Food For Thought: The Bottomless Bowl Of Infinite Scroll

Ever notice someone scrolling endlessly on Facebook? What starts as a quick look turns into 10 minutes of time spent randomly wandering through Facebook.

It's no accident ... welcome to the bottomless bowl of infinite scroll. This doesn't just apply to social media, it's hard wired into human DNA. According to Cornell University, when someone is given a bottomless bowl of soup, people eat an astounding 73% more than if they have to refill their own bowl. This type of behavioral economics is a key aspect of the Facebook business model, which - worth noting - generated $7 billion in revenue during their latest quarter.

Humans are inherently lazy. While you might think that it doesn't take much effort to click on a link at the bottom of a story, its more effort than Facebook believes is necessary, and they are not alone.

But what about page views?

Take a look at ESPN, the Worldwide Leader in Sports. As the bottomless bowl moves from one article to the next, the address in your URL changes without the user doing anything. Here's an article about the latest NFL coaching changes. As you scroll from one article to the next, pay attention to your URL.

Meanwhile, for daily newspapers, including the legendary Page Six, it's still a page view strategy built on one and done.

Not to be outdone, while trying to increase page views and time spent, radio websites are almost exclusively one and done as well. When you click on a story or article on virtually any station site, you can scroll to the bottom of the bowl (article) in 3-5 seconds. This is true both on mobile and desktop.

On-air, radio isn't just competing with stations up and down the dial, and it's even more true online.

The people visiting your website are highly engaged fans. Why not keep their attention longer and keep your brand top of mind with an updated web strategy? It could be the perfect New Year's Resolution for your station.