The new design of the LA Times has put sharing at the forefront of publishing - quite literally. Every article on the LA Times now starts with 'sharelines', pre-formatted quotes or facts from the article to make it even easier for you to share.
Often the headlines of articles will be creatively cryptic, too long, or not describing the main point you want to get across. Sharelines aims to do all the work for you. And it's not just the LA Times, across the web publishers are looking for ways to make sharing easier and more enjoyable.
Here's a quick run-down of some of the ways this is happening:
Often the headlines of articles will be creatively cryptic, too long, or not describing the main point you want to get across. Sharelines aims to do all the work for you. And it's not just the LA Times, across the web publishers are looking for ways to make sharing easier and more enjoyable.
Here's a quick run-down of some of the ways this is happening:
LA Times – they start
each article with key facts
Good Magazine –
they have a tweet button on quotes they highlight
Other publishers are customising tweet text so the shared
text is shorter than the original headline:
DailyMail.co.uk
Headline:
Tweet:
Many more mobile sites are emphasising sharing as well. At
The Atlantic, the top of the article has share buttons and when you scroll
below the fold, the design of the site keeps two share buttons permanently at
the top.
Top of page:
Scrolled view:
With friends, family and colleagues sharing more often, it is interesting to think that there could be room for 'professional sharers'. Adrienne LaFrance takes up this theory in her Atlantic article discussing that there could become a marketplace for subscribing to customised news feeds.
