Slate's excellent Farhad Manjoo has written a very funny (because it's true) piece on how to create content that will instantly go viral. He did his research by studying the most viral posts on Buzzfeed.com and attempting to puzzle out the secret of their virality. It turns out that the Buzzfeed's … [Read more...] about Buzzfeed’s No-Fail Secret to Creating Viral Content
Listening to Users: “Go Away Pig, What Do You Know About Bacon?”
In an essay entitled "The Age of Criticism," Randall Jarrell said that most critics' attitudes toward living poets was, "Go away, pig! What do you know about bacon?" When you plan new projects, launch new products or market your site, how much do you listen to your users? … [Read more...] about Listening to Users: “Go Away Pig, What Do You Know About Bacon?”
WSJ Drama Critic Terry Teachout’s 15 Commandments of Reviewing
Prolific writer Terry Teachout is a teacher, biographer, memoirist, librettist and blogger, but he is best-known as the Wall Street Journal's drama critic. In his blog, About Last Night, he posted a list of rules that he used to hand out to his students. Here are his 15 Commandments for … [Read more...] about WSJ Drama Critic Terry Teachout’s 15 Commandments of Reviewing
Google Launches Content Experiments Tools for Publishers
Constant experimentation and improvement is the heart of any digital strategy -- especially for media properties. As part of their world-domination plan, Google has integrated A/B and multi-variate testing tools in the Analytics suite. With Content Experiments, you can develop several versions of a … [Read more...] about Google Launches Content Experiments Tools for Publishers
Brooklyn: Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Meta
A web friend recently suggested this as the new motto for the borough. … [Read more...] about Brooklyn: Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Meta
Audience Development, Weight-Loss, and ‘The Power of Habit’
According to New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg, almost 40 percent of our daily behavior isn't intentional. We don't think about it. We get up, have breakfast, go to work, attend meetings, write email, surf the web, make plans, all without being particularly aware of we are doing. It's just … [Read more...] about Audience Development, Weight-Loss, and ‘The Power of Habit’
The Atlantic’s One Sentence Traffic Growth Secret
With one sentence, The Atlantic Wire changed their editorial direction and, in the last six months, their traffic has exploded. According to digital director, Bob Cohn, this is the secret: "No More Stories That No One Will Read." Simple. Bob Cohn via MediaBistro … [Read more...] about The Atlantic’s One Sentence Traffic Growth Secret
Scary Great Ideas
A few months ago, Paul Graham, founder of the startup incubator YCombinator, wrote that most really big ideas are frightening. He believes that you can tell if you are on the scent of something really ground-breaking by how much anxiety it produces personally and institutionally. This phenomenon is … [Read more...] about Scary Great Ideas