14 Secrets That Will Make Your Headline Go Viral

Slide 1

Slide 1 text

REVEALED HOW TO WRITE A HEADLINE THAT PEOPLE CAN’T IGNORE

Slide 2

Slide 2 text

WHAT YOU’VE BEEN TAUGHT Aberrational Behavior and the Causal Effect of Incentives WHAT WORKS Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Ø Sold 4 million copies Ø Led to a movie, a pod- cast, a blog, a column in the New York Times, a follow-up book, and a consulting group

Slide 3

Slide 3 text

First Coast News Deputies: Jacksonville Woman Shot by 4-Year-Old Son “Stable” The Florida Times-Union Woman Tells Putnam County Deputy That Son, 4, Shot Her in Back While She Was Driving The Mail Online Pro-Gun Poster Girl Is Shot in the Back by Her 4-Year-Old Son While Driving in Florida

Slide 4

Slide 4 text

“Just because the Mail Online represents some of the least savory aspects of digital journalism doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t learn from what it does well. Finding the most compelling angle for a story, and presenting it in a way that will encourage audiences to read and share it, should be a part of every writer’s skill set by now.” —Will Oremus

Slide 5

Slide 5 text

Slide 6

Slide 6 text

Here’s What a Headline Does

Slide 7

Slide 7 text

8/10 That’s how many people will read your headline.

Slide 8

Slide 8 text

2/10 That’s how many people will read your text.

Slide 9

Slide 9 text

400% That’s how many more readers you can gain if you write a headline that’s irresistible.

Slide 10

Slide 10 text

There’s Just One Problem

Slide 11

Slide 11 text

No content

Slide 12

Slide 12 text

“I’m our highest-performing curator. I get 20-30% of our traffic every month. And every time I predict something will go viral, I’m usually horribly wrong. The reality is, Your audience’s behavior is unpredictable, so to get optimal performance, you always have to test.” —Adam Mordecai

Slide 13

Slide 13 text

25 That’s how many headlines Upworthy requires its writers to submit for each piece of content.

Slide 14

Slide 14 text

1. Hey White Guys! I Got Your Back 2. Do You Know How Hard It Is Being a White Guy? 3. Being a White Guy Is Harder Than You Think 4. You Don’t Know What It’s Like Being a White Guy 5. White Guys Don’t Have All the Luck 6. If You Knew What It Was Like for White Guys, You’d Keep Complaining 7. Seriously, Who Is Watching Out for the White Guys 8. This White Guy Thing Is Pretty Rough 9. You Don’t Know What It’s Like Being a White Guy 10. Imagine You Were a White Guy. You Know How Hard That Is? 11. Why Are White Guys Always Being Picked On? 12. Seriously, White Guys Can’t Catch a Break 13. White Guys Have So Many Problems, if Only You’d See That 14. An Open Message on Behalf of All White Guys Everywhere 15. This Is What a White Guy Has to Deal With 16. Put Yourself in a White Guy’s Shoes. Comfy, Right? 17.The Life of White Guys Is Way Harder Than You Realize 18. This Is Why You Should Feel Sorry for White Dudes 19. An Open Letter From White Dudes to America 20. A Public Service Announcement on Behalf of All White Dudes 21. White Dudes Have It Really Hard 22. Being a White Dude Is Harder Than Being Not a Woman or Not a Person of Color 23. Do You Know How Hard It Is Being a Woman? Try Being a White Dude 24. It’s Pretty Hard Out There for a Dude 25. Your Life Is Hard? Try Being (1) A Dude and (2) White

Slide 15

Slide 15 text

Slide 16

Slide 16 text

No content

Slide 17

Slide 17 text

Headline Clicks Views Rate 9 Secrets That Will Make Your Headline Go Viral 5 10,101 0.05 The Surefire Way to Make Anything Go Viral 7 9,456 0.07 The Closest Thing We Writers Have to a Silver Bullet 36 24,985 0.14 The Single Most Important Thing You Can Do to Make Your Content Go Viral 97 31,237 0.31 REVEALED: Every Trick in the Book to Write an Irresistible Headline 51 15,984 0.32 How to Write the Perfect Headline Every Time 114 21,361 0.53

Slide 18

Slide 18 text

Slide 19

Slide 19 text

Paid

Slide 20

Slide 20 text

Free

Slide 21

Slide 21 text

Think 25 Is a Lot?

