Clickbait

I came across a site today that really resonates with me. The title is Clickbait. This lady is telling it like it is.

I think most of us have been ‘teased’ at one time or another by a clickbait site. Those titles like ’15 reasons you shouldn’t eat sushi’ or ’20 Lies You Probably Believe’ that entice you to keep clicking because there is only one item per page and that page is covered with ads!

There is a certain website ad on Facebook that posts those enticing titles that started me thinking about this. (Facebook is full of links that we shouldn’t click) I clicked the link and then it was click, click, click, over and over. Teasers galore, click, click, click. Just an effort to show you more ads. I was curious about this site so I copied the URL and removed everything that appeared after the site URL.

There was no click, click, click. All those teasers were on one page.

What’s going on here? I have wondered how much time these folks devote to creating all those pages. And I think I know. Not much time at all. They just create their normal pages which are probably ok and then they use a clickbait generator!

I did some searching and found lots of site for clickbait.

Here are some of them.

https://thestack.com/world/2015/10/15/machine-learning-generates-clickbait-headlines-that-will-shock-you/

http://www.adweek.com/creativity/create-your-own-overly-emotional-click-baiting-headline-upworthy-generator-153984/

The dirty secrets of clickbait. This post will blow your mind!

https://econsultancy.com/blog/64399-the-dirty-secrets-of-clickbait-this-post-will-blow-your-mind/

The Dead Simple Headline Formula You Can Use To Generate Millions of Pageviews

https://skillcrush.com/2014/01/23/click-bait-tips/

I will certainly avoid those teaser sites if I possibly can. I don’t have a problem with folks trying to make a few dollars, but I hate being teased!

This is what got me started on the quest for clickbait:

I clicked this link from Facebook.

http://honesttopaws.com/trailer-park-cats/2/?bdk=b702aol&as=702aol&pas=1

Looks like clickbait for sure. But when I removed all the extra stuff and got this:

http://honesttopaws.com/trailer-park-cats/

It looked like a normal site, not clickbait.

I never cease to be amazed at what goes on with the Internet!