Skimming
Like many, I’ve been reading various blogs and online magazines for a long time. And I’ve noticed a consistent pattern among people who leave comments (or write comparative articles) that seems to be growing more widespread at a near exponential level (likely related to the number of websites that are being created every day).
I hate to break it to you, but people rarely completely read articles anymore. I mean REALLY read. Like what we used to do with magazines while sitting in the waiting room at the Doctor’s office. They skim through it as quickly as possible. And they certainly don’t read any of the comments made before they got there. It’s become obvious from the context of what people are writing.
People are moving too fast through the blogs to truly appreciate the value and meaning of the information that they just inhaled before taking five minutes to knee-jerk out some weird comment, or focusing on one small detail without grasping the big picture. Really reading the context of an article seems like such a waste of time!
It’s likely that as we are bombarded with exponentially higher amounts of information in our feed readers (regardless of the quality of that information, which can still be very high), the audience feels the need to consume it faster to make room for the next batch to roll in. But because this is the internet, the information rolls in at a rate higher than anyone can digest at the volume needed to balance the load. It’s not that people are being force-fed the information, but that their own greed in consuming as much as possible, as quickly as possible, hoping to be one of the first to either read or even write the next great heavily-linked article, is self-forcing a mental gag-reflex.
Skim. Comment. Move on. It’s the way of the blog!
Then, there’s the secondary motive related to attention and/or awareness. While the first reason to read an article is to take something of personal value away from it, that can be used somehow in work or life, the second is quite the opposite: To leave a fingerprint behind with the intent of gaining attention or awareness of others by what their comment says. It’s ironic that even if the comment has value, most people will skim it anyway, hoping to leave behind their own bit of value that they deem more important. To impart some bit of trivial wisdom in that moment that they hope will bring people to their site looking for more bits of trivial wisdom, or to even gain favor from the author him/herself.
My advice: slow it down. If you have doubts over what you just read, or are not exactly sure what the author meant, then by all means read it again. And before you leave a comment, please be courteous to your fellow readers/commentors and see what wisdom they’ve imparted. You might be surprised that more people think like you (or vehemently disagree) than you might realize. An open mind is a good thing.
P.S. There are no bad questions. ;-)
Comments Back to Top
1. jordan
Jul 26th, 2007
I think part of the problem may be that in real life, one can have a discussion and work out the differences of opinion about something, while on a blog the conversation is often one-sided: the owner expresses a belief, the commenter(s) respond, and things don’t go much further. Occasionally there will be a follow-up entry or something, but it’s still unsatisfying.
Not that I’m going to discount childishness or self-imposed speed-reading, because they certainly do play into it—I just think that ‘conversational media’ seems to fail at conversing far too often.
2. Hayo Bethlehem
Jul 26th, 2007
My problem is that I’ve either become to critical or skim too fast. I have ~200 blogs in my reader, and usually only read the title and first paragraph. If it doesn’t intrigue me, I’m gone. So even though I see thousands of posts per week, I only read a really small number of them. So no half-reading for me: either I read it, or I don’t.
Which leads me to the second problem: am I to critical, or is most content on blogs really awful compared to 3 years ago? Can we blame services like twitter for this? Doesn’t anyone take the time anymore to writedown a good polished post? If blog content is bad, doesn’t that automatically mean the comment quality will degrade aswell?
Some loose thoughts. No fingerprinting ;)
3. Anton
Jul 26th, 2007
Well Hayo, that’s one thing - but leaving a comment with the attitude that you’ve read the article is completely different.
And as far as quality of content? Perhaps that has to do with it being harder to find unique topics to talk about that other people haven’t already covered in some format (not impossible, just more difficult).
4. Hayo Bethlehem
Jul 26th, 2007
I can imagine, it would feel a lot like commentspam. and answering every such comment with “dude, did you read any of this at all” would become tedious.
quality of content: It’s one of the reasons I rarely writeabout webdesign stuff. When I start researching a certain topic, I always discover at least 30 blogposts/articles that cover the subject from every angle. It’s extremely disheartening.
