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‘The era of the clever headline and an above-the-fold mentality is over’

avatar by Published Mar. 3, 2011 9:54 am Updated Mar. 3, 2011 9:57 am

Columbia Journalism Review
Blame SEO for that. “Puns and double entendre and the significance of the far left-hand column on the first page have been consigned to the dustbin of journalistic history, as out of date as even the 1974 remake of ‘The Front Page,’” writes Karen Stabiner.

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  • http://www.davesaunders.net/blog Dave Saunders

    If headlines were the means of getting one’s attention then their use has indeed changed in a world of search engines. That someone found you and clicked to your site, means they are already paying attention. An attention-begging headline is then counter productive because it interrupts the attention the page already has.

  • http://www.danzelikman.com Dan Zelikman

    In my opinion, “Journalism First, Technology Second” will win in the long run.

  • http://twitter.com/rogerscime Roger Scime

    I’d be happy if headlines just had relevance to the story! Hmmm . . . I wonder about blog post headlines. Linkbait depends (to a ridiculous extent) on snappy, punchy, sometimes outrageous headlines. There’s a website that will create these for you: http://www.linkbaitgenerator.com.