How do you get your content?

I would definitely say that I am also a "skimmer" 

When I read a blog post, I look for bold words, subheads, underlined words, italicized works, images etc. If it is something that particularly draws my attention and is something that I am really interested in, I will read the entire post. If it is something that is big in the news and I am trying to draw some kind of understanding from it, I'll just skim. I'm not really into reading entire blog posts, unless it was something that was suggested by a family member, a friend etc. I like to look for the "bulk" of the story (most important parts), rather than reading the entire thing. 

I guess I can learn from my own reading habits to help improve my blog, though. If there are a lot of people out there like me (which I'm assuming there are), then I should look to make my blog posts short and sweet. That way people won't be bored reading through it and can get the information that they're looking for.

I like to do my content the same way I like my milk: skim. 

Sorry for that. Seriously though, I don't have the patience to read everything. And frankly- I usually don't care. I don't spend a lot of time on the internet reading random articles, but when I do, I know exactly what I'm looking for and usually I know if the site I'm reading from is legit or not. The things I read are news articles or press releases about my interests. I don't usually have to skim through those because the information is so obvious and up front. 

However, if I was a skimmer I'm sure having those headers would make it a lot more simple. 

I’m definitely a “skimmer.”

When reading blogs, I first review headlines, subheads, bolded words, and look at images. I admit that I need to be persuaded to devote the time and effort to the entire piece. So, I try to keep the reader (me) in mind when writing my posts. I come up with an interesting title and break up the post into several paragraphs. In addition, I incorporate at least two pieces of art.

Skimming, for me, is not only limited to online content. When I receive a new magazine in the mail, I’ll quickly flip through it and note interesting articles. Then, when I have more time, the stories that initially captured my attention are usually the ones I’ll read first. The same is true with books – I’ll look through a novel or non-fiction work, noting the number of pages, chapter titles, photos, etc.

Skimming is a necessity in this “information age.” Every day, we’re inundated with countless pieces of information – online, print, TV, radio, signage, advertisements, commercials, etc. Skimming allows us to wade through the noise and clutter in order to figure out our needs at a particular moment.

It's a survival mechanism, really. 

I think that it depends on the context. When I'm in a rush I like to skim, or if it consists mainly of pictures then the captions are usually the only part I read. However, when I'm leisurely reading, if someone's blog is interesting enough I will read the whole post and many of them. I've noticed some people are not into reading people's personal blogs about their life, but I think some of those are the best. I once read a blog about a mother of 3 whose husband had committed suicide so she blogged about her daily life, it was very personal and hooked me like a book. I think it all depends on the context to decide what kind of content is best.

I am certainly a skimmer. I believe any content online should be short, simple, and to the point, because reading from a computer is just not very efficient for most people. It gets annoying staring at a screen for too long, especially reading information that you're not interested in. I completely agree that people today don't have enough time to sit and read post. A lot of people today are in school, have families to take care of and either searching for employment or working 8-12 hour days on top of other daily activities to tend to after/outside of work. The main purpose of content is to share information and/or ideas and if the content is executed correctly that should be able to happen through a quick skim. 

I skim from time to time, but I feel that I only do so once I lose interest. If you have exciting, eye catching content in the first paragraph and the rest of the subheads look interesting enough, I'm going to keep reading and pay full attention. If the subheads are more interesting than the actual content, however, chances are I will skim or just stop reading. Spreading interesting content throughout the post is key.

I totally agree! Its funny that people agree that skimming is the way to go becuase typically when im reading posts or blog or anything I tend to skim through instead of reading every single thing the post is actually talking about. Pictures and videos make posts more interesting to me becuase if I see a picture or video and it has like a caption or a few sentences next to it I will typically read that over reading the entire post. I also agree that having sub headers is a easy way to help people navigate through a reading so they can get stright to what their looking for or what might interest them just off the title of the sub header. I dont want to read long boring blog posts that just keeps discussing boring content. When im reading I want to see pictures and I want the post to be interesting. Even with skimming I expect to find something interesting that'll grab my attention!

I agree with many of my classmates in that it depends on the topic of the blog. If the blog is related to photographs or visuals, I'm not expecting to read long, dense paragraphs and most likely won't. If the content requires text and perhaps an in-depth discussion, I will read it all if it is something I really care about or am required to read. When I am reading for fun, if I read the first few sentences and they are too complex, come off as arrogant or "all about me", or are just boring, I will move on. If the topic and the content don't match in terms of what I am expecting, if the text is boring, I will skim or move on.

