news-record.com

One of the great journalism paradoxes is that newspaper people are a whole lot of fun, newspaper Web sites aren't. Newsrooms are full of prankers, jokers and larger than life characters. Yet, we tend to take our news content seriously...often ponderously so. Too often we squeeze the humorous life out of what we produce.

Enter the fun theory. I think it has potential for journalists.  From TheFunTheory.com: This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better.

This video illustrates the point.

Imagine if we made visiting news Web sites fun. Would more people visit if they knew the payoff was a smile or an amusement along with the news of the moment? Would they feel a little better about their original purpose for visiting? Would that produce an overall better "brand message" for the site? Yes, yes and yes.

Is there a good reason NOT to do it? I suppose some will come up with them, but I can't think of a good one, especially because there are so many fun people in journalism.

(I suppose that comics and puzzles once served that purpose in the newspaper more effectively than they do now, but that's another issue.) 

(Hat tip to Greg Mitchell.)