Got the Media Munchies?

The March issue of Wired landed in my mailbox Saturday. The cover story, Bite-Size Entertainment; Explore the New World of One-Minute Media, presents the idea that all of our attention spans are shrinking and we are now in need of more "snackable" media/content because of it. True to form, the cover story is a quick read itself and is then supported by several short aritcles/snippets discussing various forms of media that fit this idea.

I doubt this comes as a suprise to many of us. We've been hearing it for the past couple years from varoius magazine editors, with their sales support staff in-tow, coming through our offices with decks and presentations talking about how they're changing the format of their publication. How they are going to feature shorter bits of information presented in "easily-digestible" pieces, more visual stimulation of sorts and shorter feature stories. All this due to the changing media consumption habits of their readers.

Anyway, the Wired article is still a very worthwhile read. There are several interesting examples discussed that are good to be aware of. Some you will already be in the loop on, but there are just as many that you might not have heard of yet.

A few gems I liked within the mini-features/support articles:

+ This widget for Oblique Strategies (MAC only. Sorry PC users.) featuring creativity-sparking cards from the decks created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt.

+ A nice reminder about a book and web site I've been meaning to post about - PostSecret by Frank Warren. Adapting this idea/technique to qualitative research or as a part of the brief-writing process could be a good idea.

+ A list of the top five list sites - Tenspotting, All Consuming, Ta-Da Lists, Lists of Bests, and 43 Things.

+ Five free exclusive ringtone downloads from They Might Be Giants, plus three of their classic songs.

There was one mini-feature that I hate the idea of, Radio SASS, but that's because I don't want someone messing with my music. I'm sure there's potential for some to like this type of thing though. You know the people I'm talking about. The ones who can't keep the radio on one station/one song through its entirety.

The closing essay is a good read too, written by Steven Johnson, author of The Ghost Map. Titled Snacklash, it presents various examples of the counter-trend to all this snackable content while proposing that because of the constant expansion of media length, we see more and more small pieces coming forward.

[images via Wired.com as featured in the story]

Comments

[Manish]

hi paul...just discovered that you have linked my blog to yours....thanks! lemme know how you like my blog? it's a lot india focussed though:-)

Your blog is very nice...read 2 posts and plan to be a regular visitor:-)...havent read yet this snackable media in Wired...

am sure will have some points to discuss with you soon!