“90% If All People Cannot Solve This Puzzle.” “12 Amazing Ways to Groom Your Cat, #6 changed my life!” Our Facebook timelines are filled with such headings, which are commonly referred to as ‘clickbait’. They serve as a bait to attract as many readers as possible without guaranteeing any quality (more than often not delivering any at all). We’ve all fallen for it once, definitely after opening this artile, and that is one of the reasons they get a bad rep lately. I would like to argue that the aforementioned examples, and thus clickbait’s supposed format, are simply bad clickbaits. It does not necessarily have to suck, I will explain why (in less than 13 reasons).
People often believe that clickbait is a recent phenomena, a symptom of the current digital society aimed at clicks and conversion. This is not true, it has been around for a century. However, back then such headings were written in ink, not in 1’s and 0’s. Newspapers fought for market share, not clicks. Just look at a few headlines dating back to 1913: “King Victor Shielded By His Queen From Assassin’s Bullets” or “”Oldest Crook” To End Days in the Prison He Loves.”
The success of clickbait can be explained by appealing to human psychology. See, our brains do not like missing information. Headings like those in the first paragraph signal a lack of information. “Which puzzle?” or “Will I be able to solve this puzzle?” or “How can grooming your cat change you life?” are all question that directly pop-up. You grow curious and can’t help but open the article ().
This psychological pull is strongest if a heading references to a number of things you do know. Take the title of another blog that was posted just recently: Game Changer: Trump’s Digital Strategy. You probably know who Trump is and that he definitely has unorthodox way of handling himself online, i.e. his frequent Twitter rampages. However, you do not necessarily know how this sets himself apart or how he actually profits from such a strategy. And so, the chance of you clicking on the blog increases as you want to extend your knowledge on these subjects. With which I subtly indicate that the title is in itself a form of clickbait, but without “baiting” the reader. (https://digitalstrategy.rsm.nl//2017/10/15/game-changer-trumps-digital-strategy/)
Clichés exist for good reasons. Clickbait is given such a bad name, because they often waist your time. The article promises interesting information, but does not deliver. The ways of grooming your cat are not that amazing and the puzzle wasn’t that hard. The heading does not reflect the content. Strong, intriguing headings are clearly important. Without it, your target audience will not find your content. But if you throw out bait, it better taste good! The heading, as such, may not lie. Does your article concern the dating of dinosaurs eggs, than your heading shouldn’t read: “Jurrasic Park: A Whole New View.” Preferably look at the questions your audience may have. Perhaps they are looking for tips on their communication strategy or want the latest news on design. Then create a heading that hints at the answers to those questions without giving the answer right away. You will cover that in the article, i.e. bait worth swallowing!
Sources:
Gardiner, B. (2015). YOU’LL BE OUTRAGED AT HOW EASY IT WAS TO GET YOU TO CLICK ON THIS HEADLINE [Blog] Wired. [online] Accessed October 14th: https://www.wired.com/2015/12/psychology-of-clickbait/
Hamblin, J. (2014). It’s Everywhere, the Clickbait. The Atlantic. [online] Accessed October 14th: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/11/clickbait-what-is/382545/
Jairi, R. (2017).Game Changer: Trump’s digital strategy [Blog] Digital Social Strategy. [online] Accessed October 15th: https://digitalstrategy.rsm.nl//2017/10/15/game-changer-trumps-digital-strategy/
Newitz, A. (2014). A History of Clickbait: The First 100 Years. [Blog] Gizmodo. [online] Accessed October 14th: https://io9.gizmodo.com/a-history-of-clickbait-the-first-100-years-1530683235
