Reels melt your brain, and long reads build it. I'll fight anyone. But before you take me up on that, let me explain.
In the marketing business, video is king, and short-form videos in a vertical, flickable format have become the holy grail of marketing content. But what's good for marketing is not always good for humans.
Studies have been done on how these forms of media impact the brain. Here's what we know so far.
Video Reels:
- 🍄 Decrease attention span
- 🍄 Reduce brain power
- 🍄 Cause stress and fatigue
On the other hand, long-form written content like books, in-depth articles, and essays has a very positive impact on the brain. Here's more.
Long Reads:
- 🧠 Enhance focus
- 🧠 Build neural networks
- 🧠 Relieve stress
Basically, long reads make you smarter and healthier. Shorts reverse it.
Brands Should Build A Library
Marketers should build a library of long-form content. You should start now. This can include written content like articles and whitepapers, but it can also include long-form videos and podcasts. Written content has the biggest human brain benefit, but long-form video offers value for things like memory and comprehension.
"But Daniel, people don't read anymore."
I hear this all the time, but sorry. It's just not true.
According to the data, book sales are up over the last twenty years, so people do read. We marketers simply forget that "interruption marketing" is an interruption. People don't want to read what they didn't ask to read. That means you should prioritize owned media, long-form, valuable, insightful, and entertaining content, and then use short-form content only to earn attention.
Most importantly, we should focus on what is best for humans, because statistics seem to show that people still crave depth in many ways, including authenticity, connection, and narrative.
Don't melt your brain when you can build it. Don't melt theirs either.
Sources
I've studied this throughout my marketing career and tested it with marketing practices, but in order to capture some well-cited data, I've used Perplexity, an AI research tool, to compile some data and sources. Here are the findings.
