Hot Commodity

As I’ve been chasing innovative companies into the depths of cyber space for one of my projects at Brilliont, I’ve noticed that lists are all the rage. Whether it is a list of innovative companies, a list of things entrepreneurs should or should not do, or a list of successes (or failures), lists are everyone on the internet. Having read so many lists I’ve come to some conclusions about why we are so enamored by them. Here goes…

20. In this age of news and other online content aggregators we are becoming accustomed to a new level of quality, quantity, and diversity of information that is often easier to reach with a succinct list rather than drawn out paragraphs.

19. Lists allow us to get directly to our point, without having to worry about introducing a topic or concluding (ie: they are often easier to write).

18. Lists sometimes allow us to mention several very distinct pieces of information at one time in one place without having to find concrete ways to connect them.

17. Did you know that the population of Canada is only 1/9^th that of the United States?

16. Lists make it easy for us to gauge how much content we have finished reading and how much we have left to go.

15. It is easier to retain information in list form because they cut away the trimmings.

14. Complete sentences unnecessary.

13. People tend to feel that they can skip over a few points in a list without missing the gist of the article. This means that on occasion, if we don’t really have that much to say but want to look impressive with a long list, we can string together some random verbiage for a bullet point or two and hope that no one notices.

12. I’m just writing random stuff and hoping that no one will actually read this point or even if they do they’ll be so enamored by my overall list that they won’t even notice that this sentence is entirely ineffective.

11. Or alternatively, we can throw in an entirely useless point but use a buzz word in hopes that it looks impressive to the large majority of people that will only skim the article.

10. Cars that are GREEN and save ENERGY are really great for the ENVIRONMENT and the ECO-FRIENDLY nature of our lifestyle.

9. Lists are of course, only attractive when they come in round numbers. 5, 10, 20, 100- these are good numbers for lists. They tend to imply that the author has exhausted all important points on any particular topic. On occasion this means that we find ourselves repeating content by presenting it in different words. Luckily, lists often help hide this repetition.

8. Lists can be redundant but the bullet point structure can help disguise this fact.

7. Lists tend to generate debate. They are inherently a ranking based on the writer’s opinion and understanding. It is often easier to pinpoint and extract the author’s view and support, negate, or simply discuss it.

6. Lists are fun to send to family, friends, and colleagues. We tend to be much more likely to skim through a forwarded list of “Top 10 XYZ” than to read through a long or dense article that we receive.

5. Lists make it easy to explain anything that requires steps. For example, directions and recipes are unbelievably easier to follow when described in list form.

4. People love categorization, comparison, and statistics. Since lists often claim some sort of extreme (eg. The BEST cities to live in, the TOP 10 solar energy firms, the WORST 15 movies of all time, etc) we get excited. Then we can turn around and sound particularly well read in conversation… “Well you know Bob, the PATH trains are said to be the absolute worst form of public transportation in the history of the universe because they are always late and broken and crowded…”

3. Lists make great blog posts. Enough said.

2. The numbering system of lists leads to the expectation that the last item will be particularly exciting, insightful, or eye opening- especially in the case when lists are numbered backwards.

1. Sometimes this is true. Sometimes, unfortunately, it is not.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 26th, 2008 at 9:55 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.