Friday, December 12, 2008

Nuts to you! People love wacky animal stories

If newspapers want to boost circulation, maybe they should devote more resources to animal stories.
People love cute, wacky, weird and inspiring tales of pets and wild animals. Just check out the most viewed and most e-mailed stories on Yahoo every day.
Ask readers what they want and they'll say more hard-hitting investigative articles. But track what they actually read, clip and e-mail to their friends and you'll see animal stories at the top of the list.
Animal stories are universal conversation starters. They're great for sending to parents and showing children. They're not going to cause conflicts like stories about politics or social issues. Everyone can relate to them.
Here's a good example. A woman in DeMotte, Indiana, found thousands of black walnuts stuffed in the engine compartment of her car by an enterprising chipmunk storing nuts for the winter, according to the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana.
Clip that one and send it to Mom.

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