Wowza, another update so soon? The last one was only two weeks ago!
I know, I know. It’s getting pretty crazy up in here. In this update, we’re going to talk about a new change that we’re testing out on GameSkinny that will affect your b-e-a-utiful headlines.
We’re trying casual capitalization instead of all-caps
Our preliminary A/B testing shows that informal capitalization in headlines has increased our reader engagement on social media outlets. We’d like to see if this trend will carry over onto GameSkinny proper. Expect to see lowercase headlines that invoke a slightly more conversational tone.
Now, don’t think we’re not critical of this experiment! I was born and raised in the fires of the tried-and-true style guides. MLA, AMA, Chicago, APA, AP, Blue Book, and Turabian all crossed my path as I developed my Jedi editorial skills. And that was back when you couldn’t just look up a rule online, you had to keep your physical Chicago Manual of Style handy. It was not a slim book.
If this title change does not make the difference we think it might, we’ll happily go right back to the glory of proper capitalization. We do think it is wise to give innovation a shot in this article-saturated webspace. If we can make your articles stand out and attract even a tiny bit more engagement, then we’re one step ahead!
Diving into the reasoning behind the experiment
As it turns out, more and more internet users are developing what we call “headline fatigue” from seeing so many headlines and articles linked everywhere. In Twitter and Facebook especially, users are so overloaded with article links that they mentally block headlines out. If something is all-caps, many users passively identify it to be an article and skip over it without batting an eye.
The result? Your articles aren’t getting the engagement they deserve! That’s not even close to being groovy. So, we’re mixing things up a bit!
Questions, comments?
As always, feel free to drop us a line in the comments section below!