Slide 22

Slide 22 text

500 That’s how many headlines the Washington Post brainstormed before deciding on a winner.

Slide 23

Slide 23 text

No content

Slide 24

Slide 24 text

No content

Slide 25

Slide 25 text

1,000 That’s how many times Thomas Edison failed en route to inventing the light bulb.

Slide 26

Slide 26 text

“I have not failed 1,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 1,000 ways will not work.” —Thomas Edison

Slide 27

Slide 27 text

Here’s Here’s How to Think of Your Headline

Slide 28

Slide 28 text

“Editors who used to assume they’d have the reader’s attention on, at least, the front page of their website now realize that the average reader sees a story in the hectic flow of a social feed on a phone, jammed up against memes, recipes, photos, and articles from the competition — over which you have no control.” —Ben Smith

Slide 29

Slide 29 text

“Think of your headline as an emissary for your article, written to travel around the internet, selling your material to potential readers.” —Matt Thompson

Slide 30

Slide 30 text

No content

Slide 31

Slide 31 text

No content

Slide 32

Slide 32 text

No content

Slide 33

Slide 33 text

No content

Slide 34

Slide 34 text

Overview Upworthy tests this many headlines per article. Recap 1/3

Slide 35

Slide 35 text

Overview Name one way to test your headlines, free or paid. 2/3 Recap

Slide 36

Slide 36 text

Overview Why didn’t Thomas Edison consider his 1,000 tests to be failures? 3/3 Recap

Slide 37

Slide 37 text

6 Case Studies BIG PICTURE / CASE STUDIES / SCIENCE / ART

Slide 38

Slide 38 text

When you got it, flaunt it.

Slide 39

Slide 39 text

Serve up your scoop.

Slide 40

Slide 40 text

Pull out your juiciest nugget.

Slide 41

Slide 41 text

When you got it, flaunt it.

Slide 42

Slide 42 text

Slide 43

Slide 43 text

FREEENTERPRISE.COM V1 Entitlements: Face the Truth, or Face the Consequences FREEENTERPRISE.COM V2 10 Entitlement Truths That Will Blow Your Mind 26,627 views 895 views 1

Slide 44

Slide 44 text

Slide 45

Slide 45 text

IOWA HOUSE DEMOCRATS Zach Wahls Speaks About Family MOVEON.ORG 2 Lesbians Raised a Baby, and This Is What They Got 17.4 million views 2.8 million views 2

Slide 46

Slide 46 text

“Our headline doesn’t try to summarize the video. Instead, it provokes curiosity and creates a sense of suspense.” — Caitlin Petre 2

Slide 47

Slide 47 text

Serve up your scoop.

Slide 48

Slide 48 text

Slide 49

Slide 49 text

DEALBROOK Realities Behind Prosecuting Big Banks HUFFPOST Eric Holder Admits Some Banks Are Just Too Big to Prosecute Ø Mark Gongloff Ø 509 words Ø 4,591 comments Ø 2,300 likes Ø Andrew Ross Sorkin Ø 970 words Ø 82 comments 3

Slide 50

Slide 50 text

FORBES How Target Figured Out a Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did Ø Kashmir Hill Ø 1,200 words Ø 13,000 likes Ø Charles Duhigg Ø 6,800 words Ø 60 likes 4 THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE How Companies Learn Your Secrets How Forbes Stole a New York Times Article and Got All the Traffic

Slide 51

Slide 51 text

“I was stunned. It was an amazing anecdote that crystallized so much anxiety we feel about corporate data collection, how much ‘they’ know about us, and how they’ll use it. I couldn’t believe it was buried nearly 5,000 words into the story rather than being the lede or broken out on its own.” — Kashmir Hill 4

Slide 52

Slide 52 text

Pull out your juiciest nugget.

