10 Reasons Why I Hate List Posts

Did I hook you? Did you see that number and go, "Good! I can get the information I need quickly and succinctly without wasting a lot of time!"

Well sorry to disappoint, but there are no ten reasons for you to have come here. Or, better said, there may indeed be ten reasons, but that's your business. As for your humble host of your favorite marketing podcast, I just have a few snarky gripes to get off my chest.

So why the hate? Why am I so against list posts these days? Because I believe the list post has become the blog world's analog for fast food. It's quick, it's cheap, it satisfies your immediate hunger, while leaving you little to no nutritional value and probably weighing you down with unhealthy fats and carcinogenic byproducts.

The Difference Between Succinct and Schlock

There's something to be said for getting to the point. The mind has a hard time wrestling with big concepts and it's always a good thing to boil a concept down to a key insight. So I'm all for that.

The trouble with list posts, though, is that most of them really aren't boiling things down to any core truths. For the most part they are just hacking apart something more complicated into bite-sized morsels. So while they may provide useful tips, they are not asking the reader to pull everything together into a deeper understanding.

For instance, I can give you my "10 tips for improving your SEO." You may find one or two or three useful. You may even try some of them and may experience success. But you are no closer to understanding how the complicated and labyrinthine world of SEO really works after looking at the parts alone. That's like asking someone to understand automotive repair by studying 10 individual parts of the engine.

But most list posts I've read do exactly this. They pull apart the complicated and throw us little juicy nuggets. Meanwhile, they give us few key insights into the operations of complicated processes, nor encourage deeper understanding and debate. They are just pieces and parts. They are byproducts. They are hot dogs.

Catering To Our Own Laziness

But let's face facts: There are lots of list posts, because list posts are popular. People like lists. Lists are easy -- easy to write and easy to read. They don't take a lot of thought on anyone's part. All you have to do is read some facts. The actual work of pulling these facts together into insight is purely option. You just order from the menu and up pops your facts. Simple.

As for the bloggers (and journalists, for that matter) who write list posts, they know it's the easiest way to drive traffic to their site. I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "You have to keep your posts short and bulleted because no one reads online -- they skim." So why fight it? It's easier to just make a list of tweetable sound-bites that people will pass along to friends. After all, traffic means money.

A Meal Worth Talking About

I can't help but find this sad, though. Wrestling with complicated concepts is like a phenomenal sushi dinner with just the right beer and possibly an interesting dessert for me. It's satisfying on so many levels and I'll probably tell the story of that dinner again and again. When's the last time you told everyone about your mid-day run to Taco Bell?

But for me, that's exactly what most list posts are: They're those annoying tweets about running to McDonald's. They are a collection of greasy french fries that you're slightly embarrassed to be eating, but you're really hungry and don't have time for anything better.

So if you do one thing different today, make it a good meal for your mind. Engage in some debate. Wrestle with some high-minded stuff. I recommend Thought Gadgets or even @bmorrissey, personally. See where it leads you. I guarantee you'll be left wanting more, rather than the usual bloated and sedentary feeling that usually accompanies reading list fare.