How Digital Interaction Vastly Changes Across Platforms

Just as we wear different clothing for the different seasons, training content creators must be aware that they have to change the format of their content across different platforms. You wouldn’t wear your wool winter jacket on a hot July day, so don’t post a lengthy video on a platform your learners only access via their smartphones.

Jonathan Halls, the Founder and Principal of Jonathan Halls Consulting, went in-depth on this important point in our on-demand webinar How to Use Digital Content to Give the Learner More Control.

Individuals interact differently with content depending on what device they’re using to access it. Think about it: would you rather scroll through a thousand-word article on your phone or read it as a feature piece on your desktop?

Because of this, Jonathan asserts that creators must ensure that their content is adapted for any platform and device. Below are four of the most common types of platforms that people use to access content and how they interact with them.

1. Desktop

A typical desktop user, Jonathan says, experiences many distractions as they interact with content. To keep their attention, the text you have in your print version should be cut in half. Typically, desktop users scan an article for keywords and read, at most, about 25% of the words on the screen.

2. Mobile

On the other end of the spectrum is the cell phone, which is an intensive “lean-forward” experience, according to Jonathan. The typical mobile user has an even shorter attention span than a desktop user. They prefer bullet point lists, pictures, and short videos over all else. On average, users on this platform spend less than 90 seconds looking at content, so it’s important to use eye-grabbing images to capture their attention.

3. Tablet

Tablet users are traditionally more relaxed and open to longer content. They usually prefer videos that are around five minutes and find the aesthetics of their content to be more important than other users. To attract tablet users, be sure to focus on the presentation of your content as much as you focus on the message itself.

4. Data Projector

Users watching content from data projectors, like the ones found in movie theaters, are a much more captive experience and are much more concerned with the visual experience. Thus, they prefer clips with high contrast colors and color correction.

The average person owns about 3.64 digital devices and interacts with each of them very differently. It’s important to know how to interact with each audience. Don’t lose valuable clicks because of the way your content is formatted.

[Webinar] How to Use Digital Content to Give the Learner More Control

Check out the rest of Jonathan Halls’ tips on our on-demand webinar here!