Online Readers have a greater attention span

I mentioned yesterday about the current online project at college and I note that the Poynter Institute have published Eyetrack 2007.

The report seems to suggest that contrary to popular belief,attention spans and information grab are higher for online than print.

The report summarises as follows:

1. A much higher proportion of storyline is read online than in print and two thirds of online readers will read the complete article.
2. Online readers tend to be less methodical and more scanning but they still take in the same volume of story text.
3. Both i print and online differing tools of presentation help eg story lines,sidebars,lists,Q&A's
4. Whereas print readers are attracted by headlines and photos,it is navigation tools that attract online readers.
5. Photos attract print readers attention but more so if they are of real people than stage managed events