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Media Web/Tech

Headline Peril: Remember, It’s In Your RSS Feed (And All That This Means)

We’ve all done it at least once: hit “publish” before noticing an errant letter (or word) in a post headline.

Today it happened at the Washington Post, and Alex Howard noticed it.



It turned out, however, not to be autocorrect on Ezra Klein’s part.

 

 

washington post headline

 

It was a typo in the original post. And that typo is part of the RSS feed, which is auto-generated.

So even though you correct the headline on the page, everyone who sees something that is based on that RSS feed … will also see the typo. (RSS feeds are usually editable, but most people don’t know that. Or know where it is. Or how to edit it.)

After you correct the headline, remember to also correct the URL. That’s still lacking at the Washington Post.

But the lesson is this: triple check your headline before publishing.

 

Typos are human: other examples

By Kathy E. Gill

Digital evangelist, speaker, writer, educator. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles! @kegill

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