Listicle
In journalism and blogging, a listicle is an article that is structured as a list, which is often fleshed out with additional text relating to each item.[1][2] A typical listicle will have a title describing a specific number of items contained within, along with subsequent subheadings within the text for each entry. The word is a portmanteau of list and article.
A ranked listicle (such as Rolling Stone's "The 100 Best Albums of the Last 20 Years") implies a qualitative judgement, conveyed by the order of the topics within the text. These are often presented as a countdown, with the "number one" item as the last in the sequence. Other listicles impart no overt rank, instead presenting the topics in an ad hoc, associative, or thematic order.
History[edit]
Alex Johnson, writing for The Independent, suggested that an 1886 speech by Sir John Lubbock which gave a list of around 100 books "which on the whole are perhaps best worth reading" was an early form of listicle, and that Lubbock should be considered the 'godfather' of the format.[6]
Steven Poole suggested that listicles have literary precursors like Jorge Luis Borges's "The Analytical Language of John Wilkins". He also compares it to more high-art versions like Umberto Eco's The Infinity of Lists, a book composed entirely of lists.[7]
In 2009, posts in the format "25 Random Things About Me" became an Internet meme, starting on Facebook but spreading to the broader web, and attracting considerable media coverage in the process.[8]
