{"id":34,"date":"2020-08-23T19:10:13","date_gmt":"2020-08-23T23:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34"},"modified":"2025-08-30T19:10:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T23:10:59","slug":"i-got-fact-checked-by-usa-today-for-a-comedy-seo-experiment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34","title":{"rendered":"I Got Fact Checked by USA Today for a Comedy SEO Experiment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Okay, so, the goofy thing I did about the 2020 Republican National Convention<\/a> actually did capture that traffic I noticed on google console. Most of the people who clicked through got the joke, and laughed, a few people didn\u2019t and that\u2019s all good. But there were two VERY weird outcomes I had no idea were in the cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the list I\u2019d made showed up as memes on reddit and facebook. Like, screenshot\/image type memes, not text memes – only the screenshots and images weren\u2019t of my article. It looked like someone else just copied it and shared it. THOSE were going crazy viral. Whoever did that was smart; my list was a little long, although I was working to a point and a punchline in it; being a comedy writer has taught me that sometimes, you push a joke till it\u2019s not funny and then the pattern settles in and you can come back with a good zinger at the end. That\u2019s my theory at least. The point is, I think I made a mistake and that whomever did the memes had it right – shorter was better and punchier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do I care that I didn\u2019t get credit? Absolutely not. Hey, if folks have fun and get a laugh after such an awful year, that\u2019s GOOD. I should worry more about getting credit. I didn\u2019t get credit at ViacomCBSInteractiveParamountPlusDoublePlusGood for the “Here’s how you use Zoom to livestream from home” google doc I wrote. I should care about that kind of thing from a career perspective. I absolutely don\u2019t, though. The point of that was to help people keep my work friends in NYC working while, y\u2019know, everyone in New York City was dying around us. I should care about the credit more.\u00a0I don’t know if I ever will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, so, somehow, an intern\/reporter named Devon at USA Today stumbled on all of this, and decided to interview me about it. If it was anyone else I would\u2019ve declined the interview, but, I figure if she\u2019s a college intern, especially this year, maybe this is an early byline for her? I just wanted to help out. I should\u2019ve asked her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Devon\u2019s questions were very earnest, and she took it seriously from a fact-checking perspective when she asked, \u201c… was \u2018The Bat Who Started the Pandemic\u2019 an actual guest or did you intend that as a joke?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said, \u201cNo, the list is 100% factual and accurate,\u201d until I finally said, \u201cSorry, I really am just joking, I didn\u2019t think anyone would take this seriously the moment that \u2018the my pillow guy\u2019 showed up as the fourth entry.\u201d We\u2019ll see what and how I\u2019ll get quoted, if the article gets published. I mean, I guess USA Today is hard-up for content? I\u2019m not that important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, it was interesting. She wondered if I\u2019d coordinated with the people who\u2019d done the memes I mentioned. I said I wish I knew who did it, but no, I have no idea. Whoever did it was a master of timing. I doubt the article will get published, seriously, with everything going on there\u2019s no way me and that dumb list are important enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—
edit 2020.08.24 – nope! I was wrong, it got published on USAToday.com<\/a> today – Fact check: Meme is partly false about Republican National Convention speakers<\/a>. What a way to get quoted in our nation\u2019s actual paper of record.
