The Death of Clickbait?

[George K]

One can only hope.

A piece by Ted Gioia:

From Upworthy to Buzzfeed, all the click chasing gimmicks have failed—but there is one sure option left

Almost exactly 10 years ago, Upworthy was "the fastest growing media site of all time,” according to Fast Company. They had turned news into a science. Upworthy was the future of journalism.

“Upworthy is known for its use of data to drive growth, testing up to 16 different headlines for a single story,” enthused that bright-eyed reporter for Fast Company. The end result was headlines so irresistible, millions of people clicked on them.

Here are some examples:

• A Gorgeous Waitress Gets Harassed By Some Jerk. Watch What Happens Next.
• A Teacher Ran to a Classroom to Break Up a Fight, but What She Found Was the Complete Opposite.
• It’s Twice The Size Of Alaska And Might Hold The Cure For Cancer. So Why Are We Destroying It?
• If You Could Press A Button And Murder Every Mosquito, Would You? Because That’s Kinda Possible.

You get the idea. The headline is in two parts—and it’s just a come-on. You have no idea what the article is about until you click on the link.

[taiwan_girl]

Hopefully, the article writer is right. Hopefully, quality will ultimately win out. I do subscribe to a couple of newspapers on line, but also like the free sites to get news. So, maybe I am part of the problem and part of the solution. LOL

(BTW, I had never heard of Upworthy before)

[George K]

@taiwan_girl said in The Death of Clickbait?:

Hopefully, the article writer is right.

I first heard of Ted Gioia when his book on music history was recommended. It's a fascinating read

[Jolly]

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