Yesterday I discovered that goldfish have a better attention span than we do. According to Digital Information World the average human attention span is now shorter than a goldfish’s – seriously. The average human attention span has fallen from 12 second in 2000 (around the time smartphones hit the scene) to eight seconds today. In comparison, scientists believe a goldfish has an attention span of nine seconds.
We’re all bombarded by text, tweets, push notifications, ads, posts, email and so much more that your brain gets hooked on all that stimuli. You crave more and more information which makes it difficult to pay attention to any one thing, for very long.
Why is this important? If you’re writing or interviewing, your message must be compelling but also short! Include videos to promote your company or to sell an opportunity. Top talent would rather watch a video than read a job requisitions. They’d rather see someone DOING the job vs. hearing about a job.
Almost one third of people on the Internet actively use YouTube. That is 1.5 billion people logging in every month that could be viewing your story and engaging with you. “Lights, Camera, Action!”