It seems as if my experiment was simply ill timed, not completely wacko.
CNN has already started posting speculation news about the end of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
A month ago I posted this blog headline to gauge how early you could post a “potential” news story and pick up traffic. A month later, that post is number 2 on Google and has seen a bit of traffic come in over the weekend. Not much, but it is the second spike after the initial posting.
My point in the experiment was to unearth how much of competing in the digital age is going to be about being not just the first to report breaking news, but the first to predict it. CNN does this a lot already and then replaces existing predictions with real details as they come in. It’s a smart way to get traffic. It’s also shows that users will consume “potential” news as quickly (perhaps even quicker) than real news (but the tabloids new that already.) Nothing really new to report here other than that it’s getting harder and harder to find actual news reporting without the chatter and prediction.
It will never go away either. Interactivity has taken over. We now print, read and tell ever evolving stories as news. Don’t think there’s any real loss there accept that we’ll not have very good snapshots in time of events like we do now in archives. The news evolves so quickly we don’t even really have snapshots of any moment in time. Then again, those snapshots are inaccurate the second you save them. Somewhat of a contorted uncertainty principle here.
Anyhoo… I’ll see how this Headline does against the last one.
Fun!
Time for you to open the 1-900 Psychic Search Results Hotline…you can never be wrong (since you’ll always have a right answer)…and with the top search result you’re bound to have plenty of online ad revenue.
Time to write the following stories…or, at least get them into the Google index…
Politics:
- Riots in Streets As Nomination is Given to Clinton
- John McCain Announces VP Running Mate
- Barack Obama Announces VP Running Mate
- John McCain Projected to Win Election
- Barack Obama Projected to Win Election
- John McCain Wins Presidency!
- Barack Obama Wins Presidency!
- First Black President Takes Office
- “GeorgeBushisGone.com” Means World’s Largest Political Celebration Ever
Lifestyle:
- Happy New Year! 2009 is here!
Sports:
- Celtics Win NBA Crown
- Lakers Win NBA Crown
World:
- Terrorists Stun the World, Again
Entertainment:
- Can You Believe ______ Did That?!?! (create a page for each top star)
- And the 2009 Oscars Go To…(just post a forum for user generated debates, suggestions, and polls)
What Should You Name the Site? HeadlinesAhead.com
What Do You do with the “wrong” predictions? Sell them on CafePress items with a “Shoulda’ Been” logo next to the headline (with the HeadlinesAhead.com url discreetly placed underneath).
Futurama might be the future of SEO.