Things have changed. We might not like it or agree with it, but that doesn’t matter. As content writers, we need to understand how writing rules have changed so we can create content that meets our readers’ needs. But what exactly has changed – and why?

Before I started Year 11, I had to choose my subjects for the final two years of high school. I had to take the first step towards my future based on what the tenth step might look like.

‘Well, that shouldn’t be hard,’ I thought. ‘I’m going to be a journalist for a major newspaper.’

I’d already done work experience for the local paper, so I knew I’d be running around the city with a notepad and tape recorder getting the big stories and typing them up on a typewriter in an office of journos all smoking and yelling into desk phones. (Yes, I’d seen Superman too many times.)

So I took Secretarial Studies. By the time I left Year 12, I could do shorthand at 100 words a minute. I kicked ass at shorthand. But I never used it again.

A Computer Studies class was available, but I dismissed it. It was 1990 and computers were for nerds. I also dismissed Accounting because business wasn’t even on my radar.

Fast forward to 2021 and I spend my days on computers in my own publishing and training business. I’ve created online courses, run webinars, built membership websites, developed social media campaigns and edited apps. These things just didn’t exist in 1990!

So why have things changed?

Changes in education

In the organisations I work with, many people write in a formal, out-of-date style because they genuinely have no idea that they don’t have to. No-one has told them yet!

They’re surprised and a little dubious when I talk about plain language and how society’s expectations of content has changed.

They look around nervously, wondering what would happen if they changed the way they wrote. Would they get in trouble? Wasn’t this how they were supposed to write?

I think a lot of it relates to when they completed their education. Most people learn the rules of writing when they’re in school and never let go of them. These rules are set in stone – until someone tells them they’re not.

Baby boomers, Gen Xs, Gen Ys, Millennials…they all write differently and it’s not because of their age. It’s because of differences in how they were educated. Many Gen Xs didn’t learn grammar. Baby Boomers were taught to use lots of capitals and punctuation, while Gen Ys were taught to use very few capitals and very little punctuation.

Millennials don’t seem to believe in either!

Changes in how readers read

Today, most people feel busier and more stretched than ever, so they don’t have the patience for difficult content. If we want someone to read our content, it must be relevant, engaging and valuable.

There are many competing priorities for attention, so much of what we write just won’t be read – not due to the writing quality but due to lack of time. Our readers make choices about what to spend time on.

Additionally, the internet, social media and instant messaging have created an expectation of immediacy that is driving people’s stress. We expect answers immediately and have little patience for waiting. As a society, we’ve put so many things in our own way that we have to avoid anything that takes too long.

That’s the context in which people are reading your content. They’re scanning for the gist of it. They’re reading bits and pieces. They’re putting it down and returning to it later. They probably won’t get to the end.

The more you write, the less likely they are to read it.

Changes in how we care

Over the last decade or so, we’ve realised as a society that we need to protect our vulnerable better than we have been. It’s a good thing.

But it means we have a responsibility to ensure our content can be accessed by as many people as possible. Ideally, anyone who wants to read it.

This means we must be more vigilant in how we write. We can’t assume our readers are like us. And we may have to use a range of distribution channels to meet all our readers’ needs.

There are laws we need to adhere to, such as the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and other state-based Acts. For web, there’s the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. The United Nations has also developed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

So what’s changed?

So much has changed and this is only a starting point. (I’ll cover more in my upcoming book!) For now, these are the changes that you need to accept to write content in 2021:

  • We use fewer words. This means becoming a more concise writer and a better editor.
  • We write more like humans and less like faceless organisations. We start with empathy and an understanding of who our reader is and what they’re going through.
  • We don’t assume the person we’re writing for has the same education level, cultural background and abilities as we do.
  • We don’t write one-size-fits-all content. We tailor it to various audiences, devices and platforms.
  • We write for the device that’s hardest to use and the person who will have most difficulty consuming the content first.

Knowing the rules of good writing has never been more important to create valuable content. And the rules have changed – it’s our responsibility to keep up.