{"id":2719,"date":"2012-03-05T08:01:45","date_gmt":"2012-03-05T13:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/?p=2719"},"modified":"2017-04-20T00:14:29","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T04:14:29","slug":"planning-for-time-shifted-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/blog\/planning-for-time-shifted-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning for Time-Shifted Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dangling
Time is shifting. We need to keep up.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about how longform content<\/a> is a growing trend that merits consideration in higher ed. A topic often discussed in tandem with longform content is time-shifted reading. Sometimes called \u201cDVR for words,\u201d time-shifted reading is an increasingly popular option for content consumption. <\/p>\n

Before diving into this post, you really need to read (or re-read) Rick\u2019s excellent overview of how we as publishers must plan for content delivery, consumption and context<\/a>. Sorry, but this is one piece of content you can\u2019t time-shift. So, go ahead. I\u2019ll wait.<\/p>\n

\u2026All set? Okay, let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Shift It\u2014Shift It Good<\/h2>\n

Content discovery can take place at any time\u2014at work, on the bus, in the morning while drinking coffee. It can be proactive (we search for coverage of a given topic), passive (we happen to find an interesting link on Twitter) or reactive (someone forwards you the Meet Content newsletter<\/a>\u2014see what I did there?). But content consumption does not necessarily occur at that same point or same moment. It may even happen offline (hello, cross-country flight).<\/p>\n

As Cameron Koczon explained in his important A List Apart article \u201cOrbital Content<\/a>\u201d in April 2011, our relationship with content is changing as it sheds its constraints. No longer fixed in place, online content is both more powerful and more challenging to wrangle. As Koczon puts it, time-shifting services are \u201ctransferring the responsibility of making content flexible from the publisher to the user.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
No longer fixed in place, online content is both more powerful and more challenging to wrangle.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t really want to have to be confined to a specific place, time, site or device to read content,\u201d Read it Later founder Nate Weiner told The New York Times<\/a> last February. This is the core principle behind the emergence of time-shifted reading apps and platforms. They all work more or less the same\u2014through an app or a bookmarklet, you can save content to a queue for reading at a time of your choosing.<\/p>\n

The two key players are Read it Later, with more than 4 million users<\/a>, and Instapaper, with approximately 2 million. Readability<\/a>, while not exclusively a tool for time-shifted reading, is also a popular option for time-shifted reading. <\/p>\n

The creators of these resources and tools use the distracting contexts of the web, social media and mobile to drive content toward more focused spaces. As Instapaper creator Marco Arment told Poynter<\/a>, \u201cThe best thing authors and publishers can do is give the world great content to read. Without that, all of this technology is pointless.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Need for Time-Shifted Reading<\/h2>\n

In a real-time world, Louis Gray contends<\/a>, there is room (even a need) for time-shifted content consumption. The amount of content that actually demands real-time consumption is not as much as you might think, despite many people poo-pooing RSS readers (\u201cTwitter is my Google Reader,\u201d I\u2019ve heard more than once. Harumph.)<\/p>\n

\u201cFor most buckets of content, be they text, audio or video, the drive to be first and in the mix of the story as it is interpreted and curated, is not essential,\u201d says Gray. He adds:<\/p>\n

\n

Advents in information and content sharing over the last few years have instead made \u201con demand\u201d a reality, getting me what I want when I want it, not when someone else decides for me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

This is a commonly embraced concept when it comes to television. But television is different\u2014it\u2019s scheduled and predictable, for the most part. We typically don\u2019t know what news or blog posts are going to pop up tomorrow, or even an hour from now\u2014especially from sources we don\u2019t habitually read. <\/p>\n

We\u2019re a little bit behind on this concept when it comes to web content, but we\u2019re rapidly catching up. It\u2019s a matter of survival, at this point\u2014at risk of information saturation, we need ways to manage the flow. <\/p>\n

The Shifting Sands of Publishing<\/h2>\n

Mobile, as usual, is changing everything. A few years ago, web reading happened at the desktop. But much like social media took a measure of control out of the marketing equation, mobile took a measure of control out of the publishing equation.<\/p>\n

