Writing for Online 2013

ONLINE WRITING

JOUR 5153: REPORTING, WRITING & EDITING THE NEWS

Writingfor Online

Tim Currie

tim.currie@ukings.ca@tscurrie

ONLINE WRITING

Online Writing

1. Structure

2. Links

3. Headlines & SEO

4. Social Media

ONLINE WRITING

Jakob Nielsen:

• He researches usability: how

people consume content online

• At Sun Microsystems he

investigated how people

interacted with their computers

• He authored a 1997 landmark

study on Web usability NIELSEN NORMAN GROUP

ONLINE WRITING

Nielsen’s Research

Reading online is different from reading on paper (1997):

• Most people don’t read online — they scan– Only 16% read a page word for word– 79% of readers scan a page first

• Reading online is 25% slower than reading on paper

ONLINE WRITING

Research By Nielsen’s Peers

Stanford University/Poynter Institute EyeTracker studies(2000 & 2004):

– Eyes go to text first

– Briefs/teasers are popular

– A headline has less than 1 sec. of a site visitor's attention

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

ONLINE WRITING

Nielsen’s Research

• People don’t want to read a lot online.

• Body position• Eyestrain• Many web pages are authored for print• It’s difficult to judge the end of the story• The web is action-driven. People love to

ONLINE WRITING

Nielsen’s Recommendations for Web Pages

Text should be scannable:

1) Highlighted keywords

ONLINE WRITING

• Quartz:

Everything that led to Colorado’s record-breaking flood, and why it will only get worse

ONLINE WRITING

2) At least two levels of headlines

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• Toronto Star:

Costa Concordia: Italian agency gives final OK to right cruise ship after checking weather conditions

ONLINE WRITING

3) Bulleted lists

ONLINE WRITING

• Globe and Mail:

Unemployment, grim public housing fueling riots in

Stockholm

ONLINE WRITING

• Toronto Star:

10 fees you should avoid

ONLINE WRITING

• Buzzfeed:

20 Uniquely Brilliant Business Cards

• Buzzfeed:

The Day Lehman Died

ONLINE WRITING

4) One idea per paragraph; no more than three sentences in each

5) Inverted pyramid style

6) Write 50% less than you would in printon each page

ONLINE WRITING

Clang! Creak! Tink, tink, tink tink. TING!In days past the sounds of a blacksmith’s shop were among the

most distinctive noises found in towns and villages across North America. The sounds of village smithy pounding, bending and twisting metal were commonplace in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Today, however, with commercial hardware stores in many malls, the sounds of an operating blacksmith’s shop are pretty much relegated to the past.Or, maybe not, thanks to a new course offered at the Nova Scotia Community College.

Most Nova Scotians under 60 have never heard the “clang!

tink, tink, tink!” of a blacksmith at work. But a new course

offered at the Nova Scotia Community College promises to

introduce a new generation to the piercing, but once-familiar,

sound.

ONLINE WRITING

News Style Guide:

It's tempting to start a longer piece with some

scene-setting and a few rhetorical flourishes.

This is called "throat clearing" and is the product

of an age when a newspaper article was

something to be settled into gently, like favorite

armchair.

ONLINE WRITING

"The place between 500 and

800 words is the place you don't

want to be.

It's not short and fast and

focused and shareable, [and] it's

not long enough to be a real

payoff for readers."Kevin Delaney, president

& editor-in-chief

ONLINE WRITING

6) Graphical elements — tables, charts, photos, maps — help people absorb information

7) Casual language, sentence fragments work fine

8) Hypertext links aid credibility

ONLINE WRITING

A Newspaper Story

ONLINE WRITING

An Online Story

ONLINE WRITING

Nielsen’s Research(Mobile Devices, 2009)

“Observing user suffering during our

sessions reminded us of the very first

usability studies we did with traditional

websites in 1994.

It was that bad."

ONLINE WRITING

Nielsen’s Research(Mobile Phones, 2009)

Poor experience because:

• Small screens

• Awkward input

• Slow download

• Sites not designed for

mobile

ONLINE WRITING

Nielsen’s Research(Tablets, 2011)

1. Read–tap asymmetry for websites

2. Touchable areas were too small in many apps

3. Accidental activation a big problem

4. Low discoverability5. Users disliked typing

ONLINE WRITING

Nielsen’s Recommendations for Headlines

• The Issue: They are often displayed on

their own, out of context

ONLINE WRITING

Nielsen’s Recommendations for Headlines

On the eve of a new show at the Museum of Modern Art that

celebrates his seminal works, legendary multimedia artist

Michael Snow talks to Sarah Milroy about his heady,

experimental days in New York.

ONLINE WRITING

Nielsen’s Recommendations for Headlines (& Subheads)

1. Make it short & clear

2. No teasers

3. Write in plain

language: no puns,

no "cute" or "clever"

headlines.

ONLINE WRITING

Exercise

http://goo.gl/75XKI0

ONLINE WRITING

Headlines: Writing For SEO

ONLINE WRITING

Military coffee supplier to take on Starbucks

ONLINE WRITING

In headlines or meta descriptions:

• Must contain searchable keywords

• Plain, common words

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Writing Hypertext Links

1. They are recommendations

2. By nature they signify importance

3. They build trust with readers by making the reporting transparent

4. They allow readers to further their own interest

ONLINE WRITING

• Chronicle Herald:

Liberals

vow to cut wait times, add family

doctors

ONLINE WRITING

• Three to five words

Link to:• Official websites:

products or organizations• Announcements

(news release or report)• Related stories• Facts: statistics or

comments

ONLINE WRITING

• Indicate if content is other than a web page (Eg. PDF, video)

ONLINE WRITING

Click here to read the advisory group’s report.

Better:

The advisory group released its Recommendations for Waterfront Renewal (PDF) Tuesday.

Check out this site for more information.

The Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia has a list of properties it considers threatened by development.

ONLINE WRITING

Writing for Social Media

1. Keep it short

ONLINE WRITING

2. Include links

ONLINE WRITING

3. Make language casual

ONLINE WRITING

4. Focus on action:

• “Watch the video clip”• “Follow it live”• “Read the full story”• “View the picture gallery”

ONLINE WRITING

4. Find the

Nugget

of Social

ONLINE WRITING

In a news story, what is the Nugget of Social?

1. A surprising fact

2. A vivid quote that humanizes the story

3. An issue or challenge that resonates

ONLINE WRITING

Exercise: What’s the Nugget of Social?

http://goo.gl/zZIWGT

ONLINE WRITING

Exercise: What’s the Tweet?

http://goo.gl/QqpWpC

Writing for Online 2013

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