Our blog reader Eric Mazare, of L’Express, in Toronto, Canada, writes me the following:
Having regularly followed your blog (thank you for sharing your expertise!) for a years, I was wondering about your post about mobile seduction on the first screen:
https://www.garciamedia.com/blog/for-mobile-you-must-seduce-with-that-first-screen/
Then he adds:
A case study by BHIVE suggests that the first screen should cut to the chase and jump right into the text:
https://medium.com/bhive/tripling-social-shares-how-audience-insights-drive-bloomberg-coms-mobile-engagement-115199fac125
I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on their findings and if it affects your approach of emphasizing visuals on the first screen.
My thoughts
I have now reviewed the case study that Eric points too and I believe the study mentioned there is about users coming to a story from social media. In other words, the users already have a sense of context —and presumably interest—before they get to that first screen.
When I emphasize seduction in 4 seconds with powerful headlines and graphics on that first screen, I am referring to stories which the users have no idea about, so it is that first screen that should do the job of attracting and retaining them to read more.
Mario’s speaking engagements
Here are places where I will be taking the message of mobile storytelling in the weeks ahead:
July 11, Florida Media Conference, St. Petersburg, FL, Keynote for editors: The mobile first newspaper strategy.
Mario’s weekend rituals…..
Monocle interviews me about what I do on a typical weekend (is there such a thing? Not for someone like me who is seldom in the same location twice. But I gave it my best shot, for what may come as a normal weekend, when I am home in New York! Enjoy.
https://monocle.com/minute/2019/04/27/
Pre-order The Story
The newspaper remains the most powerful source of storytelling on the planet. But technology threatens its very existence. To survive, the Editor must transform, adapt, and manage the newsroom in a new way. Find out how, pre-orderThe Story by Mario Garcia, chief strategist for the redesign of over 700 newspapers around the world.
Order here:
https://thaneandprose.com/shop-the-bookstore?olsPage=products%2Fthe-story
An interview of interest
http://www.itertranslations.com/blog/2019/3/11/fd60ybflpvlqrgrpdp5ida5rq0c3sp
TheMarioBlog post #3081