Techmeme: The power of the headline

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I first wrote about Techmeme over 5 years ago. Today Techmeme remains the reference point for what’s hot in technology news. Bloggers and publishers strive to appear on its pages, not just because of the traffic it drives, but also because the people who visit Techmeme are among the most influential in the business.

Founder Gabe Rivera has just shared some insights into how particular articles are selected as the lead article on Techmeme for a particular breaking story. For the first few years Techmeme used only an algorithm, however it has had human editors to complement the algorithm for almost three years now.

It turns out that one of the reasons to have humans is to select the stories with the most informative headlines. In an aggregator site, headlines are critical, as they need to tell as much of the story as possible. The rise of the web has had a big impact on headline writing, not least for search optimization, but also increasingly for aggregation.

Here are some of Gabe’s tips on how to make your story hit the front page of Techmeme:

Understanding why Techmeme does what it does starts with understanding our mission. Which is: to highlight the essential tech news and commentary of the moment on a single page.
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To appear on Techmeme, do this:

– Break a major story.
– Report/summarize/write up a big, developing story. Be early, or better: first (mindful that this doesn’t trump other considerations).
– Got a press release or non-exclusive briefing? Write the very best take. Highlight what’s important, what’s fascinating. Be lucid and critical.
– Make sure your headline is clear and contains all major details (proper names, dollar amounts, dates, etc.) If you’re posting on Google+, make sure the first line of your post functions as a headline.
– Link generously to stories on other sites to establish context and cite sources. Sometimes including a Techmeme permalink is the best way to do this. (Self-serving but true!)
– Articulate something lots of people are thinking, but not putting into words.
– Write the kind of story an Apple or Google exec would share with their fellow execs.
– Write the kind of story people will talk about at an industry cocktail party.
– Write the killer analysis piece that tech pundits can’t help but to link to. Yes, be a “thought leader”. If your post is linked enough, the automation behind Techmeme will notice and attempt to surface it.
– Tip Techmeme on Twitter. (Include “Tip @Techmeme” when you tweet your link.)
– Summarize a major story that’s behind a paywall. Techmeme rarely features paywalled stories, but may link to you. Link prominently to the source story, of course.
– Say what you’re going to say early in your post. The reader wants to know soon whether there’s a payoff to reading, not 8 paragraphs in.
– Include relevant images, videos, or figures in your post.
– Time some analytical pieces for weekends and other slow times when they’re easier for Techmeme to discover.