Mediagazer: What tools does Upworthy employ to test its headlines? (Quora)

9:05 AM ET, November 25, 2013

Top News:

Signs of Change in News Mission at Bloomberg — Champagne flowed last Monday night as Hong Kong's business elite gathered with top Bloomberg L.P. executives at a dinner for 100 guests at a cultural center in a former British colonial military complex. — Multimedia

Discussion: Capital New York, @huffpostmedia, @mlcalderone, @rafat, @agolis, @reformedbroker, @joeyerardi, @brianstelter, @mathewi, @ravisomaiya, @michaelluo, New York Magazine, @felixsalmon, @thestalwart, @jayrosen_nyu, @kleinmatic, @nycjim and Business Insider

David Carr / New York Times:

Overlook the Value of Interns at Great Peril — Last week, The New York Post ran the kind of heart-rending article tabloids excel at. A young woman, new to New York, found herself pushed beyond what she could bear, forced to work by a big bad corporation for a compensation of exactly zero.

Discussion: @rossbarkan, @jeffjarvis, @emmacarew, @dankennedy_nu, @romenesko, @martinez_a, @mattschiavenza, @carr2n, @tomfinn2, @greenhousenyt, @joeyerardi, @postbaron, @jeffjarvis, @zseward and @ftrain

Kara Swisher / AllThingsD:

Katie Couric Deal to Become Yahoo's “Global News Anchor” Set to Be Announced Monday — As AllThingsD had first reported in August that it was working on, Yahoo is poised to announce a deal with well-known television news star Katie Couric to do a high-profile online interview show on its home page.

New York Times:

Drones Offer Journalists a Wider View — The best way to film the destruction wrought by Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban, the Philippines, said Lewis Whyld, a British photographer, was from the air. — But Mr. Whyld did not want to beg for a ride on a military helicopter, taking the space of much-needed aid.

Discussion: Press Gazette, @nxthompson, New York Magazine and @suerobinsonuw, Thanks:@steverubel

Jeff Elder / Wall Street Journal:

Inside a Twitter Robot Factory — Fake Activity, Often Bought for Publicity Purposes, Influences Trending Topics — One day earlier this month, Jim Vidmar bought 1,000 fake Twitter accounts for $58 from an online vendor in Pakistan. — He then programmed the accounts to “follow” …

Discussion: @infoarbitrage, @wsj and Digits

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Beastie Boys, ‘Girls’ Viral Video in Copyright Infringement Fight — Goldieblox, the company responsible for the “Princess Machine” advertisement, demands a declaratory judgment that its parody of the song is fair use. — Beastie Boys — This week, a toy company called Goldieblox ignited …

Discussion: Rolling Stone, @samuelfine, @copyrightgirl, Techdirt, TIME, EW.com, Boing Boing, The Wrap, NME, Consequence of Sound and Globe and Mail

Michael Wolff / USA Today:

At ‘Business Insider,’ it's time to sell — The digital traffic world is not a sound long-term play. — CONNECT — Henry Blodget is a savvy operator who took brilliant advantage of the dot-com bubble and who then, after having taken too much advantage and getting banned …

Discussion: Felix, Talking Biz News, @hblodget, @bobbymacreports, @raju and @felixsalmon

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:

News Outlets Held Off On Reporting Secret Iran Talks For Months — Multiple news outlets held off on reporting the news of secret talks between the United States and Iran for months, it was revealed on Sunday. — After news broke of a nuclear deal between Iran and the West on Saturday night …

Discussion: Politico

Quora:

What tools does Upworthy employ to test its headlines? — Answer: We have a custom click testing system that I call the magic unicorn box which we built internally. I can't say how it works. All I can say is that I put my headlines in the box, and the magical scores come out, and then I make decisions based on that.

Discussion: @davechensky, @raju, @newswhip, @pkafka and @quora

James Quinn / Telegraph:

7digital close to takeover of UBC Media — Reverse takeover will give 7digital a market listing which could value the online music platform around £50m — 7digital, the online music platform, is close to signing a deal to takeover UBC Media Group which will see the business listed on the London Stock Exchange in the new year.

Discussion: Guardian, Music Week, Music Ally, Radio Today, VCPOST and hypebot

Lucas Shaw / The Wrap:

NBCUniversal to Buy Stake in AllThingsD Founders' New Venture — Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, the technology journalists who founded AllThingsD, have enlisted support for their new venture from NBCUniversal, which will take a minority stake, an individual with knowledge of the negotiations told TheWrap.

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

Why Comcast isn't worried about the Xbox One — For its 50th birthday, Comcast would like another half-century of television dominance — While the tech world's attention is firmly planted on the PlayStation 4, the Xbox One, and their bids to take over the living room, Comcast is having a party.

Discussion: @backlon

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

One Way or Another, Big TV Is Getting Bigger. Will You Care? — Can Comcast, the country's biggest pay-TV provider, really get bigger? — That's the scenario that's floating out today, sparked by CNBC's report that Time Warner Cable, the country's second-biggest cable company, might be looking to Comcast as a white knight.

Discussion: Gigaom, Forbes, Radio & Television …, Broadcasting & Cable and bizjournals