Longform

= Longform.org =

Introduction
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[[image:longform2.jpg width="86" height="85" align="right" caption="Aaron Lammer, Editor"]]
[|Longform.org] began in April 2010, and is a free Web site that posts new and classic non-fiction articles that are too long to be read on a conventional Web page. Articles can be sent to Kindle, Readability, Pocket and Instapaper with a single click. Longform has its Longform app which allows users to send articles from Longform.org to the iPad. It also allows readers to subscribe to magazines and receive their features automatically. Longform is by two editors, five contributors, a developer, and an intern. It allows advertising, or "sponsorship" for seven days at a $500 fee. Lonform has some impressive since its creation, among them:
 * Pageviews: 800,000 monthly
 * Twitter: 22,000 followers
 * RSS: 8,000 subscribers
 * iPad users: 10 percent
 * Age 25-34: 30 percent
 * Income above $100k: 27 percent
 * In California or New York: 20 percent
 * Average visit: 3 minutes 49 seconds

Functionality and Questions Raised
Longform's home page displays a series of selected articles for each day:

[[image:longform5.jpg width="445" height="293"]]
Clicking on a link takes users to the original Web source, and usually, the pages are gigantic. Users can also use another menu to select articles from various genres:

Articles can also be searched by topic, writer, publication, tag, pre-1960', 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, and 1990's. Longform also offers a newsletter that is sent out every Friday with links to all the articles posted that week. There is also a Short List, Favorites, and Best of 2011. Sponsorship is avaiable by inquiry, and Longform lists those weeks that are already closed out.

The five contributors all seem to have valid credentials: Gretchen Gavett, for example, is a Web researcher and producer of the for the PBS series Frontline. Another contributor, Jody Avirgan, is a producer on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show. They all seem young which would certainly appeal to the 355-34 year old audience they seek to attract. Yet there are questions that Longform does not answer. For example, why these particular contributors, and how do they contribute? Do they write articles themselves? Most of all, however, Longform does not offer any selection criteria other than "new and classic non-fiction articles." This leads one to wonder how and why are the articles selected? Is there a political bias among the staff? There is a lack of professionalism here where other Web sites opt to show more creditiality. Even the article submission is sketchy in that it also holds no information as to what Longform expects for their criteria. This is not to devalue what Longform offers in terms of free content to its users, but it does raise some quesitons about what would seem to be the most important aspect of a selection criteria.