According to data gleaned from 100 million articles saved via Read it Later<\/a>, \u201cas devices become more mobile, it\u2019s not only changing where we read, but when.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
Much like social media took a measure of control out of the marketing equation, mobile took a measure of control out of the publishing equation.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

We are constantly discovering content throughout the day, but we are saving it to read in comfort during our free time, typically in the evening. The iPad is \u201cleading the jailbreak from consuming content in our desk chairs,\u201d according to Read it Later, with iPhones providing people an opportunity to fill the gaps in their day with content. This lines up with research that suggests posting content via social media in the evening<\/a>. <\/p>\n

As I said earlier, time-shifted reading and longform content are often coupled together like peas in a publishing pod. And to be sure, much longform content discovered at work or on the bus may be shifted for later reading. However, the two need not always go hand in hand, the Nieman Lab reported in December<\/a>: <\/p>\n

The evidence seems to be that people find time-shifting useful regardless of length, and that using these tools for really long work is more of an edge case than common usage. It appears the user\u2019s thought process is closer to \u201cLet me read this later\u201d than \u201cLet me read this later because it\u2019s really long and worthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Does This Mean For Higher Ed?<\/h2>\n

We may have a range of audiences we are trying to reach (prospective students, parents, alumni) with a variety of content types (video, longform news articles<\/a>, webpage content). Different users have different habits around content consumption. Thus, the more that we equip that content to be readable in a variety of unpredictable contexts, the stronger the chance it will succeed.<\/p>\n

For example, a parent may sign up for our e-newsletter, which we send at 8 a.m. She may receive it while buzzing through email in line at Starbucks and see an article about the major her son is considering. She is not likely to read that article at that moment (they\u2019re going to call her venti nonfat vanilla latte any minute), but she can save it to read later, perhaps that evening at home. <\/p>\n

Here are some ways we can plan for time-shifted reading:<\/p>\n

Enable Content Shifting<\/h3>\n

Your news articles may feature what is commonly known as the tool box: email, print, tweet this, post to Facebook. But these are no longer sufficient. Those actions are mostly focused on sharing with others\u2014what about sharing with ourselves? We need to add options for time-shifting, maybe even for downloading as PDF or .epub. Read it Later<\/a>, Instapaper<\/a> and Readability all have options for this.<\/p>\n

Plan for After You Hit \u2018Publish\u2019 <\/h3>\n

The more we prepare for content discovery and consumption \u2014 rather than just the moment of publication \u2014 the more effective our content will be over time. We\u2019re competing for screen time with everybody else out there, and the more options we provide for allowing our audience to experience our content on their terms, the more of an edge we will have in communicating our messages and ultimately driving actions. Longform or otherwise, our readers should be able to decide when and where they want to read our content. <\/p>\n

Structure Your Content<\/h3>\n

At the 2011 Mobilism conference, Bryan Rieger of Yiibu gave a talk entitled \u201cMuddling Through the Mobile Web<\/a>,\u201d where he talked about creating experiences for shifting contexts. He mentioned how services like Instapaper are using code and markup to structure content to be adaptive across contexts, while retaining meaning and design. Thinking about content like an application, Rieger says, can help us make it more useful. Structuring content will help us adopt new delivery channels and contexts more easily down the road, without forcing us to reinvent the wheel\u2014which takes time and resources we may not have.<\/p>\n

Keep Your Users Top of Mind <\/h3>\n

When we publish content, we do not deserve attention or traffic; we have to earn it by being useful, relevant and findable. Like Rick said in his post last April, understanding our users and how they consume content is critical<\/a>. What types of content do faculty and staff want during the day at their desks versus weekends or evenings? When are prospective students engaging with us on Twitter, and when are they reading content on the admissions website? This will inform how we consider time-shifted content when planning content delivery. <\/p>\n

Do you see practical applications for time-shifted content in higher ed? Where would you start? Or, have you started?<\/p>\n

Photo by frield \/ Flickr Creative Commons<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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