What is clickbait? This explainer blows your mind!

Clickbait rules! Whether we like it or not, clickbait won’t go away from the internet because it is an age-old, proven method to appeal to our curiosity and emotion.

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What is clickbait? It is a type of news headline that is written to make people click the link willingly and immediately.

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A typical example would read like this: “Shocking! The five despicable reasons Cinderella is divorcing Prince Charming; number three will make you cry!”

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Clickbait is powerful, stirring, and emotive; it often works because it exploits what makes us all human. 

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Our brain has this natural tendency to pay more attention to the language that intrigues our inner inquisitiveness.

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OK, so, what’s wrong with that, you ask? Well, the following reasons will blow your mind 🙂

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If what we expect from news articles and videos is fair accounts of what is going on in our society with accurate information, clickbait often serves the opposite purpose.

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Clickbait headlines are generally not informative, and often even misleading or outright false, because they are designed to entice your finger to tap the link without revealing any details. 

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Unfortunately, lots of news media outlets, including established, internationally renowned news organisations, sometimes use this technique.

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For example, this tweet below is from CNN (also archived here).

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This article below is from the Guardian (also archived here):

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Will the content of these news articles really “shock” us or “change” our life? Maybe yes, maybe not. 

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But the important thing is that these sensational languages are intentionally selected to grab your attention more than anything else. 

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‘Clickbaity’ headlines can lead to misunderstanding, easily. Let’s look at the following examples:

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• How Oreos Work Like Cocaine (The Atlantic)
• Why Oreos Are As Addictive As Cocaine To Your Brain (Forbs)
• Oreos as addictive as cocaine: How to kick your addiction (Los Angels Times)

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They are not as explicit as “XX things you didn’t know” style clickbait, but they adopt the same formula. 

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There is one important piece of information missing from the above examples. You know what it is when you see the following headline.

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• Rats find Oreos as addictive as cocaine — an unusual college research project (Washington Post)

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Yes, all these articles actually discuss small-scale lab experiments on rats, not humans! Isn’t that a crucial piece of information journalists must have told the audience right away if what they would like to do is simply inform us?

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With rats being mentioned in the headlines, many of us would get the impression that the addictiveness of Oreo cookies to humans is a proven fact, right? 

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Put simply, clickbait and sensational headlines are often deceptive and misleading because, more often than not, the articles don’t deliver what they have promised.

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Tricking the audience to get more clicks is, well, not cool.

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If you would like to learn about the impact of this practice on the news industry, the two articles in the reference below can tell you more.