Slide 53

Slide 53 text

GOOD V2 The Club Drug That Causes Some Strange Side Effects, Like Becoming a Really Nice Person Ø 127,000 views Ø 16,000 views 5 GOOD V1 How M.D.M.A. Affects Empathy

Slide 54

Slide 54 text

GAWKER “Generational Consultant” Holds America’s Fakest Job Ø Hamilton Nolan Ø 436 words Ø 1 hour to write Ø Ian Shapira Ø 1,568 words Ø 2.5 hours to drive to the event, 1 hour to conduct the interview, 4 hours to transcribe the interview, 1 day to write the article 6 THE WASHINGTON POST Business Coach Anne Loehr Tries to Bridge Diverse Generations: X, Y, Baby Boomer

Slide 55

Slide 55 text

“Nearly every day a Washington Post staffer not only sends us links to its expensive reporting, but even pulls out the most interesting quotes so as to make it easier to pirate.” — Gabriel Snyder 6

Slide 56

Slide 56 text

Case Studies When you got it, ______ it. 1/3 Recap

Slide 57

Slide 57 text

Case Studies Don’t serve up your summary. Serve up your _____. 2/3 Recap

Slide 58

Slide 58 text

Case Studies Pull out your juiciest ______. 3/3 Recap

Slide 59

Slide 59 text

The Science of Headline Writing BIG PICTURE / CASE STUDIES / SCIENCE / ART

Slide 60

Slide 60 text

Use a listicle.

Slide 61

Slide 61 text

Get specific.

Slide 62

Slide 62 text

Steal from the smartest.

Slide 63

Slide 63 text

Pick a case.

Slide 64

Slide 64 text

Use a listicle.

Slide 65

Slide 65 text

AS A LISTICLE 7 Telecommunications Best Practices for the 21st-Century Enterprise EVERYDAY HEADLINE Telecommunications Best Practices for the 21st-Century Enterprise

Slide 66

Slide 66 text

No content

Slide 67

Slide 67 text

“The geek equivalent of a Cosmo cover.” —Anil Dash

Slide 68

Slide 68 text

“Contemporary media culture prioritizes the smart take, the sound bite, the takeaway — and the list is the takeaway in its most convenient form. You are sucked in by the promise of a neatly quantified serving of information or diversion. There will be precisely 10 (or 14, or 33) items in this text, and they will pertain to precisely this stated topic. You know exactly what you’re going to get with a listicle.” —Mark O’Connell Long Answer

Slide 69

Slide 69 text

“Promise me 11 things; I’ll read at least three of them.” —Choire Sicha Short Answer

Slide 70

Slide 70 text

THE SYNOPSIS 5 Takeaways From 10 Years of Trump Tax Figures THE FULL ARTICLE Decade in the Red: Trump Tax Figures Show Over $1 Billion in Business Losses 1,500 words 4,000 words

Slide 71

Slide 71 text

DIGITS The Debt Ceiling Explained in 3 Videos and 1 Chart WORDS The Debt Ceiling Explained in Three Videos and One Chart 1

Slide 72

Slide 72 text

SPOTLIGHT THE NUMBER 5 Myths About Brand Licensing That Every C.M.O. Should Know How to Debunk BURY THE NUMBER Every C.M.O. Should Know How to Debunk These 5 Myths About Brand Licensing 2

Slide 73

Slide 73 text

No content

Slide 74

Slide 74 text

No content

Slide 75

Slide 75 text

Headline Source 7 Important Tax Facts About Medical and Dental Expenses 7 Ways to Make the Most of an AHIP Conference 5 Lessons in Digital Transformation From a Smart City 12 Ways of Looking at Frank Lloyd Wright The 6 Things You Never Thought to Tell House Guests The 5 Best Ways to Spot — and Thwart — Credit-Card Fraud

Slide 76

Slide 76 text

Get specific.

