Open Letter to Eric Hippeau

Dear Mr. Hippeau:
Kudos on the new role as CEO of Huffington Post!

Have been a huge fan of Huff-Po for almost two years now, although in the last 12 months, the site has gone from a once-in-a-while nosh to a 10-times-a-day fix. (I couldn't wait to find out what happened to Mark Sanford, really. It reminded me of the time the Atlantic City mayor went AWOL -- turned out that was just because the feds were closing in on him for impersonating a military person of importance. I, myself, was convinced Sanford ducked into rehab; the whole Argentinian affair just seemed a bit too exotic for such a vanilla-looking guy.)

In any event I read where you don't feel a need to "fix" the HP -- you merely want to grow it. And according to Ad Age -- a Venture Capitalist with a publishing pedigree -- is just the person to do it. Still this is the Digital Age, and I thought you might be open to a few suggestions from a digital media specialist who happens to be a fan.

First, I love the curator approach. And you have to wonder why all these media companies out there that own a gazillion titles couldn't have done the same thing. Oh yeah, I remember why. They didn't want anyone else to represent their news. 'Nuff said.

Second, I would like you to thank Godz & whomever found Jason Linkins. His willingness to scribe/stomach the Sunday morning bloviators has saved me so much time -- I was able to create this new blog!

And, Nico Pitney. Seriously, Pitney has a rare passion and connection with people. His coverage on Iran -- with his tenacity for gathering tweets and emails from around the globe may be the finest example of reporting today. He hasn't turned cynical -- yet. Take some of that $25 million and make sure he has enough cab fare to get to White House Press Conferences in time. The big boys won't move out of the way for him next time, now that they know a) he will really get tapped by the President to ask a question and b) and Pitney will be smart and respecting enough to ask a real grown-up question.

Now I have a few minor nits. Headlines, like today's hed: "Obey Accused of Pushing Waters." Now when I read the article, it really didn't deliver the goods. Maxine screeched "you touched me first," (which sort of suggests she broke the close-talking shield and may have touched him. Granted the thought is stomach turning, so let me get back to heds). Too often they are:

1. salacious
2. misleading
3. flat out wrong
4. all of the above

Look. There are enough scandals around that your copy writers should not feel the need to create news when none abounds. If they have a great hed -- tell them to put it in a drawer -- and wait five minutes and either Jon & Kate or David & Maxine will allow the hed to be relevant. You have one chance to make a good impression -- keep baiting with headlines and not delivering and you will pay a price eventually. Consider mining your comments, people call out when they feel they are being used as a tool.

Tagging. Now I know your writers do a great job. In fact, the beat all estimates by the scores of editors with whom I have spoken, who lament that they can't get their writers to do more than 3 tags. But maybe you need to broaden the categories for them. For instance, the tragic deaths of John Travolta's son and actress Natasha Richardson were announced under the category of Entertainment. There is something really disconcerting about seeing that word above the story of how a slight fall on the bunny hill killed a beautiful actress.

Now, I'll leave it to you whether you think that any article, video or photo that has Michele Bachmann in it should ever be on the main site, let alone categorized as Politics. Personally I believe she belongs on 23/6.

Search. I get it that you want to be the most current anthology available. However, sometimes I want to find that article that I saw on your site that I never would have found since I don't read The State, and I would like to have some chance of finding it again. The Google search is anemic, and there is so much technology out there to make it better!! (Trust me, I speak on this subject all the time. People inherently want to find things -- and search can be such an exercise in futility!)

Oh yeah, one more thing. This isn't a nit -- but a suggestion none-the-less: Have fun with your new role and continue to innovate. The rest of the media world is/should be watching.

Best regards,

Diane