Condensed Content for Quick Consumption

Have you noticed that the technology we use to coordinate our days, hours and minutes is largely responsible for our lives being so chaotic? Sure, it helps us manage time more efficiently but any free time that is created is often filled in with more activities, not leisure. Weirdly, we like it that way.

Marketers have adjusted their delivery methods to our desire to be occupied at all times. Paid advertisements in social media feeds are great examples of this tactic. So are video screens at gas pumps. Twitter, which causes a lot of the competition for my attention, has seen its turf become so crowded that it recently unveiled Twitter Highlights, a feature Twitter says is, "an instant summary of the best Tweets from your timeline." It's like Twitter is surrendering to the fact that we users are so busy that we only have time for the cream of its crop.

Despite being so busy, we still like to call the shots when it comes to staying informed. But the rub is that we're too busy to call said shots. That's why we have an increasing appreciation for content, news and other information to be delivered to us in concentrated doses. I've noticed three big-time examples that help us achieve an acceptable information delivery flow that is considerate of our available consumption time.

INBOX

Google's attempt to make managing all of your email was introduced in late 2014. Not only can you access messages from various accounts with Inbox, it also prioritizes your emails so that you see what's important sooner.


THIS.

This. is a budding, invitation-only social media platform that allows users to share just one link per day with other users. That limitation really makes you think before sharing (and really cuts down on the cat pics!). Each day, the editors at This. send an email to subscribers that features the most shared links of the day.

THE DAILY RALLY

Sports fans that are crunched for time will appreciate the roundup of headlines that arrive each morning via email. Each delivery features a broad but short collection of links to articles and videos that recap sporting events from the previous day (and night). This is a very new venture staffed only by a pair of capable sisters. I’m already a fan and I hope they can maintain what has to be an exhausting pace.

WE HAVE LAUNCHED. Head over to thedailyrally.com to sign up! What a great day.
Posted by The Daily Rally on Monday, September 7, 2015

I expect to see more new content sources that conform to our information overload threshold. It will be interesting to see if and how existing sources adjust. Thanks for reading and please let me know your observations in the comment section!