Digital Delights - Digital Tribes

Researchers at the University of Missouri School of Journalism propose that, since the brain is engaged through motivation, the most effective way to get readers to visit and stay on a website is to give them proper motivation, such as invoking emotion with stories and pictures. The researchers also say that the simpler the design, the better.

"The brain can only process so much information at a time," said Paul Bolls, an associate professor of strategic communication at the school. "Too much information can overload it and cancel out understanding and retention. Consuming news and advertising involves receiving information, adding previously held knowledge for context and then storage of the new information."

Bolls said that these steps need to be kept in balance.

"If a reader has to work too hard to find the stories they are looking for on a news site, it can defeat their brain's ability to add context and store the new information for the future," he said. "Keeping it simple is key."