What Is Micro Content: Examples & How to make use of it

Common Examples of Micro Content

Micro content can come in many different formats. While what most comes to mind is content in the form of videos, its definition is more far-reaching. Micro content and Short-form content are an already well-established trend among the major social media platforms with many Microlearning platforms and apps making use of this form factor to encourage continuous learning. Examples of micro content can include:

Flashcards

Flashcards are often bite-sized content with a question on one side and answers on the other used to train information retention through spaced repetition and Microlearning. However, Flashcards could be any cards that condense key ideas and insights to ensure a larger concept is broken down into smaller, more digestible learning nuggets.

This learning aid is often a popular form factor for Bite-sized learning and Microlearning.

Short-Form Videos

While most popular social media platforms allow videos of up to 90 seconds, many are much shorter. Influencers and educators take advantage of our unfortunately limited attention spans and pack in the most information in the shortest amount of time. It’s safe to say that if we’re not “wowed” within the first few seconds of a video, we put our scrolling fingers to work. Typical short-form video content can include:

• YouTube Shorts
• Instagram Reels
• Facebook Reels
• TikToks

Lists

Lists fall under the umbrella of micro content, whether within the body of an email, blog, flashcard or scholarly article. Our eyes naturally go to easy-to-read text and lists that contain essential, easily absorbed information. How-to articles and short-form blogs called “listicles” are good examples. Skimming through bullet points takes much less time than reading dense paragraphs when trying to pick out pertinent information.

Google Snippets

When seeking information on a particular topic of interest, most of us go straight to Google. SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) sometimes have short “snippets.” These are a sentence or two that most likely answer the question you were Googling. Snippets can be considered micro content since they only take seconds to ingest.

Infographics

We’ve all heard a picture is worth a thousand words, right? Online images can quickly and easily provide information about a topic without the need to read through dense material. It could take several minutes or even longer to pick out the information or critical concepts of a topic when reading about it, but with a well done visual, we can grasp the idea in seconds. Examples of this type of micro content can include:

• Memes
• GIFs
• Illustrations
• Charts, graphs, and timelines

While we’ve included memes as a form of micro content, it’s important to point out that many are used for mis- or disinformation. The quality of a meme depends on the accuracy of its message.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often have you researched a topic, found a suitable website, and quickly scrolled down to the FAQs to find the answers to your questions? FAQ pages are an invaluable source of quick information and can sometimes give you the answers you’re seeking in less time than it takes to read an entire article.

Social Media Posts

We can gain information quickly from social media posts, which can be considered micro content. Most platforms only allow for a limited number of characters per post (X, formally known as Twitter, comes to mind), and this type of content is easily digested. The best social media posts pack the most information in a few brief sentences.

The Benefits of Micro Content

Micro content offers users numerous benefits, especially in today’s fast-paced world. While those seeking higher education may spend more time diving deeply into scholarly content, those looking to increase their knowledge of interest or topics like productivity, better time management, exercise tips, entrepreneurship facts, or even cool insights about music or film may not want to invest so much of their free time to research these. Micro content is a fantastic way to ingest high-quality information in a natural way, quickly and enjoyably.

Deepstash harnesses the power of micro content by providing users with idea categories packed with learning nuggets and bite-sized learning nodules. These nodules incorporate gaining information and usable knowledge through short-form content. From videos and articles to easily digestible podcasts, our community curates what they naturally find interesting and valuable, converting those insights in the idea cards you find on topics like business facts, traveling, arts, food culture, even science and tech. This type of learning has many benefits.

Microcontent is Easily Digestible

Microcontent can be easily consumed in under a minute, allowing for quick learning and information retention. Short podcasts and videos can also be rewatched or listened to over and over, further helping information retention. Acquiring knowledge faster is a common goal among learners. Rather than face information overload, this type of content doesn’t overwhelm learners.

You can read more efficiently

There’s no need to spend hours reading or listening to long-winded podcasts with micro content, although there’s nothing wrong with doing so. Quick and efficient micro content doesn’t require a significant time investment, so reading book summaries or key ideas is the way to go for learners with limited time. It’s far better to spend your free time learning rather than doomscrolling. With self-paced learning, there are no deadlines to meet, so you are free to educate yourself when you have the time, even if it’s only a few minutes.

You become a lifelong learner

The best types of micro content not only pique your interest but also leave you wanting more. Tuning into the content that you want to know more about can help you develop a healthy habit of daily learning. Consuming bite-sized chunks of information can leave the learner with more questions and an unquenchable thirst for answers. What started out as a quick 30 seconds of interest can easily open up an entirely new world.

More Focused Approach to Learning

Micro learning typically focuses on specific learning objectives and allows learners to focus on a particular area of interest. By avoiding the fluff that some content inexcusably provides, learners can zero in on the exact information and facts they want to learn more about. When a more focused approach to learning occurs, the natural process of continuous learning is more likely to happen. Rather than wasting time with endless scrolling, viewing micro content can become a positive learning tool.