5. Nate Klaiber
Jul 26th, 2007
It is for this very reason that I am considering disabling comments in the next rendition of my site. I am guilty of the sin that you speak of. I would rather spend my time on writing quality content, than trying to touch every aspect and have commenters critique on the one paragraph they actually read. I see so many people make a post, and then have to do a follow-up post to explain the previous post. Again, I am guilty.
I don’t know, as much as I love the social interaction, I have no desire to be the world’s most loved blogger. I love engaging with other people, but that doesn’t always mean commenting through a blog - there are other forms of communication. Sometimes the comments simply shred the quality of an otherwise excellent post.
I feel dirty after reading this, simply because I am guilty of everything you have mentioned (at one point or another in my blogging journey..ha).
6. Jonathan Snook
Jul 26th, 2007
Okay, so I just skimmed the article but wanted to just say, “I agree.”
(ha, I kid, I kid).
Maybe the question we should ask is whether people should slow down or whether the content should be tailored in such a way as to more effectively be skimmed with short paragraphs and more bullet points.
7. Anton
Jul 26th, 2007
Nate, I’m not sure if disabling comments is the right idea either, because that just comes off as an unwillingness to deal with it. Conversation and feedback, even in some fashion, are still better than nothing at all, in my opinion.
Jon, oh you think you’re so funny, don’t you?!? However, you hint at an amazing idea that could be pursued much, much further… something like “the usability of blog writing”, or something like that. How writing for the web is nothing like writing for a real magazine. Let’s try and remember this train of thought - there’s something important in it.
8. Nate Klaiber
Jul 26th, 2007
@Snook
I would agree with that to a degree. Some sites make it hard to digest so much content, and since there is so much other noise on the web it is sometimes hard to stay focused.
While I think that many of the articles could be constructed for easier reading. Many of these are typographical things - adjusting the line height, not having long line measures, giving breathing room between paragraphs/headings, etc. I don’t think that we should necessarily shorten what we have to say to cater to those who simply aren’t reading - but I do think that, as you said, we should structure the content in a better fashion to make it more readable.
I think that people will always skim, but it is at least nice if there is some organization/structure that allows them to find what they are looking for in a quick manner versus finding a small snippet and taking it out of contest.
Another thing that is frustrating, and I am completely guilty of - is simply being the ‘yes maam’ in the comments. Do they really add value to the post at hand?
9. Anton
Jul 26th, 2007
Nate - you make some very good points in regard to typography. I’m going to have to default to saying thanks, because I haven’t quite worked out my thoughts on this yet. And don’t be too hard on yourself, I’m guilty of many of these things too, I’m just trying to shed some much needed light on the subject.
10. jordan
Jul 26th, 2007
Regarding the subject of writing for the web versus writing for a magazine: http://www.subtraction.com/archives/2007/0724_on_blogging_.php
11. Matt Robin
Aug 2nd, 2007
Sorry, I got as far as ‘Doctor’s Office…’
hehehe (Just kidding).
As Hayo said - it’s all or nothing dude….that’s the way I roll with blogs these days too (these days? that makes it look like they’ve been around forever!)
We’ve just ended-up having such a limited time to read anything fully, that we get more selective about the stuff we do read. If I’ve chosen to read an article - like your one - then I’ll take the time to read all the way through it. Actually, there’s method in my madness - I’ve skim-read some posts in the past, made weak comments that were wrong because I hadn’t realised my own questions were answered further in the same article! In other words: I’ve been ridiculed a bit on some sites for having missed parts of an article (from just skimming through it)...the relevant parts!
Good tip for anyone: if you’re going to comment an article - make sure you have read all of it first! ;)
12. goodwitch
Aug 17th, 2007
fascinating thoughts…and your topic caught me off guard and I read much slower (and more) than I usual would. For me, checking in on my friends blogs helps me stay connected during the long months between SXSW. and with a crazy work schedule and recent new computer, i realized i had really stopped reading blogs all together.
I’m being very selective of the blogs i am tracking now. i’m trying to avoid the “all you can eat” blog bar :)
so, thanks for helping me take a deep breath, slow down and be fully present as a read your thoughts and the comments that followed. if i close my eyes…i can almost imagine us all having this conversation over a few beers at the gingerman.
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