act3 is a communication strategy and design firm that specializes in telling stories.

This blog is our story laboratory, a way to poke, prod, and take a closer look at the stories we see, the stories we tell, and our own assumptions and knowledge about why stories work (or don't). The goal is to better understand what makes a story connect with people, and how to tell better stories.

Like any blog, it's an evolving concept. We hope you'll follow along.

July 6

Short attention spans? Not so fast

A piece in the July 5 New York Times entitled “Rise of Web Video, Beyond 2-Minute Clips,” comments on the increase in length of the average online video — a trend the article suggests is driven by both improved technology (faster speeds online), which increases people’s tolerance for longer pieces, and our habituation to longer pieces cultivated by people watching full TV episodes online, via Hulu and network sites.

Of course, another key component empowering our longer attention spans is an increase of quality work available for watching. Said Rob Barnett, the founder of the video distribution site My Damn Channel, “I think it comes down to quality winning out over minutes and seconds.”

In short, the storytelling is superseding the stopwatch. “If there’s good storytelling and good production values, people are willing to engage with the content,” said Eric Berger, a senior vice president of Crackle, the Sony video site.

As online video matures, it seems, the stories will once again be the story.

:: Posted by Eric Ratinoff ::