BBC: masters of short-form journalism

I have become addicted to the BBC’s live text commentary during the Olympics. Apart from the clever use of technology – refreshing automatically as you watch – the writing is always entertaining. Twitter is great, and I use it, but its 140 character count is too restricting for anything other than one-line updates. It may not win a Pulitzer prize, but I can see short-form journalism, like live text updates, gaining popularity throughout the media and transferring to online PR. Even travel PR. For example, if you are marketing a destination and promoting an event, why not post descriptive updates live and direct to the consumer?

You can’t demand people’s attention. But if you provide easily digested – and above all – entertaining morsels, they might just give it to you.