Washington - Countering the notion that Web users have generally shorter attention spans, a study has found that Web news readers have a greater attention span than print news readers.

The Poynter Institute's EyeTrack07 survey positioned cameras near the eyes of readers to monitor where their eyes moved as they read both print and online news.

It found that Web news readers read 77% of the stories they chose to read, compared with 62% for newspaper readers.

"Nearly two-thirds of online readers, once they chose a particular item to read, read all of text," Sara Quinn, director of the Poynter EyeTrack07 project, told Reuters.

"That speaks to the power of long-form journalism."

The survey also found that readers of both formats remembered more of what they read if the information was presented in a question and answer, timeline, sidebar, list or other non-narrative format.

Related Links:
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=120458

http://tinyurl.com/2ze45p (Reuters)