Write a longform article publicly and gradually, and viewers might actually stick around to read it | Nieman Journalism Lab

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Write a longform article publicly and gradually, and viewers might actually stick around to read it

LINK: www.fastcolabs.com ➚ | Posted by: Caroline O'Donovan | May 13, 2013

FastCo.Labs is experimenting with what it calls “slow liveblogging,” an approach to writing that takes a cue from Wikipedia. Stories start as “stubs” and are gradually lengthened over time. What they found was that drawing out the life of a story by constantly updating it caused readers to stay on the site longer.

Author Chris Dannen conflates quality with length, which is problematic, but the traffic metrics are nonetheless interesting, as is the discussion of how to build a more adaptable CMS.

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