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TRANSCRIPT
6 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT HEADLINE WRITING
DANIELLE K. KILGO & VINICIO SINTATHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
WHAT MAKES NEWS VIRAL?
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENTREFORMATTINGAUDIENCE INTERACTION
ONLINE NEWS
SENSATIONALISM SELLS: DON’T LET THE FACTS GET IN THE WAY OF A GOOD STORY.Tiger Woods
@DANIKATHLEEN
SENSATIONALISM▸ Content
▸ Tabloid-like content ▸ crimes, sex, oddity
▸ Form▸ Presentation/Style/Format of
content
SENSATIONAL FORMSPERSONALIZATION
LISTICLES
FORWARD REFERENCING
SOFT NEWS
“Foodini' machine lets you print edible burgers, pizza, chocolate” (CNN)
“Reading on a screen before bed might be killing you” (The Huffington Post).
“21 classic NYC spots that closed forever in 2014” (Buzzfeed)
“25 of the best clubs in Europe, chosen by the experts” (The Guardian)
“Why most Americans oppose gun control” (Fox News)
“This is what happens to your body when you’re embarrassed” (Buzzfeed)
Non-time sensitive, feature-like story
TEXT
METHODS▸ Quantitative Content Analysis (N=597)▸ NewsWhip data collection to identify the most viral
news from 2014 (measured by likes, shares and comments from Facebook)
▸ Coded for presence of sensational forms
Personalization
Soft News
Forward Referencin
g
Listicles19.9%
70%7.2
%
23.1%
Presence of Sensational Forms in Viral News
Presence of Sensational Forms in Viral News by Outlet Type
Listicles Personalization Forward Ref-erencing
Soft News0
15
30
45
60
75
59.4
29.7
9.1
59.4
28 5
51
Digital Native Traditional
6 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW….1.Traditional News Organizations are more likely than Digital
News Organizations to get audience interaction on “hard” news.
2.Viral news production is about disseminating content that is relatable and narratively written.
3.Sensationalism is not all doom and gloom.4.Digitally native news organizations are more likely to
employ successfully all sensational forms (listicles, personalization, forward-referencing and soft news).
5.Audiences may expect and prefer different news formats from news organizations based on brand and platform identity.
6.There is a significant relationship between sensational form and potential virality.
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