—
edit 2020.08.31 – I got a talking to from my manager at ViacomCBSInteractiveParamountPlusDoublePlusGood about all of this. Not a nasty one. Mostly exasperated. I felt bad that he got grief for it. Because of course he did. The jist of it was, “don’t talk to USA Today without talking to us first again.” I said, “the next time I find a viral keyword hole related to politics and fill it with a satirical lystical, I will absolutely bring it to management’s attention first.” He laughed. It’s nice to help people laugh during times like this, y’know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Okay, so, the goofy thing I did about the 2020 Republican National Convention actually did capture that traffic I noticed on google console. Most of the people who clicked through got the joke, and laughed, a few people didn\u2019t and that\u2019s all good. But there were two VERY weird outcomes I had no idea were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-post"],"yoast_head":"\nI Got Fact Checked by USA Today for a Comedy SEO Experiment - fred chong rutherford<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Got Fact Checked by USA Today for a Comedy SEO Experiment - fred chong rutherford\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Okay, so, the goofy thing I did about the 2020 Republican National Convention actually did capture that traffic I noticed on google console. Most of the people who clicked through got the joke, and laughed, a few people didn\u2019t and that\u2019s all good. But there were two VERY weird outcomes I had no idea were […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"fred chong rutherford\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/fredchong.me\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-23T23:10:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-30T23:10:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-30-at-7.05.05-PM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1120\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"fred chong rutherford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"fred chong rutherford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"fred chong rutherford\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f73083b7ef02cce0dec3ee5243340629\"},\"headline\":\"I Got Fact Checked by USA Today for a Comedy SEO Experiment\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-23T23:10:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-30T23:10:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34\"},\"wordCount\":707,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-30-at-7.05.05-PM-1024x338.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Blog Post\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34\",\"name\":\"I Got Fact Checked by USA Today for a Comedy SEO Experiment - fred chong rutherford\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-30-at-7.05.05-PM-1024x338.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-23T23:10:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-30T23:10:59+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-30-at-7.05.05-PM.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-30-at-7.05.05-PM.png\",\"width\":1120,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I Got Fact Checked by USA Today for a Comedy SEO Experiment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/\",\"name\":\"fred chong rutherford\",\"description\":\"the great infinite is all around us\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"fred chong rutherford\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MG_6202-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MG_6202-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":1707,\"height\":2560,\"caption\":\"fred chong rutherford\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f73083b7ef02cce0dec3ee5243340629\",\"name\":\"fred chong rutherford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/877761be283063bb48cf1a015a1fe17705e774ad73ffcad1a64142df8c1bf5b6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/877761be283063bb48cf1a015a1fe17705e774ad73ffcad1a64142df8c1bf5b6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"fred chong rutherford\"},\"description\":\"Korean-American writer, producer, and performer. He\/Him\/His. CPTSD and trauma survivor. Joy Rebel.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/fredchong.me\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/fredchong.me\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/fredchongrutherford\/\",\"https:\/\/www.threads.com\/@fredchong.me\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@fredchongvideos\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I Got Fact Checked by USA Today for a Comedy SEO Experiment - fred chong rutherford","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I Got Fact Checked by USA Today for a Comedy SEO Experiment - fred chong rutherford","og_description":"Okay, so, the goofy thing I did about the 2020 Republican National Convention actually did capture that traffic I noticed on google console. Most of the people who clicked through got the joke, and laughed, a few people didn\u2019t and that\u2019s all good. But there were two VERY weird outcomes I had no idea were […]","og_url":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34","og_site_name":"fred chong rutherford","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/fredchong.me\/","article_published_time":"2020-08-23T23:10:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-30T23:10:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1120,"height":370,"url":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-30-at-7.05.05-PM.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"fred chong rutherford","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"fred chong rutherford","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34"},"author":{"name":"fred chong rutherford","@id":"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f73083b7ef02cce0dec3ee5243340629"},"headline":"I Got Fact Checked by USA Today for a Comedy SEO Experiment","datePublished":"2020-08-23T23:10:13+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-30T23:10:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34"},"wordCount":707,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-30-at-7.05.05-PM-1024x338.png","articleSection":["Blog Post"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34","url":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34","name":"I Got Fact Checked by USA Today for a Comedy SEO Experiment - fred chong rutherford","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-30-at-7.05.05-PM-1024x338.png","datePublished":"2020-08-23T23:10:13+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-30T23:10:59+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-30-at-7.05.05-PM.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-30-at-7.05.05-PM.png","width":1120,"height":370},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?p=34#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I Got Fact Checked by USA Today for a Comedy SEO Experiment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#website","url":"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/","name":"fred chong rutherford","description":"the great infinite is all around us","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#organization","name":"fred chong rutherford","url":"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MG_6202-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MG_6202-scaled.jpg","width":1707,"height":2560,"caption":"fred chong rutherford"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f73083b7ef02cce0dec3ee5243340629","name":"fred chong rutherford","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/877761be283063bb48cf1a015a1fe17705e774ad73ffcad1a64142df8c1bf5b6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/877761be283063bb48cf1a015a1fe17705e774ad73ffcad1a64142df8c1bf5b6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"fred chong rutherford"},"description":"Korean-American writer, producer, and performer. He\/Him\/His. CPTSD and trauma survivor. Joy Rebel.","sameAs":["https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/fredchong.me\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/fredchong.me","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/fredchongrutherford\/","https:\/\/www.threads.com\/@fredchong.me","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@fredchongvideos"],"url":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37,"href":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions\/37"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fredchongrutherford.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}