The Huffington Post is experimenting with packaging: that is, they expose online readers to different headlines for the same stories to see which one attracts the most clicks, Slate.fr reported Thursday. The practice of conducting a controlled marketing study such as this, known as A/B testing, is "considered a gold standard of user research," according to the Nieman Journalism Lab.

Tweaking titles according to unwitting reader feedback may be the secret behind HuffPo's inching past the Washington Post for most unique visitors last month, a figure reported first by Editor & Publisher.

HuffPo's chief technology officer, Paul Berry, has disclosed the site's reliance on the research device at a recent Online News Association conference in San Francisco. Berry said HuffPo editors receive statistical reports on how their areas are doing not once a week, not even once a day, but every 15 minutes to an hour, the Bay Newser reported.

"It's critical that our editors know as much as possible," Berry said. "You'll hear little celebrations at the half hour" when a particular story is doing well.

A more tech-savvy outfit calls the Huffington Post's method of identifying and securing mass appeal a variation on crowdsourcing. That is, while readers do not dump a massive number of headlines into a vast database in search of the perfect title, the title emerges - through automation -- from readers choosing the better answer over and over again, Fast Company reports. Media analysts at Noisy Channel applaud the approach of optimizing media consumer attention even as they recognize that the system may rankle traditional journalists.