What is click bait?
Also spelled clickbait, click bait, as the name suggests, is the act of tricking users into clicking a link to an article or any other form of digital content. It is typically done using exaggerated headlines and images that are specifically designed to appeal to a person’s emotions and curiosity.
If you want more information on this topic, check out the FAQ section below:
Question #1: Why is click bait bad?
While click bait (or clickbait) may help those who do it quickly earn ad revenue, the success is generally short lived since the technique does absolutely nothing in terms of building a loyal and engaged audience.
In fact, it does the exact opposite. Since all it does is waste people’s time, there is very little chance, if at all, that a person who has fallen for it once will keep falling for it over and over again. It is just a matter of time before they catch on and start ignoring clickbaity content altogether.
But that is not all that makes click bait bad. Since an alarmingly high number of people—six out of 10 according to studies—share articles on social media based solely on their headlines (i.e., without actually reading their content), click bait content with exaggerated, sensationalized headlines may promote the spread of inaccurate information and fake news.
Question #2: Why do people use click bait?
People use click bait because it presents an easy way to quickly earn ad revenue. Instead of spending time and money creating high-quality content that actually provides value to those who access it and then spending even more time and money getting it in front of the right audience, click bait allows anyone who can write an exaggerated headline to easily get clicks and earn ad revenue off mediocre (at best) content).
But, again, any success this affords the one doing the click baiting is short lived, so it is not really a sustainable approach to earning money through online content creation. It can never replace actually creating quality content, building a strong brand, and growing an engaged and loyal following.
Question #3: Where can I find click bait?
You can find click bait on practically any website or online platform that either has user-generated content, ads, or both. This includes social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as video sharing sites, such as YouTube.
We have already talked about the click bait content typically found on websites and social media in the preceding sections, so let us focus on the type found on YouTube in this section.
On YouTube, click bait content follows practically the exact same format. The only difference is that instead of headlines and images, content creators on the platform use exaggerated titles and thumbnails to get video clicks. The videos themselves, as expected, are always of questionable quality. In fact, in some cases, they are not even remotely related to their title and thumbnail.
The good news is that unlike with people who share click bait articles, YouTube creators who use click bait are more immediately punished by the system. Since the platform takes into account how long a user watches a video they clicked on, it can easily identify click bait videos because they typically get a lot of clicks but extremely short watch times. These videos ultimately get recommended less and less to people over time.
Question #4: How can I identify click bait?
Identifying click bait content is quite easy because, as we have seen earlier, they share the exact same characteristics, which we have outlined below:
- They use exaggerated, sensationalized headlines
- They use exaggerated images
Examples of exaggerated, sensationalized headlines include:
- You won’t believe what this pilot did!
- This waiter ran into his old bully. What happened next will shock you!
- This stay-at-home mom made $637,342 in one week! How she did it will blow your mind!
Exaggerated images, on the other hand, can be something like:
- A blindfolded pilot
- A waiter holding a gun
- A mom laying on a bed of cash
If you see content that has both, there is a big chance it is click bait, so it is best to stay away.