I enjoy subheads and quick paragraphs if I am reading for information. If I am reading for pleasure, I am ok with reading more as long as there seems to be a flow to the writing and a path (AKA I have an idea of the point of the writing or where it is headed). I need either the subtitles or the content to lay it out. Roadmaps of a blog are good for me.

Typically when I read blog posts, I first determine if the post is going to be information that I will be interested in reading in the first place. I agree with Mr. Johnson's reasons in writing blog posts using sub heads and quick paragraphs so people can skim and read the article quickly and effectively. I like to be able to easily read and define the key points of an article. Articles that at a first glance look more approachable by being short and too the point are a lot more easy for the eye to be attracted to rather than a huge body paragraph with all of the same size font. 

I think that skimming content is definitely the way to go. People understand the main points and don't need to bother with petty details and opinions. Effective writing and catching the reader's eye are the most important things to me when looking at a potential piece to read.

When reading blog posts, I tend to only search for the posts that interest me, or the post I know I will like (because of previous encounters with that blog). If I'm doing research for a class, or looking at topic that don’t interest me, I definitely use the skim method. According to http://searchengineland.com/forget-reading-web-content-is-meant-to-be-skimmed-122899, skimming will get the information that you need, so therefore it’s a good method. 

On the flip side, I was thinking, why would I want people just to skim my blog? I don’t, therefore I was trying to think of ways for people to be interested in all of my text. Like mentioned in previous lessons, short and sweet is the key. Get to the point, and make everything useful, interesting, and relevant. 

Like most others, the way I read depends on my purpose for reading a certain blog. If it's something I'm reading for school, about PR, or something else that can be helpful, I'll usually read through the article as long as it's written in a way that's easy to read. I agree that blog posts with subheadings and short paragraphs are easier to read. Blogs that are really text-heavy are a turnoff and I tend to search for another blog on the same topic that the author has made easier to read.

As far as blogs I read for entertainment, I normally just skim them and look at the pictures. Celebrity news, humorous blogs, or things I read for fashion and such is normally not something I would get too in-depth with. 

I think this article is pretty interesting because I feel that, depending on the website, I will be both the skimmer and the picture gazer.  With websites like celebrity news, I will quickly look through the pictures and headlines, and if there is anything entertaining or worth reading, I will only skim the story, but never read the whole thing.  But with websites that are very content heavy and have a lot of information in their text, I tried to read a little bit more to make sure that I don't miss anything important.

I read blog posts based on their level of interest to me or importance to current issues.  I'd like to be well-rounded and well-versed in as much as I possibly can, so depending on the level of credibility and information a blog means to me changes my way of viewing the blog from being a skimmer to a picture gazer or an actual "reader".  I'd say the headlines and subheads are what makes the difference of what I am while reading a blog post.  If it's interesting, I'm a reader.  If not, I'll check out the picture and keep going.

I agree with many others, it depends on the nature and purpose of my reading.  However, I focus on titles and subtitles.  It often seems that they lack the specificity and clarity I'm looking for.  Or, perhaps with so many possible interpretations, it's just a hazard that comes with creating titles.  For example, based on the title of this blog post, I assumed you'd be asking about how I create/find my content, not how I receive it with "get" being the word I misconstrued.  However, by the end of the first line, my assumption is corrected.  Generally, if it's written well, I believe I can find what I need in the first line of a paragraph, so I usually skim those and then decide if I will continue with the remaining content.

How I read a blog posts depends on what my motativation was for reading it. If I am doing research for school or work I will likely skim the content to find what I am looking for. If I am reading for pleasure I will typically only read blog posts with a title that intrigues me. Occasionaly the title of the post is misleading and the content is different than what I expecteded. In this case I will stop reading and look for something else that interests me. 

I plan to use skimmable content for my blog because it will be mostly read by consumers doing research and I believe they would prefer to skim. If I was writing content that was intended to be used as entertainment I think I would worry less about how easy it was for the reader to skim. 

