Upworthy: 10 Ways To Win The Internets

1. s ‘ 10 WAYS TO WIN THE INTERWEBS Through Sexier Shares and Epic Visuals*

3. and

4. buckets

5. o f

6. testing tons!

7. with

8. links

10. hits! optimized

11. but l

29. with

30. specia Click

31. to

32. see

33. @ Sara Critchfield Adam Mordecai

34. @saracritchfield @advodude Netroots Nation 2012 @ #NNUPFTW @upworthy if you are inclined to tweet 1

35. ? Click

36. to

37. see

38. our story

47. . 2

48. Our Founders Eli Pariser Chris Hughes Peter Koechley 3

49. Blend It All Together ches

50. March

51. 26th,

52. 2012 Laun = As

53. of

54. June

55. 11th,

56. 2012,

57. 77

58. days

59. later: 35,000

60. Facebook

61. fans

62. and

63. 7,300

64. Twitter

65. followers 4

66. What Makes Us Fancy Experts? @ @ Sara Adam Critchfield Mordecai Upworthy Editor Upworthy Curator BA in Visual Communications Worked on the Dean campaign from Drexel and maybe caused the scream? MA in Non-Profit Management Used to build websites for Non-Profits From U of Pennsylvania and stuff Did time at Move-On as their Been screwing around on the Community Director internet for decades Helped build their Social Sharing platform Can imitate muppets Is a *shudder* socialist Is a shrill progressive 5

67. Definition of Upworthy Mitt Romney Rumor that Mitt Getting Tied Romney To His Roof* joked about tying the middle class to his roof.* A video of a middle class person catching Romney saying the Mitt Romney roof thing.* Tied His Dog On The Roof *as far as we know this HAS NOT HAPPENED. Yet. 6

68. POP QUIZ - Pick A Headline! The West Wing learns that the map they’ve known for centuries is a lie and that Africa is way bigger. A. We Have Been Mislead By An Erroneous Map Of The World For 500 Years B. You Know That Map Of The World You First Saw As A Kid? That's Wrong. Which headline wins? Answers at the end. 7

69. POP QUIZ - Pick A Headline! The West Wing learns that the map they’ve known for centuries is a lie and that Africa is way bigger. Click

70. to

71. see

74. So Finally 10 Interwebz Things To Know For The Winning 9

75. 1. Nobody Knows Anything. You do not know how to make your video go totally viral. Also, we do not know how to make your video go totally viral. Unless you harness the magical powers of a unicorn horn, you will never know how to make all your stuff go totally viral. 10

76. 2. Virality Can Be Complex 11

77. Math Is Hard Shares Clicks x View Share =virality Shares per View Clicks per Share Viral? LOW LOW nope HIGH LOW kinda LOW HIGH so-so HIGH HIGH Hell Yeah! To

78. get

79. clicks,

80. you

81. MUST

82. focus

83. on

84. Headlines

85. 12

86. 3. This Headline Is More Important Than This Talk Obama Blasts Obama's Evasive Stance On Gay Marriage Great

87. joke,

88. but

89. now

91. know what

92. it

93. is

94. and

95. don’t

96. need

97. to

98. click Obama Says Same-Sex Marriage Should Be Legal BOOORING.

99. Already

100. done. Now THIS Is Why I Voted For Barack Obama What’s

101. THIS

102. mean?

103. I

104. MUST

105. KNOW!

106. Click...

107. click...

108. click.... 13

109. Upworthy’s Editorial Process 1. You HAVE to crap out 25 headlines for every piece of content 2.You WILL write some really stinky headlines. 3. Once you start getting desperate, you start thinking outside the box. 4.So you HAVE TO WRITE 25 HEADLINES. 5. #24 will suck. Then #25 will be a gift from the headline gods and will make you a legend. 6.Accept that not every headline will be perfect. 7.Then write 25 headlines. 8. With practice, you’ll be writing 25 in 15 minutes. Then I will give you permission to lower your limit. SO PLEASE WRITE 25 HEADLINES 14

110. YOU WILL WRITE 25 HEADLINES!1!!!1 Otherwise, people won’t click your links. so I’d write 25 headlines. 15

111. POP QUIZ - Pick A Headline! One of our biggest hits was an infographic on media consolidation. Guess which headline won? A. Who Controls 90% Of Everything Americans Watch, Hear, And Read? B. The Real Reason They Still Play 'Mrs. Robinson' On The Radio Which headline wins? 16

112. POP QUIZ - Pick A Headline! One of our biggest hits was an infographic on media consolidation. Guess which headline won? Click

113. to

114. see

115. @

116. 17

117. Also... Not sure if we mentioned this yet but you should write 25 headlines unless you want the terrorists to win. 18

118. Guess The Winning Headline CALL TO ACTION: Show Your Support For The Very First Gay Father's Day Ad What Heroic Thing Did JC Penney Do After Being Targeted by An Anti-Gay Group? This might seems hilarious, but think deeper Top 10 reasons why men shouldn't be ordained One Of The Greatest Love Stories I've Ever Seen In 1 Minute And 41 Seconds One Of The Greatest Military Homecomings I've Ever Seen In 1 Minute And 41 Seconds 19

