The numbers are in, and now my little experiment back in December is validated. For those who recall, I wrote a piece titled Ron Paul Hates The United States last month. It was a fluff piece, nothing new or interesting. What it was, actually, is a tool to analyse the methodology behind over the top rhetoric used at many news sites. I have a deep curiosity of the psychology behind these shock media outlets, such as Fox News. I wanted to better understand it. Ultimately, the only way to do that for me was to walk a mile in their shoes, so to speak. I had to approach a topic in a manner the same way in which the echo-chamber does. So, I sifted through Addicting Infos archives, and identified a topic which was effectively a dead end. For months, Ron Paul articles were consistently getting less than 10 visits a month. In essence, the topic was dead. Nobody cares to read his old pieces. This in turn made him a perfect example. Those who checked the links within the article I wrote realized quickly that they pointed to other Addicting Info pieces. In fact, that piece linked to every single Ron Paul piece on Addicting Info. The piece itself was fluff, nothing much to it. Loads of rhetoric without a solid point. But that was not the point. The point was to drive traffic. I could now use Ron Paul figures from the previous month as a control to base against. I then picked an over the top title, one which would drive in traffic using the Fox News methodology. What I found was that while over 25 thousand people read the main article, less than 500 people clicked on any links at all. And of those links, the click popularity diminished the lower down in the article the links were. So, discussion of Siri being a secret Ron Paul fan got a lot more than Ron Paul wanting to sell Yellowstone. Ultimately, it showed me what I suspected before. These hot button topics will indeed pull in traffic, but that traffic is vapor, an illusion. People do not stay on the site, click through, or really pay attention. The title gets them worked up, one way or another, and they react instinctively. This pulls them in, then they go away. This is the driving force of the corporate media today. The over the top, the hype, the rhetoric. It is, however, the media version of a drug rush. You get the flush, but then you get the crash. 95% of all of my articles traffic hit within the first 9 hours of publishing. Most of my pieces stay up for days, if not weeks later. Heck, my piece on the 2nd Amendment I wrote last January is still getting steady traffic a year later. This is, however, a trap. The instant rush followed by the crash encourages even more incredible work the next time, and the next after that. Eventually, the goal is now about getting instant hits, not about telling the story. So, for those who do write, or seek fame, realize that fleeting interest wanes, and is hollow. Just dont do it. So what will tomorrows topic be? Well, lets find out in the morning papers. Have a good night.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 06:27:56 +0000