Got Game? Play-Journalism Works

To Spur Traffic at News Sites, Just Travoltify

Leslie Kaufman for The New York Times:

“Which of the following interactive features drove record traffic to its respective news sites in recent months: a) How Much Time Have You Wasted on Facebook? for Time; b) The interactive dialect quiz for The New York Times; c) The Adele Dazeem Generator: Travoltify Your Name, which appeared on Slate; d) all of the above?”

Answer?

All of the above.

“News organizations are changing their formats in the digital age to connect with more readers, with quizzes and games having become popular offerings that audiences find hard to resist.”

Yes, I Travolified:

Jeff Schwartz “Travoltified”

Meet Jude Stonz.

I like it.

Jude “Heisenberg” Stonz even better, if I chose “Breaking Bad.”

As for SchwartzNow “Travoltified”?

Didn’t check.

The key takeaway is, get new followers. By gamification:

“‘It is the gamification of content,’ said Joshua Benton, director of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard. ‘Take the same dynamics that lead games and social sharing to be addictive and use them in a way to connect to content.’”

Think crossword puzzles, NCAA brackets.

You’ve done them for years.

It’s journalism at play.

Reporter Kaufman says play-journalism works.

As in, 9.5 million unique visitors, some 100,000 people an hour.

Oh, SchwartzNow “Travoltified?”

You knew I’d try:

SchwartzNow “Travoltified”

Meet me, Jude “Heisenberg” Stonz Stewart.

Hey, Jude, can you get me traffic?

I can get you traffic.

Most likely.

Good gamification gets results.

If I ran your Online Newsroom: Got game?