Clickbait comes in many forms. Usually, it involves a deceptive or sensationalized link. Think of the old days when people physically shopped at grocery stores. The checkout line would offer "National Enquirer" "Weekly World News" or other publications featuring attention-grabbing headlines that often did not match with the embedded story.
The tabloids were notorious for their blunderbuss headlines. When you sell your product from a newsstand or vending machine you have to get the passersby's attention. Sometimes the article lived up to its billing and sometimes it fell short. The paying customer was okay with the pocket change risk. Ask Rupert Murdoch about this marketing scheme and the conversation might rapidly transition to his family's vast fortunes.
Seductive, sensational, and bogus headlines found greener pastures on the Internet, and it remains an endless summer. Let's sidestep the "I am shocked, shocked I tell you" phase and accept for now that deception is part of the terrain. Let's move on to a more obnoxious form of clickbait.
I hate occluded clickbait. That is, I hate titles like "Hollywood Reacts to beloved star's Death." The editor has intentionally withheld the star's identity to prompt you to click on the link. What is irritating about this ploy is that the site has already captured your attention but now the webmeister intends to maximize your onsite clicks. They are slowing down your consumption of information to improve their standing with search engines. That is rude and insulting.
This writer is especially hostile to slide shows. Slide shows disrupt the flow of information. Material that might take seconds to scan and possibly dismiss just as quickly becomes an ordeal. The slides are arranged in such a way as to maximize clicks. A scroll down a long article would probably yield one site-based click. Arranged into a slideshow, the site can record dozens and dozens of coins in this digital currency.
Imagine a restaurant where the waiter's compensation is based on the number of trips to your table. Instead of serving the entree and leaving, the waiter has divided your burger and fries into 30 equal-sized portions. Want another bite? Just summon the waiter.
You just wanted a quick lunch and then get back to work. Now, the afternoon is dragging on and you only tested a third of your food. Yes, the waiter is prompt and only a few times did he add a commercial message before delivering the next morsel but your time is limited.
You consider voicing your concerns to management, but you know the deal. Management supports the paid incremental service because it satisfies the search engine gods. Without search engine grace, no one will even know of the bistro's existence. The best way to satisfy the gods is to increase the number of "internal links". Rather than expand into desserts or takeouts or new product lines, management has chosen to prolong your dining experience. Waiter happy. Boss happy. Search gods happy. If you are an idiot, you might also be happy.
Slideshows are an elevated form of obnoxious. Occluded Information Links (OIL) are almost as bad. Yes, we expect this sort of thing from msn. We don't expect it from Daily Caller.
The following links are all from today's Daily Caller home page.
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