Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator (51 page)

Shafer, Jake, 24

Shankman, Peter, 55

Sherrod, Shirley, 134–38

Sicha, Choire, 133

Siegler, MG, 115–16

Silicon Alley Insider
, 169

Silver, Nate, 36, 44, 102

Sinclair, Upton, 88, 177, 184

Sitrick, Michael, 26

Slashfood
, 42

slideshows, Detroit in ruins, 60–63, 68

snark, 197–205

defined, 197–98

examples of, 198–200

rationale for, 201–5

toxicity of, 199–202, 204–5

Snyder, Gabriel, 88

Solis, Brian, 172

Sorkin, Andrew, 149

Sound and Fury: The Making of Punditocracy
(Alterman), 106

sources, 50–58

checking by bloggers, lack of, 53–54

checking by journalists, lack of, 24n, 50

HARO (Help a Reporter Out), 55–57

journalists’ relationship with, 50

leaks, deliberate, 50–51

link economy, 150–56

press releases, 51–52

Wikipedia as, 54–55

Spiers, Elizabeth, 36

Sternbergh, Adam, 200

stories/information, 50–58

ads as content, 190–91

angle-hunting/made-up stories, 114–19

blog-sponsored conferences, 191–92

content production, pressure for, 20, 26, 44, 96–98

coverage about coverage, 192–93

format/length of stories, 106–12

headlines, 88–93

one-off stories, 82–85

sources, 50–58

traffic/pageviews as goal, 33, 73, 96, 99, 108

user engagement, 72–74

user engagement, necessity of, 101–3, 144

virality, creating, 60–68

Strauss, Neil, 95

Strong, George Templeton, 79

StumbleUpon, 99

subscription model

headlines of, 90–91

history of, 80–82

RSS method, end of, 82–85

Suck.com
, 108

Sullivan, Andrew, success of, 35–36

Talkingpointsmemo.com
, 53

TechCrunch
, 38

AOL purchase of, 37

blackmail tactics by, 159–60

conflicts of interest, profiting from, 38

See also
Arrington, Michael

Techmeme
, 96

thumbnail cheating, 141

TMZ
, traffic-generating scoops, 33–34

Top of the Ticket
, 92

Topolsky, Joshua, 46

Toyota, 189

trading up the chain, 18–29

actions in, 20–21

blogs, influence on mass media, 12–14, 20–23, 146–49

blogs, influence on other blogs, 19–20, 147

chain, levels of, 20–23

chain, moving up, 20, 24–26

charity fund-raising example, 18–19

defined, 19

and delegation of trust, 149–50

link economy, 150–56

mass media, passing stories to blogs, 28n

movie, creating outrage for, 1–2, 23–24

as self-perpetuating, 26–27

toxicity of.
see
blog toxicity

Traffic

buying traffic, 99–100

and revenues, 32–35

See also
pageviews; pageview statistics

TreeHugger
, 37

tricking readers, 70–74

loaded-question headlines, 70–71

and user engagement, 71–73

Trow, George W. S., 226

trust

delegation of, 149–50

and subscription model, 80–82

Turgenev, Ivan, 223

Twitter

in newsmaking chain, 23, 96

paying for tweets, 44

unpaid articles, and comments generation, 102–3

Urbahn, Keith, 171

user engagement

operation of, 72

pageviews, increasing, 71–73

silence, problem of, 101–3, 144

valence, and virality, 63–64, 67–68

VandeHei, Jim, 14

Vener, Scott, 23

video blogs, thumbnail cheating, 141

Videogum
, 19

virality, 60–68

Detroit in ruins slideshow example, 60–63, 68

and emotions/valence, 63–68

predictor of, 63

Vulture
, 19

Walker, Rob, 67

Wallace, Ed, 189, 233

Wall Street Journal
, 96

Warner, Kurt, 26–27

Warnock, Bryan, 101

Warnock’s Dilemma, 101–2

Washington City Paper
, 210n

Washington Post, The
, 114, 165

TheWatchLounge
, 160

Waxman, Sharon, 202

Weblogs, Inc., 35

AOL purchase of, 36

bloggers, compensation methods, 42

Wemple, Eric, 165

White, Charlie, 115

Wiggin, Peter, 101, 102

WikiLeaks, 209–11

Wikipedia

citations, credibility of, 54n

false information, adding to, 54–55, 152

and iterative journalism, 182–83

as source for bloggers, 54–55

Wilde, Oscar, 208

Wired
, 22

Wonkette
, 46

World
, 78

Yahoo! 96

Yellow Press, 4–5, 77–80

compared to blogs, 79–80, 82–85

characteristics of, 79, 97

headlines, importance of, 88–90

One-Off Problem, 78–80

versus subscription model, 80–82

Yglesias, Matt, 140

YouTube, 18

blogger compensation method, 44

Partner Program, 141

thumbnail cheating, 141

Zinsser, William, 154

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

BOOK ONE

FEEDING THE MONSTER

HOW BLOGS WORK

I BLOGS MAKE THE NEWS

II HOW TO TURN NOTHING INTO SOMETHING IN THREE WAY-TOO-EASY STEPS

III THE BLOG CON: HOW PUBLISHERS MAKE MONEY ONLINE

IV TACTIC #1: BLOGGERS ARE POOR; HELP PAY THEIR BILLS

V TACTIC #2: TELL THEM WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR

VI TACTIC #3: GIVE THEM WHAT SPREADS, NOT WHAT’S GOOD

VII TACTIC # 4: HELP THEM TRICK THEIR READERS

VIII TACTIC #5: SELL THEM SOMETHING THEY CAN SELL (EXPLOIT THE ONE-OFF PROBLEM)

IX TACTIC #6: MAKE IT ALL ABOUT THE HEADLINE

X TACTIC #7: KILL ‘EM WITH PAGEVIEW KINDNESS

XI TACTIC #8: USE THE TECHNOLOGY AGAINST ITSELF

XII TACTIC #9: JUST MAKE STUFF UP (EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING IT)

BOOK TWO

THE MONSTER ATTACKS

WHAT BLOGS MEAN

XIII IRIN CARMON, THE DAILY SHOW , AND ME: THE PERFECT STORM OF HOW TOXIC BLOGGING CAN BE

XIV THERE ARE OTHERS: THE MANIPULATOR HALL OF FAME

XV CUTE BUT EVIL: ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT TACTICS THAT DRUG YOU AND ME

XVI THE LINK ECONOMY: THE LEVERAGED ILLUSION OF SOURCING

XVII EXTORTION VIA THE WEB: FACING THE ONLINE SHAKEDOWN

XVIII THE ITERATIVE HUSTLE: ONLINE JOURNALISM’S BOGUS PHILOSOPHY

XIX THE MYTH OF CORRECTIONS

XX CHEERING ON OUR OWN DECEPTION

XXI THE DARK SIDE OF SNARK: WHEN INTERNET HUMOR ATTACKS

XXII THE 21 ST -CENTURY DEGRADATION CEREMONY: BLOGS AS MACHINES OF HATRED AND PUNISHMENT

XXIII WELCOME TO UNREALITY

XXIV HOW TO READ A BLOG: AN UPDATE ON ACCOUNT OF ALL THE LIES

CONCLUSION: SO…WHERE TO FROM HERE?

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

NOTES

WORKS CITED

FURTHER READING

INDEX