Slide 77

Slide 77 text

SPECIFIC Excel for Dummies GENERAL How to Use Excel 1

Slide 78

Slide 78 text

SPECIFIC How to Become a Master Networker Without Really Trying GENERAL Why You Should Network More 2

Slide 79

Slide 79 text

SPECIFIC The 5-Minute Guide to Organizing Your Day for More Focus and Productivity GENERAL How to Get Better at Organizing Your Day 3

Slide 80

Slide 80 text

Steal from the smartest.

Slide 81

Slide 81 text

How to Win Friends and Influence People How to Win Friends and Influence Bloggers How to Win Clients and Influence Prospects Dale Carnegie

Slide 82

Slide 82 text

Do You Make These Mistakes in English? Do You Make These Mistakes on a First Date? Do You Make These Mistakes When Buying a Car? Sherwin Cody

Slide 83

Slide 83 text

How I Improved My Memory in One Evening How I Gained 500 Followers Overnight How I Doubled My Income in 24 Hours Victor Jones

Slide 84

Slide 84 text

What Everybody Ought to Know About This Stock and Bond Business What Everybody Should Know About the New iPhone What Everyone Needs to Know About Campaign-Finance Reform Louis Engel

Slide 85

Slide 85 text

Pick a case.

Slide 86

Slide 86 text

Title Case Capitalize All Words Except Articles, Conjunctions, and Prepositions of Three or Fewer Letters. And Always Capitalize the First and Last Words Sentence Case Capitalize only the first word, like a sentence. Capitalize Each Word Capitalize Every Word, Even The Articles And Conjunctions

Slide 87

Slide 87 text

The Science “Listicle” is a portmanteau of which two words? 1/4 Recap

Slide 88

Slide 88 text

The Science Should you put your numbers at the beginning, middle, or end of your headline? 2/4 Recap

Slide 89

Slide 89 text

The Science Should you write numbers using words or digits? 3/4 Recap

Slide 90

Slide 90 text

The Science Which case do you prefer? 4/4 Recap

Slide 91

Slide 91 text

The Art of Headline Writing BIG PICTURE / CASE STUDIES / SCIENCE / ART

Slide 92

Slide 92 text

Use words that are evocative.

Slide 93

Slide 93 text

Create an itch.

Slide 94

Slide 94 text

Use words that are evocative.

Slide 95

Slide 95 text

“People don’t read the headline two or three times, considering the content and deciding whether it’s relevant to them. They scan it, subconsciously glossing over the words and making a gut-level reaction. So, if you want your content to be read, you have to punch people in the gut. You don’t have time to educate them, get them to think, or even help them create a new connection. All you have time to do is trigger an anchor that’s already in place.” —Jonathan Morrow

Slide 96

Slide 96 text

EVOCATIVE WORDS 11 Quick Steps to Become a Brilliant Writer WEAK WORDS How to Become a Better Writer 1

Slide 97

Slide 97 text

EVOCATIVE WORDS 5 Grammatical Errors That Make You Look Dumb WEAK WORDS 5 Grammatical Tips Everyone Needs to Learn 2

Slide 98

Slide 98 text

“Evocative headlines aren’t afraid to tell you how you’re going to feel about clicking them. The sentiments they inspire are part of the sales job in a way that wasn’t the case in traditional media.” —Joshua Benton

Slide 99

Slide 99 text

EVOCATIVE WORDS 6 Crippling Beliefs That Keep Writers Mired in Mediocrity WEAK WORDS 6 Beliefs That Make It Harder to Write 3

Slide 100

Slide 100 text

Create an itch.

Slide 101

Slide 101 text

“Did the local sports team win tonight’s big match against their rivals? We’ll tell you, next.” “A well-known politician got into a screaming match with reporters today. The video, after this break.”

