Opinion: Why Streams Have Become More Effective Than Web Pages
By David Tobia
September 5, 2012
September 5, 2012
- In his Dashes.com blog, entrepreneur and tech writer Anil Dash suggests that Web pages are outdated, and cites the popularity of Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and Tumblr as evidence of people’s preference to streams of data rather than Web pages.
- Effective streams of data allow for customization. Sometimes customization means choosing friends on Facebook or who to follow on Twitter. Other times customization means filtering a writer’s stories by topic, and only receiving these types of stories within a stream.
- One reason Web pages still persist is because advertising operates on a page-view model. Dash suggests in-stream advertisements that deal with the user’s interests are not only more effective, but do not stop the flow of reading and will not disturb the reader as much.
- Dash concludes that effective Web publishers should adopt a more fluid style. He suggests trusting “readers to know how to scroll down and skim across a simple stream, since that’s what they’re already doing all day on the Web.”
- “Pay attention to the fact that all the links you click on Twitter, on Facebook, on Pinterest, all take you to out of the simple flow of those apps and into a jarring, cluttered experience where the most appealing option is the back button,” he notes. “Stop being one of those dead-end experiences and start being more like what users have repeatedly demonstrated they prefer.”
- Dash wants publishers to give readers “the chance to customize those streams to include (or exclude!) just the content they want.”
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