When describing mainstream internet users over the period 1998 - 2008, the term hunter-gatherer would be most appropriate. While the male specimen hunts down the the internet for bits of information (or illegal torrents to download), the female counterpart would most likely be engaged in exchanging tips on how to brainwash its offspring or lose weight. If it concerned a single male specimen however, the term cellarman (or atticman) may be applied. Today, that’s all changing, as mainstream internet users are quickly becoming passive information consumers, sitting idle and waiting for information to come to them through RSS feeds, ‘live streams’ and status updates (Facebook or Twitter for example) on multiple devices, including smartphones.

While the above might strike you as comical, anyone engaged in designing user experiences for the web, should be paying attention. Many web properties, including high-trafficked portals, are simply not designed for this type of information consumption. While Rupert Murdoch, is looking at monetizing the vehicle that enables the hunter-gatherer; he would be wise, to have a strategy for the next-generation of desk potatoes that will soon be idling behind their screens.

The hunter-gatherer makes a run for it upon finding relevant information.

Traditional web properties are designed to guide users from their front page to dig deeper into a site’s structure or, when landing from a search engine, deep inside the catacombs of a website, to monetize that traffic with a heavy dose of ads. While the hunter-gatherer is specifically looking for information and upon finding that information, going for the nearest exit, the desk potato employs a very different consumption pattern. The desk potato arrives at your property looking to be entertained and is often referred by an authority or friend. The desk potato is not looking for the nearest exit and will, likely, stick around if finding value.

Engaging the desk potatoes through design

The basic vehicle for keeping the desk potato engaged is to structure your design to highlight articles that may of be related interest. Amazon (for example) does a great job at showing you “related products” for each product you find on its website, but the positioning of the “related products” are often tucked away at the bottom of a page outside the initial visibility area, which potentially leads to earlier “exits”.

Placing related articles in a prominent & immediately visible position.

In terms of execution, it would be worth considering ways of keeping the related articles section visible regardless of the section of the page the user is on, as the goal is to have the “related” options available to a user upon finalizing the consumption of the information. Also, consider employing robust data analytics to improve the order in which the related articles are displayed and other data metrics which might help you improve the selection of related articles to display.

In case of dealing with rich media, optimize your property’s performance by playing back the related media within the current page, as each time a page (re)loads a user might head for the nearest exit; speed of which information reaches the desk potato has a rather (disproportionally) large effect on keeping the user on your web property.

Creating loyalty with the desk potatoes

Take into account, how the desk potato arrived at your property and try to develop a strategy to engage the desk potato more frequently through the same channels. If your user originated from Twitter, provide the user with options to do so more frequently by adding subscription links to (highly targeted) Twitter Accounts or Lists. As a rule of thumb, the desk potato cares more about receiving personalized and timely bits of information (links or quotes for example), than it does about your web property or brand — loyalty can be earned by servicing the user in a place where he or she feels comfortable, whereas your web property and its content are of secondary concern.

Providing targeted options for desk potatoes to follow you on their favorite channels.

Treat the channel with respect and design each ‘status update’, that is meant to lure in your desk potato, with highly optimized copy and trackable links; we do want to learn something, don’t we? Optionally, display sample posts within the ‘subscribe’ box to give the user a ‘feel’ of the type & tone of the information you will be servicing them with.

Tapping into the desk potatoes’ social graph

Remember that the desk potato landed on your site by referral of an authority or a friend and try to consolidate that model into your web property; your visiting desk potato is your most valuable (free!) distribution tool. Adding a plethora of ‘Share’ links however, might not be your best option to put the desk potato to work. Choosing deeper methods of integration for tapping into the desk potatoes’ social graph, such as Twitter OAuth or Facebook Connect, not only gives you the tools to identify users, but also keeps them on your property, whether they just want to share a link or leave a comment (using their credentials) on your article.

Introducing real value to desk potatoes willing to authenticate.

Having users authenticate on your property, enables a number of additional (possibly sticky) features. Instead of trying to guess what related articles users like, complement the selection with what their friends like (or shared) using the desk potato’s existing social graph and available API’s; the proposition of having access to your friends’ likes makes it far more likely for a user to provide identification and subsequently share your content. Distributed authentication methods, not only provide great tools for identifying users, but also lower the barriers imposed by a property’s proprietary login method.

There you have it - Designing for passive consumption in a nutshell; all this potato talk made me hungry.