Listicles, Short Videos, & YouTube - Oh My!



Something of importance in conjunction with convergence journalism is time. Time is a limited commodity and in most cases people want information delivered in a format that doesn't utilize a whole bunch of time. With this in mind, let's talk listicles and short videos from YouTube!

(Cue the video linked above if you elected to skip that step prior to reading.)

Now...how would you summarize the video you just watched in 1-3 words? Was it informative? Useful? Direct?

Of all the latest and greatest trends in communication techniques, listicles and short videos have a place near and dear to the heart of consumers/followers everywhere. Listicles (or list-based articles) have become more of a common occurrence in communications than ever before. Thanks to media outlets such as Buzzfeed, consumers have become conditioned to the format of communication in which information is provided in short snippets via lists. Not only are they fun and different, but they are also healthy as they allow for information to be processed in a spatial manner (Edidin, 2014). 

A great example of the listicle trend: each morning CNN.com posts an article "5 Things You Need To Know Today" that provides the most prominent information that followers should be aware of as the day begins. In most cases these articles provide recaps of important events from the prior day as well as some fun little miscellaneous facts. Whereas most of the traditional articles posted on CNN can seem to go on forever and appear bogged down with a bunch of supplemental detail that may not necessarily mean a whole lot, these listicle-based articles are more apt to capture and retain the attention of the masses.

Ultimately has become common practice in an increasingly connected world where consumers want news and information delivered to them in the most easiest, direct, and efficient way possible. By jumping on to the listicle and/or short video train, communicators and journalists have the opportunity to put forth the most prominent and engage-worthy information front and center, making it easy to help capture the attention of followers/consumers. Next time you need to go write a news article, try a listicle format and see what type of return on investment you receive. It could be worth it!

References
Edidin, R. (2014, Jan 8). 5 Reasons Listicles Are Here To Stay, And Why That's OK. Wired.com.
          Retrieved October 1, 2017 from https://www.wired.com/2014/01/defense-listicle-list-article/

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