Slide 102

Slide 102 text

Now This Is Why I Voted for Barack Obama What’s this mean? I must know! Click… Click… Click… Obama Blasts His Own Evasive Stance on Gay Marriage Great job, but now I know what it is and don’t need to click. Obama Says Same-Sex Marriage Should Be Legal Boooring. Already done.

Slide 103

Slide 103 text

A Boy Makes Anti-Muslim Comments in Front of an American Soldier. The Soldier’s Reply: Priceless See Why We Have an Absolutely Ridiculous Standard of Beauty in Just 37 Seconds Dustin Hoffman Breaks Down Crying Explaining Something That Every Woman Sadly Has Experienced 9 Out of 10 Americans Are Completely Wrong About This Mind-Blowing Fact This Amazing Kid Died. What He Left Behind Is Wondtacular Upworthy Superlative Unapologetic Sentimental Cliff-hangery

Slide 104

Slide 104 text

Slide 105

Slide 105 text

No content

Slide 106

Slide 106 text

Be both imperative and inviting.

Slide 107

Slide 107 text

“Headlines now are a strange cross between imperative and inviting. The tone is soothing, seductive, and at least a little bit demanding — like every character ever played by Linda Fiorentino.” —Choire Sicha

Slide 108

Slide 108 text

Im perative ABC

Slide 109

Slide 109 text

ABC Amusing Im perative

Slide 110

Slide 110 text

ABC Bold Im perative

Slide 111

Slide 111 text

ABC Contrarian Im perative

Slide 112

Slide 112 text

ABC Amusing Im perative

Slide 113

Slide 113 text

Why Infographics Are Terrible, in One Terrible Infographic Demand Media’s Bold New Strategy for eHow: Suck Less What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage Headless Body in Topless Bar Try Not to Smile When Looking at These Tattoo Fails Am using

Slide 114

Slide 114 text

Why Infographics Are Terrible, in One Terrible Infographic Demand Media’s Bold New Strategy for eHow: Suck Less What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage Try Not to Smile When Looking at These Tattoo Fails Headless Body in Topless Bar Am using

Slide 115

Slide 115 text

Am using

Slide 116

Slide 116 text

Headline Source Schmooze or Lose: Social Friction and Lubrication in Email Negotiations The Microbiota, the Gut, and the Brain in Eating and Alcohol-Use Disorders: A “Ménage à Trois”? Mania and Depression. Mixed, Not Stirred How Cats Lap: Water Uptake by Felis Catus

Slide 117

Slide 117 text

ABC Bold Im perative

Slide 118

Slide 118 text

You’re Doing It Wrong: Poached Eggs This Awesome Ad, Set to the Beastie Boys, Is How to Get Girls to Become Engineers Why the FBI Director Is Wrong About Encryption All the Problems at Bloomberg Come Down to One Stat Bill Gates Makes Over $1 Million Every Day Doing Almost Nothing Bold

Slide 119

Slide 119 text

ABC Contrarian Im perative

Slide 120

Slide 120 text

Congress Deserves a Big Fat Raise A Negative COVID Test Has Never Been So Meaningless Why You Should Hire Job Hoppers Don’t Say Goodbye When You Leave a Party. Just Ghost Why Tom Brady Is the Most Overrated Quarterback in N.F.L. History Contrarian

Slide 121

Slide 121 text

I E P Inviting

Slide 122

Slide 122 text

E P Personal I Inviting

Slide 123

Slide 123 text

E PI Immediate Personal Inviting

Slide 124

Slide 124 text

E PI Immediate Personal Immediate Personal Exaggerated Inviting

Slide 125

Slide 125 text

E P Personal I Inviting

Slide 126

Slide 126 text

Don’t Ask Hillary Clinton About Abortion if You Can’t Handle Her Answer Everything You Need to Know About iOS 8 19 People Who Are Having a Way Worse Day Than You What Recruiters Look at During the 6 Seconds They Spend on Your Résumé 9 Questions About Syria You Were Too Embarrassed to Ask Personal YOU