119. Guess The Winning Headline 3X

120. clicks @ 3X

121. clicks @ 2X

122. clicks @ 20

123. When People Share Anger The Sweet Spot Relaxation Happiness Don’t share “just chill, we’re all gonna die anyways.” Sadness Click

124. to

125. see

126. fancy

127. NY

128. TIMES

129. Study 21

130. 4. Make It Easy To Share Click

131. to

132. see

133. @

134. 22

135. We Write Many Thingers 23

136. We Write Many Thingers 24

137. Click

138. an

139. image The Share Image Is to

140. see

141. it’s

142. page Kind Of A Big Deal Secrets...

154. Secrets...

167. Secrets... close

168. up

169. humans Improvise

170. when Curiousity?

171. WTF? Hero/villain Photoshopped?

172. nope. Curiousity?

173. WTF? image

174. is

175. hard... 25

176. Then we kick our curators- er- tires... Does it leave them wanting more? Is it framed to share? Is it ready to go? Do we need an A/B test? 26

177. Case Study: Zach Wahls written

178. by Zach Wahls Speaks About Family (youtube title) (~1M views) Text Two Lesbians Raised A Baby And This Is What They Got (moveon title) (~17 million views) Click

179. to

180. see

181. @

182. 27

183. Case Study: It’s Time The PERFECT Argument For Gay Marriage Click

184. to

185. see

186. @ Watching This Video Is Like 10

187. Years In Therapy They Fight. They Love. They Live. Also, They’re Gay. If This Makes You Uncomfortable, You Make Me Uncomfortable share

188. image

189. takes

190. it

191. to

192. 11 28

193. Case Study: Get The Facts Click

194. to

195. see

196. @ Original: Stephanie Cutter: Get the facts on Mitt Romney, Big Oil, and the Koch

197. Brothers It's About Time: Obama Campaign Calls Out Right Wing Lies Truth In A Campaign Ad? I'm As Surprised As You Are. 300,000 Views This Is How You Kill An Attack Ad 23x

198. the

199. clicks 29

200. 5. I Know Your Boss Thinks It’s A Waste Of Time but, I have an idea. You should write 25 headlines and make it easier to share. Then people will want to “click” on your “stuff” and bring “traffic” back to your “website.” Then your boss will “finally get it.” 30

201. 6. Optimize Prime Your website is the gateway drug to sharing. Make sure it shares properly. You should always be testing, always adapting, always challenging what works @

202. artists

203. site Art by Tim Doyle of Nakatomi Inc 31

204. If you don’t this will happen... 32

205. Design Case Study: Share Floating Original Link 1 Floating FB Link 2 Floating Overlay Links + Links Above 33

206. Design Case Study: Share Floating 2 Overlay 142% Links + Links Above Increase in sharing Click

207. to

208. see

209. @

210. 34

211. Design Case Study: Share Floating Original Link Floating Hover Overlay Links + Links Above 35

212. Design Case Study: Share Floating Hover Overlay Click

213. to

214. see

215. @ Links

216. + Links Above 398% Increase in WINNING! 36

217. 7. Prioritize For Where The People Live good

218. luck,

219. if

220. hey

221. ladies! not

222. that

223. impressive you

224. crack

225. it

226. you Pix

227. please! but

228. they

229. like

230. facts are

231. a

232. god. 37

233. 8. Facebook: If You Aren’t There, You Lose Photo posts Links on photo posts Making an ask have 3-4 x to your content get increases interaction the engagement. 10-30% increase in (DO NOT FEEL clicks GUILT IF YOUR CAUSE IS RIGHTEOUS!) 38

234. Links on Photo Posts... 1. Post a link to your content on 2. Make a photo post related to your your site. Wait a bit... content and link it back to the site. Click

235. to

236. see

237. @

238. 39

239. 9. Always. Be. TESTING. Optimize.ly Google Twitter Analytics A/B Test constantly Bit.ly + Facebook + Delete Button Intuition 40

240. 10A. SERIOUSLY, YOU ARE DUMB We are slightly less dumb than you. Our 2 biggest hits were written up by interns. You will be wrong 90% of the time. Accept it, move on. If you find any unicorn horns let me know. No, we can’t make your thinger go viral. 41

241. 10B. Always Make An Ask. Also, can I ask a favor? see

242. @ Clic k

243. to

245. Like us on Facebook follow @upworthy, @saracritchfield, @advodude on Twittter Share our stuff Ask us some questions... make sure to test things... and always write 25 headlines. and if you downloaded this as a PDF, you can find the internets version here . Upworthy's 10 Ways To Win The Internets by Upworthy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://facebook.com/upworthy. 42

Upworthy: 10 Ways To Win The Internets

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Upworthy: 10 Ways To Win The Internets