Honestly I believe it depends on what the viewer is looking for. If the viewer is looking for the news or say an update on what characteristics the iphone 5 will have then skimming is definitely the way to go. If the reader is looking for something more like a post from a newspaper columnist, they will looking something longer. In todays age a lot of people "don't have time" sit down and read a long article. They just want to know the basic facts and will it affect them. Personally I prefer longer articles. I believe that one can learn a lot and still consider reading as entertainment. As a fellow student mentioned earlier fans of writers like Bill Simmons expect long articles and I am one of them.

I personally like to read the first few sentences of a blog to see if I am interested.  Generally people explain what the blog will talk about.  It also allows you to see how they write.  If the style annoys or isn't what you want to read, then you don't.  Though I do that, I do also skim from time to time.  You may just want certain information from the blog, and skimming is an easy way to get what you need without wasting too much time.

The blog posts are usually very simple, and they are not hard to understand compared with research papers which I usually read. So for me, I usually skim words and sentences when I reading a blog post, because in this way I can understand the whole content with a little time. I really like the the posts which are very short, contain just several sentences in each paragraph, and have several highlighted subtitles. This is also what I do in my own bolg posts.   

People are so busy and on the go all the time that it is almost impossible not to skim content.  Subheads and paragraphs are so much easier for busy people to skim quickly.  I agree with Ross that using subheads and paragraphs is best.  Personally, if I am truly interested in reading a blog I am going to sit there and read it no matter what the content is.  I also tend to read more fun blogs, not serious business blogs.  Being able to skim content is a great skill to have though.  More often than not people are not going to be like me and sit there and read all the content.  Social Marketing Insider makes a great argument that skimming content is the way to go.  Pictures and links are always so much fun to click on and look at and it is easier to want to read something when there are pictures to go along with the content.

I tend to skim blogs also. I am not really a blog reader but when I do read them the first thing as normal that comes to many people attention is the title. If the title has caught my attention the skimming has began. I start with completely reading the first sentence to see what the blog is going to pertain to then I go ahead and look for words that interest me about the topic if I come across a lot I tend to actually go back to the begining and read the entire blog because at that point I am interested and it is nice to read the whole perspective. If the blog seem not to fully interest me I tend to go on and read something else because the blog clearly did not grab my full attention. So therefore I agree that skimming content is the way to go.

I think whether someone skims or reads the entire post really depends on the type of post and the site's general purpose, more than anything.

In general - (and for most all client-related work) quick paragraphs and lots of subheads are best, since most people are skimming rather than reading every word. However - a writer should know his or her audience.

For example, Microsoft - one of my most-hated technology companies, but for the purposes of this post, we'll let that slide - has been updating a blog regularly on the progress of its Windows 8 operating system. Most of the people reading the posts I imagine are Microsoft developers or people very interested in the nuts and bolts of the new OS. These readers want more detail than a quick blog post or short paragraphs might allow. Because of that, Microsoft generally writes very long and detailed blog posts on this blog that wind up generating lots of user comments and reactions around the tech blogosphere. 

ESPN/Grantland's Bill Simmons also comes to mind as a writer for whom long paragraphs and not many subheads generally work pretty well  - his writers demandl long blog posts filled with pop-culture references and (often-rambling) observations. It's his style. 

However, that's the exception more than the rule, I think. For most general audience writing, stick to short paragraphs and subheads. But, if your audience seems to want more... give it to them! 

I agree whole heartedly. Skimming is the way to go! It's how I read magazines or resource books. Except I sit with a pencil and check mark a topic, comment I want to spend more time on. This is the main reason we're learning the importance of keywords. As we write our blogs we use key words as check marks to draw the reader in.

When it comes to blog posts or aticles I tend to filter by the title of the article. If it seems intriguing I then start to read it, but if the first paragraph doesn't immediately start talking about what I came to read about, I get frustrated and quickly move on to something else. Or more often I will search for a better article that conveys the topic I am no focused on. We are in a generation that wants answers, fast. The longer it takes the less inclined we are to focus on it. I think this is due to our smartphones and other technology that has emerged over the years. Twitter is the most recent one that comes to memory. If you want content and fast, turn to Twitter. You can follow some of your favorite bloggers or even writers and instantly get quick, reliable information in a 140 charachter message. The entire point of the 140 chrachter limit is to keep our attention. I think the same goes for blogs and other articles, in order to keep the readers attention you need to have an engaging title and then the first 140 chrachters of that post should quickly and accurately highlight the entire post. Draw them in. Keep them in.

