Ever since Ezra Klein introduced us to Upworthy.com when he was guest hosting The Rachel Maddow Show by introducing us to their Venn Diagrams (see Mitt, Venn & Now for examples), I have really enjoyed following Upworthy's posts at Facebook.
Did you see the Recommended Diary that also appeared on the front page earlier today: Chick-Fil-A now lying for Jesus that the Muppets are unsafe? It shared the sign seen at a Chic-Fil-A regarding the fact that Chic-Fil-A was no longer giving away Jim Henson's toys in kids meals in response to the fact that Jim Henson's Muppets pulled their toys from Chic-Fil-A. The sign said:
We apologize for any inconvenience but as of 7/19/2012 Chick-Fil-A has voluntarily recalled all of the Jim Henson's Creature Shop Puppet Kids Meals toys due to a possible safety issue. Please be advised that there have not been any cases in which a child has actually been injured, however there have been some reports of children getting their fingers stuck in the holes of the puppets. We are offering a substitution of a complimentary kids Icedream cone in its place until a replacement is available. Thank you.
Upworthy decided to help the folks at Chick-Fil-A out by making a few necessary corrections to the sign with regard to the reason the Jim Henson Muppet toys are no longer available at Chick-Fil-A:
We fixed their sign for them. You are welcome, unhealthy anti-gay fast food chain, you are welcome...
We apologize for any inconvenience but as of 7/19/2012 Chick-Fil-A has "voluntarily" recalled all of the Jim Henson's Creature Shop Puppet Kids Meal toys due to a possible "safety" issue. By "safety" we mean they fired us because our boss, when asked if he funded anti-gay stuff said, "guilty as charged!" Because we like living in fear and behaving irrationally and selectively interpreting the bible to meet our narrow minded agenda. We are offering a substitution of a complimentary condemnation of hellfire and damnation, with rainbow ignorance sprinkles. Because as we all know what Jesus said about TEH GAYZ,"...." Well, when we find what he said, we'll let you know. In the interim, fear everything and eat our homophobic chicken. Thank You.
Haven't heard of Upworthy? There's a great article at The New York Times that explains what they're all about.
What if this article began with a link to a chart on media consolidation? Would you click it?
What if, instead, this article began with a promise that it would tell you “The Real Reason They Still Play ‘Mrs. Robinson’ on the Radio.” Would you click that?
What if they were both the same thing?
Upworthy, a news aggregation site that began publishing on March 26, is serious news built for a spreadable age, with super clicky headlines and a visually oriented user interface. Eli Pariser, the former executive director of MoveOn.org, and Peter Koechley, a former managing editor of The Onion who also worked at MoveOn, noticed that much of the media that gets shared online is built on cute animals and dumb humans that are good for a laugh, but not much else.
With the backing of Chris Hughes, one of the founders of Facebook who recently bought The New Republic, the pair and a staff of 11 people in eight cities are promoting information and news that has serious dimensions, using the tendency of the social media world to share stories. “We want to give people the information and tools that help make them better, more aware citizens,” said Mr. Pariser. Their version of citizenry tilts left, or as Mr. Pariser put it, “people who believe global warming exists and gay people should be able to get married.”
Two Guys Made a Web Site, and This Is What They Got
Here's
another post from Upworthy regarding the Chic-Fil-A story (Oops! I've been corrected. The credit for this image goes to
Jamie Equality McGonnigal. Upworthy helped to share it around Facebook.):