Behold the Power of 22 Words
Abraham Piper & the Second Most Shared Site in the World
Getting shared is the thing today. Maybe it’s always been the thing: interestingness traveled by word of mouth long before the share button came along. Producing (or pointing to) content that is so sticky, so memorable, that you feel like a hero passing it on—that is the point of sharing.
It turns out sharing can be measured.
And somebody, somewhere (Newswhip via The Atlantic), ran the numbers and found that Upworthy.com had the most Facebook-shares-per-article (and it is a huge number). But coming up second was Minneapolis’ own Abraham Piper with his 22 Words. Read Ned Hepburn’s story in Esquire: Second most shared website in the world. Twenty Two Words was way ahead of the likes of the Onion, Rolling Stone, Mashable, NPR and many other household names.
My favorite quote from Mr. Piper—apart from building his empire on the tears of his children along with coffee and Coors Lite—was that his secret sauce was simply, “I can usually guess what my readers will like.” His sensibilities and his occasional wry comment makes his posts must-reads, sort of like the interesting uncle at the holiday table who says very funny stuff at just the right time.
Time after time.
Well done, Mr. Piper.
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