Writing for Online 2014

ONLINE WRITING
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JOUR 5153: REPORTING, WRITING & EDITING THE NEWS
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Writing
for Online
Tim Currie
tim.currie@ukings.ca
@tscurrie
September 17, 2014

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Online Writing
1. Story text
2. Links
3. Headlines
4. Social Media

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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

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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

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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

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People don’t want to read a lot online. Why?
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1. Body position
2. Eyestrain
3. Many web pages are authored for print
4. It’s difficult to judge the end of the story
5. The web is action-driven. People love to
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click

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Nielsen’s Recommendations
for Web Pages
Text should be scannable:
1) Highlighted keywords

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• Quartz:
How free KFC wifi and the World
Cup helped Yum Brands recover in
China
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for Web Pages
2) At least two levels of headlines

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• Toronto Star:
U.S. Steel Canada filing for creditor
protection

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for Web Pages
3) Bulleted lists

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• Quartz: The NYT Book Review is adding
new categories of Best Seller lists
• Toronto Star: 10 fees you should avoid
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• Vox:
3 numbers that explain why ISIS will be
so hard to destroy
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• Globe and Mail:
Six things to know about Ontario's new
government
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ONLINE WRITING
• Buzzfeed:
16 Reasons One Hedge Fund Thinks
Olive Garden Is Kind Of A Total Disaster
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• Buzzfeed: Buzzfeed News

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for Web Pages
4) One idea per paragraph; no more than
three sentences in each
5) Inverted pyramid style
6)Write 50% less than you would in print
on each page

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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.

ONLINE WRITING
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,
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sound.

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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.
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Style Guide:
It's tempting to start a longer piece with some
scene-setting and a few rhetorical flourishes.
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ONLINE WRITING
QUARTZ
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"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

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for Web Pages
6) Graphical elements — tables, charts,
photos, maps — help explain the story
7) OK: Casual lang., sentence fragments
8) Hypertext links aid credibility

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A Newspaper Story

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An Online Story

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Exercise:
Make it Web Friendly
goo.gl/o5noit

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(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."

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(Mobile Phones, 2009)
Poor experience because of:
1. Small screens
2. Awkward input
3. Slow download
4. Sites not designed for
mobile
APPLE

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Mobile Content

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Mobile Content

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Mobile Content

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Mobile Content

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Mobile Content
• Vox cards:
Eyewitnesses agree Michael Brown
was shot with his hands up

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Mobile Content

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Nielsen: Summary
• Mathew Ingram: Why the rise of
sites devoted to explanatory
journalism is a trend worth
celebrating

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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 further
exploration

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• Chronicle Herald:
Nova Scotia finance minister warns of
'serious cuts'

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• Three to five words
Link to:
• Official websites:
products or organizations
• Announcements
(news release or report)
• Related stories
• Facts: statistics or
comments

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

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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.

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Exercise:
What’s the Link?
goo.gl/sQSyTH

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for Headlines
• The Issue: They are often displayed on
their own, out of context

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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.

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for Headlines (& Subheads)
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1. Make it short & clear
2. No teasers
3. Write in plain
language: no puns,
no cute or clever text

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Headlines: Writing For SEO
Military coffee supplier to take on Starbucks

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In headlines or meta descriptions:
• Must contain searchable keywords
• Plain, common words

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Writing for Social Media
1. Keep it short

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2. Leverage
emotion

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Berger & Milkman (2009):
• Positive content is more viral than negative
• Content that evokes high-arousal emotions is more
viral. Positive (eg awe) or negative (anger/anxiety)
• Content that evokes low-arousal or deactivating
emotions (sadness/disappointment) is less viral

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3. Find the
Nugget
of Social

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In a news story, the Nugget of Social is the
“wow”:
• A surprising fact
• A lively quote
• A pop-culture touchstone
• A matter of social justice

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Exercise:
What’s the Nugget of Social?
goo.gl/zZIWGT

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4. Find
the
Curiosity
Gap

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5. Include
images

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6. Keep it casual (where appropriate)

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84 / Exercise:
What’s the Tweet?
goo.gl/QqpWpC

Writing for Online 2014

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Writing for Online 2014