

So how many readers _actually_ read a blog post? - Swizec
http://swizec.com/blog/so-how-many-readers-_actually_-read-a-post/swizec/2453

======
shabble
Whilst I accept from a business perspective that more detailed metrics help
choose direction, figure out what works and whatnot, as a user I'm somewhat
against the ever-finer grained tracking of activities.

"Hits", "Performing Social actions", ...

Obligatory _Snow Crash_ quote:

" _Y.T.'s mom pulls up the new memo, checks the time, and starts reading it.
The estimated reading time is 15.62 minutes. Later, when Marietta does her
end-of-day statistical roundup, sitting in her private office at 9:00 P.M.,
she will see the name of each employee and next to it, the amount of time
spent reading this memo, and her reaction, based on the time spent, will go
something like this:

Less than 10 min.: Time for an employee conference and possible attitude
counseling.

10-14 min.:Keep an eye on this employee; may be developing slipshod attitude.

14-15.61 min.: Employee is an efficient worker, may sometimes miss important
details.

Exactly 15.62 min.: Smartass. Needs attitude counseling.

15.63-16 min.: Asswipe. Not to be trusted.

16-18 min.: Employee is a methodical worker, may sometimes get hung up on
minor details.

More than 18 min.: Check the security videotape, see just what this employee
was up to (e.g., possible unauthorized restroom break).

Y.T.'s mom decides to spend between fourteen and fifteen minutes reading the
memo. It's better for younger workers to spend too long, to show that they're
careful, not cocky. It's better for older workers to go a little fast, to show
good management potential. She's pushing forty. She scans through the memo,
hitting the Page Down button at reasonably regular intervals, occasionally
paging back up to pretend to reread some earlier section. The computer is
going to notice all this. It approves of rereading. It's a small thing, but
over a decade or so this stuff really shows up on your work-habits summary._"

------
cowboyhero
People don't read. They scan.

<http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html>

Your scrolling js metric is clever, but that doesn't mean they've read a
thing. All it means is they've scrolled to the bottom of the page.

~~~
jseliger
I read when a writer shows me that she's got interesting stuff to say and
isn't going to repeat what she's said previously. I scan when someone shows me
what they're saying isn't important (a tl;dnr summary is a strong sign of
something not being important) or can be easily summarized.

When I write, I write for people who realize what I'm writing can't be
summarized to tl'dnr. That means I probably collect far fewer "hits," but I
would tend to imagine those who do follow my work are more engaged.

------
duopixel
I've caught myself scanning at articles from people I don't know. I try to
understand the gist of it to see if it's worth reading carefully, but when it
comes from writers I know and respect I'll take my time and have a pleasant
read.

It would be interesting seeing the same statistics for a well established
author. I'm guessing the numbers would tell a different story.

~~~
swombat
Agreed. For example, when a Rands article comes up, I always load it up in a
tab and wait until I have the time to properly read it, and I almost always
read it to the end, because I know that the article will both delight me and
instruct me.

------
hollerith
Some blogger about 1.5 years ago asked readers to include some unusual word,
like "mongoose" in their comment, as a test of reading comprehension, and the
first 30 or so comments failed to follow that instruction.

~~~
zalew
ars technica did this and the result was sad <http://i.imgur.com/K9jIy.jpg>

~~~
kbatten
I don't understand how this is sad. All it showed was that people skipped a
word that had "bananas" in it, a word that has pretty much no meaning in the
context of the article.

Its similar to how I ignore spelling mistakes in news articles. I may see it
for a second, but since that isn't the reason I'm reading it, I'll just move
on and probably instantly forget.

------
oacgnol
I'll admit, sometimes I skim posts and go straight to the comments on HN.
Sometimes I find the discussion here to be more scintillating than the link
itself.

~~~
jonnathanson
I think it's a wholly legitimate thing to do, and it requires no apology. I do
it all the time. Pretty much every time I come across a new link here, I
rapidly and subconsciously run a few checks on it before clicking it open:

1) Is the title relevant to my interests? 2) How many upvotes has it received?
3) How many comments has it received? 4) (Upon scanning comments) Are the
comments interesting?

The only problem with this method is that it can tempt you to reply to
comments without actually having read the article in question. That's bad
form, of course.

------
FilterJoe
Some reference style posts are not intended to be read in full. I've done a
few of these on my blog such as comparing the 5 major browsers, how good the
iPod touch is for reading many different sorts of reading material, best aa
batteries which describes the different battery technologies and includes a
buying guide, etc. I organize the material so that people can read the
specific sections that are of interest to them, and skip the rest. Google
Analytics (a crude measure, I know) tells me that average time spent reading
per page on these reference posts range from 4 minutes (the browser post) to
14 minutes (the battery post). So pretty sizable chunks of the posts are being
read (by those who continue on to a second page, at least).

Then again - these being reference posts - the vast majority of readers come
in through Google search looking for answers or advice, which is obviously
much more targeted than a community news site. The times are far lower on days
where a bunch of people come in due to a listing at Hacker News or Reddit.

------
mikeklaas
As I often do, I skipped the article itself and went straight to the HN
comments.

~~~
bostonpete
HN has articles? I thought it was just a comment board.

------
mkr-hn
The swarm of useless links (why would you link to twitter.com?) and red
underline is not helping. I never did find the link to this blog post you
talked about through the whole article. And gray headers don't do much for
breaking up the text.

These are confounding variables.

------
giberson
Copy format has some play with this too. Interesting that in this particular
case the section headings are anti-aliased but the paragraph texts are not. If
you're not going to used anti-aliased you should pick a font that is not so
rounded and apparent. Reading anti-aliased text is akin to rubbing my eyes
with sand paper. Okay, it's not that bad but it has the same psychological
effect of making me not want to keep reading.

I will also admit, that even when the copy font displays pleasantly, I will
only skim paragraphs to determine the general theme and tone of content to
determine my interest and whether or not I will keep skimming, start reading,
or leave altogether. But still, bad font choice is very distracting and
doesn't help.

------
Semiapies
Piles of (automatic?) random links in the blog post, no link to the test blog
post.

I wondered if the layout and wording of the 20th paragraph that the writer was
so mystified by so many people stopping at _looked like an ending_.

------
iterationx
You have about 300 ms of my time where I scan the first paragraph and decide
whether or not to continue. Maybe that indicates I have terrible reading
skills or maybe it means I have an advanced pattern recognition filter.

~~~
16BitTons
Is the 300 ms a measurement or WAG?

------
ericHosick
I wonder that too. It seems that sometimes the comments on HN to a blog post
don't match up (I wonder if they even read the same post I just read).

If I click on a link and find something I like enough to finish I will vote up
and add a comment if I have something to add.

------
swah
What if blog posts had several versions, from TL;DR to full post which would
unfold as you scrolled the website.

------
orenmazor
I'm interested to see what your percentage of completed reads of this post is
:)

~~~
acangiano
I suspect higher than average due to the fact that people are being called on
it.

~~~
Mizza
I suspect that it's lower than average due to Error establishing a database
connection

------
swah
And he is testing us right now, I get it, I get it.

