Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
The other day I suggested in one of the comment threads that Matt Drudge had jumped the shark--I noticed that lately I haven't been checking his page as often as I used to.
It appears that I was very, very wrong.
When it comes to driving traffic on the Internet, the Drudge Report, according to the Pew Research Center, is more powerful than Facebook or Twitter. All of Facebook. All of Twitter.
With no video, no search optimization, no slide shows, and a design that is right out of mid-’90s manual on HTML, The Drudge Report provides 7 percent of the inbound referrals to the top news sites in the country.
This story prompted the editors of Ricochet to begin e-mailing one another anxiously: What can we do we get Drudge's attention?
Well, I gave it some thought. According to The New York Times,
His durability is, first and foremost, a personal achievement, a testament to the fact that he is, as Gabriel Snyder, who has done Web news for Gawker, Newsweek and now The Atlantic, told me, “the best wire editor on the planet. He can look into a huge stream of news, find the hot story and put an irresistible headline on it.”
On Thursday, a fairly straightforward Reuters article about a NATO attack on Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s compound occupied the skyline of the site with a particularly odious picture of the strongman girded by a headline that blared, “NEXT UP: NATO GOING FOR THE KILL.”
Right. So the trick is to give him a hot story that lends itself to an irresistible headline. How about these?
SICK: OUTRAGE OVER WEBSITE THREAT TO SHOOT PUPPY
... PELOSI: RICOCHET PUPPY THREAT "SATANIC"
... The post that started it
... RICOCHET DENIES: "We'd never really do that!"
So there you go, Matt. Link to us or the puppy croaks.
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Comments :
Aug '10
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
Brilliant, Claire! This should do it. But for that extra little kick, maybe we should say the puppy belongs to Charlie Sheen's wife and kids.
Dec '10
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
National Lampoon already did this. If you want something Drudge-worthy, hold an adorable kitten over a bucket labeled "DANGER -SULFURIC ACID" with a big skull and crossbones. "Link to Ricochet or we drop the kitten."
Sep '10
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
I check Drudge daily. What a great concept. No frills, no trouble loading, just headlines and links. And he does have his finger on the pertinent news items from around the world.
I've noticed that Instapundit has linked a couple of times. Did that result in a significant uptick?
May '10
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
Personally, I've had enough of this bigoted anti-canine speciesism attitude from cats and their enablers around here.
Sep '10
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
Will there be a member only video feed to this?
May '10
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
Hear hear. I think to gain Drudge's attention, we should wear really cool hats. Mainly because I got some really cool hats.
Dec '10
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
Ricochet could always buy ad space. An organization I worked for a few years back bought ad space on Drudge to promote a site we hosted and it worked great.
It's probably very expensive though.
Jun '10
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
For Drudge, you might need a two-headed puppy who pulled twin babies out of a burning building, one baby with each head.
Nov '10
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
<mockindignation>
I just wonder, Claire, how you would feel if someone threatened a kitten, even in jest?
</mockindignation>
I quit going to Drudge when he was reporting on Bill Clinton's rash. I thought it was silly and beside the point. I somehow feel that the site is the trailer park of the Internet...
Dec '10
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
Is this the puppy Arnold Schwarzenegger gave his child out of wedlock?
May '11
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
Funny Claire you crack me up!!
I think the gun needs to be a full auto BANNED assault rifle, that little pistol shooter you have there just looks like a UBL squirt gun :)
I check Drudge just to see what is trending, but I usually don't click on the links, as they mostly go to low brow sites.
I spend WAY more time now on Ricochet!
Domo!
Dec '10
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
Am I the only one who reads the main headline, but never clicks through on it?
I'll see it, think "hmm, that's interesting", and start clicking through the other links. Should I seek help?
May '10
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
Just out of college I worked in P.R. and learned an invaluable lesson about the power of headlines. My boss told a story of trying to book Mae West for press interviews after she had agreed to become a spokesperson for Poland Spring. It was the first endorsement deal of her, by then, quite faded career, but not exactly news. As a junior flack my boss told her boss -- a more seasoned flack -- about the trouble she was having getting the aged sexpot booked on TV to promote Poland Spring water. He took the press release from my boss, crossed out the headline and wrote instead: "Mae West Breaks Vow of Commercial Chastity." After that, she sailed right onto The Today Show. Headlines matter.
May '10
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
get Breitbart on a podcast...he and Drudge are thick...then have Drudge link the interview...that's a start.
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
Coincidentally, he's on this week.
Nov '10
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
*Insert headline about Glenn Reynolds, a blender, and Ricochet here*
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
Now you know why I entitled my last post A Chimpanzee in Heat. Alas, it did not budge Drudge.
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
Clearly I need to learn some headline writing skills. Thanks for the tips, guys!
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
Here's how we get Matt Drudge's attention and that of everyone else:
Let's eat the puppy! Mmmmmm! Bosintang!
May '10
Re: Dear Matt Drudge: Link to Us or We Will Shoot This Puppy
In all seriousness, if he's not linking to Judith's post on the Iranian missile bases in Venezuela then he is clearly not as good as you think he is.