Word: listes
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without hitting a Top 10 list, and that list might well be "Top 10 Dead Cats of 2007." Celebrity meltdowns, speed-metal CDs, concept cars--we count 'em all. Why the obsession, for listmakers and list readers alike? Here are some guesses in the only format that matters...
...much media today. Few journalists outside the Paris Review have escaped hearing about the need to break up text into "units" and "multiple entry points" and other vaguely pornographic editorial terms. People want the gist! Newspapers need to be like TV! TV needs to be like YouTube! Enter the list--the tapas menu of media, the sonnet for the era of PowerPoint. ("Top 10 Ways to Compare Thee to a Summer's Day: 10. More lovely. 9. More temperate...
...They're Web-Friendly. If anyone loves lists more than the mainstream media do, it's the non-mainstream media. A Google blog search for "Top 10 list" returns rankings of "ways investing is like sex," "hottest smart girls in Hollywood" and "reasons why you should not stop posting Top 10 lists," from Cornwallseo.com a website about maximizing website traffic. Lists are inherently bloggy. They're bite-size, they're opinionated, and they're a guaranteed spur to conversation, which is to say argument. But hey, clicks are clicks...
...Branding, Branding, Branding! And not just in the sense of selling stuff. Sure, certain businesses have discovered that a well-conceived list can be marketable. (Cough! TIME 100! Cough!) But for selling ideas--making them definitive and catchy--a number and a catchphrase do wonders. If only the Founding Fathers had named the Bill of Rights 10 Great Tips for a Freedom-tastic Country!, Americans might actually be able to remember them...
...Because That Other Guy Is a Moron. Lists are a way of asserting authority. But they're also an invitation to challenge authority. Do people really enjoy reading a list they totally agree with? No! Good lists engage readers, enrage them and flatter their ability to think of better examples. A list isn't truly right unless it's a little bit wrong...