In the age of AI-driven zero-click searches, success is no longer measured by clicks but by visibility, brand recognition, and the ability to influence without a visit.
The arrival of AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, Runway, and Adobe Firefly has stirred excitement, anxiety, and endless speculation. Will machines replace writers, designers, and artists? Or is something else happening entirely?
Professional networking might seem like the last place you’d expect to find word puzzles, yet LinkedIn just rolled out a new feature straight out of the gaming playbook. This week, LinkedIn launched connection-based leaderboards for its in-app daily games – displaying how users stack up against their contacts in solving puzzles. It’s an unexpected move that underscores a broader media trend: from social networks to newsrooms, everyone is betting that games and puzzles can boost engagement and build daily habits. The question is, can a bit of playfulness really help the serious business of news and information, or is this just a fad?
LinkedIn’s Game Plan
LinkedIn’s new puzzle leaderboard lets professionals compete with friends on daily word and logic games. The professional network soft-launched a suite of six daily puzzle games last year and is now doubling down with features to spark friendly competition. The new leaderboard shows how your game performance ranks versus your connections, updating each day for challenges like word quizzes and logic puzzles. LinkedIn says millions of members play these games every day, and 84% of those who play once come back the next day for more, suggesting the feature is succeeding at pulling users into a regular habit loop.
LinkedIn’s foray into gaming was driven by its LinkedIn News team, directly inspired by the success of publishers’ puzzles (in fact, the feature was conceived by editors who noticed how much time people spend on the New York Times crossword). “It is hard for people to stay in touch with each other, and games provide a way to build these network ties,” explains Dan Roth, LinkedIn’s editor in chief, on why the company embraced casual play. In a platform built for resumes and recruiting, quick brainteasers offer a more fun, human way to keep users logging in. And more engagement is the endgame: if professionals get hooked on a daily puzzle at lunch, they might linger to read posts or check the news feed – boosting LinkedIn’s overall content consumption (and advertising opportunities) in the process. It’s a calculated effort to make LinkedIn feel stickier and more social, even during times when users aren’t actively job-hunting.
Media Outlets Get in the Game
News outlets are embracing puzzles – from daily crosswords to Wordle-style games – as a way to engage and grow their audiences. Traditional publishers have been quick to ride the gamification wave. The New York Times is the standout example: its collection of digital puzzles and games were played a staggering 8 billion times in 2023 alone, led by the viral hit Wordle (which accounted for 4.8 billion plays itself). The Times now offers a $6/month Games subscription and has made puzzles a core part of its identity – even calling its vision “to be the premier subscription destination for digital puzzles”. This strategy is paying off: the NYT Games app saw 10 million downloads last year as new hits like Connections drew waves of players, and the company credits its puzzles with attracting new subscribers and boosting overall digital revenue.
Big as the Times is, it’s not alone. Digital outlet Vox now publishes free daily online crosswords (Monday through Saturday) and has built a loyal solving community – complete with crossword newsletters and even books of puzzles derived from its most popular crosswords. At the local level, nonprofit newsrooms are experimenting with games tailored to their beats. For example, Black-led news startup Capital B teamed up with a puzzle creator to launch the “Black Crossword,” a series of mini-crosswords “rooted in Black culture” to engage its audience. In Mississippi and New Orleans, Mississippi Today and Verite News have each introduced a daily five-letter word challenge (think Wordle, but with clues drawn from local news) that readers can attempt in six tries. Those local “NewsWord” games not only drive repeat visits but also double as newsletter sign-up hooks (“never miss a puzzle – get it in your inbox”). Even tech giant Apple has woven puzzles into its news product: Apple News+ now includes exclusive daily crosswords and recently added an original word game called Quartiles for subscribers on iOS. In short, across national, digital, and community media, games are now serious business for keeping audiences engaged.
Why Are Puzzles So Habit-Forming?
