c/a\u003e, readers access long-form articles at nearly the same rate as short ones.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Rather surprising,” I thought when I read that—and it’s something to consider when developing your content strategy (ironically, this is one of my shortest \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/topics/content-strategy/\"\u003eThe Content Corner\u003c/a\u003e pieces yet). I shouldn’t be surprised though, because it’s something that \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/01/11/the-content-corner-content-trends-for-2016/\"\u003eTyrus Manuel predicted\u003c/a\u003e back in January would be a trend for 2016.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“As we forge ahead into 2016, we should again commit ourselves to focus on creating content for our users and be sure it helps solve specific problems or helps to reinforce positive impressions of our agencies.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere’s huge value to creating short-form content to grab the attention of your audience, perhaps draw them in and even solve problems in some cases. I’m suggesting you don’t completely trash your long “thought leader” pieces in an effort to draw more traffic to your site. Besides, who said it had to be one form or the other?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote class=\"testimonial\"\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\n    \u0026#8220;If the content is worth reading, your customers will value and share in-depth articles.\u0026#8221;\u003cbr /\u003e \u0026#8211; \u003ca href=\"http://www.businessesgrow.com/2016/05/09/long-form-content/\"\u003eMark Schaefer\u003c/a\u003e\n  \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpeaking of short attention spans, there’s Snapchat, the social network with content that can disappear by design—although it’s features have evolved beyond that to make it “\u003ca href=\"https://blog.bufferapp.com/snapchat-chat\"\u003eone of the most complete and engaging communication platforms on the market\u003c/a\u003e” (learn how \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/04/01/why-we-launched-a-snapchat-account-and-how-well-measure-success/\"\u003eUSA.gov is using Snapchat\u003c/a\u003e to engage with its audience).__You may not have heard, but they \u003ca href=\"http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/17/11962916/snapchat-real-life-tech-magazine-publication-announced\"\u003erecently launched\u003c/a\u003e a new digital magazine. Called \u003ca href=\"http://reallifemag.com/\"\u003eReal Life\u003c/a\u003e, it will focus on “how our lives are mediated by devices.” I checked it out and was surprised to find that the content is quite opposite of its social media platform. Articles are lacking imagery and written in storytelling form, like your typical magazine.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt has yet to be seen how successful the platform will be, but it’s certainly interesting that Snapchat has delved into long-form publishing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eApparently, long-form content \u003ca href=\"https://www.act-on.com/blog/2016/07/long-form-content-vs-short-form-which-gets-the-results-you-want/\"\u003egets more shares/social engagement\u003c/a\u003e and it ranks better on search engines. And interestingly, “\u003ca href=\"http://www.journalism.org/2016/05/05/long-form-reading-shows-signs-of-life-in-our-mobile-news-world/\"\u003ecell-phone readers spend about twice as much time with long-form content as with short-form content\u003c/a\u003e,” with most either later at night or early in the morning. \u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2016/07/313-x-492-Pew-Research-Center_U.S.-public-show-signs-of-engaging-with-long-form-articles-on-cellphones.jpg\"\n    alt=\"U.S. public show signs of engaging with long-form articles on cellphones.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccording to the \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/guides/dap/\"\u003eDigital Analytics Program\u003c/a\u003e‘s\u003c/span\u003e \u003ca href=\"https://analytics.usa.gov\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"\u003eAnalytics Dashboard\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"\u003e, which \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/02/18/analytics-usa-gov-now-with-agency-specific-dashboards/\"\u003eprovides insight into how the public interacts with specific agency websites\u003c/a\u003e (currently, \u003ca href=\"https://analytics.usa.gov/data/#explanation\"\u003emore than 400 executive branch government domains across about 5,000 total websites\u003c/a\u003e), visits to government websites on \u003ca href=\"https://analytics.usa.gov/data/\"\u003emobile rivals that of tablet and desktop\u003c/a\u003e, especially on the weekend. \u003c/p\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n  \u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n    \u003cimg\n      src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2016/07/600-x-315-Analytics.USA_.gov-Dashboard-Screen-Shot-2016-07-25-at-2.11.16-PM.jpg\"\n      alt=\"Screen capture of the top of the Data page of the Analytics.USA.gov Dashboard on July 25, 2016.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n  \n\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n  Short- or long-form, both types of content tend to have short life spans, mostly taking place within the first three days.\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n  So what’s your experience been like? Have you altered your content strategy to cater to catchy headlines and short-form writing, or do you still see the value in long-form content? Leave a comment below or \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SSgtKRich\"\u003etweet me @SSgtKRich\u003c/a\u003e.\n\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}