Thinking Through the Headline We try to teach each other here at the FJP and our latest learnings look at writing headlines and titles on Tumblr. While Tumblr specific, I hope this document can also help others who are teaching or trying to learn how to write headlines and titles more generally. - Michael Cervieri

1. Tumbling Style Guide: Headlines
The purpose of this document is to review FJP Tumblr
posts and, in particular, the titles and headlines we’re using
with them.
What I’ve found as I’ve gone through a fairly large sample
size is that sometimes we’re good, sometimes we’re bad
and other times we’re downright frightful.
Examples that follow aren’t meant to pick on any particular
person. They are mistakes we all make and examples
used are chosen from the last 60 - 80 posts at the Future
Journalism Project.
That said, Jihii is lucky since she was traveling during the
majority of the time that the posts were collected. I’m not
quite as lucky since I post the most. – Michael
Michael Cervieri tumblr.theFJP.org
michael@theFJP.org @the_FJP
@bMunch
May 2012

2. Your Posts Need Awesome Sauce
The majority of people who brush up against your Tumblr
posts see them in their dashboards. Brushing up is fine but
you want them to actually read and view them, and then
act upon them, ie, share, comment, remix, etc.
To do so you need Awesome Sauce. For the purposes of
this document, your ingredients are words. In particular
headlines/titles.
Remember, your posts on Tumblr appear in a stream of
content. The words and images you choose, and how they
are presented are your sole means to get readers and
viewers to pause and take a second look at your post.
Without that initial pause, you never achieve actual
engagement. It goes without saying that the actual post
needs to be awesome in itself for get people to act upon it.
So, what follows are 35 examples of our good, bad and
ugly headlines and titles.
Via ThinkGeek

3. Post Type: Photo
When using Photo Posts we typically lead our text with a
headline in bold.
Here, I was a little bit cryptic.
While CNN is a known brand that will pull a viewer into the
content if they happen to be interested by CNN, the
headline itself isn’t too helpful.
What I was trying to get at: We live in an age where you
can literally download the last 12 years of CNN transcripts.
You could never do that before. Thus: Things You Can Do
That You Never Used To.
What I wanted to write but didn’t have the stones to:
Download 12 Years of CNN Monotony.
Those words might not be quite right but it would have
given the viewer a better sense of why they should spend
time on the post.

4. Post Type: Link
What I was going for: A little wordplay on booing and giving
the boot.
Does it work? Meh, not bad but could be better.

5. Post Type: Link
A little clunky but I’m trying to do two things: indicate that
Google and the NSA have a relationship, and play off the
news that Obama had just come out in support of marriage
equality by using words from the famous Alfred Douglas
poem.
Could have played it straight, so to speak.

6. Post Type: Link
Here I did play it straight. The headline tells us exactly
what the post is about.
Boring, but it works.

7. Post Type: Video
Like photos, we use a bolded headline to accompany our
video posts. Generally, it should tell the viewer what’s
about to follow. Here, I play with an old Bell telephone tag
line, “Reach out and touch someone.”
How it works: The video and post is about how Carnegie
Mellon is created touch surfaces out of everything.
How it doesn’t work: If you’re not over 35 or so you have
no idea what the reference is.
How it works, part ii: Even if you miss the advertising
reference there’s still the “touch” reference.
Alternative: Play it straight with something along the lines
of: “Researchers Turn Every Surface into a Touch
Interface”.

8. Post Type: Link
Sometimes playing it straight and letting the absurdity of
the news speak for itself is the best thing to do.

9. Post Type: Photo
This one is very cryptic. Even the text beneath the headline
says that we’re about to get cryptic.
But, if the topic is cryptic then your writing has to be
especially clear.
Here’s the thing: The image doesn’t make much sense and
then the title “Them, not that or there...” confuses.
Here, and simply, “Bing and the Social Search Engine”,
would be a good title.
And, while I’ve cut off the post in this screenshot, we
almost always conclude an image post with a description
of what that image actually is. We do it by writing “Image”
in bold, then describing it, and then linking to its source, if
any. Eg.,
Image: Screenshot of x, y, z. Via So and So.
If we’ve taken/made the image you don’t need that
attribution.

10. Post Type: Image
Simple and to the point.

11. Post Type: Image
A few things are going on here. Let’s start with the title.
There isn’t really one.
Instead, what’s currently there isn’t a title, it’s an attribution
for the blockquote that should come after a title.
Suggested titles: Burning the Digital Oil; Long Days
Journey into Night; etc.
So now let’s get into the actual content. We learn that this
Joe Weisenthal character works a lot. But who is he, who
does he work for and what does he do?
Unless you’re a regular reader of Business Insider or an
NYC media junkie you’d have no idea.
So two things are missing here: a title and then 2-3
sentences that contextualizes the quote that comes from
the Times’ article.

12. Post Type: Image
Title’s three words, the content is one word.
This actually took me a little while to figure out because the
Time cover is so provocative.
So I played it as straight as I could knowing that the image
carries all sorts of triggers.
Sometimes the best thing to do is just get out of the way.

13. Post Type: Image
Again, playing it straight and just telling the viewer what,
exactly, he or she is looking at.

14. Post Type: Link
Again, playing it straight while also letting the viewer know
that there’s a call to action. That is, there’s a news
challenge going on and people can apply.
Remember user behavior on Tumblr.
People scan their dashboards and pause on that which is
interesting. This could be an image, or in cases like this,
just a title. You need to catch them with something clear.
The pause is the first behavior you’re trying to influence.
Actually having someone read what you’ve posted is the
second so make sure you jump right into the subject with
your lede.

