Nick Denton: On the Web, Female Trumps Male, Youth Trumps Age
Another terrific monthly wrap-up email from Gawker Media honcho Nick Denton to his staff! One item that will surprise you: "There's too much news on the web; and way too little explanation." Intrigued? Want to… win the mornings? Read on!
From: Nick Denton
Subject: Top stories in July
Date: Wednesday, August 4, 2010, 5:18 PMKevin Purdy's highly informative story about the effects of caffeine on the brain in Lifehacker was the breakout story of July. And the reader interest in the piece highlights — do we really need a reminder? — the draw of the explanation. There's too much news on the web; and way too little explanation. Fully a quarter of the top stories are straight how-tos or otherwise helpful or informative.
Do we really need any reminders of the other patterns either? The stories to which people respond are the stories to which they've always responded, since way before the internet. Readers enjoy strong opinion, such as Charlie Jane's attack on Night Shyamalan. They like mysteries, especially photoshop mysteries, as Gizmodo demonstrated with its coverage of BP's photoshopped PR pic.
They like photographs generally, as Gawker demonstrated with its package of exclusive pics of Mark Zuckerberg doing dorky Silicon Valley things. And video: Adrian Chen's slight item on a man with a hard-on for Sarah Palin was more popular than most wordier pieces.
We haven't been known for great yarns, leaving that to long-form publications such as magazines. But Jezebel's story about the clueless secretary, told through an email thread, showed how a narrative can work. (Jezebel was the star site of the month; though Gawker, io9 and Lifehacker also came in strong.)
Other patterns? Well, there were four stories featuring teenagers in the top 20; the 11-year-old girl abused by the evil trolls of 4chan; the 15-year-old who tricked Apple; the 17-year-old who swapped a phone for a Porsche; and the 19-year old extorted by the world's worst person. In terms of web interest, we know that female trumps male. Youth also trumps age.
Take a look through the full list below of Gawker Media's most viral stories. It's seriously the best guide to web journalism there is. Every story that made it onto that list had to be both interesting and well-packaged. If you can get just a few of your pieces onto that list each month, you're golden; both here and at any future media job.
Though I can't say I recommend Dash Bennett's approach, which was to run subject lines from emails I had sent him over the year. That item scraped in at #100.
Or course, there are plenty more gems among the thousands of stories that we put out each month, among those that don't make it into the Top 100. I'm just going to mention one. If you have a moment, read Joel Johnson's advice to people who take their phone affiliation way way too seriously. It's as good a piece as you'll read anywhere.
http://gizmodo.com/5585072/
JULY'S TOP STORIES
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AvyOUt3j4XoudFRjRW81cTFDTVZXYy16T1l4X2NleGc&hl=en&authkey=CJXOmtsF
GROWTH BY SITE
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AvyOUt3j4XoudFlYT1lSM0twSHNEWmNLRkYzZGxkSFE&hl=en
So the best conclusion we can draw from Denton's interpretation of how the web works is: readers like pictures. So if we want to start a successful web publication, it should just be a Tumblr. Or LOLCats. If youth trumps age, then cute trumps youth.
Gawker should probably just reboot Failblog, including detailed "How-To" diagrams explaining how one goes about 'not failing.'
Shhhh, I don't want her to figure out that business model was already figured out by USA Today long ago when he was a rent boy in the UK. I have my sources.
Pretty pictures. Short articles. Make sure to cover the Swedish bikini beach ball finals on the Sports page.
Not like Extra or The Daily Show or every other multi-media based venue didn't already figure out the whole videos are better thing either.
Way to step up to help forge our way through the online world dude.
They should fire that Dash guy.
:(
I still have a soft spot for these missives, even though I no longer consume any of Mister Denton's Fine Products. I like to imagine him sitting in his front parlor late in the evening, sipping tea with a small smile on his face as he dreamsup new ways to belittle his employees.
How could not get your resume out after reading those. One of my work requirements is that my boss be a human.