Slide 127

Slide 127 text

Slide 128

Slide 128 text

Personal

Slide 129

Slide 129 text

E PI Immediate Inviting

Slide 130

Slide 130 text

Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie 10 Things You Need to Know Before the Opening Bell The 15 Best Countries for You to Move to Right Now The U.K. Has Officially Begun the Brexit Process. Here’s What Happens Next This Is What China’s Renewed War on Covid Looks Like Im m ediate

Slide 131

Slide 131 text

E PI Exaggerated Inviting

Slide 132

Slide 132 text

The Impossible Choice That Had Elon Musk on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown The Most Sensational Murder Trial You’ve Never Heard of Started 100 Years Ago A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius The Pope Just Published One of the Most Powerful Critiques of Modern Capitalism That You Will Ever Read This Is the Greatest Hoodie Ever Made Exaggerated

Slide 133

Slide 133 text

Slide 134

Slide 134 text

Exaggerated

Slide 135

Slide 135 text

Exaggerated

Slide 136

Slide 136 text

The Art Use words that are _________. 1/5 Recap

Slide 137

Slide 137 text

The Art Create an ____. 2/5 Recap

Slide 138

Slide 138 text

The Art Make your headline i__________ and i_______. 3/5 Recap

Slide 139

Slide 139 text

The Art To make your headline imperative, use the A.B.C. techniques. 4/5 Recap

Slide 140

Slide 140 text

The Art To make your headline inviting, use the PIE techniques. 5/5 Recap

Slide 141

Slide 141 text

And Don’t Forget About Search- Engine Optimization

Slide 142

Slide 142 text

No content

Slide 143

Slide 143 text

H1 Tag For People Title Tag Hillary Clinton’s Fraught Relationship With the Press

Slide 144

Slide 144 text

HEADLINE FOR PEOPLE All the Problems at Bloomberg Come Down to One Statistic HEADLINE FOR GOOGLE Slowing Terminal Sales at Bloomberg

Slide 145

Slide 145 text

HEADLINE FOR PEOPLE When Is a Flop Not a Flop? HEADLINE FOR GOOGLE The Fate of the Republicans Who Supported Gay Marriage

Slide 146

Slide 146 text

No content

Slide 147

Slide 147 text

HEADLINE FOR THE INSIDER Francis Collins on His Vision of the Future of Medical Science HEADLINE FOR THE OUTSIDER NIH Director on His Vision of the Future of Medical Science

Slide 148

Slide 148 text

HEADLINE FOR THE INSIDER Good Housekeeping Gives Michelle Obama a Photoshop Facelift HEADLINE FOR THE OUTSIDER Michelle Obama Gets a Photoshop Facelift

Slide 149

Slide 149 text

HEADLINE FOR THE INSIDER Bob Bowman Shares 9 Secrets to Coaching World- Class Athletes HEADLINE FOR THE OUTSIDER Michael Phelps’s Longtime Coach Shares 9 Secrets to Train World- Class Athletes

Slide 150

Slide 150 text

HEADLINE FOR THE INSIDER Unilever May Acquire the Honest Company HEADLINE FOR THE OUTSIDER The Company That Bought Dollar Shave Club Is Now in Talks to Buy Jessica Alba’s Baby-Care Start-Up

Slide 151

Slide 151 text

HEADLINE FOR THE INSIDER Meet Dawn Ostroff, Spotify’s Chief Content Officer HEADLINE FOR THE OUTSIDER Meet the Woman Who Got Joe Rogan and Michelle Obama to Spotify

Slide 152

Slide 152 text

Or Social-Media Optimization

Slide 153

Slide 153 text

HEADLINE FOR PEOPLE The Most Honest and Heartbreaking Reason to Leave Your Front Door Unlocked I’ve Ever Heard HEADLINE FOR FACEBOOK A Spoken-Word Poet Speaks About His Crippling OCD and How His Girlfriend Dumped Him

