Engagements (clicks, shares, bookmarks, reposts) are quickly becoming the web metric of influence for publishers and advertisers. As a result I’ve been obsessing about the design of long format news sites. I’ve come to the conclusion that the page scroll is one of the most frequently ignored “engagements” on a page.

ARE YOU SCROLL-WORTHY?
In the mid-nineties Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes asked the question “Is he sponge-worthy?” when she found that her contraceptive of choice was being discontinued. News audiences are already deciding whether content is scroll worthy and few apart from guys like ClickTale are measuring these decisions.

Right now the scroll is the crappy default action we make users bend to and it’s for no reason other than spatial constraints. Unlike a “more” button, scrolling doesn’t increase page views. Unlike comments, it doesn’t beget more comments. And unlike sharing, it doesn’t have promotional or SEO value. When you make someone scroll in the first 3 seconds of a visit it’s like saying, “Can you proofread my thesis? Drive over and pick it up then.”

If the point is to get people to “engage” and react in a way that’s valuable then I feel as if the scroll should be measured to produce better content. I just don’t buy that time on a page indicates a reader’s interest. Scrolling could help. I mean, it’s not rocket science or secret browser tracking. If you trigger a ticker at the 100, 500 and 1000 pixel mark and track your category tags, you could get a pretty good idea of what people like about your site — and the point is to do what’s likable. So my big question is: Who is measuring the percentage of scrolling done on a page in combination with the topics being scrolled upon? And how do I become their BFF?