Clickbait Taking Over "Journalism"

[Thermal]

The thing is I have to admit it takes willpower for me not to click on a lot of it - not because I believe the clickbait itself but to see what they are trying to flog me via the clickbait headline!

When dutifully and scientifically researching materials for another forum topic, I got a pop-up claiming that a woman close by wanted sex, and I could get her contact info free. I was dying to find out what the scam was and the mechanics of how it worked, more than the BS offer.

 

[Myriad]

There are eight amazing reasons why the quality of journalism has been on the decline. Number five will shock you!

 

[Darat]

There are eight amazing reasons why the quality of journalism has been on the decline. Number five will shock you!

FTFY

 

[shemp]

When dutifully and scientifically researching materials for another forum topic, I got a pop-up claiming that a woman close by wanted sex, and I could get her contact info free. I was dying to find out what the scam was and the mechanics of how it worked, more than the BS offer.

Sorry, I got her first.

 

[Thermal]

Sorry, I got her first.

Was she the hot local teen as advertised, or were her pupils horizontal?

 

[bluesjnr]

The thing is I have to admit it takes willpower for me not to click on a lot of it - not because I believe the clickbait itself but to see what they are trying to flog me via the clickbait headline!

Me too, it's a case of where are they going with this?

 

[Trebuchet]

The thing is I have to admit it takes willpower for me not to click on a lot of it - not because I believe the clickbait itself but to see what they are trying to flog me via the clickbait headline!

It generally isn't anything specific, usually a lot of ads for a bunch of general crappe. They make some tiny amount for each view.

 

[Puppycow]

It generally isn't anything specific, usually a lot of ads for a bunch of general crappe. They make some tiny amount for each view.

Yes. If you ever do follow any of these links out of morbid curiosity you will find it difficult to even find the "content" other than the ads. Like some of them are set up to force you to click your way through the content rather than scroll though it so that they can show you a fresh page each time with new ads. I understand the temptation, but I've learned to resist it. If you want to see content like that (funny memes or interesting pictures or videos), I've found that you are better off wasting time on a site like Reddit than any of these content farms. On Reddit, the users basically curate the content with upvotes and downvotes and stuff, so that the more interesting stuff tends to rise to the top.