Nude! Celebrities! Tech?
Create an audience free of click bait
It’s disgusting to see all the media outlets fall over themselves to create more stories to tie themselves to the recent celebrity photo breach. I know it’s their job, but how many stories must be spun with titles like:
“CNN tech analyst’ on NUDE CELEBS: WHO IS this mystery ‘4chan’ PERSON?”
However, it’s not just journalists to blame. We have become a nation of gawkers. We quickly peek at our Twitter feed, Facebook updates and yes, even LinkedIn posts. And we are likely to read only the stories that seem salacious or clever. Of course, that’s how I got you to read this.
It’s no wonder we are where we are. Very few of us read in depth and only give a story a chance based on the title.
How to overcome this?
Know your news source. Choose the publications that have given you well reported stories and read from front to back. Build up notification alerts to your favorite reporters and writers. Ask for reading recommendations from your friends.
Here’s mine.
Publications: Time, NY Times, Forbes, TechCrunch
Blogs: Ben Thompson (Stratechery), Fred Wilson (AVC), Brad Feld (Feld Thoughts)
LinkedIn influencer: James Altucher
I was asked recently to list my 10 most memorable books off the top of my head in 1 minute. Here they are:
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Rabbit Run, John Updike
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
The Rape of Nanking, Iris Chang
The Lorax, Dr. Seuss
What are yours? I love to get recs!
On a daily basis, I get most of my reading from Twitter (I use Tweetdeck as the interface). It’s a great way to curate what I want to read and explore at the same time. The method to follow and un-follow is incredibly simply yet powerful. Yes, it’s subject to the same “short attention” dynamic but I’ve been able to mitigate that effect by following the right sources for me and un-following sources that become superfluous or useless to me.
When there is a loyal readership or audience, there may be less pressure to come up with an alluring title or to write a shallow story.
Whether you read this article because of those three magic words in the title or you are one of my 2 loyal fans, I promise not to use cheap, empty words to draw you in.
At least until the word “cloud” becomes sexified.
