I’m not going into the prejudices which come to my mind when I think of regular tabloid readers. But the article made me think about what makes some formats so successful.

Entertainment hungry, low attention span, uninterested in deep reflection.  I’m not describing tabloid readers, I’m talking about most of us Internet users. The way people read paper tabloids have a lot in common with the way we consume information on the web. In fact, tabloids need to change very little from print to online versions. Compare the paper version of The Sun with their website or even their iPhone app, for instance.

User-experience professionals have known this for a long time. Fat headlines, bite size text, picture rich, attention grabbing editorial style has been the norm and let’s admit, a reference of best practice (we scan – we don’t read, etc.)

All in the name of usability – or we are all closet tabloid fans!

Technology moves through fashions too. Companies want to be modern and hate the idea of being left behind. Social media is seen as the new black in the corporate world. But actually, social media should really be seen as the new canary yellow -  great colour, but it doesn’t go with everything.

We have frequent discussions with clients from every sector who feel they must adopt social tools but fear losing control over the message. I think we shouldn’t be discussing social software in the first place, we should be talking about who they are, their corporate culture, their market and who they want to be in the future – realistically.

Forget about labels and focus on business objectives. How can social software and user participation contribute to those objectives? Which tools and features are justified? What are the risks? Are they manageable? How are we going to measure success?

This presentation from Bond Art + Science is focused on media, but it’s tactical insights can be applied to other types of organisations willing to adopt and adapt social conversation to their business goals. One size does not fit all.