Headline Help: We Tweeted, You Responded

We tried an experiment yesterday. The HuffPost community has been growing by leaps and bounds. Last month, we attracted close to 2 million comments. Yesterday delivered a one-day high, with 94,215 comments.

So we decided to see if we could get our users even more involved in the editorial process by using Twitter to crowdsource headline suggestions.

Josh Young, our new Social Networking Editor, sent out a tweet with a link to our story on Obama heckler Rep. Joe Wilson, asking followers to reply back with their headline suggestions.

Jay Rosen, Craig Newmark, and Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab also all tweeted the announcement.

We got a lot of smart, sharp, creative responses... and ended up using a headline tweeted in by Benjamin Lowe.

Here's the top he helped create:

It was a big hit, attracting over 100,000 clicks.

And here's what he tweeted after he saw it up on the site:

This is something we will continue to do -- both on our home page and our vertical pages.

So sign up to follow @huffingtonpost on Twitter, look for our tweets with the hashtag #headlinehelp, and your headline idea could become a big splash on the HuffPost home page, just like @benjaminlowe.

Update: another Twitter-provided headline! For our story on Max Baucus making sure that Joe Wilson's pet issue (ensuring illegal immigrants can't get access to government-funded insurance) is cemented in the new health care legislation, @huffingtonpost follower Frankie Sturm suggested the following headline: "Wilson Wails, Baucus Blinks." We just put it at the top of our page. Thanks, Frankie.

Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff

Comments

[NoSandwiches]

great. now maybe the headlines won't be so misleading....

[inzone]

i cant believe these demented neocons! If you really want to know how the right wing thinks then you absolutley have to do a google search and read "BATTLE OF JAKES".....this is absolutely frightening and it shows how thes people think.

[Balzac]

Arianna my dear,

This is reason enough to make me want to try some 'twætting' on twitter. What if something twætted became a headline?

(Notice the Latin twist I put on "tweet". I've been feeling like some kind of Latin Renaissance is upon us.)

[ThanksMatt]

One other thing:

I don't want to join the Social News. Yet when I fanned someone who is connected to Social News I saw that all the replies to a comment appear underneath the comment itself. I would welcome very much if this would be adopted for the normal comments site of each user too. Many times replies go entirely unnoticed because the writer moves on to other articles.

[ThanksMatt]

Headline competition: this is an excellent idea which hopefully will lead to accurate, witty and intelligent results as opposed to the "drama-and-hype" seeking headlines which in the past few months often had not much to do with the article itself - and therefore were frequently criticized by many of us.

I just would prefer that #headlinehelp is not outsourced to twitter and remains instead @huffingtonpost.

Moreover I am really impressed with JackRusselTerrier's and wadenelson's suggestions below and I sincerely hope these ideas are being considered.

[ThanksMatt]

I also hope Mainbob's suggestions are considered.

[1088]

Must read!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/11/AR2009091103274.html?hpid=opinionsbox1&sid=ST2009091103433

[debonz]

Arianna,

You go girl! More later.

Bones

[barackobama4prez]

GREAT IDEA! This should be helpful to the posters who complain about the headlines on a seemingly daily basis.

[gigihoffman]

I completely agree. Some of the headlines don't match the stories. Good for you Huffington Post. I don't tweet but I'm glad you are listening to your incredibly intelligent, forward thinking posters.

[HarryP]

here is your new headline:
from your lobby blog:
Texas couple gave $ 16,000 to GOP while defrauding Afghanistan reconstruction,

you can read all about that in the lobby blog
This should be the headline and not screaming Wilson

[JackRusselTerrier]

Headline suggestions:
* Use Huff Post comment section to elicit feedback ,not twitter or face book. Keep it centralised to HP.
* Accurately describe the article in one sentence.
* Do not publish overdramatised titles that mislead content.
* We want well researched information.
* There should be a recommended link section for more information - supplied by members.
There are posters here who are doing that. Have a peer reviewed section where positive work can be used in articles.Divide in sections: Prose / Facts and numbers / humor . One article combines the best of member comments. Favorite button should be used to decide. HP should designate an editor for this new section.

[ThanksMatt]

Awesome ideas, Jack! I couldn't agree more with you.

[CherokeeGirl]

I only tweet when I want minute by minute news, for example when the Iran elections were going on. Now I only tweet when I want to get something to someone "out there". Maybe I want to tell Jack Rice to keep fighting the lies. Maybe I want to see how many people think this or that. It's not good for conversations, in my opinion. To me it's useful to get a quick snapshot of public opinion on any issue as well as adding a tweet. I have never had a decent back and forth conversation on twitter, though.

[wadenelson1]

Arianna -

You need to read the book "Wikinomics."

Quit hiring staff. Allow users themselves to create and vote on headlines. Similar to how the caption contest works.;

Next, allow users to create EDIT lists of the best comments. When a story has 10,000 comments I want to read the top 5 pages of comments that

A) have been marked as FAVES by the most people
B) that have resulted in the most follow-on comments (except where it has also garnered the most FLAGS)
C) that resulted in the poster being FANNED
D) that a particular Huffcommenter, say "HumeSkeptic" marked as "best of this post"
E) that the most people want a copy of sent to the White House, or wherever.

I'm sure there are diamonds SOMEWHERE in amongst those 9,990 lumps of coal. Right now, chances are I'll never spot them.

[JackRusselTerrier]

I don't agree with C and D, but I do like the overall idea of member supplied articles.

[livesimply]

I luv wadenelson, but I agree entirely. Popularity on an anonymous web board does not an expert make.

[NotMcCain]

There'd have to be some way to prevent "fan-spam" and have 5 pages of posts/threads that are -truly- worthwhile.

I don't know how they'd do that, but your overall idea is great. I there was some way to consolidate keep the "best" posts on the first five pages (after discussion reached 10 pages, for example), that would make for better reading (and, Huffpo, for -far- better "click" rates).

[progressivelady]

I wish I had more time to tweet ; )

[Angie Cordeiro - Huffpost Blogger]

lol! me too.

[FrankKalder]

#headlinehelp - a cute idea! :) But, short of time, I'll neither partake there.

[alumcreek]

How about: "If there is no such thing as bad publicity, the GOP is golden."

[dr-steve-pesyk]

Arianna,
I would like to see more local government headlines
which address governmental corruption.
Having myself worked for three levels of government,
I know there are plenty of stories out there which the public never gets to hear.
Naturally, unionized gvt workers have no one to complain to,
since that would rock the boat.
Our local newspapers do not touch the subject well.
The true story of how it all works, or doesn't, is better than any fiction.
Perhaps a seperate section for the "Huffington Whistle" ?
Thank you.

[Lavafalls]

Just the BAD?
Do subscribe to the reagan krap that the government is the problem?

How about all the good things our government is capable of?

[Gussmith]

Couldn't we work first to improve our federal system. There are so many outrageous things that require solidarity on the scrutiny to force changes