Clickbait
Clickbait is a pejorative term describing web content that is aimed at generating online advertising revenue, especially at the expense of quality or accuracy, relying on sensationalist headlines to attract click-throughs and to encourage forwarding of the material over online social networks. Clickbait headlines typically aim to exploit the "curiosity gap", providing just enough information to make the reader curious, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity without clicking through to the linked content.[1][2][3]
Sites that have been described as using click-bait marketing techniques include Upworthy[2][4] and the Huffington Post.[5]
As of 2014[update], the ubiquity of clickbait on the Internet had begun to lead to a backlash against its use.[3][6]
In August 2014, Facebook announced that it was taking technical measures to reduce the impact of clickbait on its social network,[7][8][9] using, among other cues, the time spent by the user on visiting the linked page as a way of distinguishing clickbait from other content.[10]
See also
References
- ^ Derek Thompson (November 14, 2013). "Upworthy: I Thought This Website Was Crazy, but What Happened Next Changed Everything". The Atlantic.
- ^ a b Kathy Waldman (May 23, 2014). "Mind the 'curiosity gap': How can Upworthy be 'noble' and right when its clickbait headlines feel so wrong?". National Post.
- ^ a b Emily Shire (14 July 2014). "Saving Us From Ourselves: The Anti-Clickbait Movement". The Daily Beast.
- ^ Ashley Feinberg (August 25, 2014). "Facebook Is Finally Cracking Down on Upworthy-Style Clickbait". Gizmodo.
- ^ Vince Coglianese (2013-04-30). "Meet the HuffPost employees who don't fall for their own clickbait". The Daily Caller.
- ^ Christine Lagorio-Chafkin (Jan 27, 2014). "Clickbait Bites. Downworthy Is Actually Doing Something About It". Inc.
- ^ Lisa Visentin (August 26, 2014). "Facebook wages war on click-bait". The Sydney Morning Herald.
- ^ Andrew Leonard (Aug 25, 2014). "Why Mark Zuckerberg's war on click bait proves we are all pawns of social media". Salon.
- ^ Khalid El-Arini and Joyce Tang (August 25, 2014). "News Feed FYI: Click-baiting". Facebook.
- ^ Ravi Somaiya (August 25, 2014). "Facebook Takes Steps Against 'Click Bait' Articles". The New York Times.
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