Media
- January 7, 2008
Because If It Says ‘Britney’ You’ve Got to Click on It
It’s always amusing to see the hook publicists use to try to get local media outlets to interview someone. The NBC17 news desk receives dozens of these a week, and I’ve become accustomed to deleting them pretty quickly. The latest comes from a publicist who wants us to interview Dr. Alex Kopelowicz, a professor at UCLA, about bi-polar disorder.
The subject line on the e-mail was “Britney and Bi-Polar,” so I couldn’t resist clicking because for some reason I’m still fascinated by her antics. The publicist pitched the interview by saying the topic is timely “these days especially on the heels of the Britney Spears meltdown and mental health experts now saying that it could be that she is Bio-Polar.”
(In case you’re not familiar with her latest meltdown, and for some reason want to be, click here.) Anyway, I guess I can’t be too annoyed with the publicist, because bloggers know a good headline can mean the difference between someone clicking on your post or not.
What are some of your favorite headlines you’ve used to pull readers into your blog? Or, if you don’t blog, what are some headlines from news sites that have pulled you in today? Better yet, tell me why you think some of us always click when we see ‘Britney’ in a headline (I realize I’m opening myself up to some harshisms with that question).
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3 Responses to “Because If It Says ‘Britney’ You’ve Got to Click on It”
Good point, I’m tired of the Britney news, I saw the same email and laughed at the subject. But hey you do what you have to do to get readers or attention. I posted last week a blog headline called “The evolution of blogging with Anton Zuiker” I new it would get a few clicks, but it could have been called, “How Anton got started blogging” or “How did the “Science Blogging Conference start”
By wsutton on Jan 7, 2008
Coming up with sensational headlines is part of the fun of blogging. One of my recent subjects was “Threesome”. A few months back, there was “Craig’s court hearing on sex change set for Sept. 26″.
I think a lot of people click on the Britney stories not so much because they care but because they think everyone else does, and it sucks not to be in the know. Rather than be faced with hearing, “You didn’t hear from happened to Britney?!” you can spend five seconds to click on the link, inform yourself, and then go back to reading about political turmoil in Kenya.
By Toastie on Jan 7, 2008
You know what, I’m really upset because I clicked on this… partly because I know you and you right interesting things, but mostly because I wanted to see why we click for “britney spears”… thus proving your point…
Boo on me.
By Ashley Sue on Jan 9, 2008