Breathe in the Amazon rain forest and there is a high chance that the Clickbaitosaurus would be waiting for them to swoop in for the kill. This creature survives by feeding on attention and it claims lives by luring them with click-bait promises only to let them down with mislead false claims or irrelevant subcontent. This clickbait trend is fairly common now, there is no nook of the web, be it a website, social media, or even an email subject, where clicks are not being sought after. But are you falling for it? And most importantly, what can a user do to stay smart and beat the Clickbaitosaurus the next time they witness something online?
What is Clickbait?
Simply put, clickbait is a label for any form of media content that has become popular as a form of enticing the audience with false context or through some exaggerated claims. A classic example of this would be titles such as, “You pronounce my name legend with your tongue”, or, “Use this method for staying healthy even ‘old age’ and ‘age’ does not matter”.
Such lines seem almost irresistible, they tug on one’s thoughts & they are good creators of aesthetic value, unfortunately though when you do click the article, it scarcely offers any added value. Baiters instead should simply be banned from the internet as they do not empower the society in any shape or form, quite the opposite: they discredit, belittle & give way to people that will offer any amount of pushy ads, misleading information suffocating.
As much as the word ‘clickbait’ makes its first appearance now, the practice of sensationalism has been around for much longer than that. Even in the past, catchy captions have boosted the sale of scarce issues of traditional media or boosted viewership.
But now, with the existence of the internet, clickbait has already spread out on a much greater scale and has been able to form an attention economy in which every click is regarded as valuable. Web sites make money through them, which implies that more clicks equal more revenue, even though the material is of poor quality. Due to this, a few such sites rattle off the quality of work in favor of the quantity resulting in a majority of sites on the internet containing click bait.
Why Does Clickbait Work?
The reason why clickbait performs so well is that it sinks its teeth through human psychology. To that end, determine why we are susceptible to these types of headlines, and we will be one step closer to preventing them in the future. Here are the factors that account for the power of a clickbait:
- Curiosity Gap: One of the more common strategies that clickbaiting used is the ‘curiosity gap’. The curiosity gap is a phenomenon in which the title has only partial information required therefore arcing interest in the title but more information is needed to serve that level of interest. For instance if a headline equals “She Tried This Simple Hack – What Happened Next Is Unbelievable!” it makes people ponder something they know with something that is still unanswered causing the person to click.
- Emotional Triggers: As we know, clickbait is meant to elicit tremendous emotions which range from excitement to fear or even anger. For instance, a headline that goes “Your Favorite Food Might Be Causing You To Slowly Die” provokes you since it evokes your nerves over health. Researched evidence suggests that headlines that elicit emotions require people to make a click on their links instantly, as our minds need to placate the tension that they generate.
- Overpromising: Clickbait has this tendency of making large claims and then failing to deliver on these claims. When the words such as “The Secret to Instant Wealth” or “This Will Completely Change How You See The World” are used, the person’s expectations are set too high while the reality is that once you have clicked, the content is often banal or even off point. However, these clicks are fueled by the prospects of quick solutions and astonishing insights.
- FOMO (Fear of Missing Out): It is also common for clickbait to use the feeling of lack by suggesting that others know something you do not or have already benefited from such information. Titles such as “Everyone Is Talking About This New Trend—Are You?” are a mixture of social instincts and the fear of being out and motivate us to click so as not to be left out.
The Perils of Clickbait
Any article which tricks readers into clicking through its fake or manipulative headlines is considered to be clickbait, this habit of misleading writing might seem innocent, but clickbait has an effect that goes beyond irritation. With the overuse of clickbait, there are several drawbacks which ultimately beg to ask if the practice is worth it.
- Time wastage: the time one spends on worthless clickbait is probably one of the most seasoned major disadvantages of clickbait, people do not realize how much of their precious time they are wasting on misleading titles that fail to meet expectations. A perfect illustration of this is a blog where users come across the clich kosong articles that do nothing, but make them wonder how it was even written in the first place.
- Falsification: in the same way, some cheerful upbeat catchy ads work in driving higher website views and statistics, more unsettling and unprincipled fake ads also work, which advertise dubious agglomerates of clickbait instead of something that makes sense. Finding poorly covered articles or ambiguous, poorly covered markets can lead to confusion, and inevitably there will be a disruption of trust towards them. In this day and age where reliable information is of the utmost necessity, something is definitely wrong when one must overcome the challenge of clickbait.
- Compromise of privacy and security: to add fuel to the current fire, clickbait also has additional links within its textual content that diverts users to a particular website that has nothing of value. Some of the targets include websites distributing malware to a system that gathers personal information to sale on the black market. Such damage must be avoided at all costs, however, clickbait is very much mastered at hiding itself in plain sight which makes it hard to filter out all the good from the bad.
- Desensitization to Quality Content: The overconsumption of clickbait headlines can hinder the recognition of quality content among many individuals. As the saying goes, hope springs eternal, but one begins to lose hope towards comprehensive journalism as there are no clickbaity headlines that can draw attention towards it.
How to Beat the Clickbaitosaurus
However, even though they are overbearing, you do not have to succumb to them. Staying loyal and having common sense is critical if one is to survive the tyrannical era of the Clickbaitosaurus. This is not states in a threatening manner, though here are some easily applicable suggestions to avoid being a fool in the web:
Avoid only looking at the title: The next step is evaluation. Before any clicks, pause anticipating an interesting headline or emotive language that will lead to a letdown. Probably most of the output is irrelevant, which raises the question of why it was created in the first place. In any case, managing people’s expectations should be the first objective.
Look at the Profile: You should reference the text at all times. It is a well known source, and its materials are generally credible? Reputable clicks generally do not waste time with bait and switch because they have sums to make sense of above the enormous volume of traffic they are getting.
Check out the URL: Topical relevance between any given content and the addresses provided therein can be established by looking at the URLs. A number of clickbaiting sites use lengthy and complicated URLs totally inconsistent with the headlines. If the URL is suspicious, better avoid it at all.
Install Browser Extensions: There are several browser extensions including “Clickbait Remover” and “NewsGuard” that allow users to identify potential clickbait content without clicking on it. These tools also check important parameters in headlines and text, rating or alerting based on sensationalism.
Learn about Media Literacy: The more you learn about the mechanisms of digital marketing and content algorithms, the easier it will be for you to maneuver the online space. Get acquainted with the strategies that various websites utilize to increase their visits, and become immune to websites that elicit strong emotions or curiosity to increase their visitations.
Limit Social Media Exposure: Social media is the epitome of clickbait as its algorithms seek to promote any content with a large engagement rate regardless of the nature of the content. People can be more self-controlled by unfollowing clickbait pages in order to stay away from clickbait in their feeds and make sure videos they watch are interesting and of good quality.
Conclusion
The Clickbaitosaurus is a universal phenomenon in today’s online sphere, but it is possible to avoid being lured by it if the right measures are taken. Focus on the signs of clickbait, understand that there are risks associated with it, and recognize the importance of good content. You are able to use the Internet the way it is meant to be used. There is no reason to amazement with every title. And internet is not made for empty words but for real communications and knowledge.
Be smart, be critical and do not let the Clickbsitosaurs govern your cyberspace.