Isn’t Micro Content Just for Entertainment?

Micro content has definitely become more popular in recent years, and it compliments users' short attention spans. Although it’s true that a lot of short-form content is solely to entertain viewers and line content creators' pockets, it’s not fair to say that all micro content is solely for mindless entertainment. While it may be more prevalent than ever, micro content can easily be used as a tool for learning and expanding one's horizons.

Not all micro content used as an educational tool is as dull, wordy, long-winded, or complex as a scholarly paper or academic textbook. Plenty of incredibly talented content creators use their mediums in a fun and engaging way to teach in an entertaining manner. Many use interesting video techniques and humor to explain ideas and concepts. With a bit of creativity, content creators and influencers can play an important role in educating the masses.

What Is Micro vs Macro Content?

While micro and macro content are excellent sources of learning, their content and purposes differ. Both do provide a vehicle for learning, but their formats are somewhat different. Here’s a look at how they present information differently.

Micro content/Short-form Content:

• Provides information in small bite-sized learning chunks
• Is designed to present information in a very short amount of time, 1-5 minutes
• Is used to spark interest and capture attention quickly

Macro content or Long-form content:

• Is typically longer in format than micro content
• Is more comprehensive and provides a more in-depth look on a subject
• Can be rather lengthy while providing insight into a much broader topic

Micro and macro content can complement each other. However, the initial contact with a topic is usually first acquired with micro content. Once the learner has caught the attention or interest of a particular subject or concept, they could very well dive deeper into certain key points by employing macro content, which provides a deeper understanding of a topic.

How To Create Micro Content

Creating micro content can be as involved or easy as you want it to be. For businesses trying to gain followers and income, extensive market research may be required. However, to create engaging content for a general audience, it is best to stick with the topics you are already interested in. The biggest thing to remember is that the content should be concise and provide good information in a short period of time. Some key points when creating micro content are:

• Define your objective - Determine what your end game is. Are you seeking engagement, brand awareness, or simply to get impressions?
• Know Your Audience - Knowing your target audience will help you to define exactly what information they’re seeking and you can create your content accordingly.
• Keep it simple - Remember, micro content needs to be short in length. Pack your video, infographic, meme, or short social media post with attending-grabbing information that’s easy to absorb in a short time.
• Get straight to the point - Little wind-up, go right to the core meaning of each bite-sized content you produce, similar to how an inverted pyramid works
• Use visuals - Adding videos or eye-catching graphics will help to capture the viewers’ interest. You only have one chance to make a first impression.

To get started with micro content, you may try out our authoring tool and write down in a concise, structured approach a curated article that is split into individual, self sufficient idea cards. This way you can get started creating micro content that is ready to be found and shared by other people with keen interests.

Micro content makes being a continuous learner much easier

Simply because your formal education has ended doesn’t mean that your quest for knowledge should end. Deepstash is a fantastic tool for continuing the learning process by providing users with idea categories and hand crafted journey collections of topics that many are interested in. Users can continue their learning when they have free time by watching our videos, listening to our podcasts, or reading our ideas and stories.

Whether you dive into an already-developed interest or discover a new one that one of our members has shared, Deepstash makes it easy to improve your knowledge with our easily digestible content. Whatever your learning preferences, we have the content and formats that’ll pique your natural curiosity.

Further Exploration: Learn more about Microcontent and related Concepts

Continuous Learning is one of the concepts that is very close to Microlearning, as it represents the desire to aquire knowledge that drives us to look towards ways of simplifying our learning journey while making it pleasant. Discover our Journey Collections related to this concept and explore unique curated ideas.

1. The Key Benefits of Micro-Learning : Microcontent is a cornerstone of microlearning, providing brief, targeted educational pieces that facilitate quick comprehension and retention. Explore curated examples from various mediums to see how microcontent can enhance learning efficiency and engagement.

2. Creating A Culture Of Learning: Explore how integrating microcontent into various learning environments can transform passive information consumption into active learning.

3. How to properly read a book: Explore curated examples of microcontent that demonstrate how to absorb essential information from books without reading them cover-to-cover.

4. How To Learn Anything Fast : Microcontent accelerates the process of learning anything quickly by breaking down complex information into digestible, focused segments that can be easily understood and applied. Explore curated resources that utilize microcontent to master new skills and knowledge in a fraction of the time.

Microcontent is a concept worth delving into as it plays a pivotal role in the modern learning landscape. We believe that the delivery of concise, impactful information leads to significant learning advancements. Microcontent embodies this principle by condensing complex ideas into smaller, manageable units, making every piece of information more engaging and meaningful. This approach allows you and others to make the most out of every minute and every content interaction.