The story behind Wordle, a viral once-a-day word guessing game

What We’re Reading

We keep an eye out for the most interesting stories about Labby subjects: digital media, startups, the web, journalism, strategy, and more. Here’s some of what we’ve seen lately.

New York Times / Daniel Victor / Jan 4

“On Nov. 1, 90 people played. On Sunday, just over two months later, more than 300,000 people played.” —

Tags: Wordle

What’s the best way to follow how the news is changing?

Our daily email, with all the freshest future-of-journalism news.

Prefer a once-a-week email? »

Cite this article Hide citations

MLA

, . "The story behind Wordle, a viral once-a-day word guessing game." Nieman Journalism Lab. Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, 4 Jan. 2022. Web. 26 Apr. 2024.

APA

, . (2022, Jan. 4). The story behind Wordle, a viral once-a-day word guessing game. Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved April 26, 2024, from https://www.niemanlab.org/reading/the-story-behind-wordle-a-viral-once-a-day-word-guessing-game/

Chicago

, . "The story behind Wordle, a viral once-a-day word guessing game." Nieman Journalism Lab. Last modified January 4, 2022. Accessed April 26, 2024. https://www.niemanlab.org/reading/the-story-behind-wordle-a-viral-once-a-day-word-guessing-game/.

Wikipedia

{{cite web
    | url = https://www.niemanlab.org/reading/the-story-behind-wordle-a-viral-once-a-day-word-guessing-game/
    | title = The story behind Wordle, a viral once-a-day word guessing game
    | last =
    | first =
    | work = [[Nieman Journalism Lab]]
    | date = 4 January 2022
    | accessdate = 26 April 2024
    | ref = {{harvid||2022}}
}}

The latest from Nieman Lab

Seeking “innovative,” “stable,” and “interested”: How The Markup and CalMatters matched up

Sarah Scire

“Objectivity” in journalism is a tricky concept. What could replace it?

Jonathan Stray

From shrimp Jesus to fake self-portraits, AI-generated images have become the latest form of social media spam

Renee DiResta, Abhiram Reddy, and Josh A. Goldstein

What journalists and independent creators can learn from each other

Neel Dhanesha

Deepfake detection improves when using algorithms that are more aware of demographic diversity

Siwei Lyu