Clickbait is a link to an article, image, or video with a sensational title. Such titles usually use out-of-context quotes and play with the user’s curiosity through phrases like “you will never believe what this girl did…”, “this simple solution will cure cancer within a day”, etc. Oftentimes offensive or repulsive images are used with the headline.
The main aim of clickbait is to catch website visitor’s attention by whatever means.
Common Problems with Clickbait
It Gives False Information
Big titles manipulate information. More often than not, users just read titles and do not read the content any further which later causes misinformation.
It Leads to Low-Quality Websites
Clickbait with catchphrases “you will never believe what he said” usually lead users to websites with inappropriate content, insecure connections, or spam.
It Wastes User’s Time
More often than not, the big headline does not correspond to the information on the page at all. Publishers of such content care about the number of views clicks only.
Clickbait is not always bad if it does correspond to the page content and offers high-quality information. However, many users do not like clickbait because of previous bad experiences. Your reputation may decrease significantly if you overuse clickbait so content makers do it at their own risk.
