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Ballad of Keith Ledger
Page views rule the Internet – unfortunately
Heath Ledger. Keith Ledger. Leath Kedger. Kleath Hedger.
Sorry, just trying to increase my page views.
The Internet is the most numerically focused medium ever invented, the only one that can serve different ads to different audiences and return ratings in real time. This, more than any of its other qualities, will shape how it evolves. But that's not what this story is about. It's about Live Nude Girls!
Just kidding. This story is about Keith Ledger. But I have to make sure people read it!
Last Tuesday, the name Keith Ledger hit the top of Google Trends, which measures the popularity of search terms, even though a person by that name might not actually exist. The actor Heath Ledger died that day, and thousands of people who couldn't be bothered to learn his name suddenly became interested in the details of his demise. Well, it's not like there's an election or a recession starting or anything ...
That night, The Huffington Post tagged its coverage of the actor's death with "Keith" as well as "Heath," figuring it would draw in more readers. Apparently it worked.
What's not so funny is the attention the actor's death got in a medium that's starved for attention itself. The Huffington Post – which likes to present itself as some sort of antidote to the shallowness of the MSM (that's mainstream media for you old people) – ran almost 20 items on the subject. Among its scintillating insights was the fact that Deepak Chopra told People that Ledger was having trouble sleeping. Gotta keep those traffic numbers up.
Sorry, just trying to increase my page views.
The Internet is the most numerically focused medium ever invented, the only one that can serve different ads to different audiences and return ratings in real time. This, more than any of its other qualities, will shape how it evolves. But that's not what this story is about. It's about Live Nude Girls!
Just kidding. This story is about Keith Ledger. But I have to make sure people read it!
Last Tuesday, the name Keith Ledger hit the top of Google Trends, which measures the popularity of search terms, even though a person by that name might not actually exist. The actor Heath Ledger died that day, and thousands of people who couldn't be bothered to learn his name suddenly became interested in the details of his demise. Well, it's not like there's an election or a recession starting or anything ...
That night, The Huffington Post tagged its coverage of the actor's death with "Keith" as well as "Heath," figuring it would draw in more readers. Apparently it worked.
What's not so funny is the attention the actor's death got in a medium that's starved for attention itself. The Huffington Post – which likes to present itself as some sort of antidote to the shallowness of the MSM (that's mainstream media for you old people) – ran almost 20 items on the subject. Among its scintillating insights was the fact that Deepak Chopra told People that Ledger was having trouble sleeping. Gotta keep those traffic numbers up.
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10:39 EST, 01.Feb.08