Quick Read / Deep Read

[ergophobe]

Christian Science Monitor has a really neat feature on at least some articles. At the top there is a toggle that says

[Quick Read] [Deep Read (4 mins)]

On quick read, you just get just a few sentences that give you the gist of the article.

https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2021/0511/US-debates-child-credit-payments.-Germany-loves-them

Interesting feature for some content sites. If your model is not dependent on ads, it seems like a good tool. It has to destroy ad clicks though.

[rcjordan]

The opposite of engagement.  Scriptsafe nuked it, though.

[ergophobe]

That's what I think is so interesting. It really only makes sense if you have a subscriber model and your goal is to provide utility, not gamify engagement for the purpose of getting ad clicks.

I turned off all my ad blockers and there are three clearly banner ads on that page and they have wider margins than the article so they are impossible to mistake for content. It's like going back to the 1990s except with good typography.

[buckworks]

>> has to destroy ad clicks though.

Would people who use quick read be likely to visit more pages? If yes, that might make up for some of the "click deficit".

[ergophobe]

Perhaps, but will they visit more pages on *that* site? I don't know.

CSM only gives you three free reads per month, so they seem to be very focused on subscriber revenue.

[rcjordan]

>will they visit more pages on *that* site

I cannot imagine going to a specific zine as a news source.

[ergophobe]

>>specific zine

I have a friend who reads the NYT every day by going to the home page. It feels like this weird habit out of the twentieth century, but adapted to new media.

[rcjordan]

Louise subscribes to the NYT, and I'll admit that she is kept up-to-speed by its morning update.  ...In a leftish sort of way., hhh.

[ergophobe]

I get the NYT morning update (and The Economist for balance), but that is way different from getting the e-version of the paper and reading it page by page on your tablet which is what he does