As we think about how publishing, media and journalism are changing, how do we factor in the speed at which media and information enters our lives?

As content creators look to “capture eyeballs,” how do you get those eyeballs to slow down? Has media consumption become a near thoughtless process of scanning, filtering and digesting?

This is all the more interesting as the concept of having a “conversation” with brands has taken hold. Many are asking readers to create content, comment on a story, “friend” their brand, or otherwise engage in some meaningful way. In a crowded marketplace, what does it mean?

Enter “super-users” and “grazers.” I would bet that many of us are becoming super-users on certain media, and grazers on others. Of course, a single person can be both, depending on media type.

Dan goes on to break down the consumption habits of both grazers and super-users, so click through to Dan’s site for the full article.

I believe its a matter of intent of the content creator. Certain types of media are created to be consumed quickly, even real-time like Twitter, while others are better if lingered over like a good book.

One group Dan didn’t mention, but probably falls into the “grazing” category are the “snackers.” They want quick in and out experiences, tiny nibbles of content they can consume quickly and move on.

So, are you more of a Snacker, Grazer or Super-User?

(Photo Credit: Rakka)

Once you get past the initial overwhelming “this has got to be a fad” feeling, it seems that there is great potential for twitter alerts to deliver all sorts of information – news headlines, weather, flight status updates and more. Right now the API is a little thin, but with a simple HTTP POST you can update your twitter feed programatically with just about anything.

I know that content feeds and alerts are nothing new, but the difference is that twitter has the potential to be a one stop shop for content delivery. Instead of bouncing around from source to source and subscribing to content alerts, you simply friend those sources in twitter. You can already get BBC Tech headlines via twitter, for example.

What if you could combine several friends into a single source or group and get updates from that group in a single update at a predefined time? For example if content was being delivered from MSNBC, Yahoo! News, and the BBC, I could get a single combined alert every 30 minutes. I have not had time to explore twitter fully, so if this functionality already exists let me know.

Twitter alerts are being delivered outside of twitter as well. I’ve seen lots of blog widgets, dashboard widgets, a Vista sidebar gadget and many others. Seems like content providers would want to tap into that enthusiastic user base, right Joe?

For us, I could see something like a new recipe delivered daily/hourly from our Betty Crocker brand, a travel tip from Frommers, or even a productivity trick from Lifehacker.

Anyone else seeing the serious potential for a viral content delivery system, or am I missing the point?

I was particularly interested in Joanna Pearlstein’s sidebar (bite-sized, of course) 403 Ways to Slice a CD :

“An album isn’t just an album anymore – it’s an opportunity to dice a dozen songs into ringtones, downloads, blog skins, and more.”

Although there have been experiments with a-la-carte publishing in the past, I wonder if it isnt time for us to look at new and innovative ways to deliver bite-sized content to our readers. This is particularly challenging in the type of publishing I do – technology and programming, where Google already provides a seeminging endless supply of snack-sized content.

There remain very strong value propositions for a printed tech book in the Age of Google – convenience, portability and being a reputable source are 3 that immediately come to mind. And until the killer e-book reader comes along and we as an industry sort out our DRM issues I don’t think the printed book is going away soon. But it sure seems like there is a market opportunity we are missing here.

What sorts of bite-sized content do you consume?