I have to admit that I always pay attention to TITLES. I will read the passage when the title attracts me. Besdies, when I actually reading the passage, I will first go through all the sub-titles to find whether there are specific points that are interesting and I can spend more time on. If there are no, I basically will stop reading the passage. 

I want to mention here a new way to express the content, "Infographics". Infographics are easy for readers to read, beacause they contain less words, and to follow the logic for they are very clear! I might suggest infographics as ways to provide information :)

I would say that sometimes I skim blog posts, and other times I sit down and take the time to read them fully. It all depends on the topic, how interested I am, how much time I have, etc.

That being said, I do believe that it's important for a blog to be skim-friendly. What I mean by that I want to have the option to skim the blog post if necessary. It needs to be easily readable. Not only just so I can skim it, but so that it's not an eyesore or pain in the butt to read. I'm going to be honest and say that I've never taken the time to read a blog post that seems to be the length of a novel, and I probably never will. Also, I want to be to find the main information as quickly as possible. Part of the beauty of reading a blog is convenience, and the structure of the posts shouldn't take away from that.

     When I read a blog post, I typically do skim it. However I feel like I am not really retaining information when I do this. When I skim over a blog, it is because I am bored and just trying to fill my time with something to do. If I am looking to learn something from a blog, I will sit down and find an article that is relevant to what I am trying to learn.

     Some people may be too busy to sit dorn a read posts, so it makes sense for blogs to be structured by the subheads and smaller paragraphs. Although it is functional, I don't believe it is truly informational. If anything, it is an overview, main idea, or topic that should have been delved in to. If someone wants to know something very specific, it may work. I believe if the reader wants to learn about opinions, steps on how to do something (correctly), etc blogs should be structred in a longer form.

I believe skimming content is the way to go to a certain extent because it gets straight to the point. In today's society people look for the easy way out of stuff so when they see long content they do not read through it but rather skim through it. Skimming can be a good way to becoming a good writer because I feel like if you could skim through material and still know the information as if you read through the whole material that makes you a good writer because that means that it was clearly organize as to what were the main and key points  to the material that was wrote. I personally read blog posts that are short and simple and straight to the point. I do not like reading long posts especially if it is not interesting because my mind drifts off into something else. I also believe when posts are too long that it tends to repeat it self several times in the passage to where I no longer want to read it at all. Which is why I feel skimming content to a certain extent can be the way to go when it comes to reading post or material.

I agree that skimming content is prevalent for today's readers. At the same time I think it depends on what is being said, and how. Personally, I do not enjoy reading web articles that are more than 3 scrolls (as I measure) long. If you are looking to receive information quickly and readily, isn't that what the web is for? My feeling is is that if you want the quick version of a story, skim a web article. If you want the full, detailed version, either create a seperate page (as many news stories do) or get it in print.

I usually get my content from the web, and-or TV. I know I can depend on web content being reported on any number of social sites because pretty much all informed outlets report on the web.

On a side note, especially when I'm doing things online such as product research, it's nice to have plenty of visuals which the web can easily provide. Overall, "readability" is much higher when things are broken down into lists, bullets, small paragraphs, etc.

I agree with the idea of writing web content for the skimmer type of readers. I feel like this offers readers a happy medium between information-laden text and visual cues for easy skimming. Creating content that can be skimmed will help appeal to the largest audience of various types of Internet readers; the reader will still read every word, the skimmer will be able to easily find the information he or she is looking for, and the picture gazer will hopefully stick around and read some of the text as well.

Most of the time I am an every-word reader. If I find a headline, blog post, or article that entices me enough to click on it I usually read the content fairly intently. However, I would definitely appreciate if more content was written in a skimming style. I would still continue to read every word – most of the time – and would enjoy reading it with more ease. With my background in journalism and strategic mass communication, I’ve always firmly believed that the key to getting readers attention is to create interesting and relevant content and present it in a visually exciting and easy to follow layout. I agree that formatting and writing online content that can be skimmed is a great way to translate this to the Internet.   

At some level, people can probably be all three types of readers: skimmer, reader and picture gazer. To use myself as an example, I'm more of a reader, but can revert to skimmer/picture gazer if I'm looking for quick snippets of the story. Since information is usually shared over various media sources, the important facts should be present in any written article. The emphasis on header/sub-headers is important, because that could be the one piece of information someone needs that will be the lead for them to learn more about your product. They are also eye catching as they tend to stand out from the page.