Does A Controversial Headline Get More Reads?
I did an experiment — here are the results…
Back in June, Burk had huge success and accrued thousands of reads on his most popular story: What Is Attractive, According to Science.
I was inspired by his success and wondered if I could emulate it. So in October, I took a look at the studies he’d quoted and decided to focus on one key aspect: tall people get paid more, and being good looking helps too.
I remember when one of these studies first hit the headlines. I was peeved. I’m short.
Had this contributed to my disappointing career?
Had it elevated my 6ft sister to the dizzy heights she’s achieved in hers?
At the time, it felt wrong.
These days, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m self-employed. No one knows how tall I am. But I thought it was an interesting story that might generate some debate. Perhaps thousands of people would read mine too! I published through Illumination…
And it flopped. 19 views. 10 reads. Earned 44c.
Time for a controversial headline?
A few weeks later, I thought I’d take a different approach. I’d been diplomatic with my wording as it’s very easy to offend people on social media… but what if I used more lively language? I upped my game and braced myself for the haters.
Would a controversial headline and a more humorous tone help? I published a similar but different piece through Writers’ Blokke…
It did a little better. 41 views. 18 reads. Earned 81c.
But neither did particularly well. I guess it wasn’t the tall/short study that captured people’s imaginations but the whole topic of attractiveness.
I think the bottom line is that a controversial headline helps, but I should probably just stick to writing what I want to write, because on Medium it’s very hard to tell what will fly!
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