I want your opinion! Let's pick our brains together!
Did you know that Goldfish have a better and longer attention span than humans?
OOh dear.... Are you ready to be shocked?
9 seconds is the avarage Goldfish attention span!
9 whole seconds! You might think... Was that not 3 seconds? No, new test have show that a goldfish really has a longer attention span then humans these days!
You see, humans have an avarage attention span of 8 seconds!
8 seconds......
How can a goldfish have a better attenion span than humans?
Maybe it's because they don't own cellphones or computers!
After reading some fact about Goldfish and finding out about the attenion span I started to wonder.
I used my old best friend Google and started to dig up some facts about the attention span to make sure I would not be talking nonsense here.
And shocking but true, our attention span is worse than a goldfish.
How does this effect our blogs here on Steemit?
Knowing this, I started wondering about the post we all share here on the platform.
Are longer posts better than shorter posts? Because the fact that they are longer make us see ( or think ) the writer has put a lot of effort into his or hers writing. Longer posts are mostly praised upon while short posts are said to be quick and sometimes not good enough.
I can only talk about myself when it comes to reading posts here on Steemit! I am a word addict and I can read for hours on end BUT ONLY if the content really grabs me.
I know, for a fact, that my attention span is not something to be proud of. While looking at ( In this case I will use goldfish ) a tank with one amazing goldfish while someone tells me the most wonderful facts about that one fish, my mind will wonder off and I will start to see many more Goldfish in magical colors all around me.
I little soft sound on the right, a flash of green light on the left.... And poof my attention goes from one to six other things in a matter of seconds....
So, looking at the fact that humans have a attention span of 8 seconds would that make shorter and straight to the point posts better?
And I mean better as in reaching your reader?
Is this the reason that meme posts all over the internet are so populair?
Short, not time consuming and your reader will get the point within 4 seconds....
I want your opinion! Let's pick our brains together!
What do you prefer to read here on Steemit?
Longer posts or short and straight to the point posts?
What is your reasoning behind this?
Do you write longer posts because you think that will be received better?
Or do you keep things short?
I will highly appreciate your input on this!
I have to disappoint you
nothing to pick in my skully :D
Thank you for posting @poeticsnake.
Lovely goldfish paintings and subject.
Have you read the book The Shallows by Nicholas Carr? It gives some insight into how the internet is changing the way we think and addresses your topic of...attention span.
One of the main attractions of Steemit is the variety of subject matter and presentation from long to short.....from entertaining to educating.
Happy Christmas to you and yours. Cheers.
I think it depends on the subject and the detail. some posts, especially those that deal with some artistic endeavor, are necessarily short because - photography. it's difficult to show process, and if you arent a photographer, you wont understand anyway. art is similar tho proof of work is always vital in all cases. i love photography but some of the photographers who post just a photo with no details are a bit scammy. they dont give details of where or with what, so how do we even know it's their photo?
other posts that involve writing on a subject NEED to be longer, because the work is in the writing and research. a paragraph, even well written, takes about ten minutes to write (unless the person is non native, and for that i give consideration). the issue is that writing is much more investment in attention span. pretty photos and art are easy to look at and appreciate. writing takes a bit of work, especially technical writing.
i like how snek breaks her blog up with images and sections. to me this is a good post. but i also now take into account what that persons history and wallet look like. ever since i researched bot abuse, i am more likely to wonder about high payouts. do they come from self voting, a curie, a whale vote? do they have a huge amount of sp because they can afford to invest? do they write consistently good posts with poor pay out? the latter will get my vote. why? because they need it more.
I upvote posts because they are well written or in some way entertaining. I try to value the work that went into them, not just the quality of the work. Many people only value posts by friends or people similar to them, but I am really done with supporting only well off, educated people who write superior posts because they have the time and technology. We need to consider people who write not so well, but try their best. Thats what community at a global level is about.
Personally, to me. I dont really like longs posts. If you need a lot of writing to get your point made, you are missing the point.
Visuals help, images I mean, not Youtube, because opening those is also like too-much-attention needed. But that is just a personal thing. !
Personally I don't read technical posts. It's not my interest. So my attention won't keep past the facts. I will however pay attention to a list of facts - after that all I hear is dooooooooooooooo :)
I like condensed information - as if someone researched the coles notes version for me - and if I am interested I'll, comment, upvote and maybe do further research.
With art and photography - I like to see a bit of process - not a lot. I like to read a bit of a photography blog with a photo - especially wanting to know the photo location and maybe a bit about that location. Art process is fun to learn, a bit of a step by step in some cases, altho not possible with an oil or water painting for example.
What I appreciate in a post -
one that is well thought out and purposeful. It doesn't have to be professionally written or perfect and the person's rep doesn't matter to me. I will support and read anyone that captures my attention if, IF they produce a well organized work.
I like to read a variety of things on Steemit. Which is why I haven't joined any sub groups (not that there is anything wrong with them - just not for me).
I need paragraph breaks and maybe a chart or photo and a change in font size. Why? It's how my brain works.
I try to produce concise posts. I have written some that, in looking back, were too long. For the most part, I think that people want to read, upvote, maybe comment and move on.
I enjoy how you presented your post today for example. Your topic was about goldfish attention span and you reminded me throughout via photos, in different colors to grab my attention again. Then you left me with a butterfly to think about :)
Now my brain hurts from thinking. Hope this helps!!
It depends. Sometimes one picture says more than 1000 words, in other cases I like to read more about the journey and the pics are a great addition to the story
I think the manner in which content is presented trumps length or topic.
e.g.:
blah: "We went to the botanical garden today."
exciting: "Oh, how amazing the bontanical garden was today!"
Even the most banal or complicated topics can be presented in a fascinating manner by those who truly know how to tell a story ~or~ understand the intricacies of quantum mechanics well-enough to explain it in layman's terms. We should all take lessons from Snekky. 😊
I actually prefer posts that are not to much to read, but well written. I love art, photos and poems.
I also like to read longer texts if it's about something in my interest: life, personal development, health and so on.
Which makes my answer like: "it depends". Sorry:-)
Gold fish's attention was not known to people more than humanity. I learned a lot in the post. Thank you for posting information.