I do have to say though, I think list posts can still be effective if they are not over used. Thanks for a great article!

@ Sarge – I think the easiest way to find evidence of dying fads is to simply take a look around the internet. Unless you have weight as an authority blogger (like Chris Brogan, to use your example), there’s a darned good chance that short posts won’t grow your blog or get traffic and list posts don’t get read. People want more than that now, to be able to distinguish the thought-leaders and knowledgeable experts from the crap that’s out there.

Ah, but bullet points… Yes, those will always stay, simply because they make a post far easier to read and take in.

I would disagree that short posts and list posts are a dying fad. Do you have evidence of it? I would say list posts and short posts are my favourite sort of posts. List posts are generally posts I can reference for later if they’re quality and short posts are great if they get to the point and are valuable – Chris Brogan is a perfect example of this.

You are on the money though that bullet points are by far easier to read and I found myself really focusing on the bullet points in this article as opposed to the text that followed in your example.

An even greater idea would be to turn those bullet points into little red arrows sort of similar to what Darren Rowse does on problogger. They’re effective and may draw even more attention.

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