Bloomberg Media’s head of design research Karen Johnson writes about Bloomberg BHIVE’s Project Amplify, a user research initiative focused on sparking conversation between Bloomberg’s audience those who create its digital news products.
Johnson writes, “How people follow breaking stories varies tremendously. Is the news being consumed for personal pleasure? Is it a function of work? Something else? At Bloomberg, we are particularly interested in how news is consumed in the context of a demanding work day. Perhaps not surprisingly, we often hear that concise breaking news coverage is easier to follow, especially when you’re processing a developing story as part of your work.
Audience story
Arun, 48, a Brooklyn-based financial attorney, follows Bloomberg mostly to keep abreast on what’s moving the market at a high level. His objective is simple: get to the point with what he’s reading, quickly. “One reason I like Bloomberg is that you’re very concise,” he told us in his panel. “You just get straight to the point without too much opinion or embellishing it with too much distraction, in my opinion. Bloomberg just really gets straight to it.” For Arun, this means he can quickly pull out what he needs to know in order to not miss a beat with his clients who are immersed in market-moving news all day.
Our takeaway
When it comes to news, shorter is often better. Features like The Bulletin, and Bloomberg’s WhatsApp briefs help our news seekers follow what’s happening with efficient brevity. None of this is to say that news seekers like Arun don’t want long-form narrative accounts and smart analysis. But in the context of following breaking and market moving news during the work day, he doesn’t need to know every exacting detail. He wants the facts that matter, concisely.
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