“Why _____ (popular company) should ____ (buy|destroy) ____ (other cool thing or company)” articles are so trite. They’re really:

“Why _____ (my name) wants _____ (edge case) in ____ (other cool thing or company) magically fixed with no economic sense by ____ (popular company)”

It’s like a really topical MadLib populated with keywords from Techmeme:

– “Why Apple should buy Skype”
– “Why Google should buy Gowalla”

I click on these articles *all the time*. Those titles always look so appealing and savvy. They’re not.

They work the same way as “Top 10 (reasons|ways) _____ (popular thing) (should|could) ____ (sexy verb or name or service)” articles.

– “Top 10 reasons Apple should buy Palm”
– “Top 10 ways Facebook could rule the world”

I’m think I’m starting to figure this whole tech writing thing out.