New research from Temple’s Fox School of Business shows that while headlines are important when it comes to grabbing readers’ attention, storytelling design is key when it comes to maintaining it.

Since the dawn of newspapers in the 17th century, journalists' and storytellers’ top mechanism for capturing a reader’s attention has been the same: a story’s headline and lede. 

Today, those two journalism mechanisms remain as important as ever, especially given the rise of the Internet and the introduction of search engine optimization. However, a new study from Temple University’s Fox School of Business has found that while headlines grab attention, it is storytelling design that determines whether an audience sticks with a story. 

Recently accepted for publication in Information Systems Research, the scholarly journal article “How to Tell a (News) Story? Quantifying the Impact of News Format and Storytelling on Engagement” found that reader engagement is shaped not only by what the story says but by how it is told. The article was co-authored by Susan Mudambi, professor emeritus of marketing; Subodha Kumar, the Paul R. Anderson Distinguished Chair Professor of Statistics, Operations, and Data Science; Joydeep Srivastava, the Robert L. Johnson Professor of Marketing; and Debashish Ghose, FOX ’23, a visiting assistant professor at the D'Amore McKim School of Business at Northeastern University. 

“Part of the impetus for this study is that  the vast majority of U.S. consumers get their news from social media,” Mudambi said. “They may get a link to a print source, but it is social media that is driving people’s consumption of news. A lot of research has focused on how to drive reader engagement, but there has not been a close look at how the bodies of news stories impact engagement.” 

“In recent years, we have seen a lot of research around fake news, but we do not have a good understanding of satirical news. Satirical news stories use humor, but  sometimes can be misconstrued,” Kumar added. “That is another reason that we wanted to dive into this topic.” 

As part of the study, the researchers examined how narrative form, emotional sequencing and reading complexity affects reader engagement when it comes to both traditional and satirical news stories. Specifically, the researchers pursued a large-scale observational study where they examined both traditional and satirical news posted by the same publisher on social media.  

They then used advanced AI systems known as large language models to manipulate the narrative format, emotional sequence and reading level within the stories and create new versions, which were then shared with more than 500 participants to garner their feedback. As for what makes the most engaging story, it is not a black and white answer. 

“What we found is that there is really a combination of things that must be considered when it comes to grabbing and keeping a reader’s attention,” Srivastava said. “So, for instance, if you're using complex language, then that needs to be paired with a high level of narrativity, and the storytelling sequence should go from bad to good.” 

Specifically, the study shows that reader engagement depends on how each of the storytelling features (narrativity, emotional sequence and reading level) interact. In traditional news, simple language broadly helps with reader engagement but that does not mean complex language cannot work. When it is paired with a high level of narrativity and the story flows from bad-to-good, it can be successful. This format is regularly seen in some highly successful magazine-style publications like The New Yorker or Time Magazine. 

For satirical publications, humor alone is not enough. The researchers’ study found that engagement rises when narrativity, emotional sequence and reading level match the audience’s initial motivation for diving into the story. 

For journalists and news organizations, the study is key as it provides a framework to consider when crafting both traditional and satirical news stories. It also offers guidance on what journalists should consider when working on longer-form, magazine-style pieces. 

“One of the large takeaways is that headlines still do grab attention, and that is something that is unlikely to ever change,” Mudambi said. “But the study also shows that storytelling design determines whether audiences lean in or tune out. At a time where we are bombarded with more messages than ever before, this study is key as it provides a blueprint for how to both grab and retain an audience’s attention.”