When I consume information on the web, I forage for the most important content. I scan headlines, I look for bolded words, hyperlinks and I read the synopsis and conclusions of articles. I get restless if I cannot find what I am looking for, quickly. If I am not intrigued or entertained, I move on. In User Experience research, we see this type of behavior as being very common. In Jakob Nielsen’s famous study from 1997 on how people read websites 79% of users scanned a page, while only 16% read the page word for word. Right now, I am certain that the percentage is larger. We are turning into what Nicolas Carr coined as a “short-attention-span culture”. In the back of our minds, we always know that other content will always be only one click or one tap away.

A couple of weekends ago, I started to think about the way I personally consume information and what I actually remember from reading digital content. I discovered that I have a fairly shallow recollection. I know the buzzwords, the statistics and other important sound bytes, but I have a tough time verbalizing more than that. Is this ultimately because of the way I consume information?

David Brooks illustrates this problem in his New York Times Op-Ed piece “The Medium is The Medium”, contrary to Marshall McLuhan’s theory of “The Medium Is The Message”

The great essayist Joseph Epstein once distinguished between being well informed, being hip and being cultivated. The Internet helps you become well informed — knowledgeable about current events, the latest controversies and important trends. The Internet also helps you become hip — to learn about what’s going on, as Epstein writes, “in those lively waters outside the boring mainstream.”
But the literary world is still better at helping you become cultivated, mastering significant things of lasting import. To learn these sorts of things, you have to defer to greater minds than your own. You have to take the time to immerse yourself in a great writer’s world.

The focused reading of a book, “cultivates” the mind. If you read a book, your information consumption behavior is very focused. You consume, not only the most important information, but also the information in between.

This gives creators of digital content a conundrum. How can we make the consumption of digital content more focused? E-readers like the Kindle and the iPad is moving in this direction, but they also contain other distractions, which can steer one away. Online, a great example of an application that can make you have a more focused way of reading is “Readability”.

This plug-in removes extraneous objects when reading an article by the click of a button. Another example of a great online reading experience is Grain and Gram, “The New Gentlemen’s Journal”, which has a minimalist magazine-like layout that invites the user to dive deeper into a topic, without being bombarded with other messages.

These examples show that creating an online information experience can be inviting and allow for in-depth reading, by removing extraneous objects and noise. Having the mindset of removing, rather than adding, will make you successful in creating your next digital content experience.

1. New multi-touch gestures
What’s interesting here is that these gestures distinguishes between neutral and spread-hand performances.

“With these neutral and spread distinctions, a two-handed gesture set can be packed into a one-handed touch surface, or for two-handed touch surfaces, twice as many intuitively customizable gesture command sets can be accommodated.”

2. Adjust tempo with Nike+
As a runner, this is functionality I can appreciate. This new Apple patent enables joggers to adjust playlists per tempo. So if you want an intense work out, you can easily use the toggle to set a higher tempo.

Lovely multi-touch doodling application by Bryan Roman.

From the people I know in the financial industry, the Bloomberg terminal is a big deal. Getting your own terminal earns you bragging rights. However, the system is expensive (around $1,500/month) and the user interface is seen to be overwhelming and tough to master. According to UX Magazine, what’s really interesting from a user experience perspective, is that Bloomberg is not looking to evolve the interface much, because the mastering of the interface is seen as a status symbol.

“Bloomberg isn’t looking to do a major overhaul of its terminals’ graphic design anytime soon. In fact, company executives see the Bloomberg terminal’s unique presentation as a status symbol and a selling point. ‘We have to be religiously consistent’ to satisfy users who become attached to terminal’s look and feel, says Bloomberg chief executive Lex Fenwick. ‘You can see a Bloomberg from a mile away.’”

Quote from Portfolio.com

This iPad application produced for Dutch car magazine Autoweek shows the mindboggling potential of iPad applications for magazines. The traditional banner advertisement has got some serious competition.

Developed by Sensory Minds, this is the world’s biggest multi-touch wall situated at Nürburgring, one of Germany’s most known race tracks.

More than 80 users can simultaneously interact with the 425 square meter (4,574 square feet) total surface.

This week, Apple launched their App store inside Facebook. It’s a nifty little system enabling Facebook users to see top apps and to search the vast app database.

But does this really provide utility for consumers? Would you prefer to search for apps within Facebook, rather than on apple.com or directly via iTunes? Personally, I would use iTunes, but is this indicative of a larger movement? Is Apple spearheading a new paradigm for commerce? Will more brands adopt Facebook as a channel to drive sales?

Below are two other examples of brands that have dabbled with Facebook as an e-commerce platform.

1-800-Flowers

Their novel Flash based system is basically a condensed version of their own website. I haven’t gone through purchasing a product, but giving it a cursory run-through, it’s pretty straightforward, although the Flash interface can be rather clunky at times. A frustrating aspect, however, is that you have to be a “fan” to be able to use the system. Why add that as a hurdle?

Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut has an ordering application, which lets you place a pizza order within Facebook. Though, before you can actually order, you first have to install the Facebook application and also create an account. That said, I think this could be the perfect application for those Facebook users who habitually get lost in time browsing friends’ profiles and wind up craving a late night pizza.

I admire these examples. These brands are testing the waters. However, if I was a brand manager, I would be cautious before jumping on the good old bandwagon. There are a few problem areas with Facebook as a sales platform, namely:

It’s limited
One is inherently confined within the Facebook framework, which limits screen real estate, design and technology.

It’s a third party
If Facebook changes their code base, some of your functionality might go down.

There is a potential trust issue
Do users really trust completing a transaction within Facebook? With identity and credit card theft at epidemic levels, will they trust Facebook security?

This month Facebook topped Google as the #1 trafficked site in the US. In other words, it is beyond question that Facebook is a great platform for brands, but is it the perfect place to drive sales? Not at this point. Facebook is not currently set up to be an e-commerce platform. If Facebook starts tailoring their framework more for commerce, and if consumers start trusting Facebook as a reliable and user-friendly platform, there will be a seismic channel shift, but now, it’s too early to tell.

“I define simplicity as the means to achieving clarity, transparency, and empathy. Building humanity into communications.”

That quote is by Alan Siegel from a Ted presentation where he tackles the design of legal documents.

We all know how much frustration credit card statements, tax documents and contracts cause, and Alan shows how it is possible to make these documents easy to understand, by just focusing on simplicity.

[via PSFK]

This demonstration was done by Penguin’s CEO John Makinson showing the endless possibilities publishers are given with the iPad framework. It’s just jaw-dropping to see how Apple, yet again, can transform media consumption.