The Secrets Discovered to Keeping an Audience's Attention

New research shows what your brain needs to keep reading

We all know what clickbait is - those catchy headlines that are designed to draw you in - and we are probably are all aware that these headlines are strangely persuasive and potentially addictive (my attempt at a clickbait title is above!).

They pull us in with emotional language and our primitive instincts - I find myself clicking on many despite knowing better. Alas my primitive brain does actually want to know how certain celebrities have faded over time. But clickbait is about a simple click - it is important, but it doesn't sustain attention. So what drives sustained attention? What gets an audience to actually engage over a longer period of time with content? Or for that matter what makes something more memorable?

Well, I have just come across a few studies which help us answer some of these questions and the answers may be simpler than we may assume but also very useful for us - particularly in business contexts where leading teams or engaging with customers is essential. But the same will apply to many of use in our daily jobs whatever they are.

So, let’s think about sustaining attention first as that is essential for most of us - that one hit click may be useful but people my then turn away and turn to their next quick hit or click. This is something that a team of Researchers from University of Pennsylvania, University of Maryland, and Emory University investigated. And the results may be intuitive but also highly important - and importantly backed up by data and analysis not just some guru spouting what he thinks.

So what does keep sustained attention and is it what we think it is?