Seriously. This is some of the most condescending shit I've ever read. I don't care how much the guy pays, it's not enough.
It's is if your 18 and on craigslist, naw'mean?
It's funny that you mention not consuming Mr Denton's products anymore. I was sure the Awl had a 10 pg contract prohibiting all contributors from reading Gawker etc. For me, once I started reading this site, I had to pick sides. It's like a bad divorce and I chose the parent who's more fun.
The comments on the Dash piece, however, were awesome.
"There's way too much news on the web;and way too little Snooki."
Also? Not enough bar charts.
Didn't you get the memo?
Photos, eh. Photos, you say?
How bout a story about photos. . .with no photos?
You mean, like Susan Sontag's book "On Photography"
I am reading Denton's statement on gender as being "interest in females trumps interest in males," actually, which is not quite the same thing?
In terms of web interest, we know that female trumps male. Youth also trumps age.
I am totally pitching a piece titled "Nick Denton Demands Young Girls".
NEEDZ MORE HARDONS. And MILFs, like Palin, oh and TEENS.
Basically Gawker should just adopt porn site categories and LESS WORDS PLEAZE.
THX
I'm not sure that the list of most viral Gawker Media stories is the "best guide of web journalism" there is.
I think it's probably just the best guide of the most viral Gawker Media stories. (unless you count photos of Mark Zuckerburg being a dork and a guy with a stiffy for Palin as journalism.)
I think the 12-24 hour delay for Nick to sober up and personally approve most posts is his biggest problem.
Do we really need any reminders of the other patterns either?
You mean like your commenters flocking to other sites?
Commenters are .0000001% of the global population. They're also, like, the only people we really know read the fucking things.
Think old media applications to new media.
Letters to the Editor – one of the single most important sections in old media.
Next, take a gander at the top sites around the web in terms of user interaction. I'll give you that Drudge doesn't do comments – but he's on the vanguard of 3-D commenting. His posts, albeit short, spawn massive amounts of replies and discussions in comments sections whether through commentary, news reporting and their thousands of commenters on various sites. His links also inspire massive invasions from his acolytes all over the internet.
What's also the one hallmark of not just increased uniques, but pageviews? Colliding opinions. In the old days you'd read a comment about an article that you thought was stupid so naturally you would write a letter defending your opinion of the article.
That's what I think flames out too many sites or just creates niche sites. They try to forcibly establish an ambiance, when really what grows traffic is the clash of cultures inherent in society.
Of course, that disturbs the cocktail party crowd if you are going for a niche market like the Sondheim Review.
I should have expounded, just because I am in a mood to take up as much space here as possible.
Pageview increases generally tend to come partly from hundreds to tens of thousands sitting in front of their computer thinking "Let's see if that bitch responded yet"
The increase in uniques is not organic or natural either.
Just as you would have a friend go, "Hey have you tried that new place over on x street?" Online you have twitters, facebook walls, emails flying around with "Have you seen this?' which included a very heavy amount of "This bitch said this about C3P0 and is too stupid to admit she's wrong"
Nope not long enough of a comment yet.
I think 2 more words will do it.
Get bent.
@Jeff: Don't forget the increasingly-important "time on site" metric.
More discussion leads to more lingering around.
This is the secret to my boy Matty's refresh setup (and why auto refreshing comments threads will be increasingly more important).
Anything that lets you watch tv, munch on a bagel, and wait until some new stupid infuriating comment shows up works.
The Jezebel story about the clueless secretary was straight plagiarism.
Jezebel: http://bit.ly/aarRSe
Original: http://bit.ly/beuhtD
Jezebel also got on it a couple of weeks after it initially made the rounds, so: both stolen and old.
"Jezebel's story about the clueless secretary, told through an email thread, showed how a narrative can work."
No offense to Jezebel, but that wasn't their story–it was a one-month-later repost of a piece by David Thorne. Jezebel gave him full credit–although I doubt they paid him–but if anyone figured out "how narrative can work" (breakthrough!), it was him.
