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This is a very minor example, but compare the title to just "Ikea Bowl Has Been Setting Things on Fire". The word "this" naturally prompts the response "which o
by burkaman 9y ago
This is a very minor example, but compare the title to just "Ikea Bowl Has Been Setting Things on Fire". The word "this" naturally prompts the response "which one?", just like something saying "look at this" in real life. Again it's very minor, but the extra word adds nothing except a slight suggestion that this particular example is especially interesting and you should click to see it.
Compare "Florida Man Escapes Prison" to "This Florida Man Escaped Prison". You'd scroll past the first, but you might not scroll past the second, because it seems like there must be something particularly interesting about this florida man, so you might as well take a second to click and see the picture.
- ptaipale 9y agoYes, except that "This" in a title is a definite turn-off for me, and a sure way to make me avoid clicking. So sick of baiting.
- netsharc 9y agoReddit has a bot that summarizes articles. A browser extension that replaces each Buzz! Feed! Headline! with such a summary would be an interesting programming exercise. Or maybe not Buzzfeed, since even the summary will cause brain cancer.
- stcredzero 9y agoThis pronoun makes your headlines attention getting, with one weird trick!