Challenge 7: Smarter Headlines

Chris Orwa, Kartik Mandaville, Sofia Lotto Persio

#mediaincontext

Introducing

HEADITOR

Headlines will never be the same again

Journalists got 99 problems & headline is one

20+ headlines required from journalists per article

BECAUSE

Headlines are crucial in readers’ engagement (distribution)

BUT

Journalists are on tight deadlines

AND

Headlines take time to write

how to improve the writing process to maximize distribution?

Our Vision:There are 7 billion people

on EarthWe want to create 7

billion headlines.

Per article.

A two-phase solution to enable personalized distribution

Good for the journalists

Save journalists time in thinking of different headlines for each social media channel.

Good for the reader

Provides dynamic, personalized headlines for publication’s website and apps.

How does it work?

Deliver keywords based on language processing to optimize search results and personalize readers’ experience

Phase 1: Headline Generation

Journalists use words suggested on basis of keywords in the article vs. best results tailored to the readers’ demographics.

Phase 2: Headline Distribution

Each headline is fed into publication CMSWebsite visitors fitting into the segment will be shown a customised for them

Demographics Featured

Present Social Media used

Age group: Under 18 19 - 40 40 - 65 65+

Future Time of publication

Language

Mood

Headline design

Bias detector

Mission Accomplished?

Innovation: Uncapping the API data to improve SMO/SEO and create dynamic headlines which will ultimately become tailored to each reader.

Potential: Conceptual and technological basis, anything can be built on that; the more the algorithm is used, the more demographics about the users actions are collected It will keep improving itself.

Impact: Personalized distribution improved connection with the story, its reach, and potential for community engagement.

Mission Accomplished?

Technical & Design: Open source libraries – nltk and DatumBox. Al-Jazeera’s, USAToday’s, NYT’s, Twitter’s API used to create a personalized API based on the readers’ demographics.

Journalism Values and Ethics: Providing support as journalists retain control over editorial standards. Optimized headlines increased exposure for articles (even for small/independent publication) enhanced reputation bigger readership.