Blog 11 Jake Holt

Over the course of the last week, I looked at a lot of headlines. Some good, some bad. I found that most of the headlines I thought were bad had to do with length. If a headline was long, lacked rhythm and didn’t set up the story quickly and efficiently, I was far less inclined to click on it and read the story.

Here is an example of a headline I thought was bad. It’s by www.wired.com. “Security News This Week: Snowden-Hater Michael Pompeo May Be CIA Director”

I feel that this headline doesn’t properly set up a story for multiple reasons: one, because it requires a lot of prior knowledge that many people may not have. It’s very specific, and therefore limits its potential target audience by quite a bit. It’s also wordy and split into two parts. It’s simply too long and convoluted.

Inversely, there are plenty of great headlines out there. Here’s one I found this week that I thought stood out and worked for me. It’s by NBC News.

“Grandmother’s Accidental Thanksgiving Text to Random Teen Leads to Heartwarming Viral Story”

This headline is interesting. It sets up to tell a story that’s going to have a heartwarming message. It’s relatable. It contains plenty of cohesive buzz words that catch the eye.