By Cassy van Eeden

A ‘listicle’ is the colloquial term for articles that are written and presented in a list format. Websites like BuzzFeed and Cracked are prime examples, with lists like 13 Cats Who Might Be Drunk and 27 Signs Eating Healthy Just Isn’t For You. But listicles are also frequently used to discuss serious matters too.

The psychology behind it

We’re not only attracted to listicles due to their catchy headlines and clever GIFs. There is more to it.

Rachel Edidin, writer at WIRED explains: “The way we’re presented with information changes the way we process and interpret it. Lists let us process complicated information spatially, transforming it from cluster to linear progression.”

“When you embark on reading an ordinary article, you have no way of knowing how many things it will tell you,” says Steven Poole, columnist at The Guardian. This means that listicle is psychologically more seductive. “It promises, upfront, to condense any subject into manageable number of discrete facts.”

Poole explains that: “When you embark on ready an ordinary article, you have no way of knowing how many things it will tell you. Maybe 15, maybe two. Plus, if you’re reading online and it’s more than a single screen long, you can’t be sure when it’s going to end.”

He says that today’s audience does not have enough time to start reading an article that might prove to be too long. “A listicle keeps helpfully informing how much of it there is left. Great, you have now read three out of nine, keep going.”

Supply and demand

There is the common perception that listicles are a lazy from of reporting and relaying information to a reader. But if your audience wants lists, why not give it to them? Regardless of how ‘lazy’ people think the format is.

Keri Prinsloo, a freelance digital copywriter says, “Not only do audiences not have the time to read long articles, they don’t want to.” She explains that consumers are after short, easily digestable content. “If people want listicles, then that’s what you give them. Do you want to fit your content into their lifestyles or not?”

Anna Lawler, writer at The Guardian, explains that recent research has found that: “News reading [has] been replaced by ‘news snacking’; checking news content far more frequently, for short, sharp bursts of attention.” If news snacking demands listicles, the supply should fulfil that need.

Poole explains that audiences want something they can read at bus stops on their mobile devices. Something that they can “read some … and then stop, without feeling any guilt about having not accompanied the writer to the end of [their] thesis”. Listicles do just that.

Effective news reporting

Just as much as listicles are fun, they can also be used as a hard news report.

“From a news reporting perspective, listicles are actually as effective as a traditional article,” says Prinsloo. “It’s all facts, without any fluff in between. That’s what news is all about.”

Edidin agrees: “Listicles are not a substitute for long-form reporting, nor is long-form reporting a substitute for lists.” She explains that: “They’re different formats, suited to different subjects and different ends.”

Do you read listicles? Why do you enjoy them? Let us know in the comments below.