While reading about the way writers appeal to the audience, I thought about how more and more news sites are appealing to younger readers with an emphasis on humor, relaxed language, and pandering to topics that viewers might enjoy. Newspapers from several years ago read different than many of today's modern news sites. The success of more entertainment oriented sites like Buzzfeed has led to companies like the Huffington Post to pander to the growing younger audience, specifically millennials. Headlines now read things such as “27 Perfect Tweets About Whole30 That Will Make You LOL” and “Savvy Hairstylist Turns Mugshot Into Marketing Opportunity” in an attempt to grab attention, get clicks, and generate revenue through ads.
Other news sources like Reuters focuses on a more traditional style of writing. This appeal is more effective at grabbing the attention of older readers ranging from Generation X to the Baby Boomers. While this is still a large population to target, it is no longer growing, and while there will always be more new young people, the older generations can only shrink in size.
Companies like news sites change with the audience that they target demonstrating the power of knowing to write to your audience. When you ineffectively write to your target audience, you get little interest, but when you write coherently and effectively to your audience you stand a much better chance of getting and holding their attention.
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