Headlines and summary blurbs

Scrolling through my facebook today, I saw a washington post article that a few of my friends had shared. It immediately stood out to me because of the picture along with the article and the word "Reston," in the headline. Reston is very close to my hometown, so I was immediately interested, seeing that it was related to northern Virginia. The headline reads:

"Robert E. Simon Jr., real estate visionary and creator of Reston, dies at 101"

Washington Post article

I really liked the black and white close-up image that they used. It really grabbed my attention. I also thought the headline was great! It was simple and to the point, without being ambiguous about a thing. The "creator of Reston" and "dies at 101" was what really made me want to read more. I think you could cut the headline down and make it even more concise by cutting:

"real estate visionary" and just have:

"Robert E. Simon Jr., creator of Reston, dies at 101"

I think that would catch readers eye just as much and make it more concise.

The way the article is shared on facebook, it doesn't show the summary blurb. However, when I went onto the washington post website, I was able to read the summary blurb. I wish the link on facebook would share the summary blurb too, because that would be some good info to read before you click the article or not.

Photo: Screenshot: Facebook.com

As for my other top source for news, Twitter, CNN tweeted this article today and it grabbed my attention.

CNN article

To be honest, it was the close-up, delicious peanut butter picture that caught my eye. I'm a huge peanut butter fan.

The headline reads:

"Former peanut company owner sentenced to 28 years in prison in salmonella outbreak case"

What's interesting though is that once i clicked on the tweet to read it and it brought up the article on the CNN webpage, the headline altered a little bit to:

"28 years for salmonella: Peanut exec gets groundbreaking sentence"

Photo: Screenshot: twitter.com

While i think both headlines are similiar and work, i do like the second one a bit better. When i look at the first headline, what stands out the most to me and makes me intrigued is; "28 years in prison" and "salmonella." I like that the second headline starts off right away with those two statements. It makes it much more immediate and effective.

There was also no summary blurb for this story. I checked other CNN stories, and none of them included a summary blurb. I think instead of summary blurbs, CNN uses the "story highlights" side bar. I think this is a good alternative to a summary blurb. It highlights all the main points touched on in the article, giving you that quick and easy overview. I really like how CNN includes these "story highlights."