What’s behind this rush to gamify the news? The simple answer: habits. In an era of endless information and competition for attention, media organizations crave the loyalty that comes from daily routines. Puzzles and games are basically engineered for habit formation – they give people a fun reason to check in every day. Research shows that puzzles scratch a different itch than doomscrolling through headlines: they provide a mental break and a little dopamine hit of accomplishment, which can counteract the fatigue of negative news. This sense of achievement and play is powerful in fostering loyalty – readers who might ignore yet another news alert will happily chase a crossword streak or a Wordle guess streak. “By addressing these cravings, publishers create content that attracts readers and keeps them coming back, forming daily habits crucial for subscriber retention,” notes one media analysis.
There’s also a strategic lifecycle at play: come for the games, stay for the news. Publishers have found that puzzle fans often become some of their most loyal customers. At the New York Times, for instance, subscribers who engage with both the games section and news content have the highest retention rates of all. The Times is now actively trying to convert its millions of daily Wordle and Spelling Bee players into readers of its journalism, occasionally nudging gamers toward news stories. In short, puzzles are a friendly “on-ramp” into a news brand’s ecosystem – one that can hook demographics that might not otherwise visit a news site. And for younger audiences raised on interactive apps, a daily quiz or puzzle can make a stodgy news app feel more fun and personalized. Little wonder that engagement has become the buzzword: one TechCrunch commentator called games a “secret weapon” for publishers at a time when attracting (and keeping) audience attention is tougher than ever.
Not All Fun and Games
Of course, slapping a crossword on a news site isn’t a magic solution to the media industry’s challenges. Some efforts have fallen flat. Even the New York Times, despite its puzzle success, has had misfires – remember Digits, the math puzzle it launched and later quietly shelved due to lackluster interest. Gamification only works if the games themselves genuinely hook people; otherwise, they’re just additional overhead. There’s also the risk of over-prioritizing trivia over substance. News leaders don’t want their organizations to be seen as fluff peddlers or to distract from important journalism. It’s telling that many news puzzles deliberately limit your play – for example, one Wordle or mini-crossword per day – to prevent endless distraction.
There’s also no guarantee that a given audience will stick with a game forever. The hype cycles of the internet apply here too – a puzzle can go viral one month and feel passé the next. Social media giants have learned this the hard way. Facebook once invested heavily in social gaming (think FarmVille and its own gaming tab), but usage waned – the company even shut down its standalone Facebook Gaming app in 2022 after engagement declined. LinkedIn’s gambit, while promising so far, isn’t immune to fatigue either: today’s professionals might love comparing puzzle scores, but they could easily lose interest if the novelty wears off or if the games don’t evolve. The challenge for LinkedIn and news publishers alike will be to keep their games fresh and integrated with their core mission. The ultimate measure of success isn’t just raw play counts – it’s whether gamification actually deepens audience loyalty or conversion. If a million people play your daily puzzle but ignore your news, what have you really gained? The hope is that games can be a gateway, but it will require continual tweaking and understanding audience feedback to make sure this trend doesn’t turn into empty clickbait.
The Bottom Line
Gamification is no longer just child’s play – it’s an increasingly common strategy across media and tech as platforms vie for our limited attention. LinkedIn’s new puzzles and the New York Times’ booming games business both illustrate how a bit of interactivity and fun can create habit loops that benefit even the most serious information providers. A daily crossword or trivia quiz might seem trivial, but in a time of news fatigue and endless scrolling, these little games have a knack for drawing people in and bringing them back. The trend is a reminder that even in journalism, meeting audiences where they are sometimes means speaking the language of play.
What We’re Reading
📈A recent report by Buffer, featured on Social Media Today, finds that posting more frequently on TikTok can boost per-post reach, with 2–5 posts per week increasing views by 17% and 11+ posts potentially doubling that performance.
🎮ListenFirst reports that video made up 82% of content and drove the highest engagement across platforms in 2024. TikTok and YouTube led in views, with short-form videos generating the strongest audience response.
🔍X is testing a new feature, reported by TechCrunch, that shows additional profile information, like account creation date, location, username change history, and app usage, to help users spot bots and misinformation. The feature will first be tested on select employee accounts, with privacy options for those who opt out.
🛡️Meta is implementing new parental controls for teen interactions with AI chatbots, allowing parents to block access or monitor conversation topics. This follows reports of inappropriate AI interactions with minors and growing regulatory scrutiny, as reported by CNBC.
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