Slip with someone making a similar point.
No, they probably didn't pay him. cf. http://www.theawl.com/2010/04/the-new-media-and-the-attention-economy-syndication
Recently, just for funs, I decided to email some of the thousands of sites (for real) that have a certain story of mine up, and ask them to at least link back to my personal website. It was kind of shocking how hostile they were. Some of them, despite having my name on their site, and seeing that same name on my site, refused to believe I had written the story. In short, the internet sucks. Except for the Awl.
There was an old joke, not really a joke – more a truism – the joke would be that journalists have ethics…
See a story you liked in the daily newspaper and then call up the people interviewed. Ask them did you say "insert quote" and when they said yes, YOU NOW OWN THE QUOTE TOO!
Easy way to steal stories. Email makes it easier since Thorne doesn't own the emails.
Just quit politely. Yes, even if they are bastards. Is it so hard? Jeez.
Dude, quitting politely is just plain stupid.
Hell, even when it was just two major media conglomerates, they would hire the one person the other guy hated just to piss him off.
Now? HAH!
Carry a torch with you wherever you go, the days of "You'll never work in this town" are so passe'
"such as magazines" deserved parentheses. Or its own paragraph.
Obviously Nick Denton doesn't just know how to build an empire, but how to keep one humming for years, currently, although there's little reason to doubt he could keep going for decades. He's the Hearst of the internet, and, maybe even the Pulizer. People forget that he was as notable for fierce circulation battles as for quality journalism. Honestly, they should give out a Denton Prize for attention-getting online news. Except that, well, all the attention-getting pieces are on Denton's sites. The New York Times and USA Today might get 5 – 8 times as much traffic as Gawker, but those are century old brands. No one has understood how to survive on the web like Nick Denton.
Having said that, is becoming USA Today really that much of an accomplishment?
Nice. Denton = Al Neuharth.
Just a few more inches for you to reach his colon.
Also, Fark.com
Denton, just shut up and show people the money.
The what?
The fuck thinks he is Steve Jobs or something.
The David Thorne piece is a gag. It's not real.
Yes, this. He admits to creating things specifically to go viral. They are all hoaxes
Read 'overdue account' or 'party in apartment 3'. Genius.
If you have a moment, read Joel Johnson's advice to people who take their phone affiliation way way too seriously. It's as good a piece as you'll read anywhere.
For "as good as you'll read anywhere," I might have gone with one of those articles in the Washington Post series about runaway intelligence spending, or maybe a William Langewiesche piece, but de gustibus non est disputandum etc. etc.
People don't like video: people like hard-ons. Also, 11-year-olds are not teenagers.
Boarding school, obviously, counts for nothing.
I love it here, but I hate leaving little droppings here and not getting an indication that someone has responded. You've been doing this long enough that it's pretty clear you don't want to make it more interactive. Is this really by design? I'll have to remember to come back to check and see if anyone's responded (or is there actually some sort of mechanism already in place? Feed with updated responses?)
Aw, Nickey Bo, not everyone stays up all night drinking like you.
Maybe I should take a little Gawker break if you seriously thought that I sounded like Denton there. But then I'd have to go elsewhere, like here, and it's just so much work.
Last! (What, this wasn't a race to the bottom?)
That's funny. Because I've been sitting here for a couple hours, wondering if I should just go ahead and do what's deserved–
–praise Nick for taking so long to reach the lowest common denominator.
This link at the end of Nick's e-mail actually pulls up the "July's Top 100 Stories" spreadsheet:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AvyOUt3j4XoudFRjRW81cTFDTVZXYy16T1l4X2NleGc&hl=en&authkey=CJXOmtsF
And guess which post is Number 100 on the list, with 25,627 unique page views? Why, this one, of course:
Deadspin: "Top 13 Subject Lines Of Emails Received From Nick Denton"
It's like a self-referential snake eating its own tail inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma of insidery … something!