BLOGS & THOUGHTS

Have you ever clicked something just because it has something like : 

 

Unbelievable,

Shocking,

10 Reasons Why bla bla bla, number 7 will make you bla bla bla

This is What Happens if You,

 

in the headlines?

And somehow you feel pranked because the actual content isn’t as bombastic as the thumbnail?

 

That is called Clickbait.

 

 

Clickbait is a sensational headline that encourages you to click a link or content.  Instead of presenting objective facts, they often appeal to your emotions and curiosity. Most of the time, clickbait fails when you finally arrive at the page it sends you to. The subject matter of content  is subpar, and if the headline poses a question, the article itself most likely does not even answer it, or provide an unsatisfying conclusion. Overpromise and underdeliver. That’s it. That’s the clickbait. 

 

And clickbait is everywhere. You can find it almost anywhere on the Internet, which makes it too hard to avoid. Clickbait headlines are common in places like social media, blogs, and also news sites. clickbait to draw in as many clicks as possible, thus increasing their ad revenue.

 

People will do everything for views, for selling a tangible newspaper, or for a single click. And yes, it is not even news. Since the 19th century, sensational headlines and content have been used. And they’ve become widespread in the digital world. Although it’s based on an old idea, clickbait still serves the same purpose as its ancestor: to get your attention by whatever means necessary.

 

It’s  actually not surprising for advertising to pull on heartstrings or emotions. Aside from clickbait, we have Guerilla marketing. Guerilla Marketing is used to ambush, sabotage, raids, and other elements of surprise with emotions involved like disgust, fear, or guilt, often with a rather elaborate or clever delivery in the real world. In some way, clickbait is similar yet the opposite of guerilla marketing. 

 

Clickbait is a strategy that plays on emotions, just like guerilla marketing. But while guerilla marketing is in your face and can be shocking immediately, clickbait headlines promise an answer that will never come. 

For addition, humans are information seekers. We humans are drawn to seek out information in our world because it has survival value. And clickbait provides them by presenting that itch that can only be scratched by obtaining the promised information.

 

The Curiosity Gap

Humans love connecting the dots, it’s all about what we know vs what we want to know. Curiosity is an important component of intrinsically-motivated learning. It’s what drives babies to explore their surroundings as soon as they are physically able, and it’s what makes us continue to learn more about the world around us. And the curiosity gap is the detection that new and valuable information is available, sparking people’s desire to access it. The term curiosity gap refers to the psychological effect created when someone is aware of that discrepancy and is motivated to resolve it. 

 

 

 

 

The “Vegas Effect” 

The phenomenon where curiosity leads to poor decisions like gambling. Those clickbait headlines make us curious to see what’s behind the curtain.

 

Avoiding clickbait is not easy because it is exploiting the neural circuitry that evolved over millions of years. Our brains weren’t designed to be exposed to the variety of temptations that are found in this hyper-connected world.

 

Clickbait is structured in such a way that the title is essentially telling you that it knows something that you don’t know, and all you have to do is click to find the answer. In this respect, clickbait requires one to indulge in their curiosity. It’s actually quite funny to think about: clickbait wouldn’t be anything if we as humans weren’t naturally indulgent, gullible, or curious creatures. 

 

We won’t lie that resisting clickbait is quite difficult because it is exploiting the neural circuitry that evolved over millions of years. Our brains weren’t designed to be exposed to the variety of temptations that are found in this hyper-connected world. Neuroscientists and psychologists work in the marketing field and know just how to exploit these neural circuits, which is called persuasive design. In much the same way it’s difficult to resist eating potato chips when they are in front of us, it’s difficult to resist clickbait because we are bombarded by it.

Luckily, it needs common sense to spot clickbait. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The telltale signs of a clickbait article are obvious, but that most definitely doesn’t prevent us from indulging. We still give into clickbait even if we know it’s clickbait. Sometimes, the title is too good to pass up on, and it struck a chord that itched your FOMO bone that you have to scratch. 

 

 

The more we notice the clickbait patterns, the less it will get us hooked. 

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