Tips for navigating an information-packed world even more relevant today
Stephen Elson wrote an article for the March 1999 magazine titled “Seven signs of fallout from the internet explosion.” In it, Elson stated that the mental response to information overload is decision avoidance and that despite the amount of information available, we seem to know “more and more about less and less.” Furthermore, Elson observed that a sign of information fallout is that life consists of the immediate past and immediate future with no time for the present moment. In his fourth point, Elson wrote something that is still relevant today with the rise of short-form content on social media platforms: “Your attention span is getting shorter. I repeat, your attention span is getting shorter.”
The article concluded with six ideas to clear up information fallout. Taking breaks from information, gaining fresh perspectives by calling in the experts, joining a committee to clean up information fallout in your office and asking yourself “What’s right?” instead of “What’s next?” are some solutions. Elson also encouraged people to learn what others are doing to reduce “the data tsunami,” a term coined by Richard R. Nethe in a 1996 article in The Humanist. Lastly, people should remember the reason for invention: necessity.
User-friendly websites = repeat visitors
Another Survey Monitor entry in the same issue, this one titled “Make your website a site to see,” reported results from Forrester Research’s 1998 Consumers & Technographics Media Field Study. Consumers were asked to list the sources they used most frequently to acquire web addresses. Fifty-seven percent of those online used search engines to find websites and others pointed to e-mail messages and links found on websites to find URLs. Others said they found out about websites by word of mouth (28%). Compared to entertainment- and family-motivated consumers, career-motivated consumers relied more heavily on suggestions from acquaintances.
Forrester found that experiences, rather than brand names, led consumers back to certain websites and determined that consumers valued a website’s content quality the most. Consumers were also more likely to use websites with intuitive interfaces and those that downloaded quickly. Website designers and marketers were encouraged to ensure their websites appeared as a first choice when potential visitors used a search engine, drive customers to invest time on their website and to prepare for multiple access points from different devices to improve their traffic.
The top TV ads in 1999
In 1999, research firms were questioning something we still wonder about today: How effective are TV ads? The Kid Ad-Traction study, which included over 800 children ages 6-17, found that product desirability did not result from high rankings or entertainment value. The Survey Monitor section entry titled “Do TV ads make kids want to buy?” listed the top motivating commercials, which included Sony PlayStation; Nintendo 64; Barbie; Taco Bell/McDonald’s; Burger King; Laser Tag; Tyco Remote Control Car; Giga Pet/Nike/Volkswagen; Legos and Levi’s. Sixty-nine percent of the children surveyed said a commercial motivated them to want what was advertised because it included demonstrations of a product’s features and benefits.