Enrico Tartarotti of @enricotartarotti on Youtube asks the question: Short Form Content Is BROKEN. Can We Fix It?
Enrico believes, in his own words:
“TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels have taken over the internet and completely changed how we view content by spreading short form content and videos everywhere. But… they are already failing. Meanwhile, long form content is having a renaissance. There is a way to save our brains from frying off retention hacks and that is… joining forces.”
He presents his case in five chapters.
- Part 1: Why everything became a copy of TikTok
- Part 2: Attention spans and retention black holes
- Part 3: The Problem — falling apart
- Part 4: The other side
- Part 5: The Solution — the missing link
His solution? Enrico proposes changes that will harness society’s doomscrolling dopamine addiction.
- Link long and short content in a meaningful way, so that shorts lead to more in-depth media
- Change what the algorithm optimizes for, to packages of both short and corresponding longer media
- Allow creators to build real businesses, so they can live meaningful lives and still contribute to society.
Well worth 15 minutes!
My take: Fascinating! I will admit to wasting hours of time scrolling through short form content and I detest the “endless scroll” design of modern media apps. I like that Enrico links the rise in short form content with the rise in the sheer number of videos, suggesting that this is merely a solution to discoverability.