Clickbait makes for weak journalism. It forces legitimate news sources to compete with articles about cats treating humans like other cats. Sure, clickbait sites such as Buzzfeed or Upworthy might generate a lot of revenue, but that’s only because they do not place a higher value on quality journalism and would rather focus on churning out more and more readers, even if fewer and fewer pieces resemble investigative journalism. Because of this competition, some news sources like The Gazette are being closed down for simply not generating enough revenue and not having enough worth to warrant keeping around.
One specific example is the recent shutting down of Grantland, a sports and pop-culture blog. ESPN shut it down because it wanted to focus on projects that would have a “broader and more significant impact across our enterprise”. Despite its clever long-form journalism and well-respected editors and contributors, Grantland was shut down because "good work doesn’t always translate into worthwhile traffic numbers or profitable balance sheets." As Twitter mourned the blog’s death, others were angry. Why was Grantland being forced to close when, as ESPN put it, it “distinguished itself with quality writing, smart ideas, original thinking, and fun.”?
One reason is clickbait. Other journalism, especially long form journalism, as fun to read as it is, cannot compete with how snappy certain clickbait headlines can be, nor can it compete with the format that clickbait tends to come in.
80% of readers never make it past the headline. The rest? They might read on...if the headline is right. Buzzfeed incorporates a lot of what are called "numbers headlines" in their articles. A "numbers headline" is one that prompts a list, i.e. 13 Ways Your Dog Shows His Love, or 10 Reasons You're Still Single. Clickbait has the advantage here, because when news sources like CNN try to use catchier headlines, they are accused of being unprofessional.
There’s a reason that the definition of clickbait has an inherently negative connotation. If authors of clickbait articles have something substantive to say, then just say it. Don’t present the information in a way where the headline degrades the quality of the article. Quality journalism should be quality from start to finish, and this includes the headline. A clickbait-y headline is a desperate move and reveals a weakness in the article that has to be covered up by a showboat of a headline.
Another major flaw with clickbait is that it overpromises and underdelivers. The headline is flashy and obnoxious, but when you get to the article, the content is dry. It’s uninformative. It lacks substance. The article itself doesn’t live up to the promises made by the headline – and yet so many people fall prey to clickbait’s clutches. And yet many people would much rather spend hours sifting through useless lists and irrelevant articles than read one multiparagraph news article because it's too dense and promotes fear.
Even though clickbait is significantly more popular than your run-of-the-mill everyday news, that fact doesn’t justify clickbait itself. It signals more of a problem, than anything, that clickbait is viewed so much more often than other more legitimate forms of journalism. Just because this is the way things are does not mean that this has to be the way they stay. There is no way for other sources of journalism to compete with clickbait, which puts those sources of journalism at an unfortunate disadvantage, leaving them to fight an uphill battle they are not equipped to fight.
photo courtesy of seriouslysimplemarketing.com
One specific example is the recent shutting down of Grantland, a sports and pop-culture blog. ESPN shut it down because it wanted to focus on projects that would have a “broader and more significant impact across our enterprise”. Despite its clever long-form journalism and well-respected editors and contributors, Grantland was shut down because "good work doesn’t always translate into worthwhile traffic numbers or profitable balance sheets." As Twitter mourned the blog’s death, others were angry. Why was Grantland being forced to close when, as ESPN put it, it “distinguished itself with quality writing, smart ideas, original thinking, and fun.”?
One reason is clickbait. Other journalism, especially long form journalism, as fun to read as it is, cannot compete with how snappy certain clickbait headlines can be, nor can it compete with the format that clickbait tends to come in.
80% of readers never make it past the headline. The rest? They might read on...if the headline is right. Buzzfeed incorporates a lot of what are called "numbers headlines" in their articles. A "numbers headline" is one that prompts a list, i.e. 13 Ways Your Dog Shows His Love, or 10 Reasons You're Still Single. Clickbait has the advantage here, because when news sources like CNN try to use catchier headlines, they are accused of being unprofessional.
There’s a reason that the definition of clickbait has an inherently negative connotation. If authors of clickbait articles have something substantive to say, then just say it. Don’t present the information in a way where the headline degrades the quality of the article. Quality journalism should be quality from start to finish, and this includes the headline. A clickbait-y headline is a desperate move and reveals a weakness in the article that has to be covered up by a showboat of a headline.
Another major flaw with clickbait is that it overpromises and underdelivers. The headline is flashy and obnoxious, but when you get to the article, the content is dry. It’s uninformative. It lacks substance. The article itself doesn’t live up to the promises made by the headline – and yet so many people fall prey to clickbait’s clutches. And yet many people would much rather spend hours sifting through useless lists and irrelevant articles than read one multiparagraph news article because it's too dense and promotes fear.
Even though clickbait is significantly more popular than your run-of-the-mill everyday news, that fact doesn’t justify clickbait itself. It signals more of a problem, than anything, that clickbait is viewed so much more often than other more legitimate forms of journalism. Just because this is the way things are does not mean that this has to be the way they stay. There is no way for other sources of journalism to compete with clickbait, which puts those sources of journalism at an unfortunate disadvantage, leaving them to fight an uphill battle they are not equipped to fight.
photo courtesy of seriouslysimplemarketing.com