Clickbait is a word for “web content that aimed at generating online advertising revenue, especially at the expense of quality or accuracy, relying on sensational headlines or eye-catching thumbnails pictures to attract click-through and to encourage forwarding of the material over online social networks,” according to Wikipedia. Click-bait could be text, videos, or sound designed to make you click. Besides, It could be something funny, scary, cute, or even sexy. Additionally, It has attention-grabbing headlines like “you won’t believe what happens next,” “This will completely blow your mind.” Today, we’ll give you a brief explanation of click-bait.
Recognizing Clickbait
Nowadays, the Internet and social networks have been destroyed with all kinds of Click-bait to trick your curiosity, making you want to click. Nevertheless, here are some tips for recognizing clickbait’s actions.
- The headline says nothing about the article’s content: For example, the title of an article on Facebook headed “What happens next is unbelievable” the headline does not say anything precise about the content. They just want to grab your attention for you to question yourself, ending up clicking.
- The headline is too good to be true: You will find headlines like “Subscribe and gain 100$”. Don’t be impressed by that kind of headlines; it is too good to be real stop and think.
- The headline is too funny, too scary, too positive, etc. A normal content creator will not emphasize the title but the content he/she is creating. The title could be expressional but should not go out of context.
Most of the click-bait content follows this standard.
- You won’t believe what happens next.
- This video will prove that…
- 10 reasons you should never…
- You will be shocked after watching this…
Is It Bad to Use Clickbait?
Nowadays, most teens live on social media; consequently, they fall on clickbait. Since they are young and uninformed, they automatically trust those clickbait’s headlines forgetting that they are not credible information.
Clickbait is bad in such a way that it spread most of the time, fake news, and will sometimes throw shades onto a celebrity or a highly known person.
Besides, some clickbait contains malware that can infect your device or steal information from your device.
FAQs About Clickbaits
What makes clickbait bad?
Clickbait does not aim at sharing deep useful content infecting the minds of people with fake ideas.
How can I avoid clickbait?
Simply follow the tips mentioned above, analyses the headline, and avoid clicking onto the link.
When was clickbait invented?
Jay Geiger invented the term in a blog post written in December 2006.
To Conclude Clickbaits
Clickbait cannot be easily removed or banned from the Internet. For this reason, you have to be very careful on the Internet. So don’t be tempted to click just by watching the headline of content. Clickbait spread fake news and doesn’t worth time; hence be careful, and you should never include it in your content marketing strategies.