Rankings as a way of understanding the world (and your place in it)
We all know lists and rankings are not a new idea in journalism. But these days, in the challenged world of online journalism, lists seem to be popping up more and more.Want to be featured or get the top buzz on Yahoo? Make a list. Want to drive page views and lower your bounce rate? Make a list. Want to get tweeted? Make a list. Want to get stories written about your organization? Make a list.My colleague Amy Eisman, director of writing programs at American University's School of Communication, knows the value of publishing a good list. "As someone who came from newspaper, magazine and Web worlds, I embrace the value of lists," she said via e-mail. "Particularly online, lists are clickable, debatable, easy on the SEO."
via poynter.org
Considering that I'm the editor of a news site that's entire structure is based on rankings, its remarkable how little I've thought about the value of ranking and lists as a way of conveying information.
Rankings are compelling because they address the glut of information issue. Someone else does the work of evaluating and prioritizing what content is more or less important. Rankings also serve as a touchstone by which we measure the quality of our own judgments, and help identify social rank all sorts.
What's lost in lists and rankings? Here's a list:
- Beautiful prose
- Reading/watching/listening to the mediocre, which gives us an appreciation of the exceptional
- Context
Filed under //
journalism
Comments [0]