Phew! Pew Says We Can Still Read, Even Long Stuff, Even on a Short Screen

Got two minutes? Long-form journalism is calling.

Literally (sort of). 

Pew Research Center published an interesting analysis of reader behavior last month. It was concerned exclusively with how we read on our cell phones, and while two minutes may not sound like an encouraging number, it really is. 

Beach reading, 2016?

Pew notes: 
"...despite the small screen space and multitasking often associated with cellphones, consumers do spend more time on average with long-form news articles than with short-form. Indeed, the total engaged time with articles 1,000 words or longer averages about twice that of the engaged time with short-form stories: 123 seconds compared with 57."

and 
"Return visitors to long-form articles spent 277 seconds with the article compared with 123 seconds for users overall."

Social Media Readers Under the Microscope

The analysis also covered where those longer pieces capture readers - not surprisingly, many come from Twitter and Facebook. Also not surprising: those coming from each social media networks behave a little differently. 

"While Facebook drives more traffic, Twitter tends to bring in people who spend more time with content."

So, I guess I will share this on Twitter. 

If you're a reader and appreciate geeky insights about reading like this, you'll love Pew's article. Read it...on whatever device you want. If you try to make sense of online readers' behavior because you are charged with content marketing duties, you might want to visit my blog on copywriting and related conundrums. 
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Update 7/8/16 -- You might like this: new research from Carnegie Mellon on how our brains handle words and reading.