What type of news consumers are on your site?

Matt Sokoloff July 10th, 2008

An article in IMNA’s idea magazine breaks newspaper readers into five categories; “indignant”, “social”, “ambivalent”, “pleasure seeking” and “closet.” It applies not only to newspapers but news websites. I can’t seem to find the whole article but Peter Krasilovsky discusses the five types:

Indignant readers are the ones for which newspapers remain a constant. “These readers are typically skeptical, and identify with the victims of fraud and deceit,” writes Stork. Sociable readers are action oriented, who want fast and general information without getting too heavy. Ambivalent readers are heavy media consumers who want to stay up to date, but don’t consider the newspaper to be substantial or reliable. Pleasure seeking readers are very low frequency readers who use the newspaper to kill time and take a mental break from more serious matters. And closet readers perceive the newspaper as “trash. They have a feeling of voyeurism when reading the paper.”

So what motivates your consumers? Sometimes it’s not what we really want to hear, but it’s important to know in order to be successful. There’s a reason those silly slideshows get so much traffic.