15. Post Type: Image
Fun photo but the headline doesn’t work.
Here’s why: Huh is most known as the CEO of the
Cheezburger network so if you’re going to align him with
an organization, it would be that one.
Circa is a startup so you would/could contextualize who
Huh is with that after the headline, say either in the lede,
eg., “Ben Huh, CEO of the Cheezburger network and now
head of Circa, a startup that does XYZ...”, or afterwards
Alternative headlines: You Can’t Handle the Truth;
Cheezburgers, Kittehs and the Truth, etc.

16. Post Type: Image
Like the Time magazine cover above, I’m letting the image
speak for itself.
The link to the Daily News article that’s referenced
underneath it begins immediately with a description of what
this image is so that the viewer ‘gets it’ immediately.

17. Post Type (top): Image
Not much to say about this one. I use the screenshot of the
Fox Nation headline speak for itself.
Post Type (bottom): Video
I strike out on this one. The video shows the speed at
which a search for Obama appears on Twitter.
However, I don’t indicate this at all with a title. Nor do I
explicitly tell people what they’ll get if they choose to watch
the video. So my bad on both accounts.
The post ends up relying on people proactively choosing to
select the video to get any understanding of what the post
is trying to accomplish.
Verdict: Fail.

18. Post Type: Image
I think this works. Often images will have a title embedded
in it that you can simply repeat.

19. Post Type: Video
Another fail on my part.
I don’t let the viewer know what “Tumblr Storyboard”
actually is or why they might want to watch the video.
If I want to keep this title I need text explaining that Tumblr
launched Storyboard.
If I want to keep it brief, the title should read: “Tumblr
Launches Storyboard”.

20. Post Type: Image
I went with “Suit Yourself” because when I came across
this image it actually took me a few moments to figure out
what the headline in the image was actually trying to say.
This title then is to spell it out so the viewer gets it
immediately.

21. Post Type: Image
As mentioned in the “Daughters are Precious” post above,
sometimes the image itself has your title. No need to
recreate the wheel.

22. Post Type: Audio
Doesn’t work because the language indicates an attitude
that’s tough to attribute.
“Here Goes Nothing”: Is that supposed to reflect our
throwing caution to the wind in a haphazard post, or is it a
reflection of what’s going on with Microsoft and Barnes &
Noble?
What would work is if you simply removed “Here Goes
Nothing” and left it with “Microsoft, Barnes & Noble Make
New Entrance into the e-Reader Market.”
Alternatives: Throwing Caution to the Wind: Microsoft and
Barnes & Noble Re-enter e-Reader Market; Try, Try Again:
Microsoft and Barnes & Noble Re-enter e-Reader Market;
Take Two, or Make That Three: Microsoft and Barnes &
Noble Re-enter e-Reader Market; etc.

23. Post Type: Image
Since the image is peculiar -- ie, you look at it, you see
books, you see that it’s outside, you have no idea what or
where it is -- I hit that directly with the headline by giving
readers notice that this is in Colombia, it has something to
do with libraries and it takes place in a Park.

24. Post Type: Image
The image here is purely illustrative and if you saw it by
itself you’d have no idea that the story is that Vogue’s
international editors came together in a pact to promote
healthier body images.
So the headline tells the reader that that’s what they’re
about to get into.

25. Post Type: Image
The title’s purpose here is to place the memorial image in a
location (Mexico) and with a context (journalists murdered).

26. Post Type: Quote
Our attribution style for Quote posts is to indicate who the
person is that either spoke or wrote what we quote.
The style is: Full name, title or publication. The source’s
title with a link back to the source.
For example:
Chuck Wendig, author and game designer, Terrible Minds.
Thinking the Wrong Thing About E-Book Pricing.
From there you can follow up with your comments about
the quote.

27. Post Type: Text
Peter keeps it simple, neat and clean.

28. Post Type: Text
So Jihii and I sitting across from each other and we can’t
decide whether this one’s good or bad.
I asked if it was a reference to Don’t Cry For Me,
Argentina. She says no. Instead, it name checks a Tumblr
called Don’t Censor Me India.
Let’s call it good (enough) and move on.

29. Post Type: Image
Too wordy.
How about simply: Faster Than the Speed of Sound.
Then, in your lede, be very clear that the two organizations
are collaborating to speed produce a radio program.

30. Post Type: Image
The image and the title are incongruous. That is, a man is
firing into the air while the title references women.

31. Post Type: Image
As mentioned previously, you can the text from the image
and using it as the title.
Besides, the person who created the sign already did the
heavy thinking. No need to try to rethink it.

32. Post Type: Image
Since we’re looking at an infographic, we don’t need the
word in the title.

33. Post Type: Image
Title’s fine but “Drawing by Violet Newman, age 7,
Brooklyn” should come at the end of the post in our typical
format which runs like so:
Image: Drawing by Violet Newman, age 7, Brooklyn. Via
the New York Times.

34. Post Type: Image
Dull/uninformative. While the image says “TED Radio
Hour,” I’d duplicate it in the headline as: “TED Radio Hour
Debuts on NPR Today.”
Still dull but gives a little extra bit of information.

35. Post Type: Image
Wordy.
The image gives you your title: “Freedom of Anonymity.”
If you left it at that, the lede gets us immediately into what
the post is about.
Alternatively, “Gawker Goes Anonymous”; “Duck,
Anonymous Comments Return to Gawker”; etc.

36. Post Type: Image
Who are Benji and Matt and why should we care?
The subject is Top 5 News. The headline should reflect
what Top 5 News is trying to do, eg, Rethinking the News
Feed.
So, your title could be “Rethinking the News Feed”, or
“Guardian Editor Rethinks the News Feed”, etc.

37. Post Type: Image
Straight and to the point.
The reader knows what they’re about to get into.
Bonus points for the image.

38. .end();
Michael Cervieri tumblr.theFJP.org
michael@theFJP.org @the_FJP
@bMunch
May 2012