Headlines, Teases, Pictures

Slate's Farhad Manjoo points out that BuzzFeed has made a very successful business out of taking Reddit items adding a compelling headline and teaser which draws an audience many times the size of the original source.

For example, I could insert a photo of Slate's technology columnist here OR, alternatively, go with the photo Farhad used along with the headline used for his article, which - like Buzzfeed - he borrowed from the original article (“21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity”).

Which are you going to click on?

This is as much about today's culture and audience expectations as it is about the Internet or aggregation of content.

Don't start to tell a story or share a video on air, your blog, your podcast, your website until you have a great headline and lead sentence for it.

Be like Buzzfeed, Huffington Post and Drudge Report, not Les Nessman.