Slide 154

Slide 154 text

HEADLINE FOR PEOPLE 48 Reporters Asked This Guy the Same Dumb Question About Women. His Response? Absolutely Perfect HEADLINE FOR FACEBOOK Joss Whedon Complains About How Women Are Treated in the Media

Slide 155

Slide 155 text

HEADLINE FOR PEOPLE A Bunch of Young Geniuses Just Made a Corrupt Corporation Freak Out Big Time. Time for Round Two HEADLINE FOR GOOGLE Youth Advocacy Organization Cam- paigns to Prevent Xcel Energy From Undoing Municipalization of the Boulder Power Grid

Slide 156

Slide 156 text

Headline for Google Pornhub Insights: How a Porn Site Milks Its Own Traffic Data for Publicity Headline for People How Pornhub Milks Its Own Traffic Data Headline for Facebook Sex site Pornhub has figured out a brilliant way to get free publicity.

Slide 157

Slide 157 text

A Caveat

Slide 158

Slide 158 text

FACEBOOK 7 Ways to Make Your Kitchen As Stunning As Gwyneth Paltrow’s PINTEREST 7 DIY Tricks to Redecorate Your Kitchen on a Budget

Slide 159

Slide 159 text

Ask Yourself These 2 Questions Always

Slide 160

Slide 160 text

Should you write your headline first or last? Question #1

Slide 161

Slide 161 text

“Until you can come up with a headline, chances are you are going to end up like me, with all the hard work behind you and this small sign before you, demonstrating as clear as a Bahamian bay that the greater purpose was never framed and fixed.” —Mike Long

Slide 162

Slide 162 text

Would I share this article if I saw only its headline? Question #2

Slide 163

Slide 163 text

How About a Little Comic Relief?

Slide 164

Slide 164 text

No content

Slide 165

Slide 165 text

NEWS Italian Explorer, Christopher Colum- bus, Discovers New World THE NEW YORK POST COLUM-BUST: Explorer Fails to Find New Passage to Asia

Slide 166

Slide 166 text

NEWS Italian Explorer, Christopher Colum- bus, Discovers New World SLATE Columbus Just Found an Entirely New Continent. Here’s Why We Shouldn’t Colonize It

Slide 167

Slide 167 text

NEWS Italian Explorer, Christopher Colum- bus, Discovers New World BUZZFEED 27 Sea Dragons That Are Sad They Didn’t Eat Christopher Columbus

Slide 168

Slide 168 text

NEWS Italian Explorer, Christopher Colum- bus, Discovers New World THE DRUDGE REPORT Teenage Natives Go on Rampage During Columbus Visit

Slide 169

Slide 169 text

Books

Slide 170

Slide 170 text

ORIGINAL Ulysses LISTICLE 13 Things to Do in Dublin While Your Wife Is Cheating on You

Slide 171

Slide 171 text

ORIGINAL The Sun Also Rises LISTICLE 7 Signs You’re Definitely in the Friend Zone

Slide 172

Slide 172 text

ORIGINAL Romeo and Juliet LISTICLE 8 Ways Your Family Keeps You From Seeing Your Crush

Slide 173

Slide 173 text

ORIGINAL Green Eggs and Ham LISTICLE 10 Reasons Picky Eaters Are the Worst

Slide 174

Slide 174 text

ORIGINAL Hamlet LISTICLE 2 Reasons Your Uncle Is the Worst

Slide 175

Slide 175 text

No content

Slide 176

Slide 176 text

ORIGINAL Charlie and the Chocolate Factory REVISION Crazy Guy Runs an Insane Chocolate Plant. You Won’t Believe What Happens to the Kids When They Eat the Candy!

Slide 177

Slide 177 text

ORIGINAL The Curious Case of Benjamin Button REVISION This Man Looks Younger Every Day. Doctors Hate Him

Slide 178

Slide 178 text

ORIGINAL E.T. the Extra- Terrestrial REVISION This Little Homesick Extra-Terrestrial Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity

Slide 179

Slide 179 text

ORIGINAL Forrest Gump REVISION This Mentally Challenged Man Will Break Your Heart in 10 Minutes!

Slide 180

Slide 180 text

ORIGINAL Weekend at Bernie’s REVISION 2 Guys Partied With a Corpse for 2 Days Until Someone Noticed

Slide 181

Slide 181 text

ORIGINAL Seven REVISION You Won’t Believe What’s in the Box

Slide 182

Slide 182 text

ORIGINAL Star Wars REVISION Did Luke Really Kiss His Sister? The Inside Story

Slide 183

Slide 183 text

ORIGINAL Inception REVISION Are You Dreaming Right Now? Here’s an Amazing Trick to Make Sure Your Thoughts Aren’t Being Stolen

Slide 184

Slide 184 text

ORIGINAL 50 Shades of Gray REVISION Is Your Man Creepy, Rapey or Sexy? 50 Ways to Tell

Slide 185

Slide 185 text

ORIGINAL Batman REVISION This Kid’s Parents Are Killed. You Won’t Believe What He Does Next

Slide 186

Slide 186 text

No content

Slide 187

Slide 187 text

1916 “Physicist Dad” Turns His Attention to Gravity, and You Won’t Believe What He Finds In 1916, Albert Einstein, a father of two, published his theory of general relativity.

Slide 188

Slide 188 text

1928 This 1 Weird Mold Kills All Germs In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin.

Slide 189

Slide 189 text

1948 5 Insane Plans for Feeding West Berlin You Won’t Believe Are Real In 1948, the Soviet Union established the Berlin Blockade, which prevented food and other critical supplies from reaching occupied Berlin. In response, Western forces organized the Berlin Airlift.

Slide 190

Slide 190 text

1969 This Is the Most Important Photo of an Astronaut You’ll See All Day In 1969, Apollo 11 perform- ed the first manned lunar landing.

Slide 191

Slide 191 text

Let’s Talk About Those Counter- arguments

Slide 192

Slide 192 text

“Millions of readers are lured by sensational headlines, only to be disappointed to find a superficial dispatch with no new information, dashed off by a harried journalist tasked with producing three stories a day.” —Steven Levy Lipstick on a Pig

Slide 193

Slide 193 text

“Upworthy posts don’t go viral because people click — Upworthy posts go viral because people share. ‘Clickbait’ is a totally viable way to get a bunch of initial views. But it doesn’t create viral content. By far the most important factor in getting people to share a post is the actual quality of the content. To share, they have to love what they see.” —Upworthy Insider Rebuttal

Slide 194

Slide 194 text

“There is hyperbole and the occasional withholding comment, and then there is the pulling at your bleeding heartstrings with the subtlety of a monster truck.” —Lexi Nisita Cheap Thrill

Slide 195

Slide 195 text

“What special virtue is there in letting great videos, articles, and images fall into the internet’s abyss simply because nobody thought of the right combination of words to unlock their audience?” —Eli Pariser Rebuttal

Slide 196

Slide 196 text

“Today’s headlines may appear gimmicky, and no doubt some still are. But when a gimmick endures after the novelty wears off — when it proves resilient to the backlash and to changing tastes and algorithms and market conditions — eventually it’s no longer a gimmick.” —Will Oremus Rebuttal

Slide 197

Slide 197 text

Clickbait is such a scourge that Facebook has changed its newsfeed algorithm half a dozen times to reduce the prominence of these deceptive headlines. Everyone Hates Them

Slide 198

Slide 198 text

“When readers find themselves hating a headline picked by a testing audience and shared by 10 million people, whose tastes are we really objecting to — Upworthy’s or ours?” —Eli Pariser Rebuttal

Slide 199

Slide 199 text

“The problem is that clickbait headlines tend to get lots of clicks. So should Facebook alter its behavior based on what people do, or based on what they say they want?” —Mathew Ingram Rebuttal #3