Subject: Re: new story structures / POVERTY OF ATTENTION From: Milwnews@aol.com Date: Sat, 23 Mar 1996 06:29:33 -0500

In a message dated 96-03-22 23:04:30 EST, mcquig@mukt.phillynews.com (John
McQuiggan) writes:

>The recent POVERTY posting triggers a question whose answer has some 
>bearing on the debate about story structures. To wit: How much time
>do readers spend at electronic news sites anyway?
>
>I raise the question because of an intriguing (and disturbing) statistic 
>we've come across at Philadelphia Online, home of the Philadelphia 
>Inquirer and Daily News. The average reader, according to 4 months of 
>Nielsen/I-Pro audits, spends about 10 minutes on our site.>

Does that include waiting time?  :-)

> That's a 
>little less than half the time spent by readers of the print version of 
>the Inquirer alone! So I have to wonder ...
>
>*Is this number just a statistical fluke?
>*Is it the product of some bad weirdness peculiar to Phila. Online or its 
>readers? 
>*Or, as seems likely, does it show that our online "readers" aren't 
>reading much at all?
>I'm keen to know whether other newspaper sites are having the same 
>experience. And if they are, what does it mean for those of us who are 
>defining and designing the new medium?

One thing I've heard from several online editors (perhaps they'll share) is
that after initial general inspection there are visitors who come in often
for something pretty specific -- perhaps the weather, a certain sports team,
something they heard of, a business search -- and then goodby.  Leaving aside
the chat genres and some other categories I've also seen some surveys and
discussions that suggest the commercial online services also have this
pattern -- regular check-ins for very specific content.

I even recall a story from one online newspaper that they had a visitor from
another town whose paper didn't carry the cartoon they did online, and his
only interest on a daily visit was getting that strip.

There are many implications for newspapers of these patterns -- one, of
course, being the need for ethical specific tracking. Doesn't Nielsen try to
provide?

Dominique Paul Noth
Milwnews@aol.com
Internet Column -- Dom's Domain: Media Sites and Strategies
"http://www.arcfile.com/dom"





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