Find one (1) headline that you came across recently and thought it was great. You are to explain why it resonated with you. Please ensure that you base your answers only on topics discussed in class. Meaning, based on course content discussed in class, you are to tie specific elements that we discussed constituted a “good” headline or “elements” of a good headline and how this specific element is referenced in the headline that resonated with you. (6 Marks)

Headline: 29 Humiliating Or Disgraceful Facts About Movie Stars They'd Prefer We Didn’t Know

Subhead: Unfortunately for these big shots, the internet never forgets.

Source: BuzzFeed

Link: https://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/29l-facts-movie-stars-wish-wed-forget

Author: Mike Spohr

When scrolling through BuzzFeed I noticed an article that caught my attention and resonated with me for various reasons.

The headline started with an odd number which drew me deeper as I was scanning the page for articles that stood out.

The reason the number stood out to me is that numbers placed within text allow for an improved structure and act like an attention magnet compared to plain text. The odd number also stood out because of how specific it was, and we know that based on our class lectures odd numbers draw attention at a higher rate than whole numbers because they are more surprising.

When scanning text humans tend to gravitate toward the first and last 3 words which is why I was further drawn to the headline as the words invoked emotion and used negatives which made my mind react.

According to our class lessons, power words that invoke emotion are extremely powerful for gaining people’s attention due to psychological biases which cause us to react to them and the article was full of them. A negative word was utilized which I directly connected to and made me think “What do I not know?” which helped bring it to my attention.

I love movies and am a big fan of celebrities and the information that is within the headline told me the article was about celebrities which made the headline more relevant to me. Not only was the content relevant but because of the nature of the power words the headline became intriguing and further resonated with me.

This article also is written with a character count of 70 which we know from our class discussion falls within success parameters as 60 – 100 characters are the best range for headlines and SEO (Briscoe, W6 - 72 Easy Ways To Write A Headline That Will Reach Your Readers, Slide 56).

This article utilizes many elements of what is needed to create a successful headline which allowed it to resonate with me and draw my attention.