Monday, May 23, 2011

1499 Les More

Sometimes less is more. Sometimes it's just less.
No one knows that better than the new online news aggregator headline writers. There's so little room on the aggregator display page, you have to craft a headline that in just a few words will make someone click on the link, be clicked through, and read the article.
The goal? To get someone to come to your individual news website. The gain? A hit for your article and your web address. And hopefully one more statistic you can show to a potential advertiser so he buys an ad.
In the old days, headlines sold newspapers. You had to catch the eye of someone walking by, who would then shell out some cash. Big bold and loud. Extra, Extra, Read All About It.
Today you have to catch people through their much more rapid filters as they surf the web. So you don't want to tell the whole story, or even complete the thought.
The headline, "Sarah Palin Says Something Dumb" will most likely not get as many hits as "Sarah Palin Says..." Those ellipses, or dot–dot-dots, as I like to call them, suck someone in like a wormhole on a hook. Likewise the headline, "President Launches New Education Initiative" would probably get fewer hits than, "President Launches..."
So the art of web-hit headline writing is even more refined than the art of newspaper headline writing. Less is more. And it's important to remember that curiosity and emotion are intimately entwined. Heck I'd be willing to go so far as to say that curiosity is a mega-emotion. Fear, lust, gossip, it trumps them all.
But be careful. Less is not always more. The headline, "Science Teacher Says..." will get fewer hits than, "Science Teacher Says, 'Alien Donald Trump Ate My Mother'"
America, ya gotta love it.

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