http://www.upworthy.com/i-spent-my-life-trying-to-defy-race-and-gender-stereotypes-heres-why-i-stopped?c=fea
Clickbait doesn’t necessarily affect the quality of journalism; it only affects the number of pageviews an article might get. The above article, written by Erica Simon, tackles the fraught subject of stereotyping and does so by blending moving autobiographical testimony with expert reasoning as to why the most radical move would be to act in one's true self and not be concerned at all with the prejudiced thoughts of others. It offers a perspective that isn’t necessarily shared by the majority of the public. If the headline had read, “Another Look at Race and Gender Stereotypes,” the simple fact of the matter is that it would not have gotten the number of pageviews it did. This particular got close to 7000 likes on Facebook, with presumably many more pageviews.
As evidenced by the Erica Simon article, the nature of headlines doesn’t affect the exigence and pertinence of the topics that are tackled within the articles. It’s been proven that articles with eye-catching headlines get more attention, so articles that deal with relevant issues tend to be ignored. The stories remain the same. The only thing that is different is the amount of attention these stories get.
The use of clickbait-y headlines is a just a marketing strategy; it doesn't have to be more than that. It’s the journalists recognizing that they won’t be able to beat clickbait in attracting people to read their articles, so they adopt the clickbait strategy. In a generation that has an attention span of eight seconds, magazines and news outlets have to know how to draw people in and get them to keep reading. Jonathan Black from Elon University found that city magazines need to use "local content, multimedia content, and advertising bundles" to draw in more readers, and clickbait capitalizes on this.
Clickbait might be all over the internet now, but the reasons behind its use are just as varied. For some, clickbait is just a way to get more pageviews and more revenue. For others, clickbait is a way to be creative and to present otherwise mundane news in a more appealing and enticing way. Clickbait sensationalizes serious news into something that people will read, and that exposure is really important.
The stigma that clickbait is automatically poor, illegitimate journalism is founded on observations made by people who are looking for poor, illegitimate journalism. Although it is much easier to find articles using clickbait that back up the majority opinion that clickbait indicates a lack of professionalism, one doesn't need to hunt for very long to see that more and more authors are recognizing clickbait's value in simply expanding their audience. Legitimate journalism can still exist as clickbait. These headlines are simply a marketing strategy aimed at increasing readers.
photo courtesy of upworthy.com
Clickbait doesn’t necessarily affect the quality of journalism; it only affects the number of pageviews an article might get. The above article, written by Erica Simon, tackles the fraught subject of stereotyping and does so by blending moving autobiographical testimony with expert reasoning as to why the most radical move would be to act in one's true self and not be concerned at all with the prejudiced thoughts of others. It offers a perspective that isn’t necessarily shared by the majority of the public. If the headline had read, “Another Look at Race and Gender Stereotypes,” the simple fact of the matter is that it would not have gotten the number of pageviews it did. This particular got close to 7000 likes on Facebook, with presumably many more pageviews.
As evidenced by the Erica Simon article, the nature of headlines doesn’t affect the exigence and pertinence of the topics that are tackled within the articles. It’s been proven that articles with eye-catching headlines get more attention, so articles that deal with relevant issues tend to be ignored. The stories remain the same. The only thing that is different is the amount of attention these stories get.
The use of clickbait-y headlines is a just a marketing strategy; it doesn't have to be more than that. It’s the journalists recognizing that they won’t be able to beat clickbait in attracting people to read their articles, so they adopt the clickbait strategy. In a generation that has an attention span of eight seconds, magazines and news outlets have to know how to draw people in and get them to keep reading. Jonathan Black from Elon University found that city magazines need to use "local content, multimedia content, and advertising bundles" to draw in more readers, and clickbait capitalizes on this.
Clickbait might be all over the internet now, but the reasons behind its use are just as varied. For some, clickbait is just a way to get more pageviews and more revenue. For others, clickbait is a way to be creative and to present otherwise mundane news in a more appealing and enticing way. Clickbait sensationalizes serious news into something that people will read, and that exposure is really important.
The stigma that clickbait is automatically poor, illegitimate journalism is founded on observations made by people who are looking for poor, illegitimate journalism. Although it is much easier to find articles using clickbait that back up the majority opinion that clickbait indicates a lack of professionalism, one doesn't need to hunt for very long to see that more and more authors are recognizing clickbait's value in simply expanding their audience. Legitimate journalism can still exist as clickbait. These headlines are simply a marketing strategy aimed at increasing readers.
photo courtesy of upworthy.com