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Website’s quirky list attracts 3.5m page views

A quirky list published on a regional press website has attracted more than 3.5m page views in five days.

WalesOnline published the “listicle” on Friday headlined “18 things English people won’t know unless they’ve lived in Wales” and it has been shared more than 37,000 times on Facebook.

Trinity Mirror said yesterday that the list was the second best-read story across all its regional and national websites for January and the best-read since being posted on Friday, with more than 3.5m page views.

The list features a countdown of colloquial words and phrases and was the idea of Ceri Gould, who edits WalesOnline, which is the website for the Western Mail, South Wales Echo and Wales on Sunday.

Ceri said, “The idea came when my English husband was sent to the shop to buy a cob which, as anyone from the Valleys will know, is a small, white crusty loaf. He returned with a corn-on-the-cob.

“What’s made our listicle strategy, and this list is the standout example, such a success though, is the execution of it, and that’s down to head of web Paul Rowland and deputy head of news Steffan Rhys.

“We’ve created a distinctive way of visual story-telling combining fantastic nostalgic images and instantly get-able punchlines.

“What the popularity of this English list tells us though, is there is plenty of mileage left in exploiting our friendly Anglo-Welsh rivalry… which is fantastic news as we, yet again, gear up for the Six Nations.”

The list includes “chopsy”, a word for somebody who’s cocky and talkative, and “alright or what”, a common greeting.

Its success has prompted WalesOnline to plan a follow-up list, “18 (more) things English people won’t know unless they’ve lived in Wales”, and it has asked for suggestions from readers for this.

The story can be read here.

4 comments

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  • January 23, 2014 at 6:20 pm
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    This is just a photo gallery right? So you have to click through every photo to get the joke? And looking at it, it’s a hit for every picture. That’s linkbait in my book and not worth celebrating. At least we know what newspaper bulk sales look like online now.

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