LESSON 7

lean back and lean forward

Introduction

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How is the way we use information changing dueto new devices such as tablets and smartphones?

How should the content be designed considering new media and ways to read information?

In this lesson we look at these changes and the impact they have on how to produce content today.

the difference between lean back and lean forward

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When people started using the iPad, it was speculated that the iPad seemed to be a ‘lean back’ medium, like print, as opposed to the

‘lean forward’ medium of the web on a personal computer.

The idea behind lean-forward media is that people are engaged when they use the Web.

They are in scanning mode, actively looking for content – and their attention span is much shorter. People use the Internet with purpose. Articles should be shorter and quick to the point, videos should be snippets or separated into clips of only a few minutes long.

Lean-back media on the other hand are used when we sit down and veg out watching TV, reading a book or flipping through a magazine.

Our attention span is much longer because these types of media are passive and we are in consumption mode,hence why most long-form doesn’t function on the Web.

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the difference between lean back and lean forward

eye activity on a website and its corresponding app

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Jakob Nielsen, in studies of reading via print versus the web, found major differences between the two. To the question of “How readers read on the web,” Nielsen answers: “They don’t.”

According to Nielsen, “People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. In research on how people read websites we found that 79 percent of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word.”

READING ON THE WEB

READING ON A TABLET

In recent years we are witnessing a return to the "Lean back" mode thanks to the great diffusion of the tablet.

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LEAN BACK 2.0

THE FIRST AGE:LEAN-BACK PRINT

THE SECOND AGE:LEAN-FORWARD WEB

THE THIRD AGE:LEAN-BACK DIGITAL} } }

RITUAL PLEASUREOF READING

SNACKING AND RESEARCH,COMMUNITY, SHARING

LEAN-BACK,ONLY BETTER

the engagement style

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When we use the terms ‘lean forward’ and ‘lean back’ we are referring to the ‘engagement style.’ Readers that are actually reading a story have a different engagement style than readers that are browsing the Web.

A user browsing the Web on a PC is regarded as having a high activity engagement style. A high activity style is one of switching tasks frequently. This style is associated with relatively low sustained attention span.

A user reading a print newspaper, in contrast, is regarded as having a high absorption engagement style, one of a concentrated and long-term sustained attention span.

READING A PRINTEDNEWSPAPER

READING AN E-BOOKWITHOUT INTERNET

READING AN E-BOOK WITH INTERNET.

BROWSING THE INTERNET

An example of the balance between activity and absorption

0% 100%

absorption

activity

absorption

activity

absorption

activity

absorption

activity

The new trend is a greater consumption of books, articles and content in general, thanks to the ease of access offered by the new devices.

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LEAN BACK 2.0

LEAN BACK 2.0IS DIFFERENT AGAIN:}

“ PRINT READERS SPEND ABOUT 45 MINUTES WITH AN ISSUE EACH MONTH. READERS

USING THEIR iPHONE AND iPAD SPEND AN AVERAGE ON 160 MINUTES.

( Go, Vanity Fair, Wired and Glamour app reader survey, Conde Nast 2010 )

65% OF PEOPLE HAVE INCREASED THE AMOUNT THEY READ DUE TO E-BOOKS, WITH 80%

ATTRIBUTING THIS TO THE “CONVENIENCE FACTOR” OF READING A BOOK DIGITALLY.

READING DURING “DEAD” TIME WAS A KEY TREND WITH TRAVELLING (72%) AND WAITING FOR AN

APPOINTEMENT (72%) PROVING MOST POPULAR.( iModerate research technologies, digital world book conference 2011 )

“

“

“

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LEAN BACK 2.0

http://goo.gl/eTAow

See this infographic in full here:

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LEAN BACK 2.0

Where do you use your tablet?

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LEAN BACK 2.0:}

% OF RESPONDENTS USING TABLETS WHILE...

0%

absorption

20% 40% 60% 80%

WATCHING TV

LYING IN BED

WITH FRIENDS/FAMILY

WAITING FOR SOMEONE

OTHER

IN THE BATHROOM

IN A MEETING/CLASS

RUNNING ERRANDS

COMMUTING

In depth readers

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42% of tablet news readers regularly read in-depth news articles. another

40% sometimes do this.

They are three times as likely to regularly read in-depth articles

as to watch news videos.

( Pew research (US) in association with the economist group, octobetr 2011 )

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Tablet news users read in-depth articles but share news less. Participatory news is a part of the mix but even among the

young (19-25) less than 1 in 5 share news on the tablet regularly.

IMMERSED BUT SOLIDARY

( Pew research (US) in association with the economist group, october 2011.Tablet news users are defined here as those who consume news on their tablets at least weekly )

42%16%

OF TABLET NEWS USERS READ

IN-DEPTH ARTCILES

OF TABLET NEWS USERS SHARE NEWS ON

SOCIAL NETWORKS

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SALES OF TABLETS, SMARTPHONES AND E-READERS ARE SET TO GROW FAST:

TABLET SALES FORECAST, 2010-2015

tablet sales forecast

18m 64m

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

104m178m

252m 326m

By 2015, the smartphone market will have grown from around 450m devices today to 1.1bn (android, windows, ios, rim).

By next year, 12% of us adults (28.9m people) will own an e-reader.

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THE TABLET EFFECT: on paper

“ BECAUSE OF THE GROWTH [of tablets and e-readers], paper use for print media

including magazines, newspaper, and books will have declined by as much as 21%,

compared to their 2010 production rates.

additionally, over the next 15 years, production could fall by 40-50%

“

( Risi Global Study [2011] )

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The boom of the tablet and smartphone have triggered a second important trend:

now people do not just watch TV, but they are increasingly using another device, called

"second screen", to interact with their friends, share, and deepen content.

second screen

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Several studies show a clear tendency of the user to use a device while watching television. They also show a greater frequency of use of a tablet or a smartphone while watching television, and other studies distinguish a higher percentage of comments or posts on social networks, about the content that's being watched.

Co-viewing. Back channeling. Checking in. Double- or triple-screening. Layered content. The increasing symbiosis between good old traditional TV and the social world will be one of the most interesting media trends to watch this year.

second screen

second screen - example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09KDK3t9c38

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Second Screen - Super Bowl

This year’s Super Bowl didn’t break any viewer records but they came in close with an audience of 108.4 million people. (Last year’s game broke the record with 111.3 million)

This year’s game did break social media records as fans posted more than 47.7 million updates to Twitter, Facebook and other social networks. According to Trendrr, this is three times what we saw during last year’s Super Bowl.

Download the infographic in full here:

second screen - example

http://goo.gl/9gaMh

Thank you!

Hot topic in our next lesson:

how is the digital revolution

changing consumer behaviour?

Stay tuned!

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