Why short texts are effective. Tiny Tales for the holidays
Hello after a short break from writing, we thought the AI would do it all now. But the AI is obviously only human and needs clear instructions.
At the turn of the year, you will therefore receive a handmade word message from the human-powered UVA text manufactory. And because the year is almost over, we’ll be brief. In the meantime, the question of whether something is read at all is a matter of seconds.
Do you know the 3/30/3 rule?
The human attention span in digital media consumption today is super short: according to the 3/30/3 rule, we have 3 seconds to grab the reader’s attention, 30 seconds to keep them interested and 3 minutes to convince them of something.
This shows how important the conscious design of headlines, teasers and text structure is. In short: someone has to struggle, the reader or the author. So of course we opt for the author!
Short is better: 140 characters is easily enough for a drama
30 seconds are almost up, so here’s your reward for persevering: Our best-of-Tiny-Tales, mini-stories of no more than 140 characters. This used to be the maximum for a Twitter post before the length was doubled. The inventor of this genre is author and director Florian Meimberg, for which he was even honored with the Grimme Online Award. Anyone can write Tiny Tales – we’ve tried it out for you.
Read our UVA holiday Tiny Tales here:
- The lane was clear, Tom stepped on the gas. Ah, the break had done us good. Ina threw her scarf onto the back seat. Then her scream. “Shit, the kids!”
- The howling of the disaster app finally stopped. “Battery’s flat,” whispered Maja. There was a crack behind them. “Are there wild boars here?”
- The goose complained: “Well, not me!” She was the last to stand and stuck her chest out. “So beautiful today, the sun is just going uhuhuuuu…grkkh-“
- “The goulash is frozen! And don’t you have any allspice?” Jo sighed: “Your mother… I have to go out”. The tree fell quietly in the living room.
- “With or without?” He held up his beard. “With,” said Pia. “Is more authentic”. The belt was too tight, but it didn’t help. Now the bag.
- “You’re annoying,” he grumbled at his brother. He was immediately sorry about Christmas. “Let’s bake moss cake! Will you get grandma’s old coffee grinder?”
- Lights off. She was the last one. There was a note stuck under the wiper. A ticket? She snorted. Then she read “Don’t forget the Christmas party!”
- The Christmas light chain had a conspiracy – each light claimed to be the most important.
When can we write something for you? We will be back for you from January 2nd.
