Those of us on the product team here at Vox Media are always looking to improve the lives of our coworkers. We want to make sure that folks like the writers at The Verge have more time in the day to think about the "The Future" and record podcasts — or whatever it is that they do. So when The Verge's Hack Week started, I tried to take a step back and identify two things:
- What was taking up a lot of my editorial colleagues' time?
- What parts of the media world could we consider expanding into?
After some careful consideration, the answers I came up with were:
- Writing.
- TV EPISODE RECAP BLOGGING.
TV show recaps + Twitter bot = $$$
So I set to work with Verge entertainment reporter Jamieson Cox. My idea? Write up the basic blueprint of an episode of some of the biggest, most popular TV shows from now and the past few years, then train our blazing-fast computer servers to generate random yet eerily plausible headlines that summarize last night's TV shows. By posting the recap headlines straight to Twitter, we ensure that the content is shareable as heck, and will easily integrate into your daily social media diet, so you'll always be up to date with the latest shows. (You can also ruin your friends' days by retweeting the shocking and definitely accurate headlines straight into their timelines!)
This plan is so smart, and the outcome already so successful, that we fully expect that the proverbial check is in the mail (we will be making lots of money from this (I don't exactly know how yet, though)). If you're ready to experience the best TV recaps in the industry, head on over to Twitter and follow @best_tv_recaps now.
CELEBRITY APPRENTICE: Amanda Bynes dukes it out with the Donald
— Best TV Recaps (@best_tv_recaps) August 21, 2015
LAST CALL RECAP: Carson plays PS4 with DJ Pauly D
— Best TV Recaps (@best_tv_recaps) August 21, 2015