10. Underlying questions
1. Why is multimedia impacting the newsphere?
2. What does this mean for communications
professionals?
3. What are the best practices associated with using
multimedia?
11. About Me
• Director, Product Management @ Vocus
• ‘Owns’ PRWeb and Vocus SB edition
• Spoken @ SES, SMX, PubCon, Newcomm Forum, etc.
• Published in SES Magazine, PRSA Tactics, Visibility Magazine,
DMNews, etc.
• Blogs @ newinfluencer.com and bloggingprweb.com
• MSc in Media/Comm. @ the LSE.
23. Qualitative feedback from journalists
• “Photos of new products are essential for us to write about those
products. We like to show our readers the product as well as write
about it. “
• “Multimedia is useful when it is fully relevant--throwing it in just to
be "multimedia" can be irritating to the reader. For video and
audio, a brief lead-in to explain why I would take the time to
watch/listen is always helpful.”
• The speaker in an online video needs to be engaging -- not boring!
Plus the video needs to be interesting -- not just a person talking.
Further, make sure the person is saying something valuable to
journalists, not just a "come to our website for more" soundbite or
worse a bite that says, "we value consumers."
25. 1. Multimedia can create a more engaging
experience than text
Tip: Consider ways that multimedia can be used to relevantly enhance
the visitor’s experience
26. 2. The benefits to using multimedia are multi-
faceted
Multimedia can enhance time-on-page, click-through rate, and can
provide fodder for content producers and sharers.
27. 3. The definition of “production quality” shifts
online
Tip: Focus on content; not production quality.
28. 4. Multimedia is appropriate for some content
types but not all
Tip: Multimedia is particularly helpful in describing complex processes.
However, there are times when multimedia can be distracting.
29. 5. Multimedia should be considered in relation to
the broader message
Images, video and audio should be seen as supplementary to a
broader content experience. The entirety needs to be considered
when selecting multimedia.
Editor's Notes
Half of test participants (approximately 25 people) experienced one of the stories in text and the other in multimedia. The other half of our participants experienced the opposite formats. (They all saw a control article beforehand, as well.) After they read or viewed a story, they were given a same recall quiz. They found a slight, marginally significant difference in how test subjects correctly recalled story information that was presented in text vs. using multimedia. When asked to recall information about names and places, participants who received information in text were more likely to answer questions correctly. However, information about a process or procedure that was unfamiliar to them was more correctly recalled when participants received it in a multimedia graphic format. Users who received information in text form seemed to have better recall of specific factual information.
Online survey of 1,422 U.S. online video users Recruitment: OTX panel members recruited via email OTX panel is representative of the US online population: Gender Age Ethnicity Broadband/Dial-Up Respondents were qualified on these dimensions: U.S. Residency No Sensitive Industry Employment No Research Participation in the Past 3 Months Have Viewed Videos Online (excluding adult content) Field Dates: April 21-May 1, 2007
