THE DEMISE OF THE HEADLINE-WRITER’S art (according to a recent article fed through both Slashdot and The Daily Beast) dictates an appeal to search engine optimization (SEO) instead of readers — something that snags on Google instead of anticipatory imagination. Thus, the perfect SEO headline for anything would be the above, as it’s (quoting from memory since I can’t find the original article, alas) “guaranteed to bring in thousands of page hits.” (I added “Idol” just to tweak the numbers, in my own special pundit Beltway Comedy Central Lady Gaga Obama porn Mafia Wars Stephen Colbert Go USA way.)
So there we go. I’ll post an update in 24 hours (hmm… better make it 36) and see how many Fabulous Prizes and Destination Sunsets we’ve won. (So to speak. Heh heh heh.)
UPDATE: JSSGBI+10 minutes: THIS is CREEPY. As in OMG!!! creepy. I no sooner post this when, touched by curiosity, I Google “Jon Stewart Slams Glenn Beck.” And:
Fig. 1.
NUMBER FIVE??? IN N*I*N*E M*I*N*U*T*E*S?!?!?!?!? That’s actually pretty cool…
I love how you play/experiment with/manipulate the world around you — like the time you stuck a stamp on a $1 bill and mailed it to yourself to see if it would arrive (it did).
I remember that. Not sure it would have worked with a $20, though. That would be an interesting experiement: use ever increasing denominations to see at which point the money stops arriving. No, I’m not volunteering my own cash. 🙂
That was fun, wasn’t it? Perhaps I’d better call Obscure Research Labs‘ after-hour number. Prf. Elder won’t want to have missed this.
Yeah, we discussed that. I’m not even sure it would work with a $5. Times are hard. 😉
Give me the twenty and save yourself the stamp.
@ RWW: Where’s the science in that?
I can only reveal the scientific part at the conclusion of the test.