Clickbait
Clickbait refers to a certain kind of web content advertisement that is designed to entice its readers into clicking an accompanying link, they are usually found in journalism and social media sites in the form of short teaser messages [1] that are designed to attract the attention of people. They encourage people to click on them without giving much information about what the reader is going to find next and are often filled with stories that are fake, opinion-based, with little-to-no research done to back up the author’s points.[2][3][4]. Online news media outlets rely heavily on page views to generate ad revenue and use clickbaits to increase the amount of people that visit their page [5][6]. The presence of clickbaits online create many ethical concern as they threaten to clog up social media channels, spreading misinformation, and creating controversy. [7][8]
Contents
Backlash
Social media websites have recognized the issues surrounding clickbaits and have made several attempts to be able to recognize them quickly and prevent them from gaining popularity. Facebook has recognized the problem and has made efforts to improve their newsfeed to "help people find the posts and links from publishers that are most interesting and relevant, and to continue to weed out stories that people frequently tell us are spammy and that they don’t want to see." [2] Systems have been created that detects clickbaits by identifying phrases that are commonly used in clickbait headlines[9] [10] or identifying clickbaits by measuring the amount of time that the user spend on the website after clicking the link [2]. Other scholars have also developed clickbait detection models and extensions to further help decrease how often they appear and achieving an accurate detection 93% of the time.[11][12]. Clickbaits have also put pressure on legacy [Old media]
Types
Exaggeration
Title exaggerating the content on the landing page. For example, a headline that reads "Cringeworthy tattoos that will destroy your faith in humanity."[13]
Example: Cringeworthy tattoos that will destroy your faith in humanity
Teasing
Omission of details from title to build suspense: teasing.[13]
Example: New twist in Panthers star’s trial could end his season.
Inflammatory
Either phrasing or use of inappropriate/vulgar words.[13]
Example: Putin Punched at G20 Summit.
Formatting
Overuse of capitalization/punctuation, particularly ALL CAPS or exclamation points.[13]
Example: EXCLUSIVE: Top-Secret Method allowed a mother to break the world record: 12kg in 4 weeks!
Graphic
Subject matter that is salacious or disturbing or unbelievable[13]
Example: Donatella Versace plastic surgery overload: Waxy face re-sembles melting candle.
Bait-and-switch
The thing promised/implied from the title is not on the landing page: it requires additional clicks or just missing. [13]
Example: Beers Americans No Longer Drink.
Ambiguous
Title unclear or confusing to spur curiosity.[13]
Example: Hands on: Samsung’s iPhone 5 is absolutely beautiful.
Wrong
Just plain incorrect article: factually wrong.[13]
Example: Scientist Confesses: “Global Warming a $22 Billion Scam/center"
Ethical concerns
Clickbait headlines typically aim to "exploit a “curiosity gap” by providing just enough information to make a reader curious, but not enough to satisfy that curiosity"[14][15]. The readers expectations are higher than what the article actually contains which leads to negative experiences, such as frustruation.[13][16] fake news misinformed population / filter bubbles
References
- ↑ Potthast, Martin; Köpsel, Sebatian; Stein, Benno; Hagen, Matthias (2016). ClickBait Detection Bauhaus-Universität Weimer
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Washington Post website: "What is ‘click bait’ and why Facebook wants to display less of it" https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/technology/wp/2014/08/26/what-is-click-bait-and-why-facebook-wants-to-display-less-of-it/?utm_term=.eccfff2e28b8
- ↑ Tech Crunch: "*** is a clickbait "https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/25/wtf-is-clickbait/"
- ↑ Click Bait Websites and the Age of Misinformation "https://jordandetmers.com/2014/09/11/click-bait-websites-and-the-age-of-misinformation/"
- ↑ Chakraborty, Abhijnan; Paranjape, Bhargavi; Kakarla, Sourya; Ganguly, Niloy (2016). Stop Clickbait: Detecting and Preventing Clickbaits in Online News Media Cornell University Library
- ↑ 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/"
- ↑ Potthast, Martin; Köpsel, Sebatian; Stein, Benno; Hagen, Matthias (2016). ClickBait Detection Bauhaus-Universität Weimer
- ↑ Click Bait Websites and the Age of Misinformation "https://jordandetmers.com/2014/09/11/click-bait-websites-and-the-age-of-misinformation/"
- ↑ Facebook newsroom website: "News Feed FYI: Further Reducing Clickbait in Feed"http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2016/08/news-feed-fyi-further-reducing-clickbait-in-feed/
- ↑ engadget: "Facebook is ramping up its fight against clickbait"https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/04/facebook-is-ramping-up-its-fight-against-clickbait/
- ↑ Potthast, Martin; Köpsel, Sebatian; Stein, Benno; Hagen, Matthias (2016). ClickBait Detection Bauhaus-Universität Weimer
- ↑ Abhijnan Chakraborty, Bhargavi Paranjape, Sourya Kakarla, Niloy Ganguly (2016). Stop Clickbait: Detecting and preventing clickbaits in online news media IEEE Xplore Digital Library
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 Prakhar Biyani; Kostas Tsioutsiouliklis; John Blackmer (2016). “8 Amazing Secrets for Getting More Clicks”: Detecting Clickbaits in News Streams Using Article Informality Yahoo Labs
- ↑ Curiosity Has the Power to Change Behavior for the Bette "http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2016/08/curiosity-behavior.aspx"
- ↑ Wikipedia: Clickbaits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clickbait
- ↑ The Ethics of Clickbait "http://wegobusiness.com/the-